Chapter 5 Chapter 4 Whitechapel

"This morning, Ela Belle and I, and he," wrote Miss Barrett, "ride up to Vail Street on some errands. He follows us into the store and out, as usual, He was still at my feet when I got into the carriage. I called him when I turned around, and Ella Belle was looking for him, but there was no sign of him! In the blink of an eye, he was taken from under the wheel Now, do you understand?" Mr. Browning understood perfectly well; Miss Barrett forgot to keep the dog on the leash, so Flush was stolen--such was the case in Whymper Street and environs in 1846. The law of the times.

Yes, Whymper Street itself is impregnable.If a chronically ill person wants to take a walk on that street, or take a wheelchair to get some air, he will only see neat and beautiful four-story bungalows with thick glass windows and mahogany doors.Even if you ride a two-headed carriage for an afternoon, as long as the coachman is cautious enough, you don't have to leave the scope of etiquette and mutual respect.But if you are not infirm, if you don't have a carriage at home, if you are like many people, healthy and active, and like to walk, then you are very likely to see, just a stone's throw from Whymper Street, Hear and smell sights, words and smells that make you doubt even the safety of Whymper Street itself.This was what Mr. Baines had in mind when he was walking about the City of London at about the same time.He was surprised; no, he was shocked!There are many high-rise buildings in the Westminster area, but immediately behind is a large number of dilapidated low houses, where groups of people live above herds of cows—"There are two households every seven feet. "He thought he had to make public what he had seen and heard, but for two or three families sharing one bedroom, and the bedroom was above the cowshed, and the cowshed had no ventilation, the residents would huddle under the bedroom. How should he describe the situation of milking, slaughtering and cooking cattle, which is euphemistic and appropriate?When Mr. Baines decided to try this, he found that it was an extremely difficult challenge, even if he used up all the words in English, it would be difficult to achieve.But he also felt that he should really tell the experience of an afternoon's walk through some of the most exclusive parishes in London: the incidence of typhus infection is so high, rich people have no idea that they are in danger; Facts discovered in the Boroughs of Stuttgart, Paddington and Marylebone.He saw, for instance, an old mansion which had belonged to a certain nobleman, with parts of the marble mantelpiece still remaining, the rooms paneled in wood, the banisters carved, but the floor rotting, and the walls covered with filth. , Groups of half-naked men and women occupy the ancient banquet hall and designate the land as their home.As he walked on, he saw some speculative builder leveling an old house, cutting corners, and building a tenement, with rain leaking from the roof and air leaking from the walls.He saw a child ladling water in a bright green brook with a tin can, and asked the child if they drank the water from the stream, and the answer he got was, "Drink!" And they also bathed in the stream, Because the landlord only supplies water twice a week.Such sights astonished him, for he was then in the quietest and most civilized part of London--"the best parish, of course." To take another example, just behind Miss Barrett's bedroom, It is the poorest slum in London - where the rich and the poor meet.Of course, there are other areas that have been taken over by the poor for a long time and have never been disturbed, such as Whitechapel, or the triangle at the bottom of Cote Road, Tottenham, where poverty, crime and misery have been breeding for centuries. Reproduction and endless life, without any interference and restrictions.It is also like a large number of dense old houses in the St. Gales area, "it looks like a large city of exile and poor people!" Households crowded with each other, like a flock of rooks huddled on top of a tree.Only the houses there weren't trees, and they didn't even look like houses at all, but like brick closets separated by dirty alleyways.From morning to night, half-naked men and women in disheveled clothes came and went in the alleys. After nightfall, thieves, beggars and prostitutes who went to the West End of London to beg for life during the day returned to the area in an endless stream.The police were helpless, and the passers-by could only quicken their pace and dare not stop; at most, they were like Mr. Baines, quoting from many sources, tactfully hinting that the world may not always be peaceful.Cholera would visit, too, though the cues of cholera would be less tactful.

But that hint had not yet come in the summer of 1846; the only sure way to be safe for those who lived in Whymper Street and the environ- chain.If you are like Miss Barrett, if you are negligent for a while, you will have to pay the price, just like Miss Barrett must pay the price at this moment.The law on Whymper Street just next to St. Gales was simple: St. Gales stole what it could, Whymper Street gritted its teeth and paid.Therefore, Ella Belle immediately "reassured me that I could definitely buy it back for ten pounds at most".Ten pounds was the accepted price; if a spaniel had been stolen, Mr Taylor would usually have demanded that amount.Mr. Taylor is the king of the area. Whenever a lady on Whymper Street loses her dog, she will immediately go to Mr. Taylor. He will offer a price. The owner of the dog will pay quickly. Pearl Street would have received a brown paper bag containing a dog's head and paws - at least that was the experience of a lady in the neighborhood after trying to haggle with Mr. Taylor!But of course Miss Barrett was willing to pay, and when she got home she told her brother Henry what had happened; Henry went to see Mr Taylor that afternoon, only to find the latter "sitting smoking a cigar in a painted room"— It is said that Mr. Taylor earns between two and three thousand pounds a year from the dogs in Whymper Street alone--Mr. Taylor has promised to come forward and talk to his "community" so that they can send the dog back tomorrow.Miss Barrett, in spite of her heartache and exasperation, especially at the moment when she was in such a rush for money, had forgotten to put her dog on a leash in 1846!

With Flush, however, the situation was quite different.Miss Barrett knew that Flush "didn't know we could buy him back"; Flush never knew the rules of the game in human society. "I know he will cry all night tonight," wrote Miss Barrett to Mr. Browning on the afternoon of Tuesday, September 2nd.While Miss Barrett was writing to Mr. Browning, Flush was going through the most horrible experience of his life.He was extremely confused, and for some reason, one second he was still on Weir Street, among the colorful satin and lace, and the next second he was thrown headfirst into a cloth bag, and was carried bumpily and quickly through several The street, and finally was poured out head to toe—here!It was dark all around here, cold and damp.Dizzy, he gradually realized that he was in a low, dark room with a few broken chairs and a rotten mattress.Then someone grabbed him by the leg and tied him tightly to something.Something was lying on the floor—man or beast, he couldn't tell.Huge leather boots and floor-sweeping skirts kept coming in and out, and swarms of flies buzzed around a few pieces of meat left to rot on the ground.The child crawled out of a dark corner and pulled his ears.He wailed, and immediately a big hand beat his head hard.He huddled against the wall on the wet brick only a few inches wide.Only then did he see clearly that there were all kinds of animals lying on the floor: a group of dogs were vying for a rotten bone, each dog was skinny and boneless, they were hungry, dirty and sick , unkempt; but Flush could see that each of them was a purebred distinguished dog, dog on a leash, groom's or servant's dog--just like himself!

He lay there, not even daring to hum, and the hours passed, thirst was his greatest pain.He took a sip of the sticky green water in the bucket beside him, and immediately decided that he would rather die of thirst than take a second sip, but he was surprised to see an elegant-looking spirit