Chirp the third
“I had studied myself; I had had experience of myself; I knew how much I loved her, and how happy I should be”, pursed the carrier. “But I had not- I feel it now- sufficiently considered her”
“To be sure” said Tackleton. “Giddiness, frivolity, fickleness, love of admiration! Not considered! All left out of sight! Hah!
“You had best not interrupt me,” said the Carrier, with some sternness, till you understand me; and you are wide of doing so. If yesterday, I’d have struck that man down at a blow, who dared to speak a word against her, to-day I’d set my foot upon his face, if he was my brother!”
The toy merchant gazed at him in astonishment. He went on in a softer tone.
“Did I consider”, said the carrier, that I took her- at her age, and with her beauty-from her young companions, and the many scenes of which she was the ornament ;in which she the brightest little star that ever shone, to shut her up from day to day in my dull house, and keep my tedious company? Did I consider how little suited I was to her sprightly humour, and how wearisome a plodding man like me must be , to one of her quick spirit? Did I consider that it was no merit in me, or clainm in me, that I loved her, when everybody must, who knew her? Never! I took advantage of her hopeful nature and her cheerful disposition; and I married her. I wish I never had. For her sake; not for mine!”
The beginning of a growing awareness of the sacrifices that his wife has made for him. It is perhaps sad that he did not think “Dot would never do a thing like that, and look for another possible explanation. Ot that he did not take her to one side and ask for an explanation. However remember this is only a story, and the effect would have been lost.
“I sat upon that hearth, last night, last night, all night,” exclaimed the carrier. “ On the spot where she has often sat beside me, with her sweet face looking into mine. I called up her whole life day by day. I had her dear self, in its every passage, in review before me. And upon my soul she is innocent, if there is One to judge the innocent and guilty”.
This is the turning point in the story. John responds to the visitation of the presence. The equivalent of Scrooge’s asking the spirit of Christmas future if these things WILL come to pass of MAY come to pass. The sprits have indeed done their work in a single night so that the great day (Christmas or the wedding) can be celebrated in a fitting way.
“I am sorry, sir,” said Edward, holding out May’s left hand, and especially the third finger, and took a little piece of silver-paper, apparently containing a ring, from his waistcoat-pocket.
“Miss Slowboy”, said Tackleton. “Will you have the kindness to throw that in the fire? Thank’ee”.
It was a previous engagement, quite an old engagement, that prevented my wife from keeping her appointment with you, I assure you”, said Edward.
“Mr Tackletonwill do me the justice to acknowledge that I revealed it to him faithfully; and that I told him, many time, I never could forget it,” said May, blushing.
“Oh certainly!” said Tackleton.”Oh to be sure. Oh it’s all right. It’s quite correct. Mrs Edward Plummer, I infer?”
“That’s the name” returned the bridegroom.
“AH I shouldn’t have known you, sir” said Tackleton, scrutinising his face narrowly, and making a low bow. “I give you joy, sir!”
It is surprising that Tackleton takes the disappointment so well. There are no recriminations, no envious statements, and seemingly a stoic acceptance of his loss. Either he is just very hard headed and looks upon it as a business contract that has been out- bid, or he has taken on board the sentiments of the carrier (John), and realised that his putative marriage was fated to be mis-matched and loveless.
“This unconscious little nurse gave me a broken hint last night , of which I have found the thread. I blush to think how easily I might have bound you and your daughter to me, and what a miserable idiot I was when I took her for one.!"
An example of Tackleton’s sarcasm. He called May and idiot for agreeing to marry himself in the first place.
"But what is this! Even as I listen to them, blithely and turn towards Dot, for one last glimpse of a little figure very pleasant to me, she and the rest have vanished into air, and I am left alone. A Cricket sings upon the Hearth; a broken child’s toy lies upon the ground; and nothing else remains".
Is this the same cricket who says “Married and not to me?”
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Chirp the Second Quotations
Chirp the second
"(Caleb) too had a Cricket on his Hearth; and listening sadly to its music when the motherless Blind Child was very young, that Spirit had inspired him with the thought that even her great deprivation might be almost changed into a blessing, and the girl made happy by these little means. For all the cricket tribe are potent spirits, even though the people who hold converse with them do not know it (which is frequently the case); and there are not, in the unseen world, voices more gentle and more true, that may be so implicitly relied on, or that are so certain to give none but the tenderest counsel, as the Voices in which the Spirits of the Fireside and of the Hearth address themselves to human kind".
