nteel.

CHAPTER FOUR

In which I tell the Reader all I can recollect about myself, and
moreover prove the Truth of the old Adage, "That it is a wise Child
who knows its own Father".

My readers must not expect me to tell them much of what passed during
the first four years of my existence. I have a recollection of a deal
board put at the door of our house, which opened into Fisher's Alley, to
prevent me, and afterward my sister, from crawling out. Fisher's Alley
is a very narrow street, and what was said in a room on one side of it
can be heard on the other, and I used to hang over the board and listen.
There were drunken men and drunken women, and occasionally scolding and
fighting. My mother, having made up her mind to be saving, had taken a
lease of the house and furnished it; and every day I heard her saying at
the door, "Walk in, gentlemen; I've a nice clean room and boiling hot
water"--for the seamen used to come in to take tea, drink, and smoke;
and so did the old pensioners occasionally, for my mother had made
acquaintance with several of them. I was always very ragged and dirty,
for my mother neglected and ill-treated me. As soon as my sister was
born she turned all her affections over to Virginia, who was always very
much petted, well dressed, and a very beautiful child.

All this I recollect, but little more, except that my mother gave me
several beatings for calling my sister "Jenny," which I had learned to
do from others who knew her; but when my mother heard them, she was
always very angry, and told them that her child had not such a vulgar
name; at which many would laugh, and make a point of calling out "Jenny"
to Virginia whenever they passed and saw her at the door. When I was a
little more than four years old I would climb over the board, for I had
no pleasure at home. As I grew older I used to hasten down to the
landing-steps on the beach, where the new inn called the Trafalgar now
stands, and watch the tide as it receded, and pick up anything I could
find, such as bits of wood and oakum; and I would wonder at the ships
which lay in the stream, and the vessels sailing up and down. I would
sometimes remain out late to look at the moon and the lights on board of
the vessels passing; and then I would turn my eyes to the stars, and
repeat the lines which I had heard my mother teach little Virginia to
lisp:

"Pretty little twinkling star,
How I wonder what you are;