The nameless one was prefered to
the vacant post, received even a salary, more than that, a
name; for as he had none, he was christened on the spot--
DEVILSDUST.
Devilsdust had entered life so early that at seventeen he
combined the experience of manhood with the divine energy of
youth. He was a first-rate workman and received high wages;
he had availed himself of the advantages of the factory
school; he soon learnt to read and write with facility, and at
the moment of our history, was the leading spirit of the
Shoddy-Court Literary and Scientific Institute. His great
friend, his only intimate, was Dandy Mick. The apparent
contrariety of their qualities and structure perhaps led to
this. It is indeed the most assured basis of friendship.
Devilsdust was dark and melancholy; ambitious and
discontented; full of thought, and with powers of patience and
perseverance that alone amounted to genius. Mick was as
brilliant as his complexion; gay, irritable, evanescent, and
unstable. Mick enjoyed life; his friend only endured it; yet
Mick was always complaining of the lowness of his wages and
the greatness of his toil; while Devilsdust never murmured,
but read and pondered on the rights of labour, and sighed to
vindicate his order.
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