flow of filthy language, and its barren desolation of yellow-washed
walls and broken windows.

And then we moved to Dublin.




CHAPTER IV


CHARACTERS


It may be very amusing to read about "Kipps" and those commonplace
people whom Mr. H.G. Wells describes so cleverly, but to have to live
with them in barracks is far from pleasant.

There were shop-assistants, dental mechanics, city clerks, office
boys, medical students, and a whole mass of very ordinary, very
uninteresting people. There was a fair sprinkling of mining engineers
and miners, and these men were more interesting and of a far stronger
mental and physical development. They were huge, full-chested, strong-
armed men who swore and drank heavily, but were honest and straight.

There were characters here from the docks and from the merchant
service, some of whom had surely been created for W.W. Jacobs. One in
particular--Joe Smith, a sailor-man (an engine-greaser, I think)--was
full of queer yarns and seafaring talk. He was a little man with beady
eyes and a huge curled moustache. He walked about quickly, with the