Chapter I. Avappermouth
There is on the south-east coast of England a sea-side toAvn named Wappermouth. Who gave it that name, has never been distinctly ascer tained. The inhabitants of the town do not knoAAr, and as nobody seems at all curious on the subject, the matter is involved in mystery. The small stream or river which finds its way into the sea just beloAv the town, is called the " Liddle," and therefore, if the town had taken its name from the stream, it would naturally have been called Liddlemouth, and not Wapper mouth ; but it had not taken the name of the river, and the person or persons who named it VOL. I. r. WAPPERMOUTH. had provided another, and perhaps, as they thought, a prettier appellation for it, — to wit, Wappermouth. The place had originally con sisted of a feAv miserable cottages, which Avere used by fishermen, who, however happy and con tented they may have been, were certainly very poor.
These men and their families, living as they did on the lonely sea-shore, and a considerable distance from any village, nourished them selves for the most part on the fish they caught, and as at that time oysters could be dredged there in considerable quantities, they were not without delicacies with which to tickle their palates. The cottages are still standing, and there are many others added to the group, so that there is now quite a colony of fishermen and their fami lies, and they go on eating fish as the chief of their diet in the same contented manner as did the first comers ; but although they eat as much fish, or nearly so, they drink a great deal more beer, and are none the better for it. At the public house, which is known by the name of the " Pie bald Pig," the quantity of beer and other intoxi- WAPPERMOUTH. 3 eating fluids Avhich are consumed by the good fishermen is so large, that it has been a matter of more than a little Avonder to many thoughtful persons, where on earth these industrious men put all the drink that is supplied to them on the necessary payment.
The thoughtful persons have also, besides moralizing on the drinking habits of the fishermen, taken the opportunity at times, of referring to the name of the town, and endeavouring to ascertain, by a kind of pumping, what misdit be knoAvn to them as to the origin of the word Wappermouth. As a general rule, inquiries were met by shakings of the head and puffings of smoke from lips Avhich seemed to enjoy the sending it out : but now and again some good felloAV, more wise or cunning than his fellows, would give his opinion, either real or pretended, on the correct derivation of the word. One man especially had a theory, and as he was old, and had knoAvn some of the original inhabit ants, his theory was not without its weight. Whatever it might be Avorth, this man, Avhose name AA-as Tommy Slidock, thought that the B WAPPERMOUTH. name of Wappermouth was derived from the. following circumstance : A master mariner, Avho had acquired a small independence, and Avas fond of retirement and a residence by the sad sea Avave, had caused a small stone house to be built for his accommoda tion in the vicinity of the original huts ; and during the time he lived in this stone edifice, he had been on very friendly terms with the fishermen, although eating not nearly so much fish as they did.
According to Tommy Slidock, this worthy Avas lost in astonishment at the enormous mouths Avhich his neighbours were possessed of. He Avas said by Mr. Slidock, who had a very large mouth himself, to have sat for hours on an inverted fish-basket, Avatching his friends at their daily occupations when on shore ; and he was so very much struck by the manner in which they eat oysters, that if he had the chance, nothing gratified him so much, — short of eating them himself, — as Avatching a fisherman and his family devour a feAv score of the delicate bivalves. The oysters were not WAPPERMOUTH. those small pleasant-looking ones, which are knoAvn as " natives," but Avere of a very large size indeed, and the master mariner used to notice that when they were taken into the mouth, those who took them in, usually expanded their mouths very Avide indeed to get the shell suffi ciently far inside, so that the liquid, or "juice," as master mariner called it, might not be lost.
Sauntering along the beach in front of the huts one day, with his hands in his pockets, — at least, so went Slidock's story — he saw a fisherman and his family, consisting of a Avife and ten children of all sizes, sitting at a table outside their hut, and engaged in the pleasant and beneficial occupation of eating oysters. The father and mother and the largest of the children, had opened a great many, and at the time the master mariner came up, they were eating them, as they had every right to do. The Avay, hoAvever, in which they stretched their mouths, and the hideous faces and noises they made in their anxiety not to let anything escape them, so impressed the mariner that he went WAPPERMOUTH. home and told his wife, that although he had seen many foreign countries, and consequently many strange people, he had never seen any with such Wapping mouths as his neighbours had; and after this occurrence, if it so happened that the retired and independent man was asked by any friend in another part of the country, where it might be that he lived, the master mariner Avould answer Wappermouth Villa, Wappermouth.