Maybe this is the spirit of his departed wife? Maybe it is the spirit of his son- who has gone to the south Americas and is not missing presumed dead.
“What! You’re singing, are you?” said Tackleton.”I’m glad you can. I hope you can afford to work too. Hardly time for both, I should think?.
“If you could only see him, Bertha, how he’s winking at me!” whispered Caleb “Such a man to joke….."
An example of the bad natured character of Tackleton and Caleb’s covering up by pretending it is a joke.
"Where the old horse had already taken more than his day’s toll out of the turnpike trust, by tearing up the road with his impatient autographs"
In the late 18th century, turnpike trusts were set up to keep Britain’s roads. A toll was charged to anyone wishing to use the road. This was used to repair the roads. John Peerybingle would have had to pay a toll on that day in order to transport the goods. The horse had created damage to the road greater than the value of the toll his owner had paid that day.
"Tackleton led his intended mother in law to the post of honour. For the better gracing of this place at the high festival, the majestic old soul had adorned herself with a cap, calculated to inspire the thoughtless with sentiments of awe. She also wore her gloves. But let us be genteel or die!"
Mrs Fielding trying to be “posh”. Dickens has a laugh to himself about this.
"She (Mrs Fielding) then remarked that she would not allude to the past, and would not mention that her daughter had for some time rejected the suit of Mr Tackleton ;and that she would not say a great many other things which she did say , at great length. Finally she delivered it as the general result of her observation and experience, that those marriages which there was least of what is romantically and sillily called love, were always the happiest; and that she anticipated the greatest possible amount of bliss –not rapturous bliss ;but the solid, steady-going article- from the approaching nuptials".
May had been dragooned into marrying Tackleton, and has no feelings of love for him.
"Oh father, father!” cried the Blind Girl, bursting into tears. “Oh my hard, hard fate!”
Is Bertha, perhaps lamenting that she will be unable to get married due to her blindness? Maybe she had hidden a secret hope that she might have married Tackleton? She has been led to believe that he was a loving person.
"It was well for all of them that Dot, that beaming, useful, busy little Dot, -for such she was, whatever faults she had, and however you may learn to hate her in good time,- it was well for all of them , I say that she was there:
When will the reader learn to hate Dot?"
When she is spotted catching a few moment alone with a young man and Tackleton gossips that she is in love with him? Or is the author talking about another time outside the pages of the book, in the future?
"Have I deceived her from her cradle, but to break her heart?"
Her Father Caleb says about Bertha. He has been making her believe that Tackleton is compassionate to them as a family.
"(Caleb) too had a Cricket on his Hearth; and listening sadly to its music when the motherless Blind Child was very young, that Spirit had inspired him with the thought that even her great deprivation might be almost changed into a blessing, and the girl made happy by these little means. For all the cricket tribe are potent spirits, even though the people who hold converse with them do not know it (which is frequently the case); and there are not, in the unseen world, voices more gentle and more true, that may be so implicitly relied on, or that are so certain to give none but the tenderest counsel, as the Voices in which the Spirits of the Fireside and of the Hearth address themselves to human kind".
Maybe this is the spirit of his departed wife? Maybe it is the spirit of his son- who has gone to the south Americas and is not missing presumed dead.
“What! You’re singing, are you?” said Tackleton.”I’m glad you can. I hope you can afford to work too. Hardly time for both, I should think?.
“If you could only see him, Bertha, how he’s winking at me!” whispered Caleb “Such a man to joke….."
An example of the bad natured character of Tackleton and Caleb’s covering up by pretending it is a joke.
"Where the old horse had already taken more than his day’s toll out of the turnpike trust, by tearing up the road with his impatient autographs"
In the late 18th century, turnpike trusts were set up to keep Britain’s roads. A toll was charged to anyone wishing to use the road. This was used to repair the roads. John Peerybingle would have had to pay a toll on that day in order to transport the goods. The horse had created damage to the road greater than the value of the toll his owner had paid that day.
"Tackleton led his intended mother in law to the post of honour. For the better gracing of this place at the high festival, the majestic old soul had adorned herself with a cap, calculated to inspire the thoughtless with sentiments of awe. She also wore her gloves. But let us be genteel or die!"
Mrs Fielding trying to be “posh”. Dickens has a laugh to himself about this.
