Herman Melville

“ And already, before having it, I have christened it 'Martha.' But what am I about? Come, come, wife! The pudding! Help the gentleman, do ! The Squire ! the Squire! think of the Squire! and help round the pudding. There, one—two—three mouthfuls must do me. Good-by, wife, Good-by, sir, I'm off."
And, snatching his soaked hat, the noble Poor Man hurriedly went out into the soak and the mire.
I suppose now, thinks I to myself, that Blandmour would poetically say, He goes to take a Poor Man's saunter.
"You have a fine husband," said I to the woman, as we were now left together. ”

“ POOR MAN'S PUDDING
YOU see," said poet Blandmour, enthusiastically—as some forty years ago we walked along the road in a soft, moist snowfall, toward the end of March—"you see, my friend, that the blessed almoner, Nature, is in all things beneficent ; and not only so, but considerate in her charities, as any discreet human philanthropist might be. This snow, now, which seems so unseasonable, is in fact just what a poor husbandman needs. ”

“ Some hasty words, but never a harsh one. I wish I were better and stronger for his sake. And, oh ! sir, both for his sake and mine" (and the soft, blue, beautiful eyes turned into two well-springs) , "how I wish little William and Martha lived—it is so lonely- like now. William named after him, and Martha for me."
When a companion's heart of itself overflows, the best one can do is to do nothing. I sat looking down on my as yet untasted pudding.
"You should have seen little William, sir. Such a bright, manly boy, only six years old— cold, cold now!" ”

“ You see, sir," she continued, turning to me, "William there wants, of mornings, to carry a cold meal into the woods with him, to save the long one-o'clock walk across the fields to and fro. But I won't let him. A warm dinner is more than pay for the long walk."
"I don't know about that," said William, shaking his head. "I have often debated in my mind whether it really paid. There's not much odds, either way, between a wet walk after hard work, and a wet dinner before it. But I like to oblige a good wife like Martha. And you know, sir, that women will have their whimseys." ”

“ A line of liveried men kept back with their staves the impatient jam of the mob, who, otherwise, might have instantaneously converted the Charity into a Pillage. Another body of gowned and gilded officials distributed the broken meats—the cold victuals and crumbs of kings. One after another the beggars held up their dirty blue tickets, and were served with the plundered wreck of a pheasant, or the rim of a pasty—like the detached crown of an old hat—the solids and meats stolen out. ”

“ Something more she said, too—not repiningly, however—of the fuel, as old and damp; picked-up sticks in Squire Teamster's forest, where her husband was chopping the sappy logs of the living tree for the Squire's fires. It needed not her remark, whatever it was, to convince me of the inferior quality of the sticks; some being quite mossy and toad-stooled with long lying bedded among the accumulated dead leaves of many autumns. They made a sad hissing, and vain spluttering enough.
"You must rest yourself here till dinnertime, at least," said the dame; "what I have you are heartily welcome to." ”

“ They surged against the tables, broke through all barriers, and billowed over the hall—their bare tossed arms like the dashed ribs of a wreck. It seemed to me as if a sudden impotent fury of fell envy possessed them. That one half-hour's peep at the mere remnants of the glories of the Banquets of Kings; the unsatisfying mouthfuls of disemboweled pasties, plundered pheasants, and half-sucked jellies, served to remind them of the intrinsic contempt of the alms. ”

“ So. you see. the winter's snow itself is beneficent: under the pretense of frost—a sort of gruff philanthropist—actually wanming the earth. which afterward is to be fertilizingly moistened by the gentle flakes of March."
"I like to hear you talk, dear Blandmour; and guided by your benevolent heart, can only wish to poor Coulter plenty of this 'Poor Man's Manure."
"But that is not all," said Blandmour, eagerly. "Did you never hear of the 'Poor Man's Eye-water?"
"Never."
"Take this soft March snow, melt it, and bottle it. It keeps pure as alcohol. ”

“ But the instinct of the poor is wiser than we think. The air which ventilates, likewise cools. And to any shiverer, ill-ventilated warmth is better than well-ventilated cold. Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed.
"Blandmour," said I that evening, as after tea I sat on his comfortable sofa, before a blazing fire, with one of his two ruddy little children on my knee, "you are not what may rightly be called a rich man; you have a fair competence ”

“ But she ate of the rye-bread, and so did I.
"Now, then, for the pudding," said Coulter. "Quick, wife; the Squire sits in his sitting-room window, looking far out across the fields. His time-piece is true."
"He don't play the spy on you, does he?" said I.
"Oh, no!—I don't say that. He's a good enough man. He gives me work. But he's particular. Wife, help the gentleman. You see, sir, if I lose the Squire's work, what will become of—" and, with a look for which I honored humanity, with sly significance, he glanced toward his wife ”

“ Ah, sir, if those little ones yet to enter the world were the same little ones which so sadly have left it; returning friends, not strangers, strangers, always strangers! Yet does a mother soon learn to love them ; for certain, sir, they come from where the others have gone. Don't you believe that, sir? Yes, I know all good people must. But, still, still—and I fear it is wicked, and very black-hearted, too—still, strive how I may to cheer me with thinking of little William and Martha in heaven, and with reading Dr. ”

“ The native American poor never lose their delicacy or pride ; hence, though unreduced to the physical degradation of the European pauper, they yet suffer more in mind than the poor of any other people in the world. ”

“ Those peculiar social sensibilities nourished by our peculiar political principles, while they enhance the true dignity of a prosperous American, do but minister to the added wretchedness of the unfortunate ”

“ In this sudden mood, or whatever mysterious thing it was that now seized them, these Lazaruses seemed ready to spew up in repentant scorn the contumelious crumbs of Dives.
"This way, this way! stick like a bee to my back," intensely whispered my guide. "My friend there has answered my beck, and thrown open yon private door for us two. Wedge—wedge—in quick, there goes your bunged hat—never stop for your coat-tail—hit that man—strike him down! hold! jam! now! wrench along for your life ! ha! here we breathe freely ”