F. Colburn (Francis Colburn) Adams
Chapter 83
looking grocery lives Mr. Muffin, the coffin-maker, who has a large
business with the disciples who look in at Korner's. Mrs. Downey, a
decent sort of body, who lives up the alley, and takes sixpenny
lodgers by the dozen, may be seen in great tribulation with her pet
pig, who, every day, much to the annoyance of Mr. Korner, manages to
get out, and into the pool of decaying matter opposite his door,
where he is sure to get stuck, and with his natural propensity,
squeals lustily for assistance. Mrs. Downey, as is her habit, gets
distracted; and having well abused Mr. Korner for his interference
in a matter that can only concern herself and the animal, ventures
to her knees in the mire, and having seized her darling pig by the
two ears, does, with the assistance of a policeman, who kindly takes
him by the tail, extricate his porkship, to the great joy of
herself. The animal scampers, grunting, up the alley, as Mr. Korner,
in his shirt sleeves, throws his broom after him, and the policeman
surlily says he wishes it was the street commissioner.
"We have made the circle of Doyer's street, and find it fortified on
Pell street, with two decrepit wooden buildings, that the demand for
the 'devil's elixir,' has converted into Dutch groceries, their
exteriors presenting the appearance of having withstood a storm of
dilapidated clapboards, broken shutters, red herrings, and onions.
Mr. Voss looks suspiciously through the broken shutters of his
Gibraltar, at his neighbor of the opposite Gibraltar, and is heard
to say of his wares that they are none of the best, and that while
he sells sixpence a pint less, the article is a shilling a pint
better. And there the two Gibraltars stand, apparently infirm,
hurling their unerring missiles, and making wreck of everything in
the neighborhood.
"We have turned down Pell street toward Mott, and on the north side
a light-colored sign, representing a smith in the act of shoeing a
horse, attracts the eye, and tells us the old cavern-like building
over which it swings, is where Mr. Mooney does smithwork and