第12章 THE CHIMNEY-SWEEP.November 1st.
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.
“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.
“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:—
“I have only two soldi;let us make a collection.”
“I have two soldi,also,”said another girl,dressed in red;“we shall certainly find thirty soldi among the whole of us”；and then they began to call out:—
“Amalia!Luigia!Annina!—A soldo.Who has any soldi?Bring your soldi here!”
Several had soldi to buy flowers or copy-books,and they brought them;some of the smaller girls gave centesimi;the one with the blue feather collected all,and counted them in a loud voice:—
“Eight,ten,fifteen!”But more was needed.Then one larger than any of them,who seemed to be an assistant mistress,made her appearance,and gave half a lira;and all made much of her.Five soldi were still lacking.
“The girls of the fourth class are coming;they will have it,”said one girl.The members of the fourth class came,and the soldi showered down.All hurried forward eagerly;and it was beautiful to see that poor chimney-sweep in the midst of all those many-colored dresses,of all that whirl of feathers,ribbons,and curls.The thirty soldi were already obtained,and more kept pouring in;and the very smallest who had no money made their way among the big girls,and offered their bunches of flowers,for the sake of giving something.All at once the portress made her appearance,screaming:—
“The Signora Directress!”The girls made their escape in all directions,like a flock of sparrows;and then the little chimney-sweep was visible,alone,in the middle of the street,wiping his eyes in perfect content,with his hands full of money,and the button-holes of his jacket,his pockets,his hat,were full of flowers;and there were even flowers on the ground at his feet.
烟囱扫除人 十一月一日
昨天午后，到附近的一个女子小学校里去。因为雪尔维姐姐的先生说要看《少年爱国者》的故事，所以我就拿去给她看。那学校有七百个女孩的光景，我去的时候正好是放学，学生们因为从明天起接连有“万圣节”“万灵节”两个节日，正在欢喜高兴地回去。我在那里看见一件很美的事：在学校那一边的街路角里，立着一个脸孔墨黑的烟囱扫除人。他还是个小孩，一手靠着了壁，一手托着头，在那里啜泣。有两三个三年级女学生走近去问他：“怎么了？为什么这样哭？”但是他总不回答，仍旧哭着。
“来！快告诉我们，你怎么了？为什么哭？”女孩子再问他，他才渐渐地抬起头来。那是一个像小孩似的脸孔，哭着告诉她们，说扫除了好几处烟囱，得着三十个铜币，不知什么时候从口袋的破洞里漏出去了。说着又指破洞给她们看。他说，如果没有这钱是不能回去的。
“师父要打的！”他这样说着又哭了起来，又把头俯伏在臂上，像是很为难的样子。女学生们围住了看着他，觉得他很可怜，这时其余的女学生也夹了书包来了。有一个帽子上插着青羽的大女孩从袋里拿出两个铜币来说：
“我只有两个，再凑凑就好了。”“我也有两个在这里。”一个着红衣的接着说，“大家凑起来，三十个左右是一定有的。”又叫其余的同学们：“亚马里亚！璐迦！亚尼那！一个铜币，你们哪个有钱吗？请拿出来！”
果然，有许多人是为买花或笔记本都带着钱的，大家都拿出来了。小女孩也有拿出一个半分的小铜币的。插青羽的女孩将钱集拢了大声地数：
八个，十个，十五个，但是还不够。这时，恰巧来了一个像先生样的大女孩，拿出一个当十的银币来，大家都高兴了。可还不够五个。
“四年级的来了！她们一定有的。”一个女孩说。四年级的女孩一到，铜币立刻集起许多了。大家还都急急地向这里跑来。一个可怜的烟囱扫除人，被围在美丽的衣服、随风摇动的帽羽、发丝带、鬈发之中，那样子真是好看。三十个铜币不但早已集齐，而且还多出了许多了。没有带钱的小女孩，挤入大女孩的群中将花束赠给少年作代替。这时，忽然校役出来说：“校长先生来了！”女学生们就麻雀般地四方走散。烟囱扫除人独自立在街路中，欢喜地拭着眼泪，手里装满了钱，上衣的纽孔里、衣袋里、帽子里都装满了花，还有许多花在他的脚边散布着。