Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Pencillings From The Sketch-Book Of A Madras Officer.
PENCILLIJSTGS FEOM THE SKETCH-BOOK OF A MADRAS OFFICES .
BY AN INFANTRY M . M .
CHAPTER I . RECOLLECTIONS OF A DEPARTURE FROM LOTOO ]* WHEK PIEST PROCEEDING TO INDIA .
u where the sun is very hot and fervent , — G-o to the land of pagod and rupee , Where every black will be your slave and servant : And think of me . "—Hood .
How rapidly does each succeeding year appear to pass after we hare reached the meridian of the age of man ! Methinks it cannot be , and yet it is true , that it is now twenty-eight years ago , when , having bid "farewell" to relatives , old friends , and associates , and being fully equipped as an infantry cadet , and prepared to say goodbye to Old England , I , on a cold and rainy day in the often dismal month of November , took my seat on the roof of one of those ancient vehicles , which ere the gigantic polypus of railways had cast its
netlike arms over the surface of our island-home , were the ordinary conveyances for travellers . To Gravesend , at that time the general depot for the East-India shipping , I now wended my way . There lay the vessel in which a passage had been taken for me to the shores of Ind . We had proceeded but a short distance through the streets of the metropolis , which were rendered almost impervious by a long train
of coaches , blocking up the passage , —not excepting the old hackney in those days so common , but long since gone no one seems to know whither , —when the atmosphere became more and more dense , and the rain fell in torrents . A thick fog , the frequent accompaniment of a winter ' s day in town , had now overspread the city , which , in combination with the black smoke of its millions of chimneys , enveloped it in uncomfortable obscurity , and so murky was the scene presented , that , by the time we had crossed the venerable old London Bridge ,
time-honoured , and of many arches , long since replaced by its modern substitute , the dome of St . Paul ' s was no longer visible . The abodes of commerce were lighted up , not as now with gas , but the more humble luminary of oil ; and it appeared as if night had stolen a march upon us ; but speedily emerging from our London gloom 7 Southwark and its suburbs were successively passed , and we soon found ourselves on the old Kent-road , rapidly driving towards our destination .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Pencillings From The Sketch-Book Of A Madras Officer.
PENCILLIJSTGS FEOM THE SKETCH-BOOK OF A MADRAS OFFICES .
BY AN INFANTRY M . M .
CHAPTER I . RECOLLECTIONS OF A DEPARTURE FROM LOTOO ]* WHEK PIEST PROCEEDING TO INDIA .
u where the sun is very hot and fervent , — G-o to the land of pagod and rupee , Where every black will be your slave and servant : And think of me . "—Hood .
How rapidly does each succeeding year appear to pass after we hare reached the meridian of the age of man ! Methinks it cannot be , and yet it is true , that it is now twenty-eight years ago , when , having bid "farewell" to relatives , old friends , and associates , and being fully equipped as an infantry cadet , and prepared to say goodbye to Old England , I , on a cold and rainy day in the often dismal month of November , took my seat on the roof of one of those ancient vehicles , which ere the gigantic polypus of railways had cast its
netlike arms over the surface of our island-home , were the ordinary conveyances for travellers . To Gravesend , at that time the general depot for the East-India shipping , I now wended my way . There lay the vessel in which a passage had been taken for me to the shores of Ind . We had proceeded but a short distance through the streets of the metropolis , which were rendered almost impervious by a long train
of coaches , blocking up the passage , —not excepting the old hackney in those days so common , but long since gone no one seems to know whither , —when the atmosphere became more and more dense , and the rain fell in torrents . A thick fog , the frequent accompaniment of a winter ' s day in town , had now overspread the city , which , in combination with the black smoke of its millions of chimneys , enveloped it in uncomfortable obscurity , and so murky was the scene presented , that , by the time we had crossed the venerable old London Bridge ,
time-honoured , and of many arches , long since replaced by its modern substitute , the dome of St . Paul ' s was no longer visible . The abodes of commerce were lighted up , not as now with gas , but the more humble luminary of oil ; and it appeared as if night had stolen a march upon us ; but speedily emerging from our London gloom 7 Southwark and its suburbs were successively passed , and we soon found ourselves on the old Kent-road , rapidly driving towards our destination .