Amongst the gay throng, however, that
thoughtlessly glided along the Broadway, even this
image of female perfection was suffered to move
unnoticed by hundreds; and it was owing to the
obstruction offered to the passage of the ladies, by
a small crowd that had gathered on the side-walk,
that a gentleman of uncommon personal
endowments enjoyed an opportunity of examining it
with more than ordinary attention. The eldest of
the females drew her companion away from this
impediment to their passage, by moving towards
the opposite side of the street, and observing, as
they crossed, with an indifference in her manner--
"It is nothing, Charlotte, but a drunken man; if
people will drink, they must abide the
consequences."
"He does not seem intoxicated, Maria," replied the
other, in a voice whose tones corresponded with her
appearance; "it is some sudden illness."
"One that, I dare say, he is accustomed to," said
Maria, without having even taken such a look at the
sufferer as would enable her to identify his colour;
"he will be well enough after he has slept."
"But is the pavement a place for him to sleep on?"
rejoined her companion, still gazing towards the
miserable object; "and if he should be ill!--why