Dickensians! discussion

This is the thread to discuss No Thoroughfare, which like The Frozen Deep is both a stage play and a novel, by Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins. It will be hosted by Lee from 8th to 31st July, and no doubt she will explain how both authors were involved.

***PLEASE ALLOW LEE TO COMMENT FIRST***

I will be updating this thread over the weekend. I have finally found a paperback of this novel through Amazon which has the pages numbered. The Dover editions are poor replicas without pagination. https://www.amazon.com/No-Thoroughfar...

In addition, this short novel can be found on Kindle.Link to be posted momentarily.

My apologies for the late start to this short novel, approximately 135 pages long, a bit too long for a novella. It is available on Kindle and I have just found a paginated paperback copy on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/No-Thoroughfar...

Beware that some paperback copies do not have pagination (Dover Publications).

My best resource has been the ebook on Kindle. I will note any other publications shortly.

There have been some difficult medical issues that have arisen for me during the past week and continuing into the next week which have delayed my getting started on this reading. However, the novel is entertaining and a quick read, with some mystery, a crisis of mistaken identity, murder and self-sacrifice. Dickens does not disappoint in this work and of course Wilkie Collin’s adds his own special touch of suspense and drama.

I hope you can obtain a copy quickly in spite of my late start. Who will be joining me?

Let me just add that Lee read both versions of this a few months ago, in preparation. I also know that she has been determined to fulfil her plan to host this read, despite considerable difficulties, (and despite my assurances that she need not!) and I am full of admiration at her courage. Thank you! I know that everyone will be very supportive 🥰

I think this will be a fantastic read, with quite a few of the hallmark thrilling features which made both Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins such fantastic storytellers 😊

Lee, I’m planning to read long and looking forward to another Dickens/Collins read. I have 2 complete works of Dickens for Kindle and both contain No Thoroughfare is play form - and overture and 4 acts. Will we be reading a different version, like The Frozen Deep, we read the novella first?

Thank you, Lee, and I’m so sorry to hear that you are going through some difficulties medically. I can certainly relate and will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

I'm sorry you have not been feeling well, Lee. Please do not hesitate to take some days off if you are not totally recovered.

I have the play version in a paperback of Dickens' plays. I read it a few months ago, and enjoyed it. So I'm looking forward to reading the novel along with you.

Is the version on Project Gutenberg acceptable for the novel version?
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1423/...

Thanks Lee. I will be along. I will read the Gutenberg novel and the Delph complete works play. Please don't overdo it when you are not feeling well. We will pick up the slack.

Yes, the Project Gutenberg version looks fine. However, there seems to be no pagination there. You will have to hunt for the breaks as some will not correspond with chapters. I had to do that in order to stretch the reading to 3 full weeks.

Ok I just got a kindle version of the short novel. Looking forward to reading it.

Thank you, all.

Lori wrote: "Lee, I’m planning to read long and looking forward to another Dickens/Collins read. I have 2 complete works of Dickens for Kindle and both contain No Thoroughfare is play form - and overture and 4 ..."

Hello, Lori. I plan to cover the novel only. There will be a few remarks about the play, but basically this reading will discuss the novel. There are some differences between the two, so if you could obtain the novel that would be good. Alternatively, as we go through the book, you could point out some differences.

Connie wrote: "Is the version on Project Gutenberg acceptable for the novel version?
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1423/... | flag
..."

Yes, that is a good copy of the novel. However, no pagination to guide you, But I will provide the breaks so you will know where a reading ends.

Sam wrote: "Thanks Lee. I will be along. I will read the Gutenberg novel and the Delph complete works play. Please don't overdo it when you are not feeling well. We will pick up the slack."

I can't thank you enough, Sam. I will give some background information about the highly successful play, but please do comment when you see differences between the two. Each was written for a different purpose under different circumstances, but I am focusing on the narrative book.

A fascinating explanation of how the story (or novel) came to be a play is described by Charles Dickens himself in a letter to a publisher in Nov. 1, 1867.

"I will bring you out the early proof of the Xmas No. We publish it here on the 12th. of December. I am planning it out into a play for Wilkie Collins to manipulate after I sail, and have arranged for Fechter to go to the Adelphi Theatre and play a Swiss in it. It will be brought out, the day after Christmas Day."

