The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands, Robert Michael Ballantyne [ebook pc reader txt] 📗

Their 'appiness was genoo_ine_. Wot made it come 'ome to me was, that I seed there a little boy as I 'appened to know was one o' the dirtiest, wickedest, sharpest little willains in London--a mere spider to look at, but with mischief enough to fill a six-fut man to bu'stin'--an' there 'ee was, clean an' jolly, larnin' his lessons like a good un--an' no sham neither, cos 'e'd got a good spice o' the mischief left, as was pretty clear from the way 'ee gave a sly pinch or pull o' the hair now an' again to the boys next him, an' drawed monkey-faces on his slate. But that spider, I wos told, could do figurin' like one o'clock, an' could spell like Johnson's Dictionairy.

"Well," continued Dick, after a few moments' devotion to a bowl of coffee, "I 'anded Billy Towler over to the superintendent, tellin' 'im 'ee wos a 'omeless boy as 'adn't got no parients nor relations, an wos werry much in need o' bein' looked arter. So 'ee took 'im in, an' I bade him good-bye."

Dick Moy then went on to tell how that the superintendent of the Grotto showed him all over the place, and told him numerous anecdotes regarding the boys who had been trained there; that one had gone into the army and become a sergeant, and had written many long interesting letters to the institution, which he still loved as being his early and only "home;" that another had become an artilleryman; another a man-of-war's man; and another a city missionary, who commended the blessed gospel of Jesus Christ to those very outcasts from among whom he had himself been plucked. The superintendent also explained to his rugged but much interested and intelligent visitor that they had a flourishing Ragged School in connection with the institution; also a Sunday-school and a "Band of Hope"--which latter had been thought particularly necessary, because they found that many of the neglected young creatures that came to them had already been tempted and taught by their parents and by publicans to drink, so that the foundation of that dreadful craving disease had been laid, and those desires had begun to grow which, if not checked, would certainly end in swift and awful destruction. One blessed result of this was that the children had not only themselves joined, but had in some instances induced their drunken parents to attend the weekly addresses.

All this, and a great deal more, was related by Dick Moy with the wonted enthusiasm and energy of his big nature, and with much gesticulation of his tremendous fist--to the evident anxiety of Nora, who, like an economical housewife as she was, had a feeling of tenderness for the crockery, even although it was not her own. Dick wound up by saying that if _he_ was a rich man, "'ee'd give some of 'is superfloous cash to that there Grotto, he would."

"Perhaps you wouldn't," said Nora. "I've heard one rich man say that the applications made to him for money were so numerous that he was quite annoyed, and felt as if he was goin' to become bankrupt!"

"Nora," said Dick, smiting the table emphatically, "I'm not a rich man myself, an' wot's more, I never 'xpect to be, so I can't be said to 'ave no personal notions at all, d'ye see, about wot they feels; but I've also heerd a rich man give 'is opinion on that pint, and I've no manner of doubt that _my_ rich man is as good as your'n--better for the matter of that; anyway he knowed wot was wot. Well, says 'ee to me, w'en I went an' begged parding for axin' 'im for a subscription to this 'ere werry Grotto--which, by the way, is supported by woluntary contribootions--'ee says, `Dick Moy,' says 'ee, `you've no occasion for to ax my parding,' says 'ee. `'Ere's 'ow it is. I've got _so_ much cash to spare out of my hincome. Werry good; I goes an' writes down a list of all the charities. First of all comes the church--which ain't a charity, by the way, but a debt owin' to the Lord--an' the missionary societies, an the Lifeboat Institootion, an' the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society, and such like, which are the great _National_ institootions of the country that _every_ Christian ought to give a helpin' 'and to. Then there's the poor among one's own relations and friends; then the hospitals an' various charities o' the city or town in which one dwells, and the poor of the same. Well, arter that's all down,' says 'ee, `I consider w'ich o' them ere desarves an' _needs_ most support from me; an' so I claps down somethin' to each, an' adds it all up, an' wot is left over I holds ready for chance applicants. If their causes are good I give to 'em heartily; if not, I bow 'em politely out o' the 'ouse. That's w'ere it is,' says 'ee. `An' do you know, Dick Moy,' says 'ee, `the first time I tried that plan, and put down wot I thought a fair liberal sum to each, I wos amazed--I wos stunned for to find that the total wos so small and left so werry much of my spare cash yet to be disposed of, so I went over it all again, and had to double and treble the amount to be given to each. Ah, Dick,' says _my_ rich man, `if people who don't keep cashbooks would only mark down wot they _think_ they can afford to give away in a year, an' wot they _do_ give away, they would be surprised. It's not always unwillingness to give that's the evil. Often it's ignorance o' what is actooally given--no account bein' kep'.'

