We and the World, Part II | Page 2

vileness of sights and sounds and smells
which hung around the dark entry of the slop shop were indeed the
world, I felt a sudden and most vehement conviction that I would
willingly renounce the world for ever. As it happened, I had not at that
moment the choice. My friend had gone in, and I dared not stay among
the people outside. I groped my way into the shop, which was so dark
as well as dingy that they had lighted a small oil-lamp just above the
head of the man who served out the slops. Even so the light that fell on
him was dim and fitful, and was the means of giving me another start in
which I gasped out--"Moses Benson!"
The man turned and smiled (he had the Jew-clerk's exact smile), and
said softly,
"Cohen, my dear, not Benson."
And as he bent at another angle of the oil-lamp I saw that he was older
than the clerk, and dirtier; and though his coat was quite curiously like
the one I had so often cleaned, he had evidently either never met with
the invaluable "scouring drops," or did not feel it worth while to make
use of them in such a dingy hole.
One shock helped to cure the other. Come what might, I could not
sneak back now to the civil congratulations of that other Moses, and the
scorn of his eye. But I was so nervous that my fellow-traveller
transacted my business for me, and when the oil-lamp flared and I
caught Moses Cohen looking at me, I jumped as if Snuffy had come
behind me. And when we got out (and it was no easy matter to escape
from the various benevolent offers of the owner of the slop-shop), my
friend said,
"You'll excuse me telling you, but whatever you do don't go near that

there Jew again. He's no friend for a young chap like you."
"I should have got your slops cheaper," he added, "if I could have taken
your clothes in without you."
My "slops" were a very loose suit of clothes made of much coarser
material than my own, and I suppose they were called "slops" because
they fitted in such a peculiarly sloppy manner. The whole "rig out" (it
included a strong clasp-knife, and a little leathern bag to keep my
money in, which I was instructed to carry round my neck) was provided
by Mr. Cohen in exchange for the clothes I had been wearing before,
with the addition of ten shillings in cash. I dipped again into the
leathern bag to provide a meal for myself and my friend; then, by his
advice, I put a shilling and some coppers into my pocket, that I might
not have to bring out my purse in public, and with a few parting words
of counsel he wrung my hand, and we parted--he towards some place of
business where he hoped to get employment, and I in the direction of
the docks, where the ships come and go.
"I hope you will get work," were my last words.
"The same to you, my lad," was his reply, and it seemed to
acknowledge me as one of that big brotherhood of toilers who, when
they want "something to do," want it not to pass time but to earn daily
bread.
CHAPTER II.
"Deark d'on Dearka." ("Beg of a Beggar.") Irish Proverb.
"... From her way of speaking they also saw immediately that she too
was an Eirisher.... They must be a bonny family when they are all at
home!"--The Life of Mansie Tailor in Dalkeith.
"Dock" (so ran the 536th of the 'Penny Numbers') is "a place artificially
formed for the reception of ships, the entrance of which is generally
closed by gates. There are two kinds of docks, dry-docks and wet-docks.
The former are used for receiving ships in order to their being inspected

and repaired. For this purpose the dock must be so contrived that the
water may be admitted or excluded at pleasure, so that a vessel can be
floated in when the tide is high, and that the water may run out with the
fall of the tide, or be pumped out, the closing of the gates preventing its
return. Wet-docks are formed for the purpose of keeping vessels always
afloat.... One of the chief uses of a dock is to keep a uniform level of
water, so that the business of loading and unloading ships can be
carried on without any interruption.... The first wet-dock for
commercial purposes made in this kingdom was formed in the year
1708 at Liverpool, then a place of no importance."
_The business of loading and unloading ships can be carried on without
any interruption._ If everything that the Penny Numbers told