At last he came upon what he sought, a large
scraper, and he pounced on it with a cry of triumph.
The close green walls of privet, that had bordered the principal walk, were two-thirds withered away, and the rest grown beyond all reasonable bounds; the old boxwood swan, that sat beside the
scraper, had lost its neck and half its body: the castellated towers of laurel in the middle of the garden, the gigantic warrior that stood on one side of the gateway, and the lion that guarded the other, were sprouted into such fantastic shapes as resembled nothing either in heaven or earth, or in the waters under the earth; but, to my young imagination, they presented all of them a goblinish appearance, that harmonised well with the ghostly legions and dark traditions our old nurse had told us respecting the haunted hall and its departed occupants.
Garthwaite and the young officer fell into an animated conversation over the difference between so- called modern warfare and the present street-fighting and sky-
scraper fighting that was taking place all over the city.
After dinner it was decided that young Jelinek should hook our two strong black farm-horses to the
scraper and break a road through to the Shimerdas', so that a wagon could go when it was necessary.
On the gravel walk at the foot of the housesteps words, neatly traced in little white shells, reminded him not to "forget the
scraper".
The spot was at Chesea, for there Miss Sophia Wackles resided with her widowed mother and two sisters, in conjunction with whom she maintained a very small day-school for young ladies of proportionate dimensions; a circumstance which was made known to the neighbourhood by an oval board over the front first-floor windows, whereupon appeared in circumbmbient flourishes the words 'Ladies' Seminary'; and which was further published and proclaimed at intervals between the hours of half-past nine and ten in the morning, by a straggling and solitrary young lady of tender years standing on the
scraper on the tips of her toes and making futile attempts to reach the knocker with spelling-book.
An ironmonger added a
scraper and an old lady ran up with a door-mat.
"They distrust every thing, from the
scraper at the door to the chimneys on the roof.
'What a demnition long time you have kept me ringing at this confounded old cracked tea-kettle of a bell, every tinkle of which is enough to throw a strong man into blue convulsions, upon my life and soul, oh demmit,'--said Mr Mantalini to Newman Noggs, scraping his boots, as he spoke, on Ralph Nickleby's
scraper.
Pullet's front-door mats were by no means intended to wipe shoes on; the very
scraper had a deputy to do its dirty work.
They set off to look at it, and the imported American
scraper which had blighted the none too sunny soul of "Skim" Winsh, the carter.
The carcass hog was scooped out of the vat by machinery, and then it fell to the second floor, passing on the way through a wonderful machine with numerous
scrapers, which adjusted themselves to the size and shape of the animal, and sent it out at the other end with nearly all of its bristles removed.