{"id":31702,"date":"2020-11-28T21:45:17","date_gmt":"2020-11-29T04:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/?page_id=31702"},"modified":"2020-11-28T23:00:52","modified_gmt":"2020-11-29T06:00:52","slug":"treasures-of-the-dead","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/dickens-in-days\/treasures-of-the-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 16 – Treasures of the Dead"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dickens<\/a>They left the busy scene, and went into an obscure part of the town, where Scrooge had never penetrated before, although he recognised its situation, and its bad repute. The ways were foul and narrow; the shops and houses wretched; the people half-naked, drunken, slipshod, ugly. Alleys and archways, like so many cesspools, disgorged their offences of smell, and dirt, and life, upon the straggling streets; and the whole quarter reeked with crime, with filth, and misery.<\/p>\n

Far in this den of infamous resort, there was a low-browed, beetling shop, below a pent-house roof, where iron, old rags, bottles, bones, and greasy offal, were bought. Upon the floor within, were piled up heaps of rusty keys, nails, chains, hinges, files, scales, weights, and refuse iron of all kinds. Secrets that few would like to scrutinise were bred and hidden in mountains of unseemly rags, masses of corrupted fat, and sepulchres of bones. Sitting in among the wares he dealt in, by a charcoal stove, made of old bricks, was a grey-haired rascal, nearly seventy years of age; who had screened himself from the cold air without, by a frousy curtaining of miscellaneous tatters, hung upon a line; and smoked his pipe in all the luxury of calm retirement.<\/p>\n

Scrooge and the Phantom came into the presence of this man, just as a woman with a heavy bundle slunk into the shop. But she had scarcely entered, when another woman, similarly laden, came in too; and she was closely followed by a man in faded black, who was no less startled by the sight of them, than they had been upon the recognition of each other. After a short period of blank astonishment, in which the old man with the pipe had joined them, they all three burst into a laugh.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet the charwoman alone to be the first!\u201d cried she who had entered first. \u201cLet the laundress alone to be the second; and let the undertaker\u2019s man alone to be the third. Look here, old Joe, here\u2019s a chance! If we haven\u2019t all three met here without meaning it!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou couldn\u2019t have met in a better place,\u201d said old Joe, removing his pipe from his mouth. \u201cCome into the parlour. You were made free of it long ago, you know; and the other two an\u2019t strangers. Stop till I shut the door of the shop. Ah! How it skreeks! There an\u2019t such a rusty bit of metal in the place as its own hinges, I believe; and I\u2019m sure there\u2019s no such old bones here, as mine. Ha, ha! We\u2019re all suitable to our calling, we\u2019re well matched. Come into the parlour. Come into the parlour.\u201d<\/p>\n

The parlour was the space behind the screen of rags. The old man raked the fire together with an old stair-rod, and having trimmed his smoky lamp (for it was night), with the stem of his pipe, put it in his mouth again.<\/p>\n

