Part 1 - Chapters 1-3

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

Summary of Chapter 1

I Am Born

I was born on a Friday in the wee small hours.   I was born with a caul* which was kept and advertised for sale  £15 but but was  withdrawn and when I was aged 10 it was sold at  a raffle for about £6-10s.

My father died some months before I was born and when I was old enough I would often look at his gravestone.

I had a great aunt who was rather feared - her name was Miss Betsey Trotwood*.     She disapproved of my father marrying my mother as  she was much younger.

On the night of that birth,  my mother was alarmed at the sudden appearance at the window of Miss Betsey who when she entered caused my  mother to cry.

They had some conversations but generally Miss Betsey dominated my mother even though at time she did try to not let that happen

Miss Betsey was convinced that when I was born I would  be a girl and suggested that I should be named after her.   My mother continued to  become more and more upset and so Miss Betsey demanded that our girl Peggotty* make us all tea.

Peggotty however was sensible enough to see that my mother’s time for delivering me into the world was getting close and so sent helped my  mother upstairs and for her nephew Ham* who she had secretly hid in the house for this very purpose and quickly dispatched him for the doctor  and nurse.

They soon arrived but the doctor came down with the news that there may be some time to wait and was as puzzled as Peggotty about the  strange lady who had set herself up comfortably before the fireplace.

And so the poor doctor (Mr Chillip*) had to suffer her presence for some hours grateful from time to time to being called upstairs to attend to my  mother.

However as the time went on and Mr Chillip was now permanently upstairs  poor Ham who was trying to keep out of the way was called into  the parlour by Miss Betsey who by now had completely lost her composure and marched him up and down as if to release some of her own  anxiety.

At last Mr Chillip came down and announced   ‘Well, ma’am, I am happy to congratulate you.’

Impatiently Miss Betsey demanded to know how “she” was and poor Mr Chillip was reprimanded severely for assuming Miss Betsey was  referring to my mother - but know she was referring to me!

‘The baby,’ said my aunt. ‘How is she?’

‘Ma’am,’ returned Mr. Chillip, ‘I apprehended you had known. It’s a boy.’

My aunt said never a word, but took her bonnet by the strings, in the manner of a sling, aimed a blow at Mr. Chillip’s head with it, put it on bent,  walked out, and never came back. She vanished like a discontented fairy; or like one of those supernatural beings, whom it was popularly  supposed I was entitled to see; and never came back any more.

No. I lay in my basket, and my mother lay in her bed; but Betsey Trotwood Copperfield was for ever in the land of dreams and shadows, the  tremendous region whence I had so lately travelled; and the light upon the window of our room shone out upon the earthly bourne of all such  travellers, and the mound above the ashes and the dust that once was he, without whom I had never been.

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Summary of Chapter 2.

I Observe

I think back to my earliest memories - two things, I learn to walk by by encouraged between my mother and Peggotty.    The other memory is of  our house particularly the kitchen and backyard.

I have other memories of the house of the two parlours,  of my mother reading part of the Bible to me of a man called Lazarus who came back  from the dead which scared my a great deal.  Then of the church nearby and the churchyard with it’s tombs and graves.   

Here is our pew in the church. What a high-backed pew! With a window near it, out of which our house can be seen, and IS seen many times  during the morning’s service, by Peggotty, who likes to make herself as sure as she can that it’s not being robbed, or is not in flames.

Some time must have gone by for now I have recollections of reading stories about crocodiles to Peggotty while waiting for my mother to  come home from visiting a neighbour.    The of asking a question which flustered her “was she every married?”      I remember how quickly she  wanted to change the subject back to crocodiles.

We had exhausted the crocodiles, and begun with the alligators, when the garden-bell rang. We went out to the door; and there was my  mother, looking unusually pretty, I thought, and with her a gentleman with beautiful black hair and whiskers, who had walked home with us from  church last Sunday.

Then the Garden Bell rang,  it was my mother with a gentleman,  one I had seen  in church and who had walked us home afterwards.   For  some reason I did not like him very much and when he was leaving I did not want to shake hands with him.

After this man with the dark eyes and whiskers when away there was a change in Peggotty,  she seemed cross with my mother and mother  with her.    We were in the parlour but the two were not close to each other.   I fell asleep then woke up to the sound of their voices how  Peggotty was almost shouting at my mother untill the stopped with many tears and sobs.

The man kept calling to see us,   I found out that his name was Mr Murdstone*. One morning he called on his horse and suggested to my  mother that I might like to go with him in the front of his saddle.  While Peggotty was gettting me ready I could see she was getting crosser and  crosser as she watch mother and Mr Murdstone walk up and down very close and seeming to touch each other.

I ride with Mr Murdstone and cannot keep his eyes off his face.  We arrived at a hotel by the sea where some of Murdstone’s friends were  lounging.    Murdstone starts to mention someone called Brooks of Sheffield which seems to amuse the other men when they ask him if Brooks  understands much about the business to which he replies:

‘Why, I don’t know that Brooks understands much about it at present,’ replied Mr. Murdstone; ‘but he is not generally favourable, I believe.’

There was more laughter at this.

Mr Murdstone and I go for a walk by the sea and then visit a moored yaught where there is much spreading of papers and documents where  Murdstone seems to get sterner even though the other were lighthearted.

When we arrived home and Mr Murdstone had left mother asked about what we had done and I told her about the men and the jokes and the  papers and Mr Brooks of Sheffield when I asked she suggested that:

“she supposed he must be a manufacturer in the knife and fork way.”

