"Donkies!" for The Piglett

'So you have left Mr. Dick behind, aunt?' said I. 'I am sorry for that. Ah, Janet, how do you do?'

As Janet curtsied, hoping I was well, I observed my aunt's visage lengthen very much.

'I am sorry for it, too,' said my aunt, rubbing her nose. 'I have had no peace of mind, Trot, since I have been here.'

Before I could ask why, she told me.

'I am convinced,' said my aunt; laying her hand with melancholy firmness on the table, 'that Dick's character is not a character to keep the donkies off. I am confident he wants strength of purpose. I ought to have left Janet at home, instead, and then my mind might perhaps have been at ease. If ever there was a donkey trespassing on my green,' said my aunt, with emphasis, 'there was one this afternoon at four o'clock. A cold feeling came over me from head to foot, and I know it was a donkey!'

I tried to comfort her on this point, but she rejected consolation.

'It was a donkey,' said my aunt; 'and it was the one with the stumpy tail which that Murdering sister of a woman rode, when she came to my house.' This had been, ever since, the only name my aunt knew for Miss Murdstone. 'If there is any donkey in Dover, whose audacity it is harder to me to bear than another's, that,' said my aunt, striking the table, 'is the animal!'

Janet ventured to suggest that my aunt might be disturbing herself unnecessarily, and that she believed the donkey in question was then engaged in the sand and gravel line of business, and was not available for purposes of trespass. But my aunt wouldn't hear of it.

-Charles Dickens, David Copperfield
===========================

I have never outgrown my charm of this author, and most particularly, of this book, although there is no dearth of selections of favorite passages one might make from his works. (Another of my favorites being the first paragraph of A Tale... which begins with 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; ....' Remember?) For me, though, David Copperfield has always been an absolute classic, all the elements of a good book blended therein, with one of the most talented potion-makers of literature to guide it's flow. Dickens is one of the authors I can read again and again, knowing there's no danger of boredom... each reading revealing a different facet, a new charm; like reading Austen or the Brontes or, in a different manner, Wodehouse. And this particular paragraph has a significance to me and, I'm sure, to Piggie, too: it reminds us of a fun-filled childhood, a happy past that we can bank on if need be, for strength, for temporary refuge, or just for pure thrill. Watching the TV version of David Copperfield, enacting the 'Donkies!' bit later for the family, receiving the amused applause of Ma and the bemused tolerance of Pa ('Whatever gets into these children of mine sometimes!'), our own childlike enjoyment in our talents... the over-all effect of that little excerpt is to buck me up with no mean hand.

So, cheers, Piglett! We'll figure it all out together, don't worry.