When Tommy Slidock told the above nar rative it was usually when he was seated in the "Piebald Pig," with his pipe in his mouth, and a glass of rum and Avater in front of him ; and it was observed by his friends that his story was only told to curious and moralizing people, who came to the little public-house to study the manners and customs of fishermen ; and when the man had finished his anecdote, an observing person might have noticed, that, although he did not laugh, he had a curious brightness in his eye and a peculiar twitching of his mouth,. which were indications that it would take very WAPPERMOUTH. little indeed to make him laugh heartily. In point of fact, Mr. Slidock, when he told tiris story, told not only a story, but an abominable falsehood, for the mouths of the original settlers in this part of the coast Avere no larger than other people's mouths, nor did they, when they eat their oysters, use more contortion of feature than any body else.
The probable origin of the name arose from the circumstance that some hundred and twenty years ago a man of the name of Wapper had come to stay in the nearest village, and taking a fancy to the spot where the fisher men's huts were built, and having the necessary funds for building, had put up a roAv of semi detached cottages, which he had called "Wapper Row." He had also opened a small beer-house, which he had the impudence to call " The Wapper," but this beer-house was a thing of the past, and was not now in existence. The man who was the principal pioneer in building the town was a wealthy budder from London, named Jackson; but although he could put a house together pretty strongly, he found WAPPERMOUTH. 8 that he eould not build up his bodily health in the great city, so he determined to leave it, and to live by the seaside, and pass his time in fishing, boating, and out-door amusements.
The air, Iioav ever, of Wappermouth, for the place was known by that name when he came to live tliere, so improved his health, and made his liver so active, that he longed to be at work once more, and to put up terraces and streets, for profit and renown, and the use of his fellow creatures, who from bilious and other disorders, might require to live by the sea. Thus it was that Mr. Jackson bought some land with a frontage to the sea, and having done so, set to work with much energy to carry out his vieAvs. Of course if a builder has the land and the necessary capital, he can build as many houses as he thinks proper, but he cannot make people live in them unless they think proper to do so, and it is often a fact that people do not tliink proper to do what is Avanted of them, and is good for them.
Therefore, the builder, Avhen he has put up his houses in a place that is little known, stands a very good WAPPERMOUTH. 9 chance of their remaining empty until he wonld let them go for something very little more than nothing. In the case of Mr. Jackson there Avas very little difficulty in getting tenants, for he had a large number of friends in London who held him to be a very superior man, and when he showed himself amongst them, and told them Iioav well he was, and how the state of his liver had improved, and many other interesting little details, he persuaded first one tradesman Avho Avished to retire, and then another, and then somebody else to come and try Wappermouth, so that he managed to form the nucleus of a very snug little colony. This Mr. Jackson Avas, in truth, a very shrewd fellow, and his friends Avhen they held him to be Avise, only held him at his proper value.
He not only built houses and got people to live in them, but by his eloquence he persuaded his friends that the air of Wappermouth Avas very conducive for the healing of all liver affections. There was a natural spring in the neighbourhood, he said, which if a man drank in proper quan- WAPPERMO UTH. 10 tities and at certain times, it mattered not how bilious that man might be or how yellow, he Avould be a different creature in a very short time ; and knowing hoAv important it is to a sea-side town to have a reputation for curative powers, he did his very best to cry up the place as a liver-curing one. He went so far as to establish a sort of hospital for liver complaints, and induced some London doctors to send down persons who Avere having the jaundice. Those wretches he would cause to be Avalked up and doAvn the esplanade on fine days, so that their yellow faces might be seen, and when the yellow hue was changed for the ordinary colour of skin, he would loudly con gratulate them on their recovery, and take care that his congratulations should be heard by plenty of his tenants.
No doubt the healthiness of the place had a good deal to do Avith the cures, but the persons sent doAvn to Wappermouth were those avIio only wanted a little fresh air and regular way of living to set them up again. The place in one way and another came to WAPPERMOUTH. 11 have so much popularity, that other men built houses there, and the competition caused the quick-Avitted Jackson to build all the faster, and considering the comparative slowness with which building Avas carried on in those days, the rows of houses started up very fast indeed. Then Mr. Jackson made his oavii bricks and employed labour in many ways, so that he got to be so popular that it occurred to him that he really ought to be in parliament. He thought that he Avas just the sort of man Avho was fitted to be a legislator, and so thought Mrs. Jackson and a good many of his friends, or at least they said they did.
Mr. Jackson had of course no opportunity of finding out Avhether they spoke the truth or not, but being a sensible man he thought it most probable that they didn't, but however that might be, he never did represent his country in the House, and the competitive builders wondered at his impudence for ever thinking of such a thing. By the time he died the name of Jackson Avas a very conspicuous one about the toAvn, there were Jackson Square, and Jackson WAPPERMOUTH. Road, and Jackson Terrace; in fact, it was almost a relief at the time to look up at a corner house and not find the name of Jackson upon it. And his example of using his OAvn name was followed pretty freely by the other builders. There Avas Robinson Street and Jones Place, and Avhenever a man built a small house for himself, it Avas generally the case that he called it after his own name.
