Classics Retold

Mrs Micawber sat at the back of the coach together with her children.    She saw through her tears little David stood looking low-spirited at them.  She beckoned to him to climb up, put her arms round his neck and gave him such a kiss as she might have given to her own boy.  He had barely time to get down before the coach started.  It was gone in a minute.  David and Orfling stood looking vacantly at each other in the middle of the road; and then shook hands and said goodbye. A desperate idea came into the mind of David.  It had its root in the narrative, by his mother now and then, of an incident connected with his aunt Miss Betsey Trotwood.  David was not sure whether it was true or a mere fancy of his mother.  The dreaded Miss Betsey Trotwood came into the story on the day of his birth.  The soft touch of his mother's hair by the terrible aunt lingered in his mind caused David to see her in a positive shade.  And she was the only...

Murdstone and Grinbys was at the waterside. It was down in Blackfriars.  Blackfriars is in the southwest corner of London.  It is located on the banks of River Thames.  It was a crazy old house with a wharf of its own, abutting on the water when the tide was in and on the mud when the tide was out.  It was a dirty place, with rats, dirts and smoke.  An important branch of Murdstone and Grinbys dealt with the supply of wines and spirits to packet ships.  To select the good bottles, reject the flawed bottles, rinse and wash the bottles, paste the labels on bottles, fit them with corks, seal them and pack them in casks were done by boys. A look into the history of child labour in this context is appropriate. Child labour in Victorian England was not the result of Industrial revolution.  Poor children would start work as soon as their parents could find employment for them.  But prior to Industrial Revolution not much work was available.  This ch...

ONE   Master Mell and David were at the Gate of Salem House.  It was enclosed within a high brick wall. Over a door in this wall was a board with SALEM HOUSE upon it. A surly face  surveyed them through the gates when Master Mell rang the bell.  When the door opened, David found that the surly face belonged to a bull necked man with a wooden leg. That was Tungay, the wooden legged.  He was once associated in Mr Creakle's hop business.  He was a caretaker, but his primary job was to assist his master in terrorizing boys. As they entered, the wooden legged  eyed David all over. They went up, and he locked the door behind them.  They were going upto the house; among some dark heavy trees, when he called after Master Mell. They looked back.  He was standing at the door of a little lodge where he lived, with a pair of boots in his hand. He threw the boots towards Mr Mell and said that the cobbler could not mend them.  There was not a bit of o...

ONE The plan to visit Yarmouth originally came from Peggotty.  But when David proposed this to Clara, to take her permission,  she was not at all surprised.  The time selected for this trip was, when Clara leaving Rookery to stay with her neighbour Mrs Grayper for two weeks.  Mrs Grayper is an out of scene character.  She never comes to the scene. It was also the period when Mr Edward Murdstone and Clara were married.  This trip must have been planned by Clara Copperfield and her maid Clara Peggotty to remove David out of the nuptials.      Carrier's cart was at the gate.  David was leaving his mother and his house for the first time.  When the cart moved, Clara ran out to the gate, and called the carrier to stop, that she could kiss little David once more.   Yarmouth was a seaside town.  Blunderstone is around 9 K.M. south of Yarmouth. The cart was slow, the lanes were narrow; even if the carrier were not there the c...