Fifteen years later, Collins described his early participation in conceiving the novel:

"I had the honor of writing the Christmas story called “No Thoroughfare” in literary association with Charles Dickens. We invented the story at Gadshill, in the Swiss châlet which had been Fechter’s gift to Dickens. When our last page of manuscript had been set up in type, I returned to other literary labors which had been suspended in favor of “No Thoroughfare,” and which kept me so closely employed that I saw nothing of my brethren in art for some little time."

[Then details of how the play was conceived AFTER its publication in All The Year Round].

"During this interval Fechter had read the proof-sheets, had (to use his own phrase) “fallen madly in love with the subject,” and had prepared a scenario or outline of a dramatic adaptation of the story, under Dickens’s superintendence and approval. This done, Dickens took his departure for the United States, leaving the destinies of the unwritten play safe, as he kindly said, in my hands."

*A LITTLE NOTE. Fetcher was a then famous actor who would be asked to perform a major role in the Dickens/Collins play as Jules Obenreizer. He was involved in the preparations, as you can see, from the beginnings.

I have the Gutenberg version - read several pages last night.
As usual, Dickens has a baby left at an orphanage, poor lady asking questions in secret, a dignified well-dressed lady, a mix-up of names, a rich young man (yes, Dickens usually gets us to a rich young one) - I am just amused that so many of the Dickens books have the same thing. Dark night, the picture of his mother - which brings memories to several in different ways, and I could go on. Wonder if others are getting fixated on Dickens' writing tricks? peace, janz

Thank you for the background, Lee. So sorry you have not been well, hope things are improving daily. I have my copy in hand, with plans to start tomorrow!

AND A LITTLE MORE:

No Thoroughfare is a short novel. My page counts will be from my iPad Kindle so the page #’s will vary according to what version you are reading. I have tried to limit each day to between 4 and 18 pages, with days off every Sunday and Thursday to allow me flexibility. To stretch the reading to a full three weeks, I have broken some chapters where they made the most “dramatic” common sense. Those breaks I will mark by quoting a complete sentence or a phrase. Note that even the novel is organized like a play, but it will not have the stage directions of a play. Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins had a drama in mind from the very beginning: I think the novel was written to fulfill Dickens’s Christmas obligations as well as to test the popularity of the material for a play with Collin's contributions.

Week 1 - July 8 – 13

July 8 - THE OVERTURE (4pgs) To: ""Kiss him for me!".

July 10 - Begin: "Day of the month and year, the first Sunday in October" (4 pages)

July 12 – ACT I: The Curtain Rises (5 pgs). To: “’Honor, ‘” said Mr. Wilding, sobbing as he quoted from the Commandments, “’thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land.’

July 13 - Begin ”When I was in the Foundling, Mr. Bintrey, I was at such a loss . . . “ (6 pgs).

July 15 - ENTER THE HOUSEKEEPER (5 pgs).

Sara wrote: "Thank you for the background, Lee. So sorry you have not been well, hope things are improving daily. I have my copy in hand, with plans to start tomorrow!"

I'm so happy you will be here Sara!

SUMMARY:
The Overture: to "Kiss him for me!".

The Overture part 1

Our story begins with a precise statement of time, place and a reference to an Olympian god. The scene opens in London, ten at night, November the thirtieth, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five. The setting narrows to the Hospital for Foundling Children. By turning over your child as a Foundling, the parent relinquishes all rights to knowledge and loses rights to reclaim the child “evermore”.

There is a veiled lady present in the darkness near the entrance gate. The gate opens and a young woman, possibly a nurse or attendant at the Hospital exits and starts to hurry away. The lady approaches her and begins a low and quiet conversation. The lady offers the young woman some guineas as a present and begs to speak with her. Startled, the nurse identifies herself as Sally and refuses to be bought. The money is rejected, but she pauses to ask what the lady wishes from her.

The lady does not give her name, but merely lifts the veil which covers her face. She reveals that she is “the miserable mother of a baby lately received under your care”. She pleads that Sally listen to her agonized prayer regarding that baby. Sally shrinks away, saying prayer should be addressed to “the Good Father of All” and not her.

The lady pointing out that Sally has a bright future ahead while her own future is bleak and hopeless. She asks only two words of Sally: the baby’s newly bestowed name. The lady knows her baby has been christened in the chapel. She begs on her knees in the mud to know what name the Foundling Hospital has given her baby of last Monday evening.

Sally is touched and gives the child’s name: “Walter Wilding”.

With that information, the lady embraces Sally, begs that she kiss the child for her, and disappears into the night.