Mr. Wapper's modest roAv of cottages Avere quite eclipsed by the larger buildings Avhich stood near them, and Avhen he had died, the man avIio bought them of his executors, thinking a more attractive name would be to his interest, had had them repainted, and called " Sea-view Row." At the present time Wappermouth is a large town, and if all those avIio had helped to build it, had been as intelligent as Mr. Jackson, the place as a Avhole Avould be very superior in appearance to Avhat it is. One person, for instance, Avho had bought a piece of ground on a hill a short distance from the sea-front, had done his best to make the buildings Avhich he put there look as much as possible like a WAPPERMOUTH. 13 man's face that is grinning, aud although when closely looked at, the resemblance Avas not striking, as seen from the distance there Avas a good deal of likeness.
The eyes were shoAvn by tAvo AvindoAvs with circular tops to them, and a heavy moulding for the eyebrows. The entrance door was carried from the top of a flight of stone steps, so constructed as to give a fair idea of a Avide mouth Avith a set of teeth, up to a level with the window sills, and represented the nose, while euonymus plants Avere trained in such a manner as to form AA-hiskers and moustache for the fanciful struc tures. The other AvindoAvs were built in the sides and back walls, and hideous though the houses Avere, they Avere no small source of amusement to the crews of vessels passing the coast, and could be recognized far out at sea ; and, indeed, came to be looked upon as beacons. There were two or three clubs in the toAvn, and a good many churches and chapels, con ducted by a numerous body of clergy, and WAPPERMOUTH. 14 earnest no doubt though they were, the reputa tion of the place for mending disordered livers, was also one of the causes why there were so many of them.
The country surrounding the town, too, was very pretty ; there were shady walks, and pleasant drives, ruined castles to be seen, country seats to be visited, and a pack of hounds for those fond of field sports, so that, take it all in all, Wappermouth was a place which came to be very much liked by those who lived there, or merely paid it a visit.
Chapter II. Mount Vesuvius
A snoitT distance from the sea, or about five minutes' Avalk, as the house agents generally called O O __/ it, there Avas a gentle ascent, on which some prettier houses than common had been built. Some of them were approached by short carriage drives, and had conservatories and good-sized gardens, and Avere altogether very pleasant to look upon. On the further side of the road, a bank partly covered with gorse sloped doAvn to other houses, but these were not so near that the smoke from the chimneys was an annoyance to the houses above. The architecture of these desirable residences was supposed to be Elizabethan, but as a matter of fact, they Avere simply pretty-looking, roomy, convenient houses, of no fixed style of architec- WAPPERMOUTH. 16 ture at all. In one of the best of them there lived a family named Lindfield, and they had occupied the house since it had been built.
The head of the family was a retired major in the army, who had served a good many years in India, and Avhose liver was supposed to have suffered in consequence. Upon leaving the service, Major Lindfield, thinking that his liver would interfere a good deal with his comfort unless it could be restored to a healthy condition, made up his mind to try the air of Wappermouth, from having heard of the Avonderful cures the place had brought about. He did try it, and since he had lived there he had never felt better in his life. There was not probably very much the matter with him when he Avent there, but hoAvever that might be, he Avas convinced that he owed much to the healthy nature of the place, and whenever he came across an old Indian friend, he always recommended him to come to Wappermouth.
Besides him self, the family consisted of Mrs. Lindfield and two daughters. The young ladies were popular in society, being bright, good-looking, clever girls, with considerable musical abilities, and they had arrived at the respective ages of twenty three and twenty-one years. The eldest, whose name Avas Mary, and avIio was always called Molly by her family, was supposed to have rather the most to say for herself; but, in truth, there was little to choose between them so far as talking went, and the younger one, Andrina, if she did not talk quite as much, made up for it by an extra capacity for laughing and joking. In fact, " Drina," as she Avas called, could generally, like poor Yorick, " set the table on a roar," so funny did her friends find her jokes and witticisms. The Lindfields contributed something to the sober gaiety of the place, by giving, in the course of the year, tAvo or three dinners, and an occasional musical party and afternoon tea ; and dull as these entertainments generally were iu Wappermouth, they so managed matters, that their festivities gave satisfaction to nearly everybody.
