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November—The Chimney-sweep.
十一月——煙囪掃除人
November 1st.
11月1日
Yesterday afternoon I went to the girls' school building, near ours, to give the story of the boy from Padua to Silvia's teacher, who wished to read it. There are seven hundred girls there. Just as I arrived, they began to come out, all greatly rejoiced at the holiday of All Saints and All Souls; and here is a beautiful thing that I saw: Opposite the door of the school, on the other side of the street, stood a very small chimney-sweep, his face entirely black, with his sack and scraper, with one arm resting against the wall, and his head supported on his arm, weeping copiously and sobbing. Two or three of the girls of the second grade approached him and said, "What is the matter, that you weep like this?" But he made no reply, and went on crying.
昨天午后我到附近的一個女子小學校里去。雪爾維姊姊的先生說要看《少年愛國者》，所以我拿給她看。那學校大約有七百個女小孩，我去的時候正放學。因為從明天起接連有“萬圣節”、“萬靈節”兩個節日，學生們正在歡喜高興地回去。我在那里看見一件很美的事：在學校那一邊的街路角里，立著一個臉孔墨黑的煙囪掃除人。他還是個小孩，一手靠著了壁，一手托著頭，在那里暖泣。有兩三個三年級女學生走近去問他：“怎么了？為什么這樣哭？”他總不回答，仍舊哭著。
"Come, tell us what is the matter with you and why you are crying," the girls repeated. And then he raised his face from his arm, —a baby face, —and said through his tears that he had been to several houses to sweep the chimneys, and had earned thirty soldi, and that he had lost them, that they had slipped through a hole in his pocket,—and he showed the hole,—and he did not dare to return home without the money.
“來！快告訴我們，怎么了？為什么哭的？”女孩子再問他，他才漸漸地抬起頭來。那是一個小孩似的臉，哭著告訴她們，說掃除了好幾處煙囪，得著三十個銅幣，不知什么時候從口袋的破相里漏掉了。說著又指破孔給她們看。據說，如果沒有錢就不能回去。
"The master will beat me," he said, sobbing; and again dropped his head upon his arm, like one in despair. The children stood and stared at him very seriously. In the meantime, other girls, large and small, poor girls and girls of the upper classes, with their portfolios under their arms, had come up; and one large girl, who had a blue feather in her hat, pulled two soldi from her pocket, and said:
“師父要打的！”他說著又哭了起來，把頭俯伏在臂上，很為難的樣子。女學生們圍著他看，覺到他很可憐。這時其余的女學生也夾了書包來了。有一個帽子上插著青羽的大女孩從袋里拿出兩個銅幣來說：
"I have only two soldi; let us make a collection."
“我只有兩個，再湊湊就好了。”