While he did this, the woman who had already spoken threw her bundle on the floor, and sat down in a flaunting manner on a stool; crossing her elbows on her knees, and looking with a bold defiance at the other two.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat odds then! What odds, Mrs. Dilber?\u201d said the woman. \u201cEvery person has a right to take care of themselves. He always did.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s true, indeed!\u201d said the laundress. \u201cNo man more so.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy then, don\u2019t stand staring as if you was afraid, woman; who\u2019s the wiser? We\u2019re not going to pick holes in each other\u2019s coats, I suppose?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, indeed!\u201d said Mrs. Dilber and the man together. \u201cWe should hope not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cVery well, then!\u201d cried the woman. \u201cThat\u2019s enough. Who\u2019s the worse for the loss of a few things like these? Not a dead man, I suppose.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, indeed,\u201d said Mrs. Dilber, laughing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he wanted to keep \u2019em after he was dead, a wicked old screw,\u201d pursued the woman, \u201cwhy wasn\u2019t he natural in his lifetime? If he had been, he\u2019d have had somebody to look after him when he was struck with Death, instead of lying gasping out his last there, alone by himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the truest word that ever was spoke,\u201d said Mrs. Dilber. \u201cIt\u2019s a judgment on him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish it was a little heavier judgment,\u201d replied the woman; \u201cand it should have been, you may depend upon it, if I could have laid my hands on anything else. Open that bundle, old Joe, and let me know the value of it. Speak out plain. I\u2019m not afraid to be the first, nor afraid for them to see it. We know pretty well that we were helping ourselves, before we met here, I believe. It\u2019s no sin. Open the bundle, Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the gallantry of her friends would not allow of this; and the man in faded black, mounting the breach first, produced his plunder. It was not extensive. A seal or two, a pencil-case, a pair of sleeve-buttons, and a brooch of no great value, were all. They were severally examined and appraised by old Joe, who chalked the sums he was disposed to give for each, upon the wall, and added them up into a total when he found there was nothing more to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s your account,\u201d said Joe, \u201cand I wouldn\u2019t give another sixpence, if I was to be boiled for not doing it. Who\u2019s next?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs. Dilber was next. Sheets and towels, a little wearing apparel, two old-fashioned silver teaspoons, a pair of sugar-tongs, and a few boots. Her account was stated on the wall in the same manner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always give too much to ladies. It\u2019s a weakness of mine, and that\u2019s the way I ruin myself,\u201d said old Joe. \u201cThat\u2019s your account. If you asked me for another penny, and made it an open question, I\u2019d repent of being so liberal and knock off half-a-crown.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now undo my bundle, Joe,\u201d said the first woman.<\/p>\n

Joe went down on his knees for the greater convenience of opening it, and having unfastened a great many knots, dragged out a large and heavy roll of some dark stuff.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you call this?\u201d said Joe. \u201cBed-curtains!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh!\u201d returned the woman, laughing and leaning forward on her crossed arms. \u201cBed-curtains!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t mean to say you took \u2019em down, rings and all, with him lying there?\u201d said Joe.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes I do,\u201d replied the woman. \u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were born to make your fortune,\u201d said Joe, \u201cand you\u2019ll certainly do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI certainly shan\u2019t hold my hand, when I can get anything in it by reaching it out, for the sake of such a man as He was, I promise you, Joe,\u201d returned the woman coolly. \u201cDon\u2019t drop that oil upon the blankets, now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHis blankets?\u201d asked Joe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhose else\u2019s do you think?\u201d replied the woman. \u201cHe isn\u2019t likely to take cold without \u2019em, I dare say.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope he didn\u2019t die of anything catching? Eh?\u201d said old Joe, stopping in his work, and looking up.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t you be afraid of that,\u201d returned the woman. \u201cI an\u2019t so fond of his company that I\u2019d loiter about him for such things, if he did. Ah! you may look through that shirt till your eyes ache; but you won\u2019t find a hole in it, nor a threadbare place. It\u2019s the best he had, and a fine one too. They\u2019d have wasted it, if it hadn\u2019t been for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you call wasting of it?\u201d asked old Joe.<\/p>\n

\u201cPutting it on him to be buried in, to be sure,\u201d replied the woman with a laugh. \u201cSomebody was fool enough to do it, but I took it off again. If calico an\u2019t good enough for such a purpose, it isn\u2019t good enough for anything. It\u2019s quite as becoming to the body. He can\u2019t look uglier than he did in that one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scrooge listened to this dialogue in horror. As they sat grouped about their spoil, in the scanty light afforded by the old man\u2019s lamp, he viewed them with a detestation and disgust, which could hardly have been greater, though they had been obscene demons, marketing the corpse itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cHa, ha!\u201d laughed the same woman, when old Joe, producing a flannel bag with money in it, told out their several gains upon the ground. \u201cThis is the end of it, you see! He frightened every one away from him when he was alive, to profit us when he was dead! Ha, ha, ha!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSpirit!\u201d said Scrooge, shuddering from head to foot. \u201cI see, I see. The case of this unhappy man might be my own. My life tends that way, now. Merciful Heaven, what is this!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They left the busy scene, and went into an obscure part of the town, where Scrooge had never penetrated before, although he recognised its situation, and its bad repute. The ways were foul and narrow; the shops and houses wretched; the people half-naked, drunken, slipshod, ugly. Alleys and archways, like so many cesspools, disgorged their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"parent":31663,"menu_order":16,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"pageWithContainerAndSidebar.php","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","iawp_total_views":13,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-31702","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31702\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}