They, moreover, kept a carriage VOL. T. C WAPPERMOUTH. 18 which was drawn by one horse, and driven by a man avIio was thought to look very faithful, and in fact was so ; and the family turn-out was regarded by the neighbours as adding very considerably to the respectability of the estab lishment. The Major and his Avife had thought that the hiring system Avas the simplest, for the flys in the town Avere rather better than those found in some sea-side places ; but it had so happened, that an aunt of Mrs. Lindfield had, some three or four years previous to the time AAdien our narrative commences, left her niece a small sum of money and a large carriage horse, with a strongly worded wash, that the animal should be valued and cared for, if not on its own account, at least for the sake of the donor.
And the good lady — who had, in her life time, been looked upon almost as a saint by a large and admiring circle of friends — had made it to be understood, that if her faithful servant John, than whom, according to her fancy, no better man of his class existed, was engaged to attend upon the horse, it would be very much in accordance with her wishes. At first the Major and his Avife had hated the sight of the large animal Avhen it Avas sent over to them, for it looked like a class of horse whieh could and Avould eat as much as tAvo smaller and quicker horses, which would have done for riding ; but as time went on, they had got to have a liking for the poor beast, who, in truth, did not eat an extravagant amount of forage, and they AA'ere reAvarded by their attention to the aunt's wishes, in finding that the man John, who had been en gaged as coachman, was a fat, healthy-looking felloAV, and Avas as good as he had been said to be.
Major Lindfield, amongst other pursuits, was a great gardener, and the gaiety of his floAver beds and borders was the admiration and Avonder of his neighbours. He had a conservatory also, Avhich was a marvel of blossoms ; but then he paid much attention to it, and his Avife and daughters often found it hard to make him leave it Avhen he Avas Avanted at the breakfast or luncheon table. The industrious man Avaged a most determined warfare with all those insects c WAPPERMO UT H. and grubs which Avere likely to damage his plants, and as he had a large collection of car nations and pinks, he found that the snails required looking very sharply after. There Avere, indeed, a great many snails about the place, not only in his garden, but in those of his neighbours; it seemed as if the creatures came on purpose to give the Major employment, and it also seemed odd that thev liked a place Avhere thev Avere almost sure, sooner or later, to be found and smashed A Avooden mallet Avas kept in the conservatory, and when a snail was found, it Avas laid upon a stone slab, and a blow Avas administered with the implement, a repetition of which was never required.
One of the neighbours, Avho had also an aversion to snails, used to collect them from his garden, put them into a flower-pot, and then treat them to a dose of salt. This had the effect of making them die ; but to Major Lindfield it seemed a cruel process, so he stuck to his mallet, or when that was not ready to hand, he would put the snail upon the garden walk, and brinodown the heel of his boot upon it with force enough to kill it at once. Mrs. Lindfield at times, on coming down to breakfast, Avould find that her husband, Avho she knew had been dressed before her, AAras not in the breakfast rooin, and Avould send one or other of her daughters to ask him to come before the breakfast should be cold ; the usual answer brought back from the conservatory or garden, was gene rally to the effect, that Major Lindfield would just smash a snail or two, and would then attack his breakfast.
But all this gardening and snail smashing was not Avithout a beneficial effect upon the neighbourhood. Other people Avho lived on the hill, Avhich had been named by the fortunate owner Mount Vesuvius, Avere not going to let the Lindfields have all the floAvers to themselves, and the consequence Avas, there Avere some very brilliant patches of scarlet gera niums and yellow calceolarias in their gardens, so that a walk up the Mount, during the flower season, Avas esteemed a treat by the good people of the town. WAPPERMOUTH. 22 Lower doAvn the hill, and nearer to the sea, was a house very similar to the Lindfield's, and with a well-kept garden, although not so good as theirs. This house was lived in by a gentle man named Sprawler ; by profession, a clergy man, but Avho was one of those avIio never did any duty.
It Avas supposed that something had once been the matter with his throat ; but if this were the case, he seemed to have quite recovered the use of it, for he had a powerful voice, and wras fond of using it. His wife, too, who Avas said to be a very nice person, was fond of talking, although after a different fashion ; and the Misses Lindfield found considerable amusement from listening to the conversations Avhich occurred between the Rev. Mr. SpraAvler and his Avife. The latter Avas an inoffensive, unobtrusive woman, but she had this peculiarity : when she began a sentence, she liked to finish it. It seemed harmless, but if the truth were told, she had often a good deal of difficulty in getting her reverend husband to listen to her sentences from end to end. But although she had this difficulty, she seldom allowed herself to be beaten, for knowing that England is a free country, and that she had every right to express her opinion, she would continue her sentences, if only by a word or two at a time, until she had finished Avhat she had to say.
