He scrapes a living running errands in the streets; his beloved but frail sister Nelly, a year younger, sells matches. You can spot the doomed character early on, the right people repent, and because it's non-conformist it's (slightly) more believable than eg Susan Warner.

Benny is given several chances to improve himself and even when he and Nell are down on their luck he always steers away from stealing and any thing dishonest. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions.Although the author is obviously familiar with the conditions suffered by the urban poor, his characters lack psychological realism and illustrate doctrine rather than convince as real people. Gilt decorated blue cloth with a black and white illustrated frontis and black and white illustrations throughout. Then raising his voice to a loud pitch the shouted, “Mike, come down here: there’s a chap that ‘as five pun’ in his pocket; let’s collar him quick! The harsh portrayal of street urchin Perks, alias John Cadger, contrasts with empathy of Charles Dickens in his creation of the Artful Dodger. A friend of ours, some years ago, came into considerable property in this neighbourhood, and employed a young man who was new to the work to collect the rents for him.

My efforts to hopscotch to the front door jumping only on books I've read is getting closer to completion! And those who have occasion to penetrate their dark and filthy recesses are generally thankful when they find themselves safe out again. Minor issues present such as mild cracking, inscriptions, inserts, light foxing, tanning and thumb marking. In the meantime Nelly gets God in a big way and starts to wish for the sweet release of death because people have told her that heaven is a reward and better than life on earth. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Like them, its principal message is that diligence and honesty will be rewarded; Benny as Industrious Apprentice has his Idle counterpart too, in the character of Perks, a street boy who repeatedly but unsuccessfully attempts to lure Benny into crime, and ends up dying in Dartmoor prison. The police rarely, if ever, venture into this neighbourhood alone, or if one should be so foolish enough to do so, he has generally to pay dearly for his indiscretion. Benny’s father’s drowning in the dock – gurgles and all – and the scene where Joe invites his docile fellow workers to hear him read the bible are similarly absurd. Abandoning Liverpool, he nearly dies of starvation and heat-stroke, but is rescued and nursed back to health by a kindly farming family. If you can overlook or ignore the language, vocabulary and grammar use, I feel sure you too would love the tale.

And a second time the affrighted agent fled, and gave up the situation at once, vowing he would never enter any one of those streets again while he lived.

The author's clear no-nonsense prose and the quaint illustrations add to the pleasure of reading this curiosity. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. In 1993 the novel was also adapted into a successful stage musical by Anne Dalton, [4] with a 25th anniversary revival in 2018. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.