Page 57 [57]
OLIVER
TWIST. 31
Thus directed, the bearers trotted on
under their light burden, and the two
mourners kept as near them as they could.
Mr. Bumble and Sowerberry walked at a
good smart pace in front; and Oliver,
whose legs were not as long as his mas¬
ter’s, ran by the side.
There was not so great a necessity for
hurrying as Mr. Sowerberry had antici¬
pated, however; for when they reached
the obscure corner of the churchyard in
which the nettles grew, and the parish
graves were made, the clergyman had not
arrived, and the clerk, who was sittin
by the vestry-room fire, seemed to thi
it by no means improbable that it might
. be an hour or so before he came. So Pén
set the bier down on the brink of the
grave; and the two mourners waited pa¬
tiently in the damp clay witha cold rain
drizefi " down, while the boys,
elvezet nap pec mee had attrac into the
churchyard, played a noisy game at hide¬
and-see among the t mn bsto ] os "Or varied
their. amusements by jumping backwards
and forwards over ti coffin. Mr. Sower¬
if
berry and Bumble, igs ‘personal friends
of the clerk, sat by t e with him, and
read the paper. .
At length, after the lapse of something
more than an hour, Mr. Bumble, and Sow¬
erberry, and the clerk, were seen
towards the grave; and immediately af¬
terwards the clergyman appeared, putting
on his surplice as he came along. Mr.
Bumble then threshed a boy or two, to
keep up appearances; and the reverend
Arra aes, having read as much of the
urial service:as could be compressed into
four minutes, gave his surplice to the clerk,
and ran away again,
c Now, Bull,” said Sowerberry to the
grave-digger, “ fill up.”
It was no very difficult task, for the
grave was so full that the uppermost coffin
was within a few feet of the surface. The
grave-digger shovelled in the earth, stamp¬
ed it loosely down with his feet, shoulder¬
ed his spade, and walked off, followed by
the boys, who murmured very loud com¬
plaints at the fun being over so soon.
“Come, my good fellow,” said Bumble,
tapping the man on the back, “ they want
to shut up the yard.”
The man, who had never once moved
since he had taken his station by the grave
side, started, raised his head, stared at the
person who had addressed him, walked
forward for a few paces, and then fell down
in a fit. The crazy old woman was too
much occupied in bewailing the loss of her
cloak (which the undertaker had taken
off) to pay him any attention; so they
threw a can of cold water over him, and
when he came to, saw him safely out of
the UCAS, locked the gate, and de¬
parted on their different ways.
“Well, Oliver,” said Sowerberry, as
they walked home, “ how do you like it ?”
“Pretty well, thank you, sir,” replied
Oliver, with considerable hesitation. ** Not
very much, sir.”
6 Ah, you 1] get used to it in time, Oli¬
ver,” said Sowerberry. ‘ Nothing when
you are used to it, my boy.”
Oliver wondered in his own mind whe¬
ther it had taken a very long time to get
Mr. Sowerberry used to it; but he thought
oi bank to thehop, thankoag aver all he
to the shop, thinking over e
had seen and heard.
as
CHAPTER THE SIXTH.
Oliver, being goaded by the taunts of Noah, rouses
into action, and rather astonishes him,
THE month’s trial over, Oliver was forme
ally apprenticed. Itwasanice sickly season
justat this time. In commercial phrase, cof¬
fins were looking up; and, in the course of a
few weeks, Oliver had acquired a great deal
of experience. The success of Mr. Sow¬
erberry’s ingenious speculation exceeded
even his most sanguine hopes. The old¬
est inhabitants recollected no period at
which measles had been so prevalent, or
so fatal to infant existence; and many
were the mournful processions which lit¬
tle Oliver headed in a hat-band reaching
down to his knees, to the indescribable
admiration and emotion of all the mothers
in the town. As Oliver accompanied his
master in most of his adult expeditions
too, in order that he might acquire that
equanimity of demeanour and full com¬
mand of nerve which are so essential to
a finished undertaker, he had many oppor¬
tunities of observing the beautiful resigna¬
tion and fortitude with which some strong¬
minded people bear their trials and losses,
For instance, when Sowerberry had an
order for the burial of some rich old lady
or gentleman, who was surrounded by a
great number of nephews or nieces, who
had been perfectly inconsolable during the
previous illness, and whose grief had been
wholly irrepressible even on the most pub:
lic occasions, they would be as happy
among themselves as need be—quite
cheerful and contented, conversing toge¬
ther with as much freedom and gaiety as
if nothing whatever had happened to dis¬
turb them. Husbands, too, bore the loss