And Another Thing

Purpose of the Hospital when founded in 1741:

"‘the design of the founder… being twofold- to hide the shame of the mother, as well as to preserve the life of the child’ (CHAR 2/384). Children had to be under 12 months of age, and were admitted after the mother had been interviewed and deemed to fit the criteria set out by the hospital. Once they had been accepted, children were registered, and were sent to live with a ‘nurse’ or foster family in the country. When they reached four or five years of age, children were sent to live at the Foundling Hospital in London, where they received schooling until they were 15 years old, and then were apprenticed, usually to work in domestic or military service." https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/e...

From original instructions to staff at the Foundling Hospital. (The image was too wide to be reproduced here but you can view it at the link. I encourage you to view the instructions as it determined the fate of thousands of unwanted children.)

"Before the children are sent into the country, they are to be numbered and registered in the follow manner."

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/e...

And Another Thing
Feel free to make your comments NOW on our first complete day of reading. We are beginning a tale of deceit, secrets, intricate plot twists and adventures that take us from a London orphanage to a dangerous Alp crossing in the 19th century. With two unmatched Victorian authors, be prepared for social commentary as well as melodramatic literary devices to enhance the mystery and the crisis of mistaken identity!

Already need to say thank you for the background info, Lee. The hospital looks like a huge place. The idea of the Foundling Hospital is heartbreaking, but for many of these children it represented being literally saved, I'm sure. How sad for the mothers.

It feels like a bad omen to have Kronos mentioned immediately, but Zeus escaped and became the primary god himself, so it remains to be seen what the reference might allude to in the story. I am always looking for which contributions come from which of the men, Dickens or Collins, but this seems it could belong to either of them.

Thank you Lee for the great background material, which is very pedagogical!

I read that Thomas Coram was the founder of the Foundling Hospital, hence Tattycoram in Little Dorrit I suppose.

Thank you Sara for mentioning Kronos.
I climbed down my Magic Mountain Der Zauberberg for a few minutes, where there are lots of mythological allusions. I am generally better at spotting Bible verses than Greek myths!

These opening pages are full of mystery and emotions!

I read that Dickens was the author of the Overture section. His interest in the Foundling Hospital is not surprising since he was the co-founder of the Urania Cottage, a home to give unwed mothers and "fallen women" a second chance.

https://revisitingdickens.wordpress.c...

Thank you for the excellent summary, and the valuable information about the Foundling Hospital, Lee.

My enjoyment has already been increased by the informative notes. This is a late work in Dickens life, and as I read this, it will be with some sadness knowing that, and with a sense of forgiveness if it is below expectation. Wilkins best known work was soon to come the following year. Lee intends more on this I am sure but wanted to note my feelings approaching the novel.

Lovely thanks Lee! And everyone 😊

Yes, Claudia the Foundling hospital at Coram Fields is where "Tattycoram" was adopted from and there are several more posts about it people may remember from our read of Little Dorrit which you can find if you use the search field on the right. Charles Dickens was one of the principal benefactors.

In 2004 it opened as a museum, and when the Dickens House museum was closed a few weeks ago we went there instead. https://foundlingmuseum.org.uk/our-st... It is fascinating to see all the artefacts and photos. Here are just 3 which brought a lump to my throat.

1. A "scrapbook" which catalogued all the accepted children by name and date, with a button or scrap of fabric by which the mother could later identify their baby. This was because the mothers were usually illiterate. If their circumstances changed, so that they could look after their child after a few years, they needed to be able to identify them by this token.

2. An oil painting from the time, showing the admittance procedure which Lee mentioned. The hospital was the first of its kind, and had been "crowdfunded" (to use the modern vernacular!) by the Victorian benefactor Thomas Coram. He persisted for several years appealing to the wealthy for contributions, and working out plans for its construction and getting it approved by the authorities.

In return for their charity, the donators wanted to see what was going on. The painting shows a few desperately poor mothers in rags (no shoes) queueing up with their babe in arms. They would have walked for miles, for this one chance for their child, who would otherwise starve on the streets (as might they). Two foundling hospital officials stood, one holding a bag of white and black balls. If the mother picked out the right colour, her baby would be accepted, but the others turned away. This was to ensure that the process was fair and impartial - it was just a question of luck. But oh my goodness ... I couldn't tear myself away from this picture, with all the posh people in their finery, chatting and looking on.

