On every side she heard the
same story. The times were very hard; requests for work and aid
had been so frequent that purses and patience were exhausted.
Moreover, people had spent their Christmas money on their
households and friends, and were already beginning to feel poor.
At last she obtained a little work, and having made a few
purchases of that which was absolutely essential, she was about to
drag her weary feet homeward when the thought occurred to her that
the children would want to hang up their stockings at night; and
she murmured: "It may be the last chance I shall ever have to put
a Christmas gift in them. Oh, that I were stronger! Oh, that I
could take my sorrow more as others seem to take theirs! But I
cannot, I cannot! My burden is greater than I can bear. The cold
of this awful day is chilling my very heart, and my grief, as hope
dies, is crushing my soul. Oh, he must be dead, he must be dead!
That is what they all think. God help my little ones! Oh, what
will become of them if I sink, as I fear I shall! If it were not
for them I feel as if I would fall and die here in the street.
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