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me whisper it); to behold the White…haired Lady with the pink eyes;

eating meat…pie with the Giant:  while; by the hedge…side; on the

box of blankets which I knew contained the snakes; were set forth

the cups and saucers and the teapot。  It was on an evening in

August; that I chanced upon this ravishing spectacle; and I noticed

that; whereas the Giant reclined half concealed beneath the

overhanging boughs and seemed indifferent to Nature; the white hair

of the gracious Lady streamed free in the breath of evening; and

her pink eyes found pleasure in the landscape。  I heard only a

single sentence of her uttering; yet it bespoke a talent for modest

repartee。  The ill…mannered Giant … accursed be his evil race! …

had interrupted the Lady in some remark; and; as I passed that

enchanted corner of the wood; she gently reproved him; with the

words; 'Now; Cobby;' … Cobby! so short a name! … 'ain't one fool

enough to talk at a time?'



Within appropriate distance of this magic ground; though not so

near it as that the song trolled from tap or bench at door; can

invade its woodland silence; is a little hostelry which no man

possessed of a penny was ever known to pass in warm weather。

Before its entrance; are certain pleasant; trimmed limes; likewise;

a cool well; with so musical a bucket…handle that its fall upon the

bucket rim will make a horse prick up his ears and neigh; upon the

droughty road half a mile off。  This is a house of great resort for

haymaking tramps and harvest tramps; insomuch that as they sit

within; drinking their mugs of beer; their relinquished scythes and

reaping…hooks glare out of the open windows; as if the whole

establishment were a family war…coach of Ancient Britons。  Later in

the season; the whole country…side; for miles and miles; will swarm

with hopping tramps。  They come in families; men; women; and

children; every family provided with a bundle of bedding; an iron

pot; a number of babies; and too often with some poor sick creature

quite unfit for the rough life; for whom they suppose the smell of

the fresh hop to be a sovereign remedy。  Many of these hoppers are

Irish; but many come from London。  They crowd all the roads; and

camp under all the hedges and on all the scraps of common…land; and

live among and upon the hops until they are all picked; and the

hop…gardens; so beautiful through the summer; look as if they had

been laid waste by an invading army。  Then; there is a vast exodus

of tramps out of the country; and if you ride or drive round any

turn of any road; at more than a foot pace; you will be bewildered

to find that you have charged into the bosom of fifty families; and

that there are splashing up all around you; in the utmost

prodigality of confusion; bundles of bedding; babies; iron pots;