But the alternative was worse, and the museum showed other museums in different countries taking up the idea. There were also accounts from the children as adults telling how happy they had been there as children. Most made a great success of their lives.

3. Simply a pastoral photo of children with their faces full of smiles and the sun shining. It was taken in a orchard in Kent, where the foundling children were taken for 3 weeks in the summer every year, to go apple picking. None of these children would ever have been out of the slums of London before that.

More thanks from me for the info on the Foundling hospital, Lee. Right away there is a foreboding tone with the veiled woman and the urgency she implores from the nurse. The lifting of her veil leads me to think she is disfigured or has scars from smallpox or something like that and Sally’s reaction of crying must imply this lady’s circumstances. I don’t quite understand why Sally’s marriage in 6 months would keep her from helping this lady right now. Maybe she is just taken a back by the late hour and thinking about her own ill fiancée she has just left. Regardless, it is an excellent start and I’m intrigued to see where it goes.

A few pics from April 2024, to show what the Foundling Hospital (museum) is like now. I think you can recognise the building as part of the bigger complex. The statue is just outside the entrance, (hidden by the pesky black van in the first picture!) and is of Thomas Coram.

Jean, thank you for sharing your photos and information about Thomas Coram. He sounds like a wonderful philanthropist.

SUMMARY: The Overture, part 2.

Twelve years have passed. The baby Walter Wilding of course is now twelve years old. The scene opens in the light of day, implying less shame and secrecy than when we were first introduced to the hospital. Even “the clock of the Hospital for Foundling Children” has been moved to match in time the much larger clock of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, so the resonance of the bells of the great clock towers are now in synchronicity.

The bright sun lights and brightens the wards, both girl’s and boy’s, and there are important personages observing the children dining, including governors and entire families of the church congregation. “Neat attendants silently glide” among the children who are observed by the visitors. Occasionally the outsiders approach a child and speak kindly to them, a totally different atmosphere from when we were first introduced to the orphanage.

Once again a veiled lady enters the scene and draws our attention as she moves uneasily about the boys’ refectory. She has many questions to ask of the attendant regarding the boys, inquiring their age upon release and other natural queries. But such details are against the rules and the matron she addresses refuses to answer when the veiled lady asks about a Walter Wilding.

The matron explains all such information must remain private to outsiders and she stares at the floor. The veiled lady persists, lightly touching the attendant, reminiscent of her touch upon Sally twelve years past. The matron responds to her inquiry with a concession. She will walk around the table, speak to a boy, and at the same moment touch another boy on the shoulder. The touch will indicate the person of Walter Wilding.

The matron pats a boy on the shoulder and exits the dining room as the meal is completed. The lady lifts her veil as she reaches the marked boy and speaks to him, asking if he is well and happy. He responds “yes, ma’am” and agrees to take from her hands the sweetmeats she offers him, the dried and candied fruits being quite a treat for him.

The lady touches the boys forehead with her cheek, lowers her veils, and exits inconspicuously with the other visitors.

Thus concludes The Overture.

Thanks to Jean for the fascinating information about the Foundling Hospital. That it is still standing and that she has actually entered the building brings a touch of stark reality to No Thoroughfare. Dickens had a deep desire to expose social ills and injustices of the day as we Dickensians all realize. It is to his credit that what he presents as "fiction" was in truth the reality of the day, and it must have been tough for his readers to ignore.

That admission for the baby was often (always?) determined by the mother's blind selection of a black or white ball from a bag was horrifying to me.

Some other thoughts

Did anyone notice the first instance of the expression "no thoroughfare" in part 1 of the Overture? The street of the Hospital was not in an auspicious location. It was a muddy street polluted by constant horse droppings. And what was Dickens telling us, by saying that this by-way was "an empty street without a thoroughfare"?

As an American, I found the expression "thoroughfare" unfamiliar. But it would be clear to the original reads and modern day British as it is apparently commonly used in place of the American "no exit".

Thanks to Sam for pointing out that the late date of publication was only three years shy of Dickens's death. The novel was published in 1867. Charles Dickens died June 9, 1870 at the age of 58.

Also I very much appreciate that folks are joining in early with valuable comments: Jean, Lori, Claudia, Sara, and Connie. Even if you know the entire story, please be cautious of spoilers as we take the reading very slowly.

