ied both, and a great deal more besides. So she is--internally,
externally, and infernally bad," said the doctor, laughing. "And so she
amputated your father's pigtail, did she, the Delilah? Pity one could
not amputate her head, it would make a good woman of her. Good bye,
Jack; I must go and look after Tom, he's swallowed a whole yard of
stick-liquorice by this time."

Soon afterwards Ben the Whaler came in to inquire after my father, and I
told him what had occurred. He was very indignant at my mother's
conduct, and, as soon the affair was known, so were all the tenants of
Fisher's Alley. When my mother went out, or had words with any of her
neighbours, the retort was invariably, "Who sent the press-gang after
her own husband?" or, "Who cut off the tail from her husband's back?
Wasn't that a _genteel_ trick?" All this worried my mother, and she
became very morose and ill-tempered; I believe she would have left the
alley, if she had not taken a long lease of the house. She had now
imbibed a decided hatred for me, which she never failed to show upon
every occasion, for she knew that it was I who had roused my father, and
prevented her escape from his wrath. The consequence was, that I was
seldom at home, except to sleep. I sauntered to the beach, ran into the
water, sometimes rowed in the wherries, at others hauling them in and
holding them steady for the passengers to land. I was beginning to be
useful to the watermen, and was very often rewarded with a piece of
bread and cheese, or a drink of beer out of their pots. The first year
after my father's visit, I was seldom given a meal, and continually
beaten--indeed, sometimes cruelly so--but as I grew stronger, I rebelled
and fought, and with such success that, although I was hated more, I was
punished less.

One scene between my mother and me may serve as a specimen for all. I
would come home with my trousers tucked up, and my _high-lows_ unlaced
and full of water, sucking every time that I lifted up my leg, and
marking the white sanded floor of the front room, as I proceeded through
it to the back kitchen. My mother would come downstairs, and perceiving
the marks I had left, would get angry, and as usual commence singing--

"`A frog he would a-wooing go,
Heigho, says Rowly.'

"I see here's that little wretch been here--

"`Whether his mother would let him or no,
Heigho, says Rowly.'

"I'll rowly him with the rolling-pin when I get hold of h