"She (Mrs Fielding) then remarked that she would not allude to the past, and would not mention that her daughter had for some time rejected the suit of Mr Tackleton ;and that she would not say a great many other things which she did say , at great length. Finally she delivered it as the general result of her observation and experience, that those marriages which there was least of what is romantically and sillily called love, were always the happiest; and that she anticipated the greatest possible amount of bliss –not rapturous bliss ;but the solid, steady-going article- from the approaching nuptials".
May had been dragooned into marrying Tackleton, and has no feelings of love for him.
"Oh father, father!” cried the Blind Girl, bursting into tears. “Oh my hard, hard fate!”
Is Bertha, perhaps lamenting that she will be unable to get married due to her blindness? Maybe she had hidden a secret hope that she might have married Tackleton? She has been led to believe that he was a loving person.
"It was well for all of them that Dot, that beaming, useful, busy little Dot, -for such she was, whatever faults she had, and however you may learn to hate her in good time,- it was well for all of them , I say that she was there:
When will the reader learn to hate Dot?"
When she is spotted catching a few moment alone with a young man and Tackleton gossips that she is in love with him? Or is the author talking about another time outside the pages of the book, in the future?
"Have I deceived her from her cradle, but to break her heart?"
Her Father Caleb says about Bertha. He has been making her believe that Tackleton is compassionate to them as a family.
Chirp the First quotations
Chirp the first.
"Mrs Peerybingle, going out into the raw twilight, and clicking over the wet stones in a pair of pattens that worked innumerable rough impressions of the first proposition in Euclid all over the yard.."
She was wearing a pair of metal over-shoes to protect her indoor shoes from the mud and water in the yard. These left footprints in the mud that looked like mathematical formulae. Euclid was a mathematician, who lived 325 to 265 BC.
"It would lean forward with a drunken air, and dribble a very idiot of a kettle…And the hull of the Royal George has never made half the monstrous resistance to coming out of the water, which the lid of that kettle employed against Mrs Perrybingle, before she got it up again".
This is a reference to the Royal George ship which was launched in 1756, at the start of the 7 years war. After a chequered history it sank in 1781 while repairs were being undertaken. The canons were moved to enable the repairs to be done, and the ship listed over and sank killing about 1400 people. The story was written in 1845, some 64 years after the sinking of the Royal George.
"And here, if you like, the cricket DID chime in! With a Chirrup, Chirrup, Chirrup of such magnitude, by way of chorus; with a voice so astoundingly disproportionate to its size, as compared with the kettle; (size! you couldn’t see it!)"…
Perhaps this quotation means that the cricket is there in spirit rather than in material form as it has no size and is invisible. The kettle and cricket are competing with each other to express the extent of domestic happiness they see in this household.
"For the maternal and paternal Slowboy were alike unknown to Fame , and Tilly, had been bred by public charity, a foundling; which word, though only differing from fondling by one vowel’s length, is very different in meaning, and expresses quite another thing".
Tilly was an orphan abandoned at birth in an orphanage with no explanation given. She would have had an institutionalised up-bringing with little or no love (hence the word “fondling” which was not meant to be understood in a sexual sense). In her teens she had been put with the Perrybingles as a nurse maid rewarded only by receiving her keep, as was the custom of the day with orphans. She has never experienced life in a regular home before and has probably only been living there for a few months. This explains her “clumsiness” or gawkiness and lack of experience.
"The carrier put his hand into a pocket of the coat he had taken off ; and brought out carefully preserved in moss and paper a tiny flower-pot. “There it is !” he said adjusting it with great care. “Not so much as a leaf damaged. Full of buds.!”Caleb’s dull eye brightened , as he took it, and thanked him. “Dear, Caleb” said the Carrier “Very dear at this season”
“Never mind that. It would be cheap to me whatever it cost”
Caleb has bought his blind daughter a present. He dotes on her and later it is revealed that he lies to her about who has bought the presents that he buys her.
"She (Dot/Mary) honours and obeys, no doubt, you know” said Tackleton; and that, as I am not a man of sentiment, is quite enough for me. But do you think there’s anything more in it”
“I think” observed the Carrier,” that I should chuck any man out of the window, who said there wasn’t”
“Exactly so” returned the other with an unusual alacrity of assent. “To be sure! Doubtless you would .Of course. I’m certain of it…”
An example of Tackleton’s sarcastic frame of mind.
"But what was that young figure of a man, which the same Fairy Cricket set so near her stool, and which remained there, singly and alone? Why did it linger still, so near her with its arm upon the chimney piece, ever repeating “Married! and not to me!”
