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Runciman, James, 1852-1891

"The Chequers Being the Natural History of a Public-House, Set Forth in a Loafer's Diary"

I should like to
work with you. If you were to come out a bit flash like me, why, with
your looks and your talk and that _educated_ kind of way you've got, you
might coin money."
"But you wouldn't care to work the Embankment and run the risk of the
cat, as those Piccadilly chaps do?"
"No fear. But you could do better than that. When you're boozed you're
not in it--you lose your head; but when you're right you make fellows
wonder what you are. Sink me! A flat would pal on to you in half an hour
if you coaxed him, as you can do it."
Jerry is an amusing philosopher, who could only have been developed in
the rottenness of a decadence. Fancy an able-bodied, attractive fellow
living with ease from day to day without doing a stroke of honest
labour. He keeps clear of the police; he gratifies every want, yet he
has the intellect of a flash potman and the manners of a valet. The
tribe swarm in this city, and I reckon that they will teach us something
when the overturn comes. They are strong and cunning predatory animals,
who will direct weak and stupid predatory animals, and when the entire
predatory tribe smash the flimsy bonds with which society holds them in
check for the present, then stand by for ugly times.


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