Stranica 57 [57]
OCR
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 master’s, ran by the side. There was not so great a necessity for hurrying as Mr. Sowerberry had anticipated, 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 hideand-see among the t mn bsto ] os "Or varied their. amusements by jumping backwards and forwards over ti coffin. Mr. Sowerif 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 Sowerberry, and the clerk, were seen towards the grave; and immediately afterwards 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, stamped it loosely down with his feet, shouldered his spade, and walked off, followed by the boys, who murmured very loud complaints 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 departed 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, Oliver,” said Sowerberry. ‘ Nothing when you are used to it, my boy.” Oliver wondered in his own mind whether 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, coffins were looking up; and, in the course of a few weeks, Oliver had acquired a great deal of experience. The success of Mr. Sowerberry’s ingenious speculation exceeded even his most sanguine hopes. The oldest inhabitants recollected no period at which measles had been so prevalent, or so fatal to infant existence; and many were the mournful processions which little 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 command of nerve which are so essential to a finished undertaker, he had many opportunities of observing the beautiful resignation and fortitude with which some strongminded 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 together with as much freedom and gaiety as if nothing whatever had happened to disturb them. Husbands, too, bore the loss