ODot ! O failing Dot ! There is no place for it in all your husband’s visions; why has its shadow fallen on his hearth?"
Dot/Mary loved another before she married John. His spirit is the cricket in the hearth. She has never forgotten him.
A question for you
What did Dot want to tell John in this quotation but seemed too scared to say?
“But Dot? I hope and pray that I might learn to love you? How you talk! I had learnt that, long before I brought you here, to be the cricket’s little mistress, Dot” She laid her hand, an instant, on his arm, and looked up at him with an agitated face, as if she would have told him something. Next moment she was down upon her knees before the basket, speaking in a sprightly voice, and busy with the parcels".
"Mrs Peerybingle, going out into the raw twilight, and clicking over the wet stones in a pair of pattens that worked innumerable rough impressions of the first proposition in Euclid all over the yard.."
She was wearing a pair of metal over-shoes to protect her indoor shoes from the mud and water in the yard. These left footprints in the mud that looked like mathematical formulae. Euclid was a mathematician, who lived 325 to 265 BC.
"It would lean forward with a drunken air, and dribble a very idiot of a kettle…And the hull of the Royal George has never made half the monstrous resistance to coming out of the water, which the lid of that kettle employed against Mrs Perrybingle, before she got it up again".
This is a reference to the Royal George ship which was launched in 1756, at the start of the 7 years war. After a chequered history it sank in 1781 while repairs were being undertaken. The canons were moved to enable the repairs to be done, and the ship listed over and sank killing about 1400 people. The story was written in 1845, some 64 years after the sinking of the Royal George.
"And here, if you like, the cricket DID chime in! With a Chirrup, Chirrup, Chirrup of such magnitude, by way of chorus; with a voice so astoundingly disproportionate to its size, as compared with the kettle; (size! you couldn’t see it!)"…
Perhaps this quotation means that the cricket is there in spirit rather than in material form as it has no size and is invisible. The kettle and cricket are competing with each other to express the extent of domestic happiness they see in this household.
"For the maternal and paternal Slowboy were alike unknown to Fame , and Tilly, had been bred by public charity, a foundling; which word, though only differing from fondling by one vowel’s length, is very different in meaning, and expresses quite another thing".
Tilly was an orphan abandoned at birth in an orphanage with no explanation given. She would have had an institutionalised up-bringing with little or no love (hence the word “fondling” which was not meant to be understood in a sexual sense). In her teens she had been put with the Perrybingles as a nurse maid rewarded only by receiving her keep, as was the custom of the day with orphans. She has never experienced life in a regular home before and has probably only been living there for a few months. This explains her “clumsiness” or gawkiness and lack of experience.
"The carrier put his hand into a pocket of the coat he had taken off ; and brought out carefully preserved in moss and paper a tiny flower-pot. “There it is !” he said adjusting it with great care. “Not so much as a leaf damaged. Full of buds.!”Caleb’s dull eye brightened , as he took it, and thanked him. “Dear, Caleb” said the Carrier “Very dear at this season”
“Never mind that. It would be cheap to me whatever it cost”
Caleb has bought his blind daughter a present. He dotes on her and later it is revealed that he lies to her about who has bought the presents that he buys her.
"She (Dot/Mary) honours and obeys, no doubt, you know” said Tackleton; and that, as I am not a man of sentiment, is quite enough for me. But do you think there’s anything more in it”
“I think” observed the Carrier,” that I should chuck any man out of the window, who said there wasn’t”
“Exactly so” returned the other with an unusual alacrity of assent. “To be sure! Doubtless you would .Of course. I’m certain of it…”
An example of Tackleton’s sarcastic frame of mind.
"But what was that young figure of a man, which the same Fairy Cricket set so near her stool, and which remained there, singly and alone? Why did it linger still, so near her with its arm upon the chimney piece, ever repeating “Married! and not to me!”
ODot ! O failing Dot ! There is no place for it in all your husband’s visions; why has its shadow fallen on his hearth?"
Dot/Mary loved another before she married John. His spirit is the cricket in the hearth. She has never forgotten him.
A question for you
What did Dot want to tell John in this quotation but seemed too scared to say?
“But Dot? I hope and pray that I might learn to love you? How you talk! I had learnt that, long before I brought you here, to be the cricket’s little mistress, Dot” She laid her hand, an instant, on his arm, and looked up at him with an agitated face, as if she would have told him something. Next moment she was down upon her knees before the basket, speaking in a sprightly voice, and busy with the parcels".