and a good…humoured multitude of both sexes and all ages; equally

divided between perspiration and intoxication。







CHAPTER XII … DULLBOROUGH TOWN







It lately happened that I found myself rambling about the scenes

among which my earliest days were passed; scenes from which I

departed when I was a child; and which I did not revisit until I

was a man。  This is no uncommon chance; but one that befalls some

of us any day; perhaps it may not be quite uninteresting to compare

notes with the reader respecting an experience so familiar and a

journey so uncommercial。



I call my boyhood's home (and I feel like a Tenor in an English

Opera when I mention it) Dullborough。  Most of us come from

Dullborough who come from a country town。



As I left Dullborough in the days when there were no railroads in

the land; I left it in a stage…coach。  Through all the years that

have since passed; have I ever lost the smell of the damp straw in

which I was packed … like game … and forwarded; carriage paid; to

the Cross Keys; Wood…street; Cheapside; London?  There was no other

inside passenger; and I consumed my sandwiches in solitude and

dreariness; and it rained hard all the way; and I thought life

sloppier than I had expected to find it。



With this tender remembrance upon me; I was cavalierly shunted back

into Dullborough the other day; by train。  My ticket had been

previously collected; like my taxes; and my shining new portmanteau

had had a great plaster stuck upon it; and I had been defied by Act

of Parliament to offer an objection to anything that was done to

it; or me; under a penalty of not less than forty shillings or more

than five pounds; compoundable for a term of imprisonment。  When I

had sent my disfigured property on to the hotel; I began to look

about me; and the first discovery I made; was; that the Station had

swallowed up the playing…field。



It was gone。  The two beautiful hawthorn…trees; the hedge; the

turf; and all those buttercups and daisies; had given place to the

stoniest of jolting roads:  while; beyond the Station; an ugly dark

monster of a tunnel kept its jaws open; as if it had swallowed them

and were ravenous for more destruction。  The coach that had carried

me away; was melodiously called Timpson's Blue…Eyed Maid; and

belonged to Timpson; at the coach…office up…street; the locomotive

engine that had brought me back; was called severely No。 97; and

belonged to S。E。R。; and was spitting ashes and hot water over the

blighted ground。



When I had been let out at the platform…door; like a prisoner whom

his turnkey grudgingly released; I looked in again over the low

wall; at the scene of departed glories。  Here; in the haymaking

time; had I been delivered from the dungeons of Seringapatam; an

immense pile (of haycock); by my own countrymen; the victorious

British (boy next door and his two cousins); and had been

recognised with ecstasy by my affianced one (Miss Green); who had

come all the way from England (second house in the terrace) to

ransom me; and marry me。  Here; had I first heard in confidence;

from one whose father was greatly connected; being under

Government; of the existence of a terrible banditti; called 'The

Radicals;' whose principles were; that the Prince Regent wore

stays; and that nobody had a right to any salary; and that the army

and navy ought to be put down … horrors at which I trembled in my

bed; after supplicating that the Radicals might be speedily taken

and hanged。  Here; too; had we; the small boys of Boles's; had that

cricket match against the small boys of Coles's; when Boles and

Coles had actually met upon the ground; and when; instead of

instantly hitting out at one another with the utmost fury; as we

had all hoped and expected; those sneaks had said respectively; 'I

hope Mrs。 Boles is well;' and 'I hope Mrs。 Coles and the baby are

doing charmingly。'  Could it be that; after all this; and much

more; the Playing…field was a Station; and No。 97 expectorated

boiling water and redhot cinders on it; and the whole belonged by

Act of Parliament to S。E。R。?



As it could be; and was; I left the place with a heavy heart for a

walk all over the town。  And first of Timpson's up…street。  When I

departed from Dullborough in the strawy arms of Timpson's Blue…Eyed

Maid; Timpson's was a moderate…sized coach…office (in fact; a

little coach…office); with an oval transparency in the window;

which looked beautiful by night; representing one of Timpson's

coaches in the act of passing a milestone on the London road with

great velocity; completely full inside and out; and all the

passengers dressed in the first style of fashion; and enjoying

themselves tremendously。  I found no such place as Timpson's now …

no such bricks and rafters; not to mention the name … no such

edifice on the teeming earth。  Pickford had come and knocked

Timpson's down。  Pickford had not only knocked Timpson's down; but

had knocked two or three houses down on each side of Timpson's; and

then had knocked the whole into one great establishment with a pair

of big gates; in and out of which; his (Pickford's) waggons are; in

these days; always rattling; with their drivers sitting up so high;

that they look in at the second…floor windows of the old…fashioned

houses in the High…street as they shake the town。  I have not the

honour of Pickford's acquaintance; but I felt that he had done me

an injury; not to say committed an act of boyslaughter; in running

over my Childhood in this rough manner; and if ever I meet Pickford

driving one of his own monsters; and smoking a pipe the while

(which is the custom of his men); he shall know by the expression

of my eye; if it catches his; that there is something wrong between

us。



Moreover; I felt that Pickford had no right to come rushing into

Dullborough and deprive the town of a public picture。  He is not

Napoleon Bonaparte。  When he took down the transparent stage…coach;

he ought to have given the town a transparent van。  With a gloomy

conviction that Pickford is wholly utilitarian and unimaginative; I

proceeded on my way。



It is a mercy I have not 

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