Bloomington High School - Aepix Yearbook (Bloomington, IL)

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F , 4. THE AEGIS 1 we see is his spiky hair, 'flocking as if it must tear the sheets to ribbons, as he rolls and surges in his bed. His morning sa.lutation to his wife is, 'tBust me, if she aint at it againlt' Jerry thinks it his great misfortune to have a wife who prays, or flops as he calls it. He insists that she is Hopping agin the business and when she pro- tests that she is not praying against but for him, he says he wont be took the liberty with. He is comically inconsistent, for he violently forbids his wife to pray, putting great faith in the direful things he thinks will result, yet scornfully asks her what she supposes her prayers may be worth. At the breakfast table when poor Mrs. Cruncher asks a blessing, Mr. Cruncher shows his temper and declares he aint ageing to be blessed out of house and home. He won,t have his wittles blest off his table. He fondly calls himself an honest tradesmanw and prides himself on his con- nection with the great Tellson's, a connection which consists merely in sitting out- side waiting for errands. Dickens says that big Jerry and his son, little Jerry, a grisly youth with a head garnished with tenderer spikes than his fa.ther's, as they sat there, bore a considerable resemblance to a pair of monkeys. This was especially so since the elder Jerry kept chewing straw, upon which young Jerry, when his father leaves, entered his reversiona.ry interest, -Dickens, imposing way of saying that little Jerry chewed the other end of the same straw! Mr. Cruncher is always so very sure that he can make misleading remarks that will not cause any suspicion about his nightly occupation,-which at differ- ent times he calls 'ffishingfi 'fscientific business, and that of an f'agricultooral char- acter,',-that it is easy to see he is trying to hide something. When one of the old clerks at Tellson's asks him if he knows Old Bailey, the court, he denies as an honest tradesman,', and is much concerned about the barbarous and quartering fashion of punishing treason. 'flt's hard in the law to spile a man, I think. lt's hard enough to kill him but it's wery hard to spile him, sirf, The night of the thunder storm when Mr. Lorry and Jerry were going home together, Jerry makes another of his deep remarks. f4What a night it has been! Almost a. night, Jerry, said Mr. Lorry, 'fto bring the dead out of their graves. Jerry virtuously replies, I never see the night myself, master,-nor yet I don't expect to,-what would do thatf, Such a pious speech for one whose Khonest businessf' was robbing graves! Je-rry gives a touch of humor to the grim trial of Da.rnay in London, with his curiosity and many questions. Dickens says that when Carton went to tell Darnay of the welfare of Lucy, Jerry followed him, 'fall eyes, ears and spikes. As he sat day after day in front of Tellsonts, Mr. Cruncher derived a. small part of his income from the pilotage of timid women from Tellson's side of the street trafhc to the opposite sidewalk. Dickens, in his long round-about way, says that 'Cbrief as such companionship was in every separate instance, Mr. Cruncher never failed to become so interested in the lady as to express a. strong desire to have the honor of drinking her very good health. And it was from the gifts bestowed upon him towards the execution of this benevolent purpose that he re- cruited his finances. 24

