What two suggestions about parish officials are made in the last two sentences of this excerpt from Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist?
Occasionally, when there was some more than usually interesting inquest upon a parish child who had been overlooked in turning up
a bedstead, or inadvertently scalded to death when there happened to be a washing-though the latter accident was very scarce,
anything approaching to a washing being of rare occurrence in the farm-the jury would take it into their heads to ask troublesome
questions, or the parishioners would rebelliously affix their signatures to a remonstrance. But these impertinences were speedily
checked by the evidence of the surgeon, and the testimony of the beadle; the former of whom had always opened the body and
found nothing inside (which was very probable indeed), and the latter of whom invariably swore whatever the parish wanted; which
was very self-devotional. Besides, the board made periedical pilgrimages to the farm, and always sent the beadle the day before, te
say they were going. The children were neat and clean to behold, when they went: and what more would the peeple havel
They did not know how to perform their duties.
They deliberately ignored the suffering of the parish children.
They were haughty men who considered themselves very important.
They had a poor opinion of the woman who looked after the children.
They wanted to give the impression that they were performing their work.