'Is father 'ad a barrer,
thet were what _'is_ father did for a livelihood, an' 'is mother were
up afore the beaks for poppin' shirts what she'd took in to wash.
Well, I ain't one to brag, but my father were a 'air-dresser's
assistant in Pimlico. Pretty well up, too, 'e was. The way 'e'd shive
yer were sutthin' to see. Shivin'? Yer couldn't call it shivin'; it
were gen'us, thet's what it were. Speccilation rooined 'im. 'E stawted
a small plice of 'is own, and bust. Then 'e took to the turf, and bust
agin. Then Mother begun dress-mikin' and there weren't no dress-mikin'
to be 'ad; so that bust. We was unfortnit. Heve'rythin' as we touched
bust. But we never run no barrers, an' we never was up afore no beaks,
and if there weren't such a thund'rin' lot of us, I shouldn't be doin'
this now. Anywye, I respecs myself. So I'm goin' to start a new pitch
an' chawnce it."
I inquired where the new pitch was to be.
"I'm swoppin' with another boy (EDDUDS 'is nime is) up fur end o' this
street. 'E ain't so perticler as I am. Clerks lives there mostly, an'
the biz ain't so good as it was in my old plice. Them clerks wears
top-'ats, an' consequently they daren't smoke pipes. They cawn't
afford to smoke cigars, and cigarettes is off'rin' eyep'ny oices to a
stawvin' man. So they don't smoke at all, an' don't want no matches.
An' I don't blime 'em, mind yer. Pussonally, I chews--but if I smoked
a pipe I wouldn't do it with one o' them 'ats on.
Pages:
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35