"At these words, uttered with a heart-rending accent, a worthy old clothes-dealer of the Temple, who was amongst the spectators, exclaimed, with a kindly air: `No father nor mother! Do not grieve so, my poor little fellow; the Temple can supply everything.We will mend the harness, and, if my gossips are like me, you shall not go away bareheaded or barefooted in such weather as this.'
"This proposition was greeted with acclamation; they led away both horse and child; some were occupied in mending the harness, then one supplied a cap, another a pair of stockings, another some shoes, and another a good jacket; in a quarter of an hour the child was warmly clad, the harness repaired, and a tall lad of eighteen, brandishing a whip, which he cracked close to the horse's ears, by way of warning, said to the little boy, who, gazing first at his new clothes, and then at the good woman, believed himself the hero of a fairy-tale.`Where does your governor live, little 'un?'
"`On the Quai du Canal-Saint-Martin, sir,' answered he, in a voice trembling with joy.
"`Very good,' said the young man, `I will help you take home the horse, who will go well enough with me, and I will tell the master that the delay was no fault of your'n.A balky horse ought not to be trusted to a child of your age.'
"At the moment of setting out, the poor little fellow said timidly to the good dame, as he took off his cap to her: `Will you let me kiss you, ma'am?'
"His eyes were full of tears of gratitude.There was heart in that child.This scene of popular charity gave me delightful emotions.
As long as I could, I followed with my eyes the tall young man and the child, who now could hardly keep up with the pace of the horse, rendered suddenly docile by fear of the whip.
"Yes! I repeat it with pride; man is naturally good and helpful.
Nothing could have been more spontaneous than this movement of pity and tenderness in the crowd, when the poor little fellow exclaimed: `What will become of me? I have no father or mother!'
"`Unfortunate child!' said I to myself.`No father nor mother.In the hands of a brutal master, who hardly covers him with a few rags, and ill-