_
_It is a sultry day towards the end of May. The clock is on the
stroke of twelve. Most of the waiting work-people have the air of
standing before the bar of justice, in torturing expectation of a
decision that means life or death to them. They are marked too by the
anxious timidity characteristic of the receiver of charity, who has
suffered many humiliations, and, conscious that he is barely
tolerated, has acquired the habit of self-effacement. Add to this a
rigid expression on every face that tells of constant, fruitless
brooding. There is a general resemblance among the men. They have
something about them of the dwarf, something of the schoolmaster. The
majority are flat-breasted, short-minded, sallow, and poor
looking--creatures of the loom, their knees bent with much silting.
At a, first glance the women show fewer typical traits. They look
over-driven, worried, reckless, whereas the men still make some show
of a pitiful self-respect; and their clothes are ragged, while the
men's are patched and mended. Some of the young girls are not without
a certain charm, consisting in a wax-like pallor, a slender figure,
and large, projecting, melancholy eyes.
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