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808 ; SKETCHES.
covered gate-way. Three cats and two dogs followed his
example, but in opposite directions. ‘The sparrows, those
little airy optimists, merrily chirping under the shelter of
the eaves of the houses, seemed to rejoice that nothing
could upset their good temper.
Soon the street became empty. A mummy-like figure
was sitting alone and immovable on the steps of the house
from which I made my observations. She was sitting as
if she did not notice the hailstones, staring straight before
her with a look which seemed to feel no more interest in
any thing in this world. The crutch lying beside her, and
the rags of her tolerably clean dress, seemed to explain to
me her listlessness. Poor woman! I said to myself, she
is poor, old, decrepit, abandoned, and alone in the world.
She has nothing more to fear, nothing more to hope. Why
should she have looked out for a shelter? She may well
be indifferent about every thing. She is a zero in the
world, and to her the world is a zero. I was deceived.
The hailstorm ceased ; the clouds broke, and the sun shone
bright and warm. The old woman looked up — so happy,
so gratefully happy —at life’s light and joy. Her face, on
which old age, sickness, and misery had left deep and dark
traces, still retained the expression which the poet so
beautifully paints: —
“ There, through sorrow’s bitter tears,
And the beaming rays of joy,
Hope, immortal, smiles.”
Thus sat the old woman, enjoying what nobody envied,
what nobody could take away from her — the light. Some-
body approached her; she put out a supplicating hand,
and did not draw it back empty.
In a summer garb more than transparent, a little pale
boy came wandering along with downcast eyes, past the
row of houses. he and his dog looking out for some thrown
away, but for them precious, morsel of food.
The old woman beckoned the boy to come to her, and with
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