Perhaps after our discussion about the Foundling Hospital, Janz will now agree that Charles Dickens had powerful reasons for dwelling on the plight of poverty stricken mothers and their children. These were not mere "tricks". He had great compassion for the issues faced by unwed mothers, prostitutes, and the hundreds of orphans on the streets of London in the mid-18th century. I would say these topics and the characters he created in his novels were not mere tropes: they were passionate, provocative and critical metaphors to expose social injustice of his day.

Lee, you are so right. When I was writing those adjectives earlier I did not mean to downgrade them. It was my mistake to treat them lightly. Perhaps the thing that I most love about Dickens is his passion for the poor, the downtrodden, those that did not have the luck to be born rich or to a high-brow family. He had such passion for the poor, those who were treated badly - orphans, unwed mothers, prostitutes, etc. I did not mean them as tropes - in my mind, he is a hero for bring the downtrodden to our attention - 150 years later. peace, janz

One More Thing:

If you Google orphans and Charles Dickens in literature, you will find treasures. Embedded in this article are more drawings of the Foundling Hospital and its luxurious chapel. I also found a page from the drama No Thoroughfare: A Drama in Four Acts. You will recognize it immediately. Perhaps Jean can tell us if this was the handwriting of Wilkie Collins, as he was primarily responsible for drafting the novel into dramatic (play) form.

https://www.britishlibrary.cn/en/arti...

Thank you Lee for the wonderful summary and background information!

You have rightly emphasised the importance of gestures and, in particular, tactile contact. This is how the unknown lady manages to persuade Sally - twelve years earlier - to tell her the name of a baby to whom she is mysteriously linked. Now it is by touching her that she persuades the employee to point out this child among the others. Instinctively, it seems, the employee also resorts to tactile contact to point out Walter, while she is leisurely talking to his neighbour.

We deduce that words or money are insufficient to convince, in Sally's case, or that they are dangerous or not significant, almost a lure, in the case of the employee who fears breaking the rules - and losing her job.

Words are insufficient to communicate feelings, so the lady resorts to tactile contact to communicate something to the child.

Plus, touching the garment has biblical precedents! ((Luke 8:40-48)

This hushed atmosphere of anonymity and mystery - the veiled woman, the deep feelings suggested rather than expressed - is a strong introduction to the story.

Great picture addition, Jean!

Lee wrote: "Perhaps Jean can tell us if this was the handwriting of Wilkie Collins..."

Sorry Lee, I can't seem to see this, though I can access Ruth Richardson's feature. She has written quite a few articles like this for the British Library, and they are much better than our side read by her of Dickens and the Workhouse: Oliver Twist and the London Poor. (Please be warned, if you didn't get round to it!)

Incidentally, we still have a few road signs in England which say "No Thoroughfare", (although most have been replaced by "No Through Road"). A "thoroughfare" in English means a main road, the Oxford English Dictionary defines it as "a road or path forming a route between two places, e.g. "a scheme to stop the park being used as a thoroughfare.""

It was in common parlance, so would have been seen as a pun. Not exactly "no way out" but "no way through". Perhaps Charles Dickens want us to see this as a sort of labyrinth, rather than a cage/trap?

The etchings make me want to add a number 4 to my set of anecdotes about the Foundling Museum ...

4. If you look at the one of the interior, you can see a broad oak staircase at the back of the entrance hall. It is of lovely polished wood, with a very shiny oak banister. The foundlings also found this very tempting, and used to slide down it! But the sign I read said that they had to put some large nails in it, one every couple of feet to stop this, as one child had fallen off, hit his head on the floor tiles and died. The holes for the nails are still there.

Bionic Jean wrote: "Lovely thanks Lee! And everyone 😊

Yes, Claudia the Foundling hospital at Coram Fields is where "Tattycoram" was adopted from and there are several more posts about it people may remember from our ..."

Thank you for this information. I never knew Dickens was one of the founders. And the pulling a black or white ball out of the bag! That is horrible. I know horrible things happened then as well as today but this is just an awful way to decide who gets help. janz

Peacejanz wrote: "this is just an awful way to decide who gets help ..."

Well it is, of course, but I actually think their motives were good. There had been a strict selection procedure before, to make sure that the applicants really were destitute with no means of support. But the numbers were just so overwhelming that perhaps it seemed the fairest way, to have the right number of the right coloured balls to match the places and beds available. I think what upset me the most about the whole thing was that it was almost a spectator sport for the benefactors. Perhaps I'm being too cynical here, but the contrast was so strong, and the fact that it was done in public seemed voyeuristic.