"`Wot d'ye think, Dick,' _my_ rich man goes on to say, `there are some churches in this country which are dependent on the people for support, an' the contents o' the plates at the doors o' these churches on Sundays is used partly for cleanin' and lightin' of 'em; partly for payin' their precentors, and partly for repairs to the buildins, and partly for helpin' out the small incomes of their ministers; an' wot d'ye think most o' the people--not many but _most_ of 'em--gives a week, Dick, for such important purposes?'

"`I don' know, sir,' says I.

"`One penny, Dick,' says 'ee, `which comes exactly to four shillins and fourpence a year,' says 'ee. `An' they ain't paupers; Dick! If they wos paupers, it wouldn't be a big sum for 'em to give out o' any pocket-money they might chance to git from their pauper friends, but they're well-dressed people, Dick, and they seems to be well off! Four an' fourpence a year! think o' that--not to mention the deduction w'en they goes for a month or two to the country each summer. Four an' fourpence a year, Dick! Some of 'em even goes so low as a halfpenny, which makes two an' twopence a year--7 pounds, 11 shillings, 8 pence in a seventy-year _lifetime_, Dick, supposin' their liberality began to flow the day they wos born!'

"At this _my_ rich man fell to laughing till I thought 'ee'd a busted hisself; but he pulled up sudden, an' axed me all about the Grotto, and said it was a first-rate institootion, an' gave me a ten-pun' note on the spot. Now, Nora, _my_ rich man is a friend o' yours--Mr Durant, of Yarmouth, who came to Ramsgate a short time ago for to spend the autumn, an' I got introdooced to him through knowin' Jim Welton, who got aboord of one of his ships through knowin' young Mr Stanley Hall, d'ye see? That's where it is."

After this somewhat lengthened speech, Dick Moy swallowed a slop-bowlful of coffee at a draught--he always used a slop-bowl--and applied himself with renewed zest to a Norfolk dumpling, in the making of which delicacy his wife had no equal.

"I believe that Mr Durant is a kind good man," said Nora, feeding the infant with a crust dipped in milk, "and I am quite sure that he has got the sweetest daughter that ever a man was blessed with--Miss Katie; you know her, I suppose?"

"'Aven't seed 'er yet," was Dick's curt reply.

"She's a dear creature," continued Nora--still doing her best to choke the infant--"she found out where I lived while she was in search of a sick boy in Yarmouth, who, she said, was the brother of a poor ragged boy named Billy Towler, she had once met with. Of course I had to tell her that Billy had been deceiving her and had no brother. Oh! you should have seen her kind face, Dick, when I told her this. I do think that up to that time she had lived under the belief that a young boy with a good-looking face and an honest look could not be a deceiver."

"Poor thing," said Dick, with a sad shake of the head, as if pitying her ignorance.

"Yes," continued Nora--still attempting to choke the infant--"she could not say a word at that time, but went away with her eyes full of tears. I saw her often afterwards, and tried to convince her there might be some good in Billy after all, but she was not easily encouraged, for her belief in appearances had got a shake that she seemed to find it difficult to get over. That was when Billy was lying ill in hospital. I have not seen much of her since then, she and her father having been away in London."

"H'm, I'm raither inclined to jine her in thinkin' that no good'll come o' that young scamp. He's too sharp by half," said Dick with a frown. "Depend upon it, Nora, w'en a boy 'as gone a great length in wickedness there's no chance o' reclaimin' him."

"Dick," exclaimed Nora, with sudden energy, "depend upon it that _that's_ not true, for it does not correspond with the Bible, which says that our Lord came not to call the righteous but _sinners_ to repentance."

"There's truth in _that_, anyhow," replied Dick, gazing thoughtfully into Nora's countenance, as if the truth had come home to him for the first time. What his further observations on the point might have been we know not, as at that moment the door opened and one of his mates entered, saying that he had come to go down with him to the buoy-store, as the superintendent had given orders that he and Moy should overhaul the old North Goodwin buoy, and give her a fresh coat of paint. Dick therefore rose, wiped his mouth, kissed the entire family, beginning with the infant and ending with "the missis," after which he shook hands with Nora and went out.

The storm which had for some time past been brewing, had fairly brewed itself up at last, and the wild sea was covered with foam. Although only an early autumn storm, it was, like many a thing out of season, not the less violent on that account. It was one of the few autumn storms that might have been transferred to winter with perfect propriety. It performed its work of devastation as effectively as though it had come forth at its proper season. On land chimney stacks and trees were levelled. At sea vessels great and small were dismasted and destroyed, and the east coast of the kingdom was strewn with wreckage and dead bodies. Full many a noble ship went down that night! Wealth that might have supported all the charities in London for