Page:De Amicis - Heart, translation Hapgood, 1922.djvu/277



Friday, 5th.

I took a vacation, because I was not well, and my mother took me to the Institution for Children with the Rickets, whither she went to recommend a child belonging to our porter; but she did not allow me to go into the school.

Did you not understand, Enrico, why I did not permit you to enter? It was in order not to place before the eyes of those unfortunates, there in the midst of the school, as though on exhibition, a strong, healthy boy: they have already but too many opportunities for making painful comparisons. What a sad thing! Tears rushed from my heart when I went in. There were sixty of them, boys and girls. Poor tortured bones! Poor hands, poor little shrivelled and distorted feet! Poor little deformed bodies! I found many charming faces, with eyes full of intelligence and affection. There was one little child's face with the pointed nose and sharp chin of an old woman; but it wore a smile of celestial sweetness. Some, viewed from the front, are handsome, and appear to be without defects; but when they turn round they cast a weight upon your soul. The doctor was there, visiting them. He set them upright on their benches and pulled up their little garments, to feel their swollen stomachs and enlarged joints; but they did not show the least shame, poor creatures! It was evident that they were