The style of "Cricket on the Hearth".
The style. The style is that of a short story and has similarities to his other “Christmas books”. All are short and three can be fitted into the number of pages often required for a single one of his other novels (eg Tale of two cities).
Dickens links Christmas with weddings. In Pickwick papers, and the Chimes there are also Christmas season weddings. Is Christmas the season when couples traditionally tie the knot? Not in our times and culture when spring/summer weddings are idealised. Is it that in Dickens’ mind the Christmas spirit is required in order to negotiate marriage successfully. The graces of love, forgiveness and selflessness being required.
The appearance of a “ghost, fairy spirit or presence”. As in the most well known story “A Christmas Carol the Ghosts of Christmas past, present and future appeared. In the chimes, the church bells appear as a ghostly embodiment of the past. In this story the Cricket on the hearth appears as the spirit of a long lost beloved both in Mary’s home and in the home of Caleb and Bertha. In Mary and John’s home the cricket appears in a fairy form and is described as a presence that ministers to John throughout the night before the wedding.
An anti-hero turned into a hero. Just as Scrooge turns from being a Christmas hater to being a Christmas lover, the toymaker Mr Tackleton changes from being a hard nosed business man to a person considerate of others.
Marriage for love and companionship rather than an unequal marriage between an older richer man to a young woman who is intended to be his housekeeper. This theme is also followed in the chimes, where…….
Dickens links Christmas with weddings. In Pickwick papers, and the Chimes there are also Christmas season weddings. Is Christmas the season when couples traditionally tie the knot? Not in our times and culture when spring/summer weddings are idealised. Is it that in Dickens’ mind the Christmas spirit is required in order to negotiate marriage successfully. The graces of love, forgiveness and selflessness being required.
The appearance of a “ghost, fairy spirit or presence”. As in the most well known story “A Christmas Carol the Ghosts of Christmas past, present and future appeared. In the chimes, the church bells appear as a ghostly embodiment of the past. In this story the Cricket on the hearth appears as the spirit of a long lost beloved both in Mary’s home and in the home of Caleb and Bertha. In Mary and John’s home the cricket appears in a fairy form and is described as a presence that ministers to John throughout the night before the wedding.
An anti-hero turned into a hero. Just as Scrooge turns from being a Christmas hater to being a Christmas lover, the toymaker Mr Tackleton changes from being a hard nosed business man to a person considerate of others.
Marriage for love and companionship rather than an unequal marriage between an older richer man to a young woman who is intended to be his housekeeper. This theme is also followed in the chimes, where…….
The Cricket on the Hearth
The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens.
The story as a piece of literature
The plot. There are several interlocking plots.
May Fielding has been prevailed upon by her mother to become engaged to Mr Tackleton, a much older, rich toymaker, who is sarcastic, hard hearted, and oppressive. On the morning of their wedding, a long lost lover Edward (Son of Caleb, the employee of Tackleton, and Brother of blind Bertha) whisks her away and marries her an hour before the wedding of May and Mr Tackleton had been planned.
It is a year to the day since Mary (Dot) and John Peerybingle married. A happy and healthy baby is on the scene cared for by a nurse-maid, Tilly Slowboy. There is a great disparity in the ages of this couple the man (a carrier or messenger) being much older than the woman. Mary freely admits that when they first married, she did not know whether she could learn to love him, but has loved him more every day since. In the course of his day’s work, it is evident that John depends on Tackleton for his living because he carried parcels for him both to his customers and from his suppliers. This evening he has an unusual parcel with him- an old man, who keeps himself to himself and sleeps or reads rather than offer any conversation. He requests to stay over in the Perrybingle’s house as it is getting late, and he has nowhere else to stay. He reveals to her his real identity- that he is the long lost intended of her best friend May Fielding. The following evening, he gets her alone and asks her to act as go-between to find out if May still loves and wishes to marry him.. Tackleton and John spot them conversing together in secret and mistake the situation. They think that Mary and the young man (whose identity they do not know) are becoming intimate. John spends all night sitting next to the fire and is visited by a “Presence” the cricket on the hearth in “Fairy Form”. The Cricket helps John to see the sacrifice that Mary made in marrying him, and thinks that he will “let her go” to marry this young man. Tackleton visits him early next morning (The wedding morning!). They discuss the situation, and John tells him that he plans to let Mary go with her “lover”. Mary must have been listening to the conversation, and perhaps pretends to think that John is going to put her out of the house. She makes plans for Tilly to take the baby to visit its father when they are no longer living together. At that moment Caleb and blind Bertha arrive at Mary’s house. Tackleton must have told Caleb that Mary has been seen in an uncompromising position with a young man. Caleb wishes to tell Bertha that Mary has deceived them all and is not the lovely person she has come to think of her as. Hot on their heels arrive the newly married happy couple, May and Edward, and the plot is revealed. There is a scene like a detective novel where the plot is explained by Mary, and her true feelings for her husband are expressed. She has loved him more and more each day of their marriage. There is a reconciliation with great affection.