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THE AEGIS the mist we were startled by a wizened face peering through, and as the rest of the body appeared we saw a tiny shriveled blackened man, a charcoal burner, who had his ,hut near by. He brought us a cup of tea and we gladdened his heart by a few sen and passed on. ' We could begin to see through the mist now, to the tops of the mountains, that looked blue in the distance, and then as we got a little lower, the evergreens changed to a long avenue of eryptomeria. The road was strewn with delicate pink blossoms, and the air was so fragrant that we wondered where it came from until We saw, high up in the branches of the cryptomeria, numberless orchids which were responsible for the petals and the fragrance. The coolies were hastening to the end of their road now and as we drew nearer we could hear the temple bell and soon could see the lake. Passing under the stone Lorii fgatewayj we saw, as we passed the last bit of rough scenery, a hugh idol, Kwannon, cut from living rock out of the side of the cliff, and some peasant women with their offerings laid at her feet. She is the patron goddess of women, and is represented in many different ways, throughout Japan. The village now spread before us, in one long wavy line along the lake, and as we entered it the sun was sinking at its farther end, spreading its rays over the water and tinging the sober thatched roofs of the cottages a bright orange. The fresh woody smell from the wood-carver's cottage mingled with the orchid's frag- rance, and when we entered Hakone at sunset, Fuji brokfe from her mists to give us one glorious glimpse of promise of the coming pleasures. DICKENS AND JERRY CRUNCHER MARION AUSTIN. . Dickens, desire when he wrote A Tale of Two Cities was not to have a book of jokes nor a light romance, but a book of careful thought, deep and intricate plots and true historical events. But in order to relieve the strain on the mind of the readgr, he has put in many very humorous touches that readily appeal to one. From the time when Jerry Cruncher gallops up to the Dover mail that Friday night in November, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-iive, until we reluc- tantly leave him, going out of Paris with Miss Pross, he is the source of much amusement. He is described as having a very hoarse voice, a very spiky head and very' rusty finger-tips. Everything he says is more or less ridiculous. He has a great tendency to tangle up his sentences, especially when excited and has his own ideas about the proper pronunciation of certain words. For example, he lovingly styles his wife an aggera.wayter, and believes that the year' of our Lord is called Anna Dominoesfl named for the lady who invented that popular game. Like Sam Weller, he always pronounces uv as NW. The characters of Dickens are usually recognized by some individual attribute or action. Mr. Cruncher is always known by his spikly head, Miss Pross by her energy and her strong right arm, and Mr. Stryver by his perpetual shouldering. Thus when we are introduced to the home life of Jerry Cruncher, the first thing 23

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THE AEGIS Again we see Jerry at home, still grumbling about his wife's flopping and his hard luck with his 'fwenturesf' He gets quite eloquent over his supper. And mind you 3 he says to his wife, no games tomorrow! If I as an hon- est tradesman succeed in providing a jinte of meat or two, none of your not touch- ing of it, and sticking to bread. When you go to Rome, do as Rome does. Rome will be an ugly customer to you, if you don't. Fm your Rome, you know. He also atfectingly and delicately indicates that a mother's lirst duty is to blow her boy out.', In France he is nothing but an English bull-dog with no design in his head but to ily at anybody who touches his master. When Carton and Barsad arc playing their strange game of cards, Cruncher suddenly pops up with his spiky hair fwhich Dickens says could not have been more violently on end if it had been that moment dressed by the Cow with the crumpled horn in the house that J ack built,j and confronts Barsad like a ghostly bailiff. It's you that I have got a old grudge again, is it, with your shameful im- positions upon tradesmen. I'd catch hold of your throat and chokle you for half a guinea. He seeemed to think this quite a liberal offer and made rather an ostentatious show of his liberality. When Mr. Lorry endeavors to find out Jerryfs real occupation, the latter gets quite nervous. Dickens says he changed the leg on which he rested as often as if he had fifty of those. limbs, and were trying them all, he examined his finger- nails with a very questionable closeness of attention, and he was taken with that peculiar kind of cough requiring the hollow of a. hand before it, which is seldom, if ever, known to be an inlirmity attendant on perfect openness of character. Jerry is sure Mr. Lorry knows he is a 'KResurrection Man and he as much as tells him so himself, yet he repeatedly says, even if it was so-don't say it is, but even if it was, and tries to make Mr. Lorry think that 'fprewaricatingn is im- possible for him. Again he gets absurdly tangled up when he says: MUpon that there stool, at that there bar, sets that there boy of mine, brought up and growed up to be a man, wot will errand you, message you, general-light-job you, till your heels is where your head is, if such should be your wishes. The last time we see Jerry, he is in quite a noble state of mind. He desires Miss Pross to take notice of two Uwowsy' respecting a. 'ffuture spear o' life. The first, not very clear, that never no more will he dow it, never no more! -sup- posedly that strange trade of his. The second was that never no more will he interfere with Mrs. Cruncherls Hopping, never no morell' So Jerry is useful as well as ornamental, and when the reader has iinished 'CA Tale of Two Citiesl' he feels he can see this singular man from the top of his spiky head to the tips of his muddy boots. A maid with a duster, Once made a great bluster A dusting a bust in the hall, And when it was dusted, The bust it was busted, The bust is now dust, that is all. - Ex. 25