Page:Far from the Maddening Girls.djvu/90

 his height inconsiderable, and his principal employments were polishing my boots, sauntering on errands, and endeavouring, with the utmost assiduity, to ascertain the greatest amount of sound and the least amount of melody which it is possible to extract from a mouth-organ at one and the self-same time. The result of his activities on an open fire would have done credit to a chemical engine. The arabesques of soap upon a window which he had “washed” would have put the artistic labours of Jack Frost to shame. He was able to drench himself more thoroughly by manipulating a garden hose than the average person could do by standing in front of the nozzle. He could lose more things in a given space of time than Robert Houdin. He could forget more messages, make more mistakes, come later of a morning and take his departure earlier — but why multiply examples? These were not the tenth part of his accomplishments.