The Man Without a Morrow

by G.R. Sims

I

 was then a man without a morrow. The first twinge of annoyance at losing an interest in things that were to last into tomorrow, was succeeded by a feeling of novel enjoyment. There was such a delightful freshness and romance about the situation! I had a day to do what I chose in, totally independent of all after-consequences. As soon as I had paid for my breakfast, I lit a cigar and strolled into the street to meditate upon the programme for the day. Should I go into the country or wander about town? I was a cockney born and bred, and true to the instincts of my race, I determined to consecrate my last hours to pavements and shop-fronts. The roar and rattle of the streets, the hustle and bustle of the surging crowd, and all the dash and confusion of London life, were more in keeping with my present mood than the drowsy dulness and pulseless vegetation of the country. I wandered aimlessly through the great thoroughfares; I stared into the shop windows; I stood at street corners, with old ladies who waited for omnibuses; I entered public houses and drank by the side of clerks and loafers. Ah! what would happen tomorrow? None could tell; but what cared I? . . . One thought was uppermost in my mind. I wondered what the thousands of people passing me by and jostling me with such utter unconcern would say if they knew that in a few hours I should be in a dead-house, a dank and ghastly corpse.

NOTES AND EXERCISES:

1.   Memorize the following words in which the “t” is not pronounced:

hustle     nestle      whistle         often         listen       boatswain

bustle     pestle      rustle           fasten       glisten     mortgage

jostle      wrestle     bristle          chasten     epistle    

castle     thistle      Christmas    hasten      apostle   

2.   In the following words only “g” is pronounced: ghastly, aghast, ghost, gherkin, ghetto, ghyll, gharry, ghoulish.

3.   Read the following words paying attention to the pronunciation of “ough” and memorize their spelling: thoroughfare, bough, sough, plough, slough, cough, trough, borough, hiccough, thorough, thought, drought, clough, nought, through, bought, enough, tough, wrought, rough, fought, sought, ought, Peterborough, hough.

4.   Do not confuse the spelling of the verb “to lose” with the spelling of the adjective “loose” (“not tight or tense”).

5.   Pay attention to the spelling of the verbs “to wonder” and “to wander” and pronounce them correctly.

6.   The words “programme” and “dulness” have alternative spelling: program (US) and dullness.

7.   Memorize the spelling of the following verbs and explain what they mean: succeed, exceed, proceed, precede, supersede, accede, concede. Find synonyms for each verb in the dictionary.

8.   Be careful not to confuse the word “corpse” with the word “corps”. The former means “a dead body, especially of a human being”. The latter can be either the singular [ko:], or the plural [ko:z] of the noun “corps,” meaning 1) “one of the technical branches of an army: the Royal Army Medical Corps,” and 2) “military force made up of two or more divisions.”

9.   The expression “to be in keeping with” means “to be in harmony with”. The reverse meaning is conveyed by the expression “to be out of keeping with” or “not in keeping with”: His actions are not in keeping with his promises.

10.  Word study:

morrow      1) the next day after the present or after any given day: What had the morrow in store for them? 2) (archaic) morning: Good morrow!

cockney     a native of the East End of London: a cockney accent, a cockney humour

dank           damp in an unpleasant or unhealthy way: the dank undergrowth of a forest, a dank and chilly cave

ghastly       death-like; pale and ill, causing horror or fear: a ghastly accident; very unsatisfactory or unpleasant: a ghastly dinner