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The Grinder and the Pieman
Harry Furniss
1910
13.7 x 8.9 cm, vignetted
Dickens's Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son: Wholesale, Retail, and for Exportation, the Charles Dickens Library Edition, IX, facing 544.
Rob the Grinder tossing with a pieman after changing the half-crown given to him by Miss Tox.
[Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
"I am quite glad," said Miss Tox, arrived at her own door, "to know you. I hope you’ll consider me your friend, and that you’ll come and see me as often as you like. Do you keep a money-box?"
"Yes, Ma’am," returned Rob; "I’m saving up, against I’ve got enough to put in the Bank, Ma’am."
"Very laudable indeed," said Miss Tox. "I’m glad to hear it. Put this half-crown into it, if you please."
"Oh, thank you, Ma’am," replied Rob, "but really I couldn’t think of depriving you."
"I commend your independent spirit," said Miss Tox, "but it’s no deprivation, I assure you. I shall be offended if you don’t take it, as a mark of my good-will. Good-night, Robin."
"Good-night, Ma’am," said Rob, "and thank you!"
Who ran sniggering off to get change, and tossed it away with a pieman. But they never taught honour at the Grinders’ School, where the system that prevailed was particularly strong in the engendering of hypocrisy. Insomuch, that many of the friends and masters of past Grinders said, if this were what came of education for the common people, let us have none. Some more rational said, let us have a better one. But the governing powers of the Grinders’ Company were always ready for them, by picking out a few boys who had turned out well in spite of the system, and roundly asserting that they could have only turned out well because of it. Which settled the business of those objectors out of hand, and established the glory of the Grinders’ Institution. [Chapter 38, "Miss Tox improves an Old Acquaintance," 555]
Furniss, like Barnard, does not present Rob the Grinder, the charity student whom Mr. Dombey sponsors, in a sympathetic light. Eytinge depicts him as a social isolate, with only his pigeons on the rooftop for company, and he is indeed a Darwinian character, determined to survive in a world in which people of his class have limited opportunities to rise. Robin Toodle has two nicknames: "The Grinder" and "The Biler." He is a wayward character who goes wrong when he alligns himself with James Carker. The story's villain installs the Grinder as a spy in Sol Gill's business. Eytinge's solo portrait implies that Rob cares for no other person but himself. Furniss and Barnard, on the other hand, present his duplicitous nature directly when, having told Miss Tox he is saving from his limited income, he tosses the half-a-crown away in a street game with a pieman.
Robin Toodle (but known throughout the story as "Rob the Grinder") is the son of Mr. Toodle, the railway stoker, and his kindly wife, Polly. Rob, who has acquired his nickname from being a charity student, through Mr. Dombey's largesse has been able to attend the Charitable Grinders' School. Here, he is beaten, abused, and crammed with facts. No wonder, then, that Rob cannot resist the lure of tending pigeons, and often skips school to spend time with them on the rooftop of the London building where the Toodles live. Adults often manipulate the pathetic boy, who cannot seem to find a way to better his lot in life. He fails as a casual labourer, and decides to exploit his mother's connection with the Dombey family. When he goes to ask for employment at the firm's offices, he encounters Carker, the devious manager. At Carker's behest, Rob spies on Captain Cuttle, and reports to Carker on the comings and goings at The Wooden Midshipman. After Carker absconds late in the book, Good Mrs. Brown forces Rob to bring her information about where in France Carker and Mrs. Dombey have fled. Throughout all these twists and turns of the plot, The Grinder spies and reports on others without scruple or hesitation; he will say and do whatever is necessary to survive.
Left: Phiz's dramatisation of a different side of Rob's character:
Dickens, Charles. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Phiz. (Hablot K. Browne). London: Chapman and Hall, 1848.
_______. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr, and engraved by A. V. S. Anthony. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. III.
_______. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Fred Barnard. 61 wood-engravings. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1877. XV.
_______. Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son: Wholesale, Retail, and for Exportation. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. London: Educational Book Company, 1910. IX.
Last modified 4 January 2021