The Gentleman's Magazine (Volume 291) (Paperback)

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1901. Excerpt: ... THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. October 1901. SOME EXPERIMENTS WITH JANE. By M. A. Curtois. I CAME across Jane some years ago. It was at the time when experiments were being tried with her. A young friend of mine, who knows the ins and outs of London, had discovered Jane in a London lodging-house, left there as a legacy from many former landladies, though how she had originally got there no one knew. The present landlady, who had only recently come into possession, was anxious to get rid of this child of the premises, being ambitious, and having set up a more showy servant, of a smart though distinctly dubious appearance. My friend, who might be an eminent philanthropist if she would take her philanthropy less by fits and starts, became interested in this forlorn Jane of uncertain age, with a white compressed face, dark eyes, and a mop of hair--hair which left the beholder with the perplexed impression not only that it never had been but that it never could be brushed. The landlady, who had her own ideas, was only too anxious to make the best of Jane. She gave us to understand that though outwardly unpresentable the girl had a treasure of moral worth within. " She would never have anything to say to the lads, ma'am," she asserted. " You needn't be afraid, there's no lightness about Jane " Our after-impressions did not quite bear out this evidence, but on the whole I still agree to it. It was not lightness that was Jane's chief characteristic, what impressed me most was an appalling sincerity. This became evident to me in the explosion that marked the end of the first experiment, an experiment that had begun delusively Vol. ccxc1. No. 2050. z with the smoothest prospect of success. My friend had an acquaintance who was a seamstress in a London street, composed of small houses exactly like...