Oliver’s temporary mistress, Mrs. Sowerberry, relied on the parochial beadle, Mr. Bumble, for guidance on how to control Oliver’s behavior, as he lashed out when Noah made disrespectful comments concerning Oliver’s dead mother. Mr. Bumble then concludes that this behavior was provoked by his diet. “…‘If you had kept the boy on gruel ma’am, this never would have happened.’ ‘Dear, dear!’ ejaculated Mrs. Sowerberry, piously raising her eyes to the kitchen ceiling; ‘this comes of being liberal!’ The liberality of Mrs. Sowerberry to Oliver had consisted in a profuse bestowal upon him of all the dirty odds and ends which nobody else would eat, so there was a great deal of meekness and self-devotion in her voluntary remaining under Mr. Bumble’s heavy
