Japhet, In Search Of A Father Part 1 - Frederick Marryat (polar express read aloud .txt) 📗
- Author: Frederick Marryat
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All The Water For The Use Of The Workhouse. I Worked At My _Papa_, As I
Called The Pump, All Day Long. Few Sons Worked Their Father More, Or
Disliked Him So Much: And Now, Japhet, You See, From Habit, I'M Pumping
You."
"You'Ll Soon Pump Dry, Then, For I'Ve Very Little To Tell You," Replied
I; "But, Tell Me, What Sort Of A Person Is Our Master?"
"He'S Just What You See Him, Never Alters, Hardly Ever Out Of Humour,
And When He Is, He Is Just As Odd As Ever. He Very Often Threatens Me,
But I Have Never Had A Blow Yet, Although Mr Brookes Has Complained Once
Or Twice."
"But Surely Mr Brookes Is Not Cross?"
"No, He Is A Very Good Gentleman; But Sometimes I Carry On My Rigs A
Little Too Far, I Must Say That. For As Mr Brookes Says, People May Die
For Want Of The Medicines, Because I Put Down My Basket To Play. It'S
Part 1 Chapter 2 Pg 9Very True; But I Can'T Give Up 'Peg In The Ring' On That Account. But
Then I Only Get A Box Of The Ear From Mr Brookes, And That Goes For
Nothing. Mr Cophagus Shakes His Stick, And Says, 'Bad Boy--Big
Stick--_Um_--Won'T Forget--Next Time--And So On,'" Continued Timothy,
Laughing; "And It Is _So On_, To The End Of The Chapter."
By This Time Mr Cophagus And His Assistant Had Finished Their Dinner,
And Came Into The Shop. The Former Looked At Me, Put His Stick To His
Nose, "Little Boys--Always Hungry--Um--Like Good Dinner--Roast
Beef--Yorkshire Pudding--And So On," And He Pointed With The Stick To
The Back Parlour. Timothy And I Understood Him Very Well This Time: We
Went Into The Parlour, When The Housekeeper Sat Down With Us And Helped
Us. She Was A Terribly Cross, Little Old Woman, But As Honest As She Was
Cross, Which Is All That I Shall Say In Her Favour. Timothy Was No
Favourite, Because He Had Such A Good Appetite; And It Appeared That I
Was Not Very Likely To Stand Well In Her Good Opinion, For I Also Ate A
Great Deal, And Every Extra Mouthful I Took I Sank In Her Estimation,
Till I Was Nearly At The Zero, Where Timothy Had Long Been For The Same
Offence; But Mr Cophagus Would Not Allow Her To Stint Him, Saying,
"Little Boys Must Eat--Or Won'T Grow--And So On."
I Soon Found Out That We Were Not Only Well Fed, But In every Other
Point Well Treated, And I Was Very Comfortable And Happy. Mr Brookes
Instructed Me In The Art Of Labelling And Tying Up, And In a Very Short
Time I Was Very Expert; And As Timothy Predicted, The Rudiments Were
Once More Handed Over To Him. Mr Cophagus Supplied Me With Good Clothes,
But Never Gave Me Any Pocket-Money, And Timothy And I Often Lamented
That We Had Not Even A Halfpenny To Spend.
Before I Had Been Many Months In The Shop Mr Brookes Was Able To Leave
When Any Exigence Required His Immediate Attendance. I Made Up The
Pills, But He Weighed Out The Quantities In The Prescriptions; If,
Therefore, Any One Came In For Medicines, I Desired Them To Wait The
Return Of Mr Brookes, Who Would Be In Very Soon. One Day, When Mr
Brookes Was Out, And I Was Sitting Behind The Counter, Timothy Sitting
On It, And Swinging His Legs To And Fro, Both Lamenting That We Had No
Pocket-Money, Timothy Said, "Japhet, I'Ve Been Puzzling My Brains How We
Can Get Some Money, And I'Ve Hit It At Last; Let You And I Turn Doctors;
We Won'T Send All The People Away Who Come When Mr Brookes Is Out, But
We'Ll Physic Them Ourselves."
I Jumped At The Idea, And He Had Hardly Proposed It, When An Old Woman
Came In, And Addressing Timothy, Said, "That She Wanted Something For
Her Poor Grandchild'S Sore Throat."
"I Don'T Mix Up The Medicines, Ma'Am," Replied Timothy; "You Must Apply
To That Gentleman, Mr Newland, Who Is Behind The Counter--He Understands
What Is Good For Every Body'S Complaints."
"Bless His Handsome Face--And So Young Too! Why, Be You A Doctor, Sir?"
"I Should Hope So," Replied I; "What Is It You Require--A Lotion, Or An
Embrocation?"
"I Don'T Understand Those Hard Words, But I Want Some Doctor'S Stuff."
Part 1 Chapter 2 Pg 10"Very Well, My Good Woman; I Know What Is Proper," Replied I, Assuming
An Important Air. "Here, Timothy, Wash Out This Vial Very Clean."
"Yes, Sir," Replied Timothy, Very Respectfully.
I Took One Of The Measures, And Putting In a Little Green, A Little
Blue, And A Little White Liquid From The Medicine Bottles Generally Used
By Mr Brookes, Filled It Up With Water, Poured The Mixture Into The
Vial, Corked, And Labelled It, _Haustus Statim Sumendus_, And Handed It
Over The Counter To The Old Woman.
