"Dickens, Charles - Sketches By Boz" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dickens Charles)

parish. The man first neglects, and afterwards cannot obtain, work
- he is relieved by the parish; and when distress and drunkenness
have done their work upon him, he is maintained, a harmless
babbling idiot, in the parish asylum.

The parish beadle is one of the most, perhaps THE most, important
member of the local administration. He is not so well off as the
churchwardens, certainly, nor is he so learned as the vestry-clerk,
nor does he order things quite so much his own way as either of
them. But his power is very great, notwithstanding; and the
dignity of his office is never impaired by the absence of efforts
on his part to maintain it. The beadle of our parish is a splendid
fellow. It is quite delightful to hear him, as he explains the
state of the existing poor laws to the deaf old women in the board-
room passage on business nights; and to hear what he said to the
senior churchwarden, and what the senior churchwarden said to him;
and what 'we' (the beadle and the other gentlemen) came to the
determination of doing. A miserable-looking woman is called into
the boardroom, and represents a case of extreme destitution,
affecting herself - a widow, with six small children. 'Where do
you live?' inquires one of the overseers. 'I rents a two-pair
back, gentlemen, at Mrs. Brown's, Number 3, Little King William's-
alley, which has lived there this fifteen year, and knows me to be
very hard-working and industrious, and when my poor husband was
alive, gentlemen, as died in the hospital' - 'Well, well,'
interrupts the overseer, taking a note of the address, 'I'll send
Simmons, the beadle, to-morrow morning, to ascertain whether your
story is correct; and if so, I suppose you must have an order into
the House - Simmons, go to this woman's the first thing to-morrow
morning, will you?' Simmons bows assent, and ushers the woman out.
Her previous admiration of 'the board' (who all sit behind great
books, and with their hats on) fades into nothing before her
respect for her lace-trimmed conductor; and her account of what has
passed inside, increases - if that be possible - the marks of
respect, shown by the assembled crowd, to that solemn functionary.
As to taking out a summons, it's quite a hopeless case if Simmons
attends it, on behalf of the parish. He knows all the titles of
the Lord Mayor by heart; states the case without a single stammer:
and it is even reported that on one occasion he ventured to make a
joke, which the Lord Mayor's head footman (who happened to be
present) afterwards told an intimate friend, confidentially, was
almost equal to one of Mr. Hobler's.

See him again on Sunday in his state-coat and cocked-hat, with a
large-headed staff for show in his left hand, and a small cane for
use in his right. How pompously he marshals the children into
their places! and how demurely the little urchins look at him
askance as he surveys them when they are all seated, with a glare
of the eye peculiar to beadles! The churchwardens and overseers
being duly installed in their curtained pews, he seats himself on a