EXTRACTS FROM DEALINGS WITH THE FIRM OF DOMBEY & SON BY CHARLES DICKENS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume III, Issue 173, 27 March 1847, Page 4

EXTRACTS FROM DEALINGS WI TH THE FIRM OF DOMBEY & SON BY CHARLES DICKENS.

The Stoker's Family. — Running down stairs again as fast as she had run up, Miss Tox got the party out of the hackney coach, and soon returned with it under convoy. It then appeared that she had used the word, not in its legal or business acceptation, when it merely expresses an individual, but as noun of multitude, signifying many ; for Miss Tox escorted a plump rosy-cheeked, wholesome apple-faced young woman, with an infant in her arms ; a younger woman not so plump, but apple-faced also, who led a plump and ap-ple-faced child in each hand , another plump and also apple-faced boy, who walked by himself, and, finally, a plump and apple-faced man, who carried in his arms another plump and apple-faced boy, whom he stood down on the floor, and admonished, in a husky whisper, to ' kitch hold of his brother Johnny* 'My dear Louisa,' said Miss Tox, ' knov/ing your gteat anxiety, and wishing to relieve it, I posied off myself to the Queen Charlotte's Royal Married Females, which you had forgot, and put the question. Was there any body there that they thought would suit 1 No, they said, there was not. When they gave me that answer, I do assure you, my dear, I was almost driven to despair on your account. "But it did so happen, that one of the Royal Married Females, hearing the inquiry, reminded the matron of another, who had gone to her own home, and who, she said, would in all likelihood be most satisfactory. The moment

I heard this, and had it corrohorated hy the matron — excellent references and unimpeachable character — I got the address, my dear, and posted off again.' 'Like the dear good Tox, you are,' said Louisa. ' Not at all,' returned Miss Tox, ' Don't say so. Arriving at the house, (the cleanest place, my dear ! You might eat your dinner off the floor), I found the whole family sitting at table ; and, feeling that no account of them could be half so comfortable to you and Mr. Dombey as the sight of them altogether, I brought them all away. This gentleman,' said Miss Tox, pointing out the apple-faced man, ' is the father. Will you have the goodness to come a little forward, Sir V The apple-faced man having sheepishly complied with this request, stood chuckling and grinning in a front row. * This is' his wife, of course,' said Miss Tox, singling out the young woman with the baby. ' How do you do, Polly V * I'm pretty well, I thank you, Ma'am,' said Polly. By way of bringing her out dexterously, Miss Tox had made the inquiry as in condescension to an old acquaintance whom she had'nt seen for a fortnight or so. * I'm glad to hear it,' said Miss Tox. ' The other young woman is her unmarried sister, who lives with them, and would take care of her children. Her name's Jemima. How do you do, Jemima V ' I'm pretty well, I thank you, Ma'am,' returned Jemima. ' I'm very glad indeed to hear it,' said Miss Tox. * I hope you will keep so. Five children. Youngest six weeks. The fine little boy with the blister on his nose is the eldest. The blister, I believe,' said Miss Tox, looking round upon the family, ' is not constitutional, but accidental V The apple-faced man was understood to growl, ' Flat iron.' ' I beg your pardon, Sir,' said Miss Tox, 'did you — V * Flat iron,' he repeated. ' Oh, yes,' said Miss Tox. ' Yes ! quite true. I forgot. The little creature, in his mother's absence, smelt a warm flat iron. You're quite right, Sir. You were going lo have the goodness to inform me, when we arrived at the door, that you were by trade a — ' 'Stoker,' said the man. 'A choker !' said Miss Tox, quite aghast. * Stoker,' said the man. ' Steam-engine.' 'Oh-h ! Yes !' returned Miss Tox, looking thoughtfully at him, and seeming still to have but a very imperfect understanding of his meaning. 'And how do you like it Sir?' 'Which, Mum V said the man. * That,' replied Miss Tox ; ' your trade V 'Oh ! pretty well Mum. The ashes sometimes ,gets in here,' touching his chest, ' and makes a man speak gruff, as at the present time. But it is ashes, Mum ; not crustiness.' Miss Tox seemed to be so little enlightened by this reply, as to find b difficulty in pursuing the subject. But Mrs. Chick relieved her, by entering into a close private examination of Polly, her children, her marriage certificate, testimonials, and so forth. Polly coming out unscathed from this ordeal, Mrs. Chick withdrew with her report to her brother's room, and as an emphatic comment on it, and corroboration of it, carried the two rosiest little Toodles with her. Toodle being the family name of the applefaced family.

