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106 |
THE CHIMES. |
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at the poor man present. " As such I may be taunted. As such I have been taunted. But I ask no other title."
" Bless him for a noble gentleman !" thought Trotty.
" I don't agree with Cute here, for instance," said Sir Joseph, holding out the letter. " I don't agree with the Filer party. I don't agree with any party. My friend the Poor Man, has no business with anything of that sort, and nothing of that sort has any business with him. My friend the Poor Man, in my district, is my business. No man or body of men has any right to interfere between my friend and me. That is the ground I take. I assume a—a paternal character towards my friend. I say, ' My good fellow, I will treat you paternally.'"
Toby listened with great gravity, and began to feel more comfortable.
"Your only business, my good fellow," pursued Sir Joseph, looking abstractedly at Toby; " your only business in life is with me. You needn't trouble yourself to think about anything. I will think for you; I know what is good for you; I am your perpetual parent. Such is the dispensation of an all-wise Providence ! Now, the design of your creation is: not that you should swill, and guzzle, and associate your enjoyments, brutally, with food "—Toby thought remorsefully of the tripe—" but that you should feel the Dignity of Labour; go forth erect into the cheerful morning air, and — and stop there. Live hard and temperately, be respectful, exercise your self-denial, bring up your family on next to nothing, pay your rent as regularly as the clock strikes, be punctual in your dealings (I set you a good example; you will find Mr. Fish, my confidential secretary, with a cash-box before him at all times); and you may trust me to be your Friend and Father."
" Nice children, indeed, Sir Joseph !" said the lady, with a shudder. "Rheumatisms, and fevers, and crooked legs, and asthmas, and all kinds of horrors ! "
"My lady," returned Sir Joseph, with solemnit}', "not the less am I the Poor Man's Friend and Father. Not the less shall he receive encouragement at my hands. Every quarter-day he will be put in communication with Mr. Fish. Every New Year's Day, myself and friends will drink his health. Once every year, myself and friends will address him with the deepest feeling. Once in his life, he may even perhaps receive; in public, in the presence of the gentry; a Trifle from a Friend. And when, upheld no more by these stimulants, and the Dignity of Labour, he sinks into his comfortable grave, then my lady"—here Sir Joseph blew his nose—" I will be a Friend and Father—on the same terms—to his children." |
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