Page:De Amicis - Heart, translation Hapgood, 1922.djvu/243

Rh little sister of Precossi. I had never seen an asylum and I was greatly amused! There were two hundred of them, boy-babies and girl-babies, and so small that the children in our lower primary schools are men in comparison.

We arrived just as they were going into the refectory in two files, where there were two very long tables, with a great many round holes, and in each hole a black bowl filled with rice and beans, and a tin spoon beside it. On entering, some of the tots grew confused and remained on the floor until the mistress ran and picked them up. Many halted in front of a bowl, thinking it was their proper place, and had already swallowed a spoonful, when a mistress came up and said, “Go on!” and then they went on three or four paces and got down another spoonful, and then advanced again, until they reached their own places, after having eaten half a portion more than was due them. At last, by dint of pushing and crying, “Make haste! make haste!” they were all got into order, and the prayer was begun. But all those on the inner line, who had to turn their backs on the bowls for the prayer, twisted their heads round to keep an eye on them, lest some one might meddle. They said their prayer thus, with hands clasped and their eyes on the ceiling, but with their hearts on their food. Then they set to eating.

Ah, what a charming sight it was! One ate with two spoons, another with his hands; many picked up the beans one by one, and thrust them into their pockets; others wrapped them tightly in their little aprons, and pounded them to reduce them to a paste.