For instance, if she Avere to mention that she intended to go out to make certain purchases, she would perhaps begin in this way : " I am thinking of going to buy a new " Whereupon her husband Avould interrupt her, and chime in with, " Oh, pray don't go out without me, I shall be ready " — " Pair of shoes for Tommy, and you know — " Mrs. Sprawler would continue. " Oh, I know all about it, iny dear — pray wait a few — " Mr. Sprawler Avould go on. " Plow badly he wants them," his Avife Avould say ; thus showing that although she had to get her Avords in " edgeways," as it is sometimes called, she Avould finish at last, and Avas quite ready to listen to Avhat Mr. Sprawler's vieAvs might be, Avithout giving him interruption. WAPPERMOUTH. ■2i The Sprawlers, like the Lindfields, gave musical parties, which were usually well attended, for they Avere popular people in their Avay, and knew nearly everyone in the place.
It was considered great fun to go to one of Mrs. Sprawler's musical evenings, for it often chanced that on these occasions something droll Avould happen. Some one Avould do something absurd which Avould make other people laugh ; or Mr. Sprawler Avould insist on playing the flute, which Avas ahvays looked upon as a good joke; and then there Avas no stiffness at the SpraAvlers'; everybody might do as they liked, and they took good care to do it. The young SpraAvlers were numerous, most of them being boys ; but they were kept in reasonably tight order by their male parent, so that, although Mrs. Sprawler Avas in clined to spoil them a little, they were not a greater nuisance to other people than a lot of half-groAvn boys usually are. There Avere tAvo or three girls, and, like the boys, they Avere fairly Avell behaved, although it Avas generally thought by those who knew them, that, as far as outAvard appearance and behaviour went, there was but little difference in them from their brothers.
The appearance of Mr. SpraAvler was not Avithout certain peculiarities, the most striking of which was, that his necktie and shirt collar, Avhich should of course have been white, were anything but so ; for, in fact, Avhenever you saw him, you Avere inclined to wonder what he hacl been about to make himself look so far from clean. He Avas, in truth, supposed to use a fair proportion of neckties and other linen during the Aveek, but there Avas no doubt about it ; nothing seemed to make the man look clean. Another peculiarity Avas, that his feet Avere very large ones, and always put into either shoes or boots which seemed to have been made for some person who required still larger ones than himself. He generally Avore the orthodox black, but although he went to a good tailor, at least the best in Wappermouth, he never did justice to his cloth from an unfortunate knack he had of dropping food upon his clothes when he Avas at his meals.
His features Avere good ; and if it had not been WAPPERMOUTH. that his eyeballs were too yellow, and his teeth were too large for his mouth, he would have been, as a AA'hole, rather good-looking. Mrs. Sprawler Avas in most respects very different to her husband in appearance, for she was as clean looking as he was the reverse ; but she Avas one of those avIio looked as if she always Avore the same clothes, and never changed them. The good lady never indulged in much variety as to her dress ; but Avhatever change she made, people never noticed that tliere was any change ; they thought that, clean though she looked, she lived night and day in the same garments, or at least that she looked as if she did so. She thought a good deal of her husband's opinion, and did not underrate her own, but she did not put it forward so as to annoy anybody.
The SpraAvlers also kept a carriage, but it was not so nice a one to look at as the Lindfields' ; the horse Avas not so big and strong, and the coachman did not look so faith ful, and in truth was not so, for he had been on one occasion caught at selling the horse's forage; but the man had promised never to do it again ami had been forgiven, although, to judge by the animal's appearance, he Avas constantly doing it. Thc house Avhich stood next to the Spravvlers' was occupied by General and Mrs. Weather beeton, and an unmarried niece. The General Avas, unfortunately for himself, very deaf, but it was thought that Mr. Sprawler rather liked the deafness, because it gave him an opportunity when thev were walking together, to use his t/ 0,0* voice, and to let the people know what a clever, clear-sighted, nice-spoken gentleman he Avas.
Another person avIio lived on Mount Vesuvius was a Mrs. Slowcoach ; a widow living by her self, but entertaining a good deal : she also Avas deaf, and her want of hearing Avas caused by old age, so that she could not grumble, or to speak more correctly, she did'nt grumble ; but much as people in general disliked talking to her, Mr. Sprawler Avould, when he could find no one else to listen to him, go to Mrs. Slow coach and bellow out the gossip of the place to her. WAPPERMOUTH. Such were some of the residents on Mount Vesuvius, which, take it all in all, Avas by no means a disagreeable part of Wappermouth to choose for a residence.
The opening of the book is shown; the full text loads in the reader.
Loading the full text…
The end
You’ve reached the end of Wappermouth. A novel.