Inhaltsangabe
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1903 Excerpt: ... XII GINA OF MOSS ALLEY Moss Alley, in spite of its suggestively woodland name, is not an ideal spot for children. It is about as grimy and squalid an alley as you could find in Southwark. Standing at the end, however, and looking straight up the narrow tortuous passage, you get a glimpse of old London which would delight the heart of an artist--a little gleaming strip of Thames where the big black barges and red-sailed fishing boats pass to and fro, and beyond, rising out of the blue smoky haze, the great dome of St. Paul's. But no one in Moss Alley has time, inclination, or eyes for artistic effects. Even Mrs. Natterly, who loves flowers and green things so well she has triumphantly reared a Virginian creeper which glorifies her little Cinderella house like a fairy godmother's wand, even she can see nothing in "that there river" but the "nuisance of them plaguey rats,"--" which do what you may you can't get rid of 'em you can't. And the imperence of the critturs! I ketch one the other day a 'gnorrin hup a bit o' bacon I jus' lay on the table, and," Mrs. Natterly shudders, "blest if 'e didn't turn roun' and sauce me with such a evil look in 'is eye I dursn't touch 'im, and 'e never budged till he'd took and finished the lars' morsel." The rats in Hamlin couldn't have been worse. Mr. Natterly, when reproached for his inactivity in this respect, maintains that "the more you kills 'em the more you may." But "plaguey" as the rats were, they were not the only evils in Moss Alley. The houses, huddled one against the other, were damp, draughty, and dilapidated. As they had been officially "condemned" over and over again for many years past, no repairs were ever dreamt of. But since the rents were low, a vacant house was instantly snapped up, in spite of two out of...
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