"ElizaLeeFollen-ThePedlerOfDustSticks" - читать интересную книгу автора (Follen Eliza Lee)

would not like it; and yet he said, in telling this story to a
friend, "I was so happy, and this pleasure was so innocent, that I
could not feel as sorry as I ought to feel."

Henry bore his punishment like a brave boy.

It was too bad for the poor fellow to have no pleasures; nothing but
work all the time. This was especially hard for him, for no one
loved amusement better than he.

He relished a piece of fun exceedingly. In the city of Hamburg there
was a place where young girls were always to be seen with flowers in
their hands to sell. He had observed that the Jews, of whom he
bought the pretty canes, were often rude to them, and he determined
to punish some of them. There was one who wore a wig, with a long
queue to it. The girls had their long hair braided and left hanging
down behind.

One day this man was sitting in this flower market, with his back to
one of these girls, and Henry took the opportunity, and before
either knew what he did, he tied the two queues together; the young
girl happened not to like her seat very well, and got up rather
suddenly to change it, and off she went with the Jew's wig dangling
behind her, much to the amusement of the spectators, and especially
of Henry, who saw and enjoyed it all highly, though pretending to be
very busy selling a cane to a gentleman, who joined in the general
laugh.

Lucky it was for Henry that the Jew did not discover who it was that
had played this roguish trick.

Henry saw how difficult it was for his father to support the family,
and was very earnest to get money in any honest way. One day the
managers of a theatre hired him to take part in a play, where they
wanted to make a crowd. He was pleased at the thought of making some
money to carry home; but when he went behind the scenes, and saw all
that the actors did, he ran away and left them, caring not for the
money, so he could but get away from such disgusting things.

Thus did Henry live, working from early morning till night, going to
school with a little of the money he had earned, when his father
would allow him to take it; keeping himself unstained by the
wickedness that he often saw and heard in his walks through the
city; observing every thing worth noticing, and making friends every
where by his honesty, purity, and kind-heartedness.

At this time the French were in Hamburg, provisions were dearer than
ever, and Henry's father, with all the help he received from his
son, could not support his family in the city.