CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL
CONTENTS
THE HAPPY JACKS.
THE DESERT HOME.
THE VATTEVILLE RUBY.
HENRY TAYLOR.
RAILWAY JUBILEE IN AMERICA.
THINGS TALKED OF IN LONDON.
THE TURN OF LIFE.
NERVE.
WIRE USED IN EMBROIDERY.
CHEAP LIVING.
MOUNTAINS IN SNOW.
CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'SINFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c.
| No. 422. NEW SERIES. | SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 1852. | PRICE 1½d. |
THE HAPPY JACKS.
'On Saturday, then, at two—humble hours, humble fare; but plenty, andgood of its kind; with a talk over old fellows and old times.'
Such was the pith of an invitation to dinner, to accept which Istarted on a pleasant summer Saturday on the top of a Kentish-townomnibus. My host was Happy Jack. Everybody called him 'Happy Jack:' hecalled himself 'Happy Jack.' He believed he was an intensely 'Happy'Jack. Yet his friends shook their heads, and the grandest shook theirsthe 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'tknow 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 theOpera?—who but Happy Jack, and Mrs Happy Jack, and the two eldestHappy Jack girls! Jack himself resplendent in diamond studs, andtremendously laced shirt-front; and as for the women—actually queensof Sheba. A really respectable carriage, too, at the door; for Ifollowed them out in amazement: and off they went like so many lordsand ladies. Oh, the sun has been shining somehow on the Happy Jacks!'
In due time I stood before the Terrace honoured by the residence ofthe Happy Jacks—one of those white, stuccoed rows of houses, withbright green doors and bright brass-plates thereon, which suburbanbuilders so greatly affect. As I entered the square patch offront-garden, I perceived straw lying about, as though there had beenrecent packing; and looking at the drawing-room window, I missed themuslin curtain and the canary's brass cage swathed all over i