The river Thames would have been almost like a mirror, reflecting every thing that stood in front of it.
The night was relatively quiet as most people were asleep or stayed in.
However there were a lot of people in the taverns so as the people were travelling in and out of them they would be using the streets.
The dawn brings life to the streets with people being busy and bustling around. The river wakes up from its sleep and comes alive at dawn.
The paupers that were the poor people were at the bottom of the social ladder, then it was the working class, middle and then ultimately the upper class.
The upper class were “gods among ants” (the paupers) the most richest and powerful people were admired and envied by the lesser.
Victorians believed that paupers and criminals were evil at birth. Criminals may have an element of evil in there genes but they are not born evil. Paupers are just poor and for some reason working plus classes have come to the unfounded conclusion that they are all evil. The backward Victorian society thought this was the case. Even DICKENS thought this way. There isn’t any real evidence that they were born evil, maybe superficial. The surroundings of an individual have led to the outcome of a person’s choice to do right or wrong. The poor run down areas would have crime reeking through them, as there would be no choice for good because of corrupt influence from criminals.
The Black Cottage
This story was written as a narrative, the events were told as if they were from Bessie’s mouth. The Black Cottage was set in the midst of a moor in the west of England and was about a girl called Bessie who lived with her farther a stonemason.
The cottage was stoutly built with roughly cut stone but was lined and remained snug inside. The outside was covered by pitching and tar, this gave it a dingy effect, hence the name The Black cottage. The only close neighbours they had were a mile and a half away at Holme manor. Holme manor was grandeur to anybody’s eyes and even more compared to the cottage.
A letter arrived from their country town regarding a stone-estimating job for her father, it was for only for one day. So he left for town but Bessie was left alone in the cottage.
Her family was poor and was getting by day to day somehow, people knew this so there was no conceivable chance of burglary, the windows were belted and had iron bars. The risk of any danger was very low as even a timid person could not apprehend a reason to be, the protection of being poor and so isolated was sufficient enough. Rich Valley was an ironic name as most of the people who lived there were working class and not rich at all, opposed to the country town were mainly wealthy people lived. Their worldly possessions were few but among the few they had only one valuable piece of furniture it was a little walnut bookcase that belonged to her mother.
The evening had come and the miners were going back to the moor farm from the mines, the black cottage was along their route. Bessie was outside her house when to men went up to her and asked for a drop of cider. Bessie said she didn’t have any not thinking of the consequences. Jerry and Shifty Dick went away and Bessie went inside. The ruffians returned later and talked to Bessie, she foolishly told them that she was alone. They picked up the stones and threw them at the door increasing in power and rate after each stone, they were trying to break the door down and enter forcefully. Bessie was very venerable at that stage and still she managed to keep her nerve. Bessie put more logs on fire and lit all the candles as this made her keep her nerve.
She saw her cat Polly crouched up and panic stricken in a corner, she felt so close to the little creature and wanted to ease its trouble. She went upstairs and put the little cat beside her bed. She kept on looking outside the window and there was a thick desperate tension in the air that made her think the end was inevitable. After the villains broke in and Bessie fled with the pocket book, she heard shouting as if they were going to apprehend her. The voices started to drown as she moved farther away from the cottage. The weather was unfavourable to the villains as it was raining heavily and there was a lot of mist in the air. The sheer blanket of darkness that engulfed the moorland made it impossible for the thieves to see even a few feet in front their own eyes. Twenty thieves would have trouble finding Bessie let alone just two. Bessie was trying to get to the farmhouse, she used an ingenious method of navigating through the pitch black darkness. The wind was blowing from the farmhouse during the day, so she remembered to run against the wind. She reaches the farmhouse and the only person awake was the farmer’s son. She collapsed and regained enough strength to tell this ill news to him. She collapsed again but this time when she woke up it was in a bed with Polly around her feet and her farther, Mr and Mrs Knifton beside her. The farmer’s son marries the stonemason’s daughter after some deliberation with the notion of class. She states that if she didn’t have this dangerous adventure she would have probably never married him.