Mr. Dombey and the Stoker. — Thus arrested on the threshold as he was following his wife out of the room, Toodle returned and confronted Mr. Dombey alone. He was a strong, loose, round-shouldered, shuffling, shaggy fellow, on whom his clothes sat negligently ; witb a good deal of hair and whisker, deepened in its natural tint, perhaps by smoke and coal dust ; hard knotty hands ; and a square forehead, as coarse in grain as the bark of an oak. A thorough contrast in all respects to Mr. Dombey, who was one of those close-shaveJ, close-cut, monied gentlemen, who are, glossy and crisp, like new bank notes, and who seem to be artificially braced and tightened as by the stimulating action of golden shower-baths. ' You have a son, I believe V Four on 'em, sir. Four bims and a her. All alive !' * Why, it's as much as you can afford to keep them !' said Mr. Dombey, ' I couldn't hardly afford but one thing in the world less, sir.' ' What is that.' ' To lose 'em, sir.' * Can you read V asked Mr. Dorabey. ' Why not partik'ler, sir.' 'Write?' -With chalk, sir.' ' With any thing V ' I could make shift to chalk a little bit, I think, if I was put to it,' said Toodle, after some reflection. ' And yet, 1 said Mr. Dombey, ' you are two or three and thirty, I suppose V * Thereabouts, 1 suppose, sir,' answered Toodle, after more reflection. ' Then, why don't you learn V asked j Mr, Dombey. *So I'm going to. sir. One of my little boys is a-going to learn me, when he's old enough, and been to school himself.' ' Well,' said Mr. Dombey, after looking at him attentively, and with no great favour, as he stood gazing round the room (principally round the ceiling), and still drawing his hand across and across his mouth. * You heard what a l said to your wife just now V * Polly heerd it,' said Toodle, jerking his hat over his shoulder in the direction of the door, with an air of perfect confidence in his better half. ' It's all right.' 'As you appear to leave everything to her,' said Mr. Dombey, frus-

trated in his intention of impressing his views still more distinctly on the husband, as fhe stronger character, * I suppose it is of no use of my saying anything to you !' ' Not a bit,' said Toodle, ' Polly heerd it. She's awake, sir.' ' I won't detain you any longer then,' returned Mr. Dombey, disappointed. * Where have you worked all your life V * Mostly under ground, sir, till 1 got married. I come to the level then, I'm a going on one of these here railroads when they comes into full play.' Postage Labels and Envelopes. — The following facts relative to the manufacture of our present postage-labels and envelopes may not be uninteresting to the reader. They are gleaned from a paper, by the Rev. J. Barlow, on the Chemical and Mechanical Processes, and the Social Influences of the Penny Post, read at a recent meeting of the London Royal Institution. The adhesive labels, or ' queen's heads,' as they are commonly called, are executed by Messrs. Perkins, i Bacon, and Petch, on Mr. Perkins' principle of steel engraving by transfer. This process depends on the property of iron to become hard or soft as it receives or loses a small quantity of carbon — the soft plates receiving impressions of the original hardened engraving, and then being tempered to the necessary hardness for the purposes of the printer. Mr. Barlow lays great stress on the absolute identity of every engraving, however numerous, produced by this method. The engine-work on the adhesive labels is of so close a pattern, that it cannot be taken off by lithography or any similar contrivance ; while on the other hand, the eye is so accustomed to notice slight differences between one face and another, that the most skilful imitators of a minute engraving of a human countenance (like that of the sovereign on the label) could not possibly avoid such a deviation from what he was copying as would insure the detection of forgery. With regard to the qualities of the coloured inks with which the labels are printed, Mr. Barlow remarks, that though sufficiently permanent to withstand the effects of sun-light, rain, &c, they would be discharged by any fraudulent attempt to remove the obliterating stamp for the purpose of issuing the labels a second time. The gum used for fixing the labels to letters is chiefly derived from potato starch, and therefore perfectly innocuous. The manufacture of the postage-envelope is effected by many powerful, yet accurate machines. The paper is pervaded by coloured threads, as a security against fraud ; and when seftt from the manufactory of Mr. Dickenson, it is delivered to the firm of Messrs. De La Rue. It is there cut into lozenges, by the engine of Mr. Wilson, with the utmost precision, and at the rate of sixty or eighty thousand a minute. Previously to being stamped, each lozenge has a notch cut in each side for the convenience of folding: this is done by an angular chisel. The • envelopes are then stamped at Somerset House, by a machine which combines the operations of printing and embossing — the invention of the late Sir W. Congrsve. The last process, the folding and gumming-, is performed by the Messrs. De La Rue, who employ thirty-nine folders on an average ; and a quick hand can fold 3500 in a day. Mr. Barlow next noticed some statistical conclusions: — One engraving on Mr, Perkins' hard steel-roller will afford 1680 transfers to soft steel plates ; these again will, when hardened, admit of 60,000 impressions being pulled from each, so that one original will afford 100,800,000 impressions of labels. Twelve years ago, common envelopes were sold at one shilling the dozen (now the postage envelope, with its medallion, may be bought wholesale at half a-farthing, exclusive of the stamp) ; and yet, though the manufacture is peculiarly costly, it returns a small profit to the government. More than two hundred and twenty millions of chargeable letters were posted in 1843; so that, supposing all the letter-boxes in the United Kingdom to be open twelve hours in the day, and to communicate with one large spout, the letters would keep flowing through it at the mean rate of fourteen in a second. — Chambers 1 Edinburgh Journal.