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spout whereon to stand the vessels that are brought to be
filled with water. I see a man come to pump, and he pumps
very hard, but no water follows, and he strolls empty away."
"Brother Francis, brother Francis," cried Thomas Idle, "what
more do you see from the turret, besides the man and the
pump, and the trivet and the houses all in mourning and the
rain?"
"I see," said Brother Francis, "one, two, three, four, five
linen-drapers' shops in front of me. I see a linen-draper's
shop next door to the right - and there are five more
linen-drapers' shops down the corner to the left. Eleven
homicidal linen-drapers' shops within a short stone's throw,
each with its hands at the throats of all the rest! Over the
small first-floor of one of these linen-drapers' shops
appears the wonderful inscription, BANK."
"Brother Francis, brother Francis," cried Thomas Idle, "what
more do you see from the turret, besides the eleven
homicidal linen-drapers' shops and the wonderful inscription
'Bank' on the small first-floor, and the man and the pump
and the trivet and the houses all in mourning and the rain?"
"I see," said Brother Francis, "the depository for Christian
Knowledge, and through the dark vapour I think I again make
out Mr. Spurgeon looming heavily. Her Majesty the Queen, God
bless her, printed in colours, I am sure I see. I see the
Illustrated London News of several years ago, and I
see a sweet-meat shop - which the proprietor calls a 'Salt
Warehouse' - with one small female child in a cotton bonnet
looking in on tip-toe, oblivious of rain. And I see a
watchmaker's with only three great pale watches of a dull
metal hanging in his widow, each in a separate pane."
"Brother Francis, brother Francis," cried Thomas Idle, "what
more do you see of Wigton, besides these objects, and the
man and the pump and the trivet and the houses all in
mourning and the rain?"
"I see nothing more," said Brother Francis, "and there is
nothing more to see, except the curlpaper bill of the
theatre, which was opened and shut last week (the manager's
family played all the parts), and the short, square, chinky
omnibus that goes to the railway, and leads too rattling a
life over the stones to hold together long. O yes! Now, I
see two men
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