The treasure in the forest
The story takes place during Victorian times at the peak of the BRITISH EMPIRE. The idea of the White British men seeking out new land to colonise, obtain resources and potentially slaves. However this wasn’t the goal of this band of explorers, it was to seek out lost Spanish treasure for self gain. The two men were named Evans and Hooker. The location wasn’t known as it was “virgin” land but it was somewhere off China in Pacific Asia. It was isolated and uninhabited, the land was comprised by small and medium sized islands. They span over great distances with minor and vast sized gaps of separation. The explorers entered the barrier of coral surrounding the island through a gap that was a small river. They trailed the river inside to the white sanded beaches they saw a thick forest. This may have been similar sight to the type of palm tree seen by the Victorian explorers in India or somewhere in Africa. The foliage of the trees was similar to a fluffy bright cloud. It created an almost awe inspiring scene, there was a clear view through the virgin forest. The rose like mountains, the beautiful sights, the appearance of the sea was calm and still yet blazing with light.
The sun was shining with overt generosity like a zenith furnace, the land of the rising sun. It was silent, the only noise was from the deep blue sea crashing against the coral and the rocks. The air was filled with warm moisture and the cool Pacific sea breeze simultaneously. They were floating into a lagoon while observing the map and discussing it. They were exhausted and didn’t feel the exaltation that they were expecting as a reward for the last leg of their endeavour. Hooker was rowing while Evans closed his eyes slightly and fell into a daze. He could see a dark part of the forest and where it was empty he hallucinated. It was nighttime and he saw three figures, a fire burning on one side and moonlight on the other side. The middle figure a cross with red, silver and black in colour. He heard them speaking in pigeon English, this was very strange to him.
He saw the Spanish galleon that had run aground and the diseased and weary men take their boats and leave. He then saw Chang-hi come across the Spanish ingots and go away to bury them. This was the secret information Evans needed, the exact location of the treasure. He sees heaps of gold and tries to reach for it but Chang-hi was stopping him and then he threatens Evans. Evans dream becomes irrational as Chang-hi`s pigtail appears in his hand and is getting larger along with the rest of his body. The heaps of gold ablaze in front of his eyes, the very thing he was searching for. Then a giant devil like creature filled his mouth with coals, he was severely burned. He heard another “devil” shout “Evans, Evans you sleepy fool!” It was Hooker shouting, they were at the mouth of the lagoon. They got off and onto the bay of the lagoon. Hooker turned the canoe upside down and used it like a knife to cut their way trough the green tangled vines and brushes that surrounded them. The environment they had entered was “alien” to them in almost every way. The strange trees, tall grass, flowers and plants were all unnamed to them. They saw a figure among the trees, it was in an unnatural position. They both drew nearer, it was a blue coloured chinaman. This was a shock to both as they had a foreboding feeling that this was Chang-chi.
They saw a hole was already dug up and thought to themselves about what was here and the fact that some one else had been here already. They went inwards and they discovered the gold ingots, Evans picked them up with his bare hands and got a thorn stuck in his thumb. He didn’t realise the danger at the time and continued. They were arguing about what should be done with Chang-chi’s body, Hooker wanted to bury the body but Evans wanted to just let it stay there. They eventual decided to leave the body and take a few gold ingots as they couldn’t take any more weight. They carried the ingots in a stretcher type contraption using Evans jacket. Suddenly Evans let his half of the jacket drop and grabbed his throat, he went against a tree and said, “it’ll be alright in a minute.” He cried out in pain and fell to the floor crouching on his side, he was moving rashly and spasmodically. Hooker knew the plant, he had seen a tribe of jungle people use it as poison in their blow darts. Evans told Hooker to take the ingots and get out of there, Hooker packed up the ingots into Evans jacket. While he was doing this he felt a little prick on the ball of his thumb, he pulled the thorn out and endeavoured in vain to suck the poison out, there was nothing he could do for Evans or himself. Hooker never really thought about Chang-chi but he thought what the map had said, “my secret is well guarded.” Hooker knew finally what he had meant by this and just imagined his grin while looking at his companion. Evans who was twitching like a fish on dry land with its last breath at any moment and Hooker crouched while sitting could do nothing more than become statues of failure in their dire hour.
