No, that would never do.
The accounts which they read in the papers, moreover, served to make them still more anxious to see what all appeared to consider the great wonder of the age. Besides, Cursty himself began to perceive that the Great Exhibition was not the mere gewgaw show that he had anticipated, and the more he read about it, the more desirous he felt to make himself acquainted with its various details.
Mrs. Cursty, too, after a little while, became, in her turn, eager to see the “Mountain of Light” in its gilt cage,—and the Queen of Spain’s jewels,—and the French tapestry, and the stomacher of brilliants that she had heard so much about—and the carpet worked by one hundred and fifty ladies as a present to the Queen—and the beautiful state-bed—and the poplin loom, which could make the poplin a quarter of a yard wider than usual, which, in her opinion, was one of the greatest improvements in the whole place;—and then there was that love of a glass fountain which she should not rest easy in her bed, she knew, if she went back to Cumberland without seeing,—and, better still, that delicious fountain of “Aqua d’Oro,” which the ladies were at liberty to dip their handkerchiefs in as much and as often as they pleased.
Cursty, however, wanted to see objects of a very different character. He had heard of the splendid specimens of black-lead from the Borrowdale mines in his native county; and he longed to know how it was possible to make the refuse dust into solid cakes, equal if not better than the pure article. He wanted to see the different specimens of slate, for the quarries on Honister Craig were close by his home; and he knew all about the working, and the different sizes—the “Ladies,” the “Duchesses,” the “Countesses,” the “Queens,” the “Imperials,” and the “Rags.” He was deeply versed in Mundic and Galena, and all the ores of lead; and he longed to see the huge specimens of those minerals that he had read of as being shown in the Great Exhibition. He knew a little of coal, too, and had just managed to get a peep at the colossal pieces of “Cannel,” of “Steam,” and of “Anthracite,” arranged outside the building. He also wanted to see the large lump of silver that had been obtained from the lead ore by the crystallizing process. More than all, he was anxious to see the machinery-room, which everybody spoke of with such enthusiasm. There was the monster pump, with its two mouths, pouring out its river of water,—he wanted to see the steam printing-press, and the carding and spinning-machines, and the power-looms, of which he had heard such marvels.
Eager to see all these, and many more things which he had heard and read were deposited within the building of the Great Exhibition, Cursty talked the matter calmly over with his wife, and finally agreed that, as he was anxious to get back to Cumberland as soon as possible, and could not afford to wait till the prices of admission fell to a shilling, it would be better for him to buy another season ticket directly, and then he and Aggy could go for an hour or so each day for the next fortnight, and so be able to examine every object of interest in the collection without fatiguing themselves.
Accordingly, Mr. Christopher, the very next day, applied at the office, and obtained the requisite document.
Once more, then, the Sandboys set forth on their pilgrimage to the Exhibition of the Works of Industry and Art of all Nations.
Mrs. Sandboys, having learnt experience from her previous disasters, managed to make the “things,” (for so the lady would persist in calling her several articles of dress,) which she possessed suffice for her without purchasing new.
On reaching the doors at which their tickets of admission were to be presented, and where they arrived, extraordinary to say, without any particular accident, they tendered the official cards, and were handed the books in which to insert their signatures,
As the clerk observed the name of the gentleman on the card, and saw Mr. Cursty Sandboys prepare to write a similar title in the Autograph Book, he remembered that this was the very appellation of the individual who had been detected, a few days back, in abstracting a silver-handled stiletto from one of the counters in the interior.