The Project Gutenberg EBook of Chambers' Edinburgh Journal, by Various

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Title: Chambers' Edinburgh Journal
Volume XVII., No 422, New Series, January 31, 1852

Author: Various

Editor: Robert Chambers and William Chambers

Release Date: July 7, 2005 [EBook #16228]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL

CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'S
INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c.

No. 422. NEW SERIES. SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 1852. PRICE 1-1/2 _d._

THE HAPPY JACKS.

'On Saturday, then, at two--humble hours, humble fare; but plenty, and
good of its kind; with a talk over old fellows and old times.'

Such was the pith of an invitation to dinner, to accept which I
started on a pleasant summer Saturday on the top of a Kentish-town
omnibus. My host was Happy Jack. Everybody called him 'Happy Jack:' he
called himself 'Happy Jack.' He believed he was an intensely 'Happy'
Jack. Yet his friends shook their heads, and the grandest shook theirs
the longest, as they added the ominous addendum of 'Poor Devil' to
'Happy Jack.'

'Seen that unhappy wretch, Happy Jack, lately?'

'Seen him! of course, yesterday: he came to borrow a half-sovereign,
as two of his children had the measles. He was in the highest spirits,
for the pawnbroker lent him more on his watch than he had expected,
and so Jack considered the extra shilling or two pure gain. I don't
know how the wretch lives, but he seems happier than ever.'

On another occasion, the dialogue would be quite different.

'Who do you think I saw last night in the first tier at the
Opera?--who but Happy Jack, and Mrs Happy Jack, and the two eldest
Happy Jack girls! Jack himself resplendent in diamond studs, and
tremendously laced shirt-front; and as for the women--actually queens
of Sheba. A really respectable carriage, too, at the door; for I
followed them out in amazement: an