Part VII

Four years have passed. To boyhood grew the babe,
There in the darkness, in the cave, he grew
By vice surrounded and by vermin plagued.
He did not breathe the heaven's balmy air,
The beauty of the fields he never saw.

He lived, he moved about, but was like dead.

The old man found in him his great delight.
For brain and aptitude he plainly showed,
As from the flint spring sparks. The old man knew
It is the spark which makes the fires ignite.
Four years of age — and he had learned to steal:
Fruit from a stand and coins from blind man's hats.
For each such deed the old man praised him high,
Rewarded him with some token of love.
The same time he would reprimand him, too,
The days on which the boy brought nothing home,
These days, however, were now very rare.
The hopes and expectations of the man
Grew day by day and on his day-dreams' rocks
He built the finest castles in the air.
He built them high, until himself was caught,
The good old man, the thoughtful guardian, —
Until he swung himself, up in the air,
The ripe fruit of the tree as "gallows" known.
The woman Who had nursed and fed the boy
Was present when the hangman made the knot
Which made her friend and benefactor swing
Upon the gallow's beams, hanged by the neck,
His tongue protrudes as had he stuck it out
To show his own contempt at all the world
For dealing with him thus. When all was o'er,
The beldame goeth home and to the boy
With gentlest, sweetest voice she spoke like this:
"Get ready boy, the devil can take you now,
And in the name of God now go to hell.
Who for your keep had paid is gone there too.
Now that his payments stop, I too must stop
To feed you, and my boy you have to go!
I shall be kind enough to you once more,
I take you to the corner of the street;
If you come back, I'll drown you in the ditch."
The little boy did not grasp all she said. •
When lead away and told to go: he went.
By instinct he obeyed and never turned
But walked and walked from street to street.
He never yet had been so far from home,
All that his eyes beheld was new to him.
The splendid shops, the marvelous displays
And men and women clad in wondrous style.
Amazed 'he looked at thousands of new things.
One street leads him into another street
And never reached the outskirts of the town.
From marching long, from marveling great deal
He had grown tired. A curbstone proffers rest.
Contented leans on it ihis weary head.
From where he sits, he sees some boys at play,
He smiles and thinks their toys are also his
And that he himself is their welcome chum.
He watched their play until he fell asleep.'
He had a good long sleep, then in a dream
Saw two red burning sparks acoming near
And nearer still, intent to burn his eyes.
He shrieked with fright and suddenly awoke.
Late night was on, the stars on high shone bright,
The streets were empty, but before him stood
A hag, whose glaring eyes the boy feared more
Than he had feared the sparks his dream had seen.
The curbstone he -holds fast, he is afraid
To look at her or turn his eyes away.
The hag though, pats him in a friendly way,
And gently as is given to her to be,
She asks of him: "What is your name, my boy?
Who are your parents? and where do you live?
Shall I escort you home? Come, take my hand.
"Sylvester is my name, I have no one
I father, mother call. I never had.
I was first found upon the public street.
The woman said: Never again come home,
If you come back, I'll drown you in the ditch."

'"Then come, my darling boy, then come with me.
A loving mother I shall be to you."
The woman then took by the hand the boy,
Who meekly followed her wonderingly
And knowing not what had happened to him.
"See, my dear boy, this is our home", she said
When she had reached her home. "This room

is mine,
The kitchen here shall henceforth be your home.
You will not lonely be, my pet dog here, —
A nice dog, is he not? — will share with you
This carpet, it is big enough for both.
It is a splendid bed, you cannot ask
A better one. The dog will keep you warm.
Be not afraid of him, he does not bite,
He is a gentle dog. You will be friends.
See him looking at you, wagging his tail.
I have no doubt you will each other like,
As if you brothers were. Now go to sleep.
You want something to eat? It is not good
That children eat at night. In awful dreams
And nightmares devils tease them in their sleep."
Much better 'tis, go nicely now to sleep."
The miserable hag left him alone.
With terror trembling he lay down at last
Upon the' carpet's edge, but not too close
To his companion. The dog howe'er
Crawled up to him in a most friendly way.
The animal's bright eye shone in the night
And courage, confidence conveyed to him.
The boy petted the dog which licked his face.
The boy e'en spoke to him, for a reply
The dog whined and the two were soon good friends.

Upon the morn thus spoke the dame to him:
"Listen to me, my boy, you'll clearly see
I cannot keep you here without some pay.
Not e'en the grave of Christ is being watched
For nothing, You will have to go to work.
The Bible even says: Who do not work
Get naught to eat. Your work will easy be,
You shall have nothing else to do but beg.
Tarn too worn to work and I have grown too fat
The men are heartless and they chase me off
If I for alms stretch out my greasy hands.
Now you must beg for me, when men see you
Their hearts must move in tender sympathy
And freely give their mite. You'll have to say
Your father died, your mother 's ill at home,
I'll watch you from the distance and I say
If you heed my commands you will fare well.
Be careful boy, I'm good when I am good,
But I am very mean when I am mean.
Remember this and never let it pass
Out of your mind. You will abegging go.
You will stretch out your hand to everyone
Who's better dressed than you, and I'll look out
That those jou meet shall all be of this class.
You'll drop your head upon one side like this,
Your eyebrows draw up, see — , as I do now,
Your eyelids must be always moist and then
You whine and whimper: "In the name of Christ
Please help! My father's dead, my mother's sick,"
Did you catch on? You'll have to learn the art,
Or with a ,cane I beat it in your head."

The boy said he has understood her well,
He'll not forget it and he will not fail.
She made 'him try to do the trick, and lo!

She was amazed how clever was his work.

"A gold mine I have found in you, my boy,
Bravo! Henceforth we'll lead a princely life.
A princely life is ours!" the witch exclaimed.
"Let's to the harvest go. Would you first eat?
You'll eat when we come back, 'tis better then;
'Tis anyhow the best you don't eat much,
You'll grow too fat and who does sympathise
With beggar boys who are well fed and fat,
To beggars who are fat come meager alms."
The two then went into a busy street,
The hag assigned him to a certain spot,
Herself went into a gin mill near by
From whence she watched the boy and foully

grinned
And raised her whiskey glass whene'er she saw
Him harvesting the mite of charity.