Quite a few of these destitute women would have ended up drowning themselves in the river Thames - or at least thinking about it - as we've read about in other stories by Charles Dickens e.g. David Copperfield and Bleak House.

While we're thinking about how Charles Dickens brings these social ills into his works, I do think that both you Janz and Lee are absolutely right, and actually in agreement 😊

Charles Dickens exposed many social ills that other writers of the time would shy away from. And he was not averse to using "tricks of the trade" - otherwise known as "literary devices" - to manipulate his readers, as all authors do. He wrote persuasive literature, and even invented his own stylistic device ...

What was different about Charles Dickens was that he told his tale so skilfully, that we would be in tears one moment, and then over the page he would make us laugh. I honestly can't think of anyone else who can do that, and it's an incredibly powerful tool - or even weapon - he wields. Because what we have read sticks in our minds, and we do not avoid it, because he can make us feel positive and full of joy in life too. 🥰

Bionic Jean wrote: "What was different about Charles Dickens was that he so skilfully told his tale that we would be in tears one moment, and then over the page he would make us laugh. I honestly can't think of anyone else who can do that, and it's an incredibly powerful tool - or even weapon - he wields."

Indeed Jean!

Yet, Thomas Mann can! We may be in tears but a few pages later, a healthy pint of his genuine North German humour - both dry and subtle, but efficient - saves your day!

Interesting!

SUMMARY: A C T I
"The Curtain Rises" (4 pgs) July 11

To: "'Honour, . . . thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land.""

It is now 1861 in London and 14 years have passed since we were last at the Foundling Hospital. The novel setting has moved to a “slippery and winding street” near the Thames, to the courtyard Cripple Corner. Here the business of Wilding & Co., Wine Merchants operates, and the nearest approach to the river is via Break-Neck-Stairs. The street is of course marked “No Thoroughfare” (no passage, or dead end). It is a “slimy little causeway dropped into the river by a slow process of suicide”. To clarify, a causeway is a road, almost a bridge, but it only slightly is raised above a segment of shallow water. Wilding Wine Merchants makes use of the “oozing” waterway to deliver casks and bottles of wine to its cellars. [This site apparently really existed during Dickens lifetime.

We meet two gentlemen at the property, a Mr. Walter Wilding (owner) and his “man of law” or business manager Mr. Bintrey. Mr. Bintrey , though cautious by character, has “twinkling beads of eyes”, a bald head and a very cheerful disposition. Mr. Wilding, age 25, is expressing his gratitude and deep thankfulness as he is now legally the property owner of Wilding & Co., Wine Merchants.

The men state that business affairs of the apparently newly financed business have been concluded, and a partner has been secured for Mr. Wilding. In addition, they have placed an advertising for a housekeeper. Wilding’s late mother’s affairs have been settled, according to the two men. With emotion overflowing, Mr. Wilding tearfully expresses deep love for his deceased mother. He reminisces about the 13 years he lived under her care, and then eight of which he was her “acknowledged” son. His mother had endured great suffering, though no details are given. Mr. Wilding merely states that she had been greatly deceived.

This is the very Walter Wilding of The Overture, whom we first met as an orphan in the Foundling Hospital. Wilding is apparently deeply religious, as he quotes the commandment from the Bible about honoring one's father and mother”

Now for your comments as we begin Act I.

Bionic Jean wrote: "Peacejanz wrote: "this is just an awful way to decide who gets help ..."

Well it is, of course, but I actually think their motives were good. There had been a strict selection procedure before, to..."

I love the way one comment (like the ones by Janz, brings up so many easily overlooked ideas. Like the technique of literary devices, which I had thought about but decided that could entail an entire discussion in itself. And then Jean noticed the "spectator" aspect of the Foundling Hospital. The children were truly on display and this was encouraged so that more and more donors would participate.

Thank you Lee for this great summary!

There is indeed a gap of thirteen years between the two chapters and the author knows how to tickle our curiosity.

In addition, the burlesque toponyms have an aspect that sounds zany but may also be symbolic. "No thoroughfare" reminds me of Lady Dedlock.

What's more, Walter expresses his difficulty in fully living this biblical verse, because we understand that he had no father or mother to honour until at the age of 12. Moreover, it is rare for this verse to be quoted in full excepted in a religious context, often mentioned more as a theory than in the difficulty of applying it.

It may also seem surprising that Walter would reveal personal details in the presence of his sales manager.