We and the World: A Book for Boys. Part I

is a friend inde

sat next to in the railway carriage was not a rogue. I travelled third class to Liverpool for more than one reason-it was the cheapest way

mistook for the end of my journey, and with every question which I put, as I flattered myself, in the careless tones of common conversation, I really wonder I had not thought beforehand about my clothes, which fitted very badly on the character I assumed, a

arted, instead of feeling too delicate to do so. I can remember his face too well not to kno

was misconduct on my part which had made me run away from home. I had no grievance to describe which he could recognize as grievous enough to drive me o

rom home and go to sea from a place like th

that has no homes to run fro

the town. General counsels as to my conduct, and the desirableness of turning over a new leaf for "young chaps" who had been wild and got into scrapes at home. And particular counsels which were invalua

of my neck, and landed me straightway at my desk in Uncle Henry's office, would, I believe, have left me tamed for life. For if this unutterable vileness of sights and sounds and smells which hung around the dark entry of the slop shop were indeed the world, I felt a sudden and most vehement conviction that I would willingly renounce the world for ever. As it happened, I had not at tha

(he had the Jew-clerk's ex

y dear, n

ough his coat was quite curiously like the one I had so often cleaned, he had evidently either never met wi

was so nervous that my fellow-traveller transacted my business for me, and when the oil-lamp flared and I caught Moses Cohen looking at me, I jumped as if Snuff

you do don't go near that there Jew again.

per," he added, "if I could have t

h I was instructed to carry round my neck) was provided by Mr. Cohen in exchange for the clothes I had been wearing before, with the addition of ten shillings in cash. I dipped again into the leathern bag to provide a meal for myself and my friend; then, by his advice, I put a shilling an

l get work," we

ge me as one of that big brotherhood of toilers who, when they want