The Chimes / Колокола. Книга для чтения на английском языке

The loss upon a pound of tripe has been found to be, in the boiling, seven-eights of a fifth more than the loss upon a pound of any other animal substance whatever. Tripe is more expensive, properly understood, than the hothouse pine-apple. Taking into account the number of animals slaughtered yearly within the bills of mortality alone; and forming a low estimate of the quantity of tripe which the carcases of those animals, reasonably well butchered, would yield; I find that the waste on that amount of tripe, if boiled, would victual a garrison of five hundred men for five months of thirty-one days each, and a February over.

The Waste, the Waste!’

Trotty stood aghast, and his legs shook under him. He seemed to have starved a garrison of five hundred men with his own hand.

�Who eats tripe?’ said Mr. Filer, warmly. �Who eats tripe?’

Trotty made a miserable bow.

�You do, do you?’ said Mr. Filer. �Then I’ll tell you something. You snatch your tripe, my friend, out of the mouths of widows and orphans.

’

�I hope not, sir,’ said Trotty, faintly. �I’d sooner die of want!’

�Divide the amount of tripe before-mentioned, Alderman,’ said Mr. Filer, �by the estimated number of existing widows and orphans, and the result will be one pennyweight of tripe to each. Not a grain is left for that man. Consequently, he’s a robber.’

Trotty was so shocked, that it gave him no concern to see the Alderman finish the tripe himself.

It was a relief to get rid of it, anyhow.

�And what do you say?’ asked the Alderman, jocosely, of the red-faced gentleman in the blue coat. �You have heard friend Filer. What do you say?’

�What’s it possible to say?’ returned the gentleman. �What is to be said? Who can take any interest in a fellow like this,’ meaning Trotty; �in such degenerate times as these? Look at him. What an object! The good old times, the grand old times, the great old times! Those were the times for a bold peasantry, and all that sort of thing.

Those were the times for every sort of thing, in fact. There’s nothing now-a-days. Ah!’ sighed the red-faced gentleman. �The good old times, the good old times!’

The gentleman didn’t specify what particular times he alluded to; nor did he say whether he objected to the present times, from a disinterested consciousness that they had done nothing very remarkable in producing himself.