Bertha is Caleb’s Daughter. She was born blind and Caleb has been “her eyes” for all of her life. Caleb works for Tackleton, who despite being a toymaker has no affection or care for anyone. Caleb has led Bertha to believe that they live in a beautiful home, with pretty belongings and that Tackleton is a kind employer. Both of these things are falsities. He tells her lies in order to shield her from the truth as he feels sorry for her and wishes to spare her any feelings of sadness or guilt. Bertha helps Caleb in his work by putting eyes on dolls. A perverse picture that a girl with no sight puts sightless eyes onto dolls, and her real eyes (her father) has deceived her. When Tackleton says unkind things, Caleb lies to Mary that he is joking. He tells her that Tackleton is winking to show it is a joke. Indeed he is winking but this is because of a physical imperfection which has left him with an eye that is always close. He has led Bertha to believe that he himself (her father) is a young fit and carefree man without a worry in the world. He is in fact old, grey and care-worn. Since her marriage, Mary has taken a special care of Bertha. She goes every fortnight to have a “pic-nic” and talk to her. She also does as much house-work as she can without drawing attention to it. Caleb has led Bertha to believe that certain presents were gifts from Mary/Dot. On the morning of the wedding Caleb must have been informed by Tackleton that Mary will not be attending the wedding because she has been caught with a young man and John is going to put her out. He has brought Mary to say goodbye and to get off his chest the other lies he has told to his vulnerable daughter. Just as the cat is about to be brought out of the bag, the two lovers (May and Edward) arrive and tell all about the secret wedding they have contracted. Caleb has not spoilt Bertha’s love for Mary because their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of the happy couple, but he does manage to tell Bertha that he has been mis-leading her about their circumstances. He feels relieved to have got it off his chest. Bertha loves her father all the more for hearing of his sacrifices on her behalf.
Tackleton, having had a talk with John, realises the sadness of young wives married to older men on the recommendation of their mothers. He has become mellowed as a result of the talk. He turns up at John’s house to collect his “fiancé” only to discover that she has already married Edward. He seems to say “that is all right then” and leaves. Later on he sends a man with the cake that he would have served at his own wedding and asks the guests to eat it as he has no use for it anymore. After that a man arrives with a bag of toys for the “babby” and not ugly ones i.e. dolls that were not rejects. This was an act of reconciliation maybe due to the fact that he feels guilty at telling John his wife was with a younger man and spreading rumours to Caleb about something that was not true. Later still he comes and joins the party and is accepted without any recriminations.
There is in fact a long lost lover for Mary, who is represented by the Cricket on the hearth. He has been with her in spirit since her marriage to John. Although all looks rosy and happy in her household now, and she has promised undying loyalty to her husband , who knows what the future holds. Will he return and claim her? Will John be unselfish enough to give her up to him for her sake? Who knows!
The story as a piece of literature
The plot. There are several interlocking plots.
May Fielding has been prevailed upon by her mother to become engaged to Mr Tackleton, a much older, rich toymaker, who is sarcastic, hard hearted, and oppressive. On the morning of their wedding, a long lost lover Edward (Son of Caleb, the employee of Tackleton, and Brother of blind Bertha) whisks her away and marries her an hour before the wedding of May and Mr Tackleton had been planned.
