MR JORROCKS 



generous feelings, his joy found vent in stamping 

 on the floor, thereby summoning his servant the 

 aforesaid Benjamin into his presence. 



Benjamin, or Bmj^min, as Mr. Jorrocks pro- 

 nounced the name, was one of those mischievous 

 urchins that people sometimes persuade them- 

 selves do the work of a man without the wages. 

 He was a stunted, pasty-faced, white-headed, 

 ginnified boy, that might be any age from eight to 

 eighteen, and as idle and mischievous a brat as it 

 was possible to conceive ; sharp as a needle, and 

 quick as lightning, he was far more than a match 

 for his over-easy master, whom he cheated and 

 deceived in every possible way. Whatever went 

 wrong, Benjamin always had an excuse for it, 

 which generally transferred the blame from his 

 own to some one else's shoulders, a piece of 

 ingenuity which required no small degree of 

 dexterity, inasmuch as the light-porter of the 

 warehouse, Betsey, a maid of all work, and a girl 

 under her, were all he had to divide it among. 

 Not a note came into the house, or a letter went 



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