The Lamplighter

Excerpt......‘If you talk of Murphy and Francis Moore, gentlemen,’ said the lamplighter who was in the chair, ‘I mean to say that neither of ’em ever had any more to do with the stars than Tom Grig had.’ ‘And what had he to do with ’ ... Read more

Excerpt......‘If you talk of Murphy and Francis Moore, gentlemen,’ said the lamplighter who was in the chair, ‘I mean to say that neither of ’em ever had any more to do with the stars than Tom Grig had.’ ‘And what had he to do with ’em?’ asked the lamplighter who officiated as vice. ‘Nothing at all,’ replied the other; ‘just exactly nothing at all.’ ‘Do you mean to say you don’t believe in Murphy, then?’ demanded the lamplighter who had opened the discussion. ‘I mean to say I believe in Tom Grig,’ replied the chairman.  ‘Whether I believe in Murphy, or not, is a matter between me and my conscience; and whether Murphy believes in himself, or not, is a matter between him and his conscience.  Gentlemen, I drink your healths.’ The lamplighter who did the company this honour, was seated in the chimney-corner of a certain tavern, which has been, time out of mind, the Lamplighters’ House of Call.  He sat in the midst of a circle of lamplighters, and was the cacique, or chief of the tribe. Less