CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL
OF
POPULAR
LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART.
CONTENTS
EXPERIENCES OF A KNOCKER-UP.
THE ADMIRAL'S SECOND WIFE.
THE MAFIA AND CAMORRA.
NEARLY WRECKED.
CHANGE-RINGING.
CHRISTMAS IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
THE MISTLETOE.
A LOCAL INSTANCE OF CANINE ATTACHMENT.
MONUMENT AND TURF.
| No. 725. | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1877. | Price 1½d. |
EXPERIENCES OF A KNOCKER-UP.
Some time ago, while paying a professional visitat the house of a small tradesman in the town ofB——, in the north of England, I made theacquaintance of an interesting old woman, whoupon the occasion in question was nursing thetradesman's wife. There are persons, especiallyof the gentler sex, who will not be said Nay intheir attempts to win your confidence; and suchwas Mrs Waters, the old lady whom I have named.We became intimate in a few minutes; and circumstancescausing me to prolong my visit forseveral hours, I left the house as familiar with thedame's history as if I had known her for manyyears.
I have styled her an interesting woman. Soshe was. Her appearance, I grant, was not attractive.She bore no trace of beauty; neither hadshe refinement either of speech or manner, beingsomewhat brusque and hasty both in word andaction; yet there was an irresistible power in therapid glance of her large bright eyes; and althoughat first you might be led to believe, from thehastiness which marked all her movements as sheattended to the requirements of the house andfamily, that she must be harsh and unfeeling inher disposition, she was really one of the kindestand most tender-hearted of women. I soon foundout that she was a neighbour, and that she possessedindependent means, which she had acquiredby her own unaided industry; that she had alsomaintained an invalid husband for years, and hadeducated and given a profession to her only sonand child.
I resolved to become better acquainted withthe old dame; and as I did not scruple to putquestions, I gleaned from her what shall formthe subject of the present paper. Her designationas a 'knocker-up' will become plain as Iproceed. In reply to an inquiry she said: 'Odear, no! I am not unwilling to tell you howI made my independency. Why should I be?An honest woman need not be afraid of anything.I made it, sir, by knocking-up; everypenny of it. Ay, you may well look s