Portraits of Children of the MobilityLeigh, Percival
General
Portraits of Children of the Mobility
Leigh, Percival
Caricatures and cartoons -- Great Britain; London (England) -- Social life and customs -- Pictorial works
Master Jim Curtis is one of those youths whose office it is to supply
the tea-tables of the higher classes with muffins and crumpets,
nominally all hot, but really, owing to the colloquial propensities
of the bearers, in general not at all hot. Among his compeers he is
considered a peculiarly accomplished lad. He is always sure to be
acquainted with the last new song, for shocking as the idea appears,
there are "last new songs," in streets as well as in drawing-rooms--we
are informed that the present popular favourite is "Happy Land;" it
having succeeded "Sitch a gittin' up stairs;" previously to which the
alleys were taught by our young Mobility to echo the atrocious "Jim
Crow." These various airs Master Jim Curtis is also in the habit of
whistling as he runs along; his execution being characterised by great
power, particularly in the higher notes; though his compass, perhaps,
is not very extended. He is likewise a first-rate performer on that
classical instrument the Jews'-harp. In all those various games of
skill which consist in tossing coins and buttons about in gutters, his
attainments are unrivalled; and he is equally expert at the pastime
called "leap-frog," and similar gymnastic exercises. Genius, it is said,
is shown in striking out new paths; and Master Curtis, in the language
of his acquaintance, is an "out-and-outer" (a low term for a person of
talent) at striking out a slide. In a general way, so remarkable is
his intellectual acumen, that he is said by all who know him to be
perpetually--we cannot avoid the phrase--wide awake. In disposition he
has somewhat of a satirical turn, and his caustic powers are not only
evinced in "chaffing" his equals, but also, whenever an opportunity
occurs, at the expense of his superiors.
Master Mike Waters is connected with the press, in the capacity of
an acting distributor of diurnal literature. He is a cultivator, to a
certain extent, of those elegant pursuits in which Master Curtis has
made such striking progress. His natural endowments, indeed, are not
of so brilliant a class as those of the latter; as a vocalist, for
instance, he does not rise much above mediocrity, his notion of a tune
being generally not quite perfect, and his memory seldom serving to
retain more than the first line of a song. He appears, however, to be
very diligent in his musical studies, and what he does know, is almost
continually in his mouth. There is, too, one particular science for
which he certainly has a decided taste; namely, Natural Philosophy, and
he may frequently be seen on a day fit for the purpose, that is, on a
wet one, performing pneumatic experiments on loose stones and cellar
plates.
Of the nature of these experiments it may be necessary that we should
give a brief description. Their object is to elevate the paving stones
or plates from the situation which they occupy, and is thus effected:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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