I'll tell you. M' father, Pip, he were given to drink, and when he were overtook with drink, he hammered away at my mother, most unmerciful. It were a'most the only hammering he did, indeed, 'xcepting at myself. And he hammered at me with a wigour only to be equalled by the wigour with which he didn't hammer at his anwil. - You're a-listening and understanding, Pip?"
