Christmas Penny Readings: Original Sketches for the Season
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Fenn George Manville. Christmas Penny Readings: Original Sketches for the Season
Chapter One. Cutting Times; or, A Frost and Thaw
One – Freezing Sharp
Two – Down to Zero
Three – Rays from the Crystals
Four – The Sun’s Influence
Five – What Followed
Chapter Two. Corns
Chapter Three. A Ghastly Deed
Chapter Four. Come Back
Chapter Five. Upon Christmas-Eve
Chapter Six. Haunted by Spirits
Chapter Seven. On the Down Line
Chapter Eight. Preparing for Christmas
Chapter Nine. The Ice-Breaking
Chapter Ten. A Horror of Horrors
Chapter Eleven. Cabby at Christmas
Chapter Twelve. Drat the Cats
Chapter Thirteen. An Australian Christmas
Chapter Fourteen. Gnashing of Teeth
Chapter Fifteen. The Monarch of the Mould
Chapter Sixteen. Spun Yarn
Chapter Seventeen. Asher’s Last Hour
Chapter Eighteen. Munday’s Ghost
Chapter Nineteen. The Spirits of the Bells
Chapter Twenty. A Rogue and a Vagabond
Chapter Twenty One. A Spirit of the Past
Chapter Twenty Two. A Goblin Ditty
Chapter Twenty Three. King Boreas
Chapter Twenty Four. A Lady in the Case
Chapter Twenty Five. The Ghosts at the Grange
Chapter Twenty Six. Caught in his own Trap
Отрывок из книги
Twenty years ago, Hezekiah Thornypath was in Luck’s way – so much so, that Luck kicked him out of it. Hez went up to London to make his fortune, and he took his wife and children with him to help to make it: Hez meant “to make his crown a pound,” as the old song says, but he did not. Either times, trade, or Hez’s management was bad; things went contrary; and, as though it were a punishment for marrying against old Thornypath’s wish, Hezekiah’s few hundred pounds melted away, troubles came upon him, friends forsook him, and when he considered that his affairs could be no worse, he had to fetch the doctor, who came, shook his head, and in a few hours Hez and his wife were weeping bitterer tears than they had ever shed before, for the rigour of death was fast stealing away the beauty from the features of their youngest child.
The house looked sad and sombre with the blinds drawn down; footsteps were hushed, and voices were heard but in a whisper – how needlessly Hez too well knew, as he gazed, with his weeping wife, upon the little sleeper. The world looked in advance one dreary desert, while hope seemed to have parted from them for ever. No friendly word of comfort was spoken, no whispered consolation – they were alone in the great city, and the tears that fell had no earthly witness.
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Did not somebody once say, “Great oaks from little acorns grow – great aches from little toe-corns grow”? How true – how telling! But there, I give up, with the determination to bear my pains as I can, for I feel assured that no one will sympathise with me who does not suffer from corns.
It would have done your heart good to have seen Shadrach rattle up those shutters, as the boy down stairs held them up to the roller ready for him to take.
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