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 . THE WATER BABIES CHAPTER I `` I heard a thousand blended notes , While in a grove I sate reclined ; In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts Bring sad thoughts to the mind . `` To her fair works did Nature link The human soul that through me ran ; And much it grieved my heart to think , What man has made of man . '' WORDSWORTH . Once upon a time there was a little chimney-sweep , and his name was Tom . That is a short name , and you have heard it before , so you will not have much trouble in remembering it . He lived in a great town in the North country , where there were plenty of chimneys to sweep , and plenty of money for Tom to earn and his master to spend . He could not read nor write , and did not care to do either ; and he never washed himself , for there was no water up the court where he lived . He had never been taught to say his prayers . He never had heard of God , or of Christ , except in words which you never have heard , and which it would have been well if he had never heard . He cried half his time , and laughed the other half . He cried when he had to climb the dark flues , rubbing his poor knees and elbows raw ; and when the soot got into his eyes , which it did every day in the week ; and when his master beat him , which he did every day in the week ; and when he had not enough to eat , which happened every day in the week likewise . And he laughed the other half of the day , when he was tossing halfpennies with the other boys , or playing leap-frog over the posts , or bowling stones at the horses ' legs as they trotted by , which last was excellent fun , when there was a wall at hand behind which to hide . As for chimney-sweeping , and being hungry , and being beaten , he took all that for the way of the world , like the rain and snow and thunder , and stood manfully with his back to it till it was over , as his old donkey did to a hail - storm ; and then shook his ears and was as jolly as ever ; and thought of the fine times coming , when he would be a man , and a master sweep , and sit in the public-house with a quart of beer and a long pipe , and play cards for silver money , and wear velveteens and ankle-jacks , and keep a white bull-dog with one gray ear , and carry her puppies in his pocket , just like a man . And he would have apprentices , one , two , three , if he could . How he would bully them , and knock them about , just as his master did to him ; and make them carry home the soot sacks , while he rode before them on his donkey , with a pipe in his mouth and a flower in his button-hole , like a king at the head of his army . Yes , there were good times coming ; and , when his master let him have a pull at the leavings of his beer , Tom was the jolliest boy in the whole town . One day a smart little groom rode into the court where Tom lived . Tom was just hiding behind a wall , to heave half a brick at his horse 's legs , as is the custom of that country when they welcome strangers ; but the groom saw him , and halloed to him to know where Mr. Grimes , the chimney-sweep , lived . Now , Mr. Grimes was Tom 's own master , and Tom was a good man of business , and always civil to customers , so he put the half-brick down quietly behind the wall , and proceeded to take orders .
Mr. Grimes was to come up next morning to Sir John Harthover 's , XXXXX the Place , for his old chimney-sweep was gone to prison , and the chimneys wanted sweeping .
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