That night when I have gone to bed mother knelt beside me and asked me what the men had said about her,  I said they thought she was pretty  and

‘“Bewitching ”’ I began.

My mother put her hands upon my lips to stop me.

‘It was never bewitching,’ she said, laughing. ‘It never could have been bewitching, Davy. Now I know it wasn’t!’

‘Yes, it was. “Bewitching Mrs. Copperfield”,’ I repeated stoutly. ‘And, “pretty.”’

‘Don’t tell Peggotty; she might be angry with them. I am dreadfully angry with them myself; but I would rather Peggotty didn’t know.’

A while later maybe a month or two when my mother was out as she often was these days,  Peggotty came to be to ask if I would like to go  with her to visit her brother at Yarmouth and though I could enjoy playing with her nephew - Ham,    I said I would like that very much but would  mother approve which caused Peggotty to smile

When I asked if my mother would be ok by herself,  Peggotty suggested that should would probably stay with our neighbour - Mrs Graper.

It was all quickly arranged.   A carriage arrived for us early the next morning and mother kept running and kissing me and could not stop waving  - that is until Mr Murdstone came to her and seem to speak crossly with her to stop it

And so we were on our way to Yarmouth!

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Chapter 3

I have a Change

It was a long and weary journey to Yarmouth but at last they arrived.  It was a flat dreary place but Peggotty was proud to be called a  Yarmouth Bloater.

Peggotty sees Ham coming towards them and calls out in delight,  I of course did not recognise him for  he had not been to our house since  the night I was born.

The set out for home, Ham with a big box under his arm and me on his back and Peggotty with the other box.   We went through all sorts of  interesting places until we got near the sea - but no house in sight,  not until I realised that the ‘house’ was a sort of barge which had a  smoking chimney,  but looked strange but friendly.    Inside was equally charming and friendly with all sorts of pictures of Biblical and other  scenes.   I was shown my little bedroom at the stern which also was wonderful.

The other members of the ‘house’ were a civil lady who I had seen curtsying at the door and a young lass of a similar age to me who ran off  when I tried to kiss her on the cheek.    Shortly afterwords an older man arrived who I soon found out was Peggotty’s brother who I was to  address as Mr Peggotty.    The lady at the door was Mrs Gummage and the girl’s name was Em’ly.

I soon found out that Ham was not Mr Peggotty’s son but the son of his late brother Joe,  and that Em’ly was the daughter of his brother-in-law  Tom who also drowned.

I then asked if he had any children to which he replied:

‘No, master,’ he answered with a short laugh. ‘I’m a bacheldore.’

‘A bachelor!’ I said, astonished. ‘Why, who’s that, Mr. Peggotty?’ pointing to the person in the apron who was knitting.

‘That’s Missis Gummidge,’ said Mr. Peggotty.

The next morning I had the opportunity to chat with Emily and find out a little more about her,  that she was very loyal to Mr Peggotty and we  talked about the sea,  that she was afraid of it, but I was very impressed with her and we talked about other things,  that perhaps she would  like one day to be a lady.

We strolled a long way, and loaded ourselves with things that we thought curious, and put some stranded starfish carefully back into the water  hardly know enough of the race at this moment to be quite certain whether they had reason to feel obliged to us for doing so, or the  reverse and then made our way home to Mr. Peggotty’s dwelling. We stopped under the lee of the lobster-outhouse to exchange an innocent  kiss, and went in to breakfast glowing with health and pleasure.

I was in Love !

One evening Mr Peggotty was out (I believe at the local public house and for some reason Mrs Gummidge was very upset about this.

Everyone appeared unconcerned except Mrs Gummidge who could not control herself:     . ‘I know what I am. I know that I am a lone lorn  creetur’, and not only that everythink goes contrary with me, but that I go contrary with everybody. Yes, yes. I feel more than other people do,  and I show it more. It’s my misfortun’.’

Some time after he was in his hammock that night, I heard him myself repeat to Ham, ‘Poor thing! She’s been thinking of the old ‘un!’ And  whenever Mrs. Gummidge was overcome in a similar manner during the remainder of our stay (which happened some few times), he always  said the same thing in extenuation of the circumstance, and always with the tenderest commiseration.

The time came for us to depart for home, and although I missed Mr Peggotty and Mrs Gummidge, there was one - Little Emily who was  breaking my heart at parting from.

When we arrived home I became more and more excited at seeing mother but for some reason Peggotty appeared more and more nervous  and when we arrive I was getting down to run to my mother when Peggotty said she wanted to speak to me about something in the kitchen.

‘Master Davy,’ said Peggotty, untying her bonnet with a shaking hand, and speaking in a breathless sort of way. ‘What do you think? You have  got a Pa!’

She took me into the parlour then closed the door and disappeared:

On one side of the fire, sat my mother; on the other, Mr. Murdstone. My mother dropped her work, and arose hurriedly, but timidly I thought.

‘Now, Clara my dear,’ said Mr. Murdstone. ‘Recollect! control yourself, always control yourself! Davy boy, how do you do?’

Everything seemed different, my mother was no exception I went upstairs my bedroom was altered,  came down and out into the yard.

I very soon started back from there, for the empty dog-kennel was filled up with a great dog deep mouthed and black-haired like "Him" and he was  very angry at the sight of me, and sprang out to get at me.

Link to Part 2 (Chapters 4-6)