Pearl-Fishing; Choice Stories from Dickens' Household Words; First SeriesDickens, Charles
General
Pearl-Fishing; Choice Stories from Dickens' Household Words; First Series
Dickens, Charles
English fiction -- 19th century; Short stories, English
The scene opens in a square room of tolerable size which, if simply
adorned with “barrack furniture,” (to wit, a deal table, two
windsor-chairs, a coal scuttle, and a set of fire-irons,) would give an
idea of a British subaltern’s “interior,” of rather more Spartan-like
simplicity than is altogether true. But to these were added certain
elegant “extras,” obtained not out of the surplus of five and
three-pence a day--after mess and band subscriptions, cost of uniform,
servant’s wages, &c., had been deducted--but on credit, which it was
easier to get than to avoid incurring expense. A noble youth, like
Ensign Spoonbill, had only to give the word of command to be obeyed by
Messrs. Rosewood and Mildew, with the alacrity shown by the slaves of
the lamp, and in an incredibly short space of time, the bare walls and
floor of his apartment were covered with the gayest articles their
establishment afforded. They included those indispensable adjuncts to a
young officer’s toilette, a full length cheval, and a particularly lofty
pier-glass. A green-baize screen converted the apartment into as many
separate rooms as its occupant desired, cutting it up, perhaps, a little
here and there, but adding, on the whole, a great deal to its comfort
and privacy. What was out of the line of Messrs. Rosewood and
Mildew--and that, as Othello says, was “not much”--the taste of Ensign
Spoonbill himself supplied. To his high artistic taste were due the
presence of a couple of dozen gilt-framed and highly-colored prints,
representing the reigning favorites of the ballet, the winners of the
Derby and Leger, and the costumes of the “dressiest,” and consequently
the most distinguished corps in the service; the nice arrangement of
cherry-stick tubes, amber mouth-pieces, meerschaum bowls, and
embroidered bags of Latakia tobacco; pleasing devices of the
well-crossed foils, riding whips, and single sticks evenly balanced by
fencing masks and boxing gloves; and, on the chimney-piece, the
brilliant array of nick-nacks, from the glittering shop of Messrs.
Moses, Lazarus and Son, who called themselves “jewellers and dealers in
curiosities,” and who dealt in a few trifles which were not alluded to
above their door-posts.
The maxim of “Early to bed” was not known in the Hundredth; but the
exigencies of the service required that Ensign Spoonbill should rise
with the _reveillée_. He complained of it in more forcible language
than Dr. Watts’ celebrated sluggard; but discipline is inexorable, and
he was not permitted to “slumber again.” This early rising is a real
military hardship. We once heard a lady of fashion counselling her
friend never to marry a Guardsman. “You have no idea, love, what you’ll
have to go through; every morning of his life--in the season--he has to
be out with the horrid regiment at half-past six o’clock!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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