Sevenpence-halfpenny's worth per week is a good round diet for a child a great deal may be got for sevenpence-halfpenny, quite enough to overload its stomach, and make it uncomfortable. Upon this the parish authorities magnanimously and humanely resolved, that Oliver should be "farmed," or, in other words, that he should be dispatched to a branch-workhouse some three miles off, where twenty or thirty other juvenile offenders against the poor-laws, rolled about the floor all day, without the inconvenience of too much food or too much clothing, under the parental superintendence of an elderly female, who received the culprits at and for the consideration of sevenpence-halfpenny per small head per week. The workhouse authorities replied with humility, that there was not. The parish authorities inquired with dignity of the workhouse authorities, whether there was no female then domiciled in "the house" who was in a situation to impart to Oliver Twist, the consolation and nourishment of which he stood in need. The hungry and destitute situation of the infant orphan was duly reported by the workhouse authorities to the parish authorities. Oliver's fortunes take him into worlds of economic need that wealthier English people never saw.įrom Chapter II, "Treats of Oliver Twist's growth, education, and board" The story begins, just after Oliver is born, with his mother's death in a workhouse for the poor. The novel is copyright-free and in the public domain.Įxplain that Oliver Twist is a fictional character Charles Dickens created to tell a story. The full text of Charles Dickens's 1838 novel, Oliver Twist, can be obtained online at
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