Page:The Chimes.djvu/84

looking abstractedly at Toby; “your only business in life is with me. You needn’t trouble yourself to think about anything. I will think for you; I know what is good for you; I am your perpetual parent. Such is the dispensation of an all-wise Provi­dence! Now, the design of your creation is—not that you should swill, and guzzle, and associate your enjoyments, bru­tally, with food;” Toby thought remorsefully of the tripe; but that you should feel the Dignity of Labour. Go forth erect into the cheerful morning air, and—and stop there. Live hard and temperately, be respectful, exercise your self-denial, bring up your family on next to nothing, pay your rent as regu­larly as the clock strikes, be punctual in your dealings (I set you a good example; you will find Mr. Fish, my confidential secre­tary, with a cash-box before him at all times); and you may trust to me to be your Friend and Father.”

“Nice children, indeed. Sir Joseph!” said the lady, with a shudder. “Rheumatisms, and fevers, and crooked legs, and asthmas, and all kinds of horrors!”

“My lady,” returned Sir Joseph, with solemnity, “not the less am I the Poor Man’s Friend and Father. Not the less shall he receive encouragement at my hands. Every quarter-day he will be put in communication with Mr.Fish. Every New Year’s Day, myself and friends will drink his health. Once every year, myself and friends will address him with the deepest feeling. Once in his life, he may even perhaps receive—in public, in the presence of the gentry—a Trifle from a Friend. And when,