The Water-Babies

The Water-Babies, by Charles
Kingsley

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Title: The Water-Babies
Author: Charles Kingsley

Release Date: August, 1997 [EBook #1018] [This file was first posted
on August 8, 1997] [Most recently updated: May 23, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
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Transcribed by David Price, email [email protected]

THE WATER BABIES
CHAPTER I

"I heard a thousand blended notes, While in a grove I sate reclined; In
that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts Bring sad thoughts to the
mind.
"To her fair works did Nature link The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think, What man has made of man."
WORDSWORTH.
Once upon a time there was a little chimney-sweep, and his name was
Tom. That is a short name, and you have heard it before, so you will
not have much trouble in remembering it. He lived in a great town in
the North country, where there were plenty of chimneys to sweep, and
plenty of money for Tom to earn and his master to spend. He could not
read nor write, and did not care to do either; and he never washed
himself, for there was no water up the court where he lived. He had

never been taught to say his prayers. He never had heard of God, or of
Christ, except in words which you never have heard, and which it
would have been well if he had never heard. He cried half his time, and
laughed the other half. He cried when he had to climb the dark flues,
rubbing his poor knees and elbows raw; and when the soot got into his
eyes, which it did every day in the week; and when his master beat him,
which he did every day in the week; and when he had not enough to eat,
which happened every day in the week likewise. And he laughed the
other half of the day, when he was tossing halfpennies with the other
boys, or playing leap-frog over the posts, or bowling stones at the
horses' legs as they trotted by, which last was excellent fun, when there
was a wall at hand behind which to hide. As for chimney-sweeping,
and being hungry, and being beaten, he took all that for the way of the
world, like the rain and snow and thunder, and stood manfully with his
back to it till it was over, as his old donkey did to a hail- storm; and
then shook his ears and was as jolly as ever; and thought of the fine
times coming, when he would be a man, and a master sweep, and sit in
the public-house with a quart of beer and a long pipe, and play cards for
silver money, and wear velveteens and ankle-jacks, and keep a white
bull-dog with one gray ear, and carry her puppies in his pocket, just
like a man. And he would have apprentices, one, two, three, if he could.
How he would bully them, and knock them about, just as his master did
to him; and make them carry home the soot sacks, while he rode before
them on his donkey, with a pipe in his mouth and a flower in his
button-hole, like a king at the head of his army. Yes, there were good
times coming; and, when his master let him have a pull at the leavings
of his beer, Tom was the jolliest boy in the whole town.
One day a smart little groom rode into the court where Tom lived. Tom
was just hiding behind a wall, to heave half a brick at his horse's legs,
as is the custom of that country when they welcome strangers; but the
groom saw him, and halloed to him to know