Page:The Talisman.pdf/9

Rh fortunes, and that old age may have had enjoyment while it was capable of enjoying. But a child, with the step slow from weakness, which from its age should be so buoyant; a cheek thin and white from hunger, at a period which especially cares for food (for all children are greedy); a form shrivelled with cold; a growth stopped by work too laborious for such tender years; a spirit broken by toil, want, and harshness;—is not such a child poverty's most miserable spectacle? It is, however, a common one. Off they went, the old woman and her grandson; she scolding the poor boy because the Thames was muddy; and he shrinking fearfully, lest anger might find blows more availing than words. Yet that aged creature's irritation was a sort of kindness: it was for his sake that she laboured out her last strength; and while the tones were shrill and cross, she was thinking how she could best procure food for the sickly child. Charles's meditations were effectually disturbed; he left his seat in the recess, and hurried indignantly forward. "And suffering like this!" thought he—"suffering that crushes alike youth and age, from which the innocence of childhood is not protected, and against which the experience of age cannot guard!—exists in our mighty, our magnificent city, whose very will is dominion on the earth. Look how she ministers to her pleasures!"