as only one out o' the whole lot that I
wished I 'adn't found.

Most people, o' course, go to sea as boys or else not at all, but I mind
one chap as was pretty near thirty years old when 'e started. It's a
good many years ago now, and he was landlord of a public-'ouse as used to
stand in Wapping, called the Blue Lion.

His mother, wot had 'ad the pub afore 'im, 'ad brought 'im up very quiet
and genteel, and when she died 'e went and married a fine, handsome young
woman who 'ad got her eye on the pub without thinking much about 'im. I
got to know about it through knowing the servant that lived there. A
nice, quiet gal she was, and there wasn't much went on that she didn't
hear. I've known 'er to cry for hours with the ear-ache, pore gal.

Not caring much for 'er 'usband, and being spoiled by 'im into the
bargain, Mrs. Dixon soon began to lead 'im a terrible life. She was
always throwing his meekness and mildness up into 'is face, and arter
they 'ad been married two or three years he was no more like the landlord
o' that public-'ouse than I'm like a lord. Not so much. She used to get
into such terrible tempers there was no doing anything with 'er, and for
the sake o' peace and quietness he gave way to 'er till 'e got into the
habit of it and couldn't break 'imself of it.

They 'adn't been married long afore she 'ad her cousin, Charlie Burge,
come in as barman, and a month or two arter that 'is brother Bob, who 'ad
been spending a lot o' time looking for work instead o' doing it, came
too. They was so comfortable there that their father--a 'ouse-painter by
trade--came round to see whether he couldn't paint the Blue Lion up a bit
and make 'em look smart, so that they'd get more trade. He was one o'
these 'ere fust-class 'ousepainters that can go to sleep on a ladder
holding a brush in one hand and a pot o' paint in the other, and by the
time he 'ad finished painting the 'ouse it was ready to be done all over
agin.

I dare say that George Dixon--that was 'is name--wouldn't ha' minded so
much if 'is wife 'ad only been civil, but instead o' that she used to
make fun of 'im and order 'im about, and by-and-by the others began to
try the same thing. As I said afore, Dixon was a very quiet man, and if
there was ever anybody to be put outside Charlie or Bob used to do it.
They tried to put me outside once, the two of 'em, but they on'y did it
at last by telling me that somebody 'ad gone off and left a pot o' beer
sta