"Is The Poor Child To Take It, Or Is It To Rub Outside?" Inquired The
Old Woman.
"The Directions Are On The Label;--But You Don'T Read Latin?"
"Deary Me, No! Latin! And Do You Understand Latin? What A Nice Clever
Boy!"
"I Should Not Be A Good Doctor If I Did Not," Replied I. On Second
Thoughts, I Considered It Advisable And Safer, That The Application
Should Be _External_, So I Translated The Label To Her--_Haustus_, Rub
It In--_Statim_, On The Throat--_Sumendus_, With The Palm Of The Hand.
"Deary Me! And Does It Mean All That? How Much Have I To Pay, Sir?"
"Embrocation Is A Very Dear Medicine, My Good Woman; It Ought To Be
Eighteen-Pence, But As You Are A Poor Woman, I Shall Only Charge You
Nine-Pence."
"I'M Sure I Thank You Kindly," Replied The Old Woman, Putting Down The
Money, And Wishing Me A Good Morning As She Left The Shop.
"Bravo!" Cried Timothy, Rubbing His Hands; "It'S Halves, Japhet, Is It
Not?"
"Yes," I Replied; "But First We Must Be Honest, And Not Cheat Mr
Cophagus; The Vial Is Sold, You Know, For One Penny, And I Suppose The
Stuff I Have Taken Is Not Worth A Penny More. Now, If We Put Aside
Two-Pence For Mr Cophagus, We Don'T Cheat Him, Or Steal His Property;
The Other Seven-Pence Is Of Course Our Own--Being The _Profits Of The
Profession_."
"But How Shall We Account For Receiving The Two-Pence?" Said Timothy.
"Selling Two Vials Instead Of One: They Are Never Reckoned, You Know."
"That Will Do Capitally," Cried Timothy; "And Now For Halves." But This
Could Not Be Managed Until Timothy Had Run Out And Changed The Sixpence;
We Then Each Had Our Three-Pence Halfpenny, And For Once In Our Lives
Could Say That We Had Money In Our Pockets.
Part 1 Chapter 3 Pg 11
I Perform A Wonderful Cure Upon St John Long'S Principle, Having
Little Or No Principle Of My Own--I Begin To Puzzle My Head With A
Problem; Of All Others Most Difficult To Solve.
The Success Of Our First Attempt Encouraged Us To Proceed; But Afraid
That I Might Do Some Mischief, I Asked Of Mr Brookes The Nature And
Qualities Of The Various Medicines, As He Was Mixing The Prescriptions,
That I Might Avoid Taking Any Of Those Which Were Poisonous. Mr Brookes,
Pleased With My Continual Inquiries, Gave Me All The Information I Could
Desire, And Thus I Gained, Not Only A Great Deal Of Information, But
Also A Great Deal Of Credit With Mr Cophagus, To Whom Mr Brookes Had
Made Known My Diligence And Thirst For Knowledge.
"Good--Very Good," Said Mr Cophagus; "Fine Boy--Learns His
Business--M.D. One Of These Days--Ride In His Coach--Um, And So On."
Nevertheless, At My Second Attempt, I Made An Awkward Mistake, Which
Very Nearly Led To Detection. An Irish Labourer, More Than Half Tipsy,
Came In One Evening, And Asked Whether We Had Such A Thing As Was Called
"_A Poor Man'S Plaister_. By The Powers, It Will Be A Poor Man'S
Plaister When It Belongs To Me; But They Tell Me That It Is A Sure And
Sartain Cure For The Thumbago, As They Call It, Which I'Ve At The Small
Of My Back, And Which Is A Hinder To My Mounting Up The Ladder; So As
It'S Saturday Night, And I'Ve Just Got The Money, I'Ll Buy The Plaister
First, And Then Try What A Little Whiskey Inside Will Do, The Devil'S In
It If It Won'T Be Driven Out Of Me Between The Two."
We Had Not That Plaister In The Shop, But We Had Blister Plaister, And
Timothy, Handing One To Me, I Proffered It To Him. "And What May You Be
After Asking For This Same?" Inquired He.
The Blister Plaisters Were Sold At A Shilling Each, When Spread On
Paper, So I Asked Him Eighteen-Pence, That We Might Pocket The Extra
Sixpence.
"By The Powers, One Would Think That You Had Made A Mistake, And Handed
Me The Rich Man'S Plaister, Instead Of The Poor One'S. It'S Less Whiskey
I'Ll Have To Drink, Anyhow; But Here'S The Money, And The Top Of The
Morning To Ye, Seeing As How It'S Jist Getting Late."
Timothy And I Laughed As We Divided The Sixpence. It Appeared That After
Taking His Allowance Of Whiskey, The Poor Fellow Fixed The Plaister On
His Back When He Went To Bed, And The Next Morning Found Himself In a
Condition Not Be Envied. It Was A Week Before We Saw Him Again, And Much
To The Horror Of Timothy And Myself, He Walked Into The Shop When Mr
Brookes Was Employed Behind The Counter. Timothy Perceived Him Before He
Saw Us, And Pulling Me Behind The Large Mortar, We Contrived To Make Our
Escape Into The Back Parlour, The Door Of Which We Held Ajar To Hear
What Would Take Place.
"Murder And Turf!" Cried The Man, "But That Was The Devil'S Own Plaister
Part 1 Chapter 3 Pg 12
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