It is a year to the day since Mary (Dot) and John Peerybingle married. A happy and healthy baby is on the scene cared for by a nurse-maid, Tilly Slowboy. There is a great disparity in the ages of this couple the man (a carrier or messenger) being much older than the woman. Mary freely admits that when they first married, she did not know whether she could learn to love him, but has loved him more every day since. In the course of his day’s work, it is evident that John depends on Tackleton for his living because he carried parcels for him both to his customers and from his suppliers. This evening he has an unusual parcel with him- an old man, who keeps himself to himself and sleeps or reads rather than offer any conversation. He requests to stay over in the Perrybingle’s house as it is getting late, and he has nowhere else to stay. He reveals to her his real identity- that he is the long lost intended of her best friend May Fielding. The following evening, he gets her alone and asks her to act as go-between to find out if May still loves and wishes to marry him.. Tackleton and John spot them conversing together in secret and mistake the situation. They think that Mary and the young man (whose identity they do not know) are becoming intimate. John spends all night sitting next to the fire and is visited by a “Presence” the cricket on the hearth in “Fairy Form”. The Cricket helps John to see the sacrifice that Mary made in marrying him, and thinks that he will “let her go” to marry this young man. Tackleton visits him early next morning (The wedding morning!). They discuss the situation, and John tells him that he plans to let Mary go with her “lover”. Mary must have been listening to the conversation, and perhaps pretends to think that John is going to put her out of the house. She makes plans for Tilly to take the baby to visit its father when they are no longer living together. At that moment Caleb and blind Bertha arrive at Mary’s house. Tackleton must have told Caleb that Mary has been seen in an uncompromising position with a young man. Caleb wishes to tell Bertha that Mary has deceived them all and is not the lovely person she has come to think of her as. Hot on their heels arrive the newly married happy couple, May and Edward, and the plot is revealed. There is a scene like a detective novel where the plot is explained by Mary, and her true feelings for her husband are expressed. She has loved him more and more each day of their marriage. There is a reconciliation with great affection.
Bertha is Caleb’s Daughter. She was born blind and Caleb has been “her eyes” for all of her life. Caleb works for Tackleton, who despite being a toymaker has no affection or care for anyone. Caleb has led Bertha to believe that they live in a beautiful home, with pretty belongings and that Tackleton is a kind employer. Both of these things are falsities. He tells her lies in order to shield her from the truth as he feels sorry for her and wishes to spare her any feelings of sadness or guilt. Bertha helps Caleb in his work by putting eyes on dolls. A perverse picture that a girl with no sight puts sightless eyes onto dolls, and her real eyes (her father) has deceived her. When Tackleton says unkind things, Caleb lies to Mary that he is joking. He tells her that Tackleton is winking to show it is a joke. Indeed he is winking but this is because of a physical imperfection which has left him with an eye that is always close. He has led Bertha to believe that he himself (her father) is a young fit and carefree man without a worry in the world. He is in fact old, grey and care-worn. Since her marriage, Mary has taken a special care of Bertha. She goes every fortnight to have a “pic-nic” and talk to her. She also does as much house-work as she can without drawing attention to it. Caleb has led Bertha to believe that certain presents were gifts from Mary/Dot. On the morning of the wedding Caleb must have been informed by Tackleton that Mary will not be attending the wedding because she has been caught with a young man and John is going to put her out. He has brought Mary to say goodbye and to get off his chest the other lies he has told to his vulnerable daughter. Just as the cat is about to be brought out of the bag, the two lovers (May and Edward) arrive and tell all about the secret wedding they have contracted. Caleb has not spoilt Bertha’s love for Mary because their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of the happy couple, but he does manage to tell Bertha that he has been mis-leading her about their circumstances. He feels relieved to have got it off his chest. Bertha loves her father all the more for hearing of his sacrifices on her behalf.
Tackleton, having had a talk with John, realises the sadness of young wives married to older men on the recommendation of their mothers. He has become mellowed as a result of the talk. He turns up at John’s house to collect his “fiancé” only to discover that she has already married Edward. He seems to say “that is all right then” and leaves. Later on he sends a man with the cake that he would have served at his own wedding and asks the guests to eat it as he has no use for it anymore. After that a man arrives with a bag of toys for the “babby” and not ugly ones i.e. dolls that were not rejects. This was an act of reconciliation maybe due to the fact that he feels guilty at telling John his wife was with a younger man and spreading rumours to Caleb about something that was not true. Later still he comes and joins the party and is accepted without any recriminations.
There is in fact a long lost lover for Mary, who is represented by the Cricket on the hearth. He has been with her in spirit since her marriage to John. Although all looks rosy and happy in her household now, and she has promised undying loyalty to her husband , who knows what the future holds. Will he return and claim her? Will John be unselfish enough to give her up to him for her sake? Who knows!
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