Then they all went to recreation; but first they all took their little baskets, which were hanging on the wall with their lunches in them. They went out into the garden and scattered, drawing forth their provisions as they did so,--bread, stewed plums, a tiny bit of cheese, a hard-boiled egg, little apples, a handful of boiled vetches, or a wing of chicken. In an instant the whole garden was strewn with crumbs, as though they had been scattered from their feed by a flock of birds. They ate in all the queerest ways,--like rabbits, like rats, like cats, nibbling, licking, sucking. There was one child who held a bit of rye bread hugged closely to his breast, and was rubbing it with a medlar, as though he were polishing a sword. Some of the little ones crushed in their fists small cheeses, which trickled between their fingers like milk, and ran down inside their sleeves, and they were utterly unconscious of it. They ran and chased each other with apples and rolls in their teeth, like dogs. I saw three of them excavating a hard-boiled egg with a straw, thinking to discover treasures, and they spilled half of it on the ground, and then picked the crumbs up again one by one with great patience, as though they had been pearls. And those who had anything extraordinary were surrounded by eight or ten, who stood staring at the baskets with bent heads, as though they were looking at the moon in a well. There were twenty congregated round a mite of a fellow who had a paper horn of sugar, and they were going through all sorts of ceremonies with him for the privilege of dipping their bread in it, and he accorded it to some, while to others, after many prayers, he only granted his finger to suck.
這以后,是出去休息。在走出食堂以前,大家照例各取掛在壁間的小食盒。一等走出食堂,就四方散開,各從盒中把面包呀、牛油小塊呀、煮熟的蛋呀、小蘋果呀、熟豌豆呀、雞肉呀取出。一霎時(shí),庭間到處都是面包屑,像給小鳥喂餌似的。他們有種種可笑的吃法:有的像兔、貓或鼠樣地嚼嘗或吸著,有的把飯涂抹在胸間,有的用小拳把牛油捏糊了,像乳汁似的滴在袖子里,自己仍不覺得。還有許多小孩把銜著蘋果或面包的小孩像狗似的追趕著。又有三個(gè)小孩用草莖在蛋殼中挖掘,說要發(fā)掘?qū)氊惲ā:髞戆训暗囊话雰A在地上,再一粒粒地抬起,好像拾珍珠似的。小孩之中,只要有一人拿著什么好東西,大家就把他圍住了。窺探他的食盒。一個(gè)拿著糖的小孩旁邊,圍著二十多個(gè)人,并在卿卿我我地說個(gè)不休;有的要地抹些在自己的面包上,也有只求用指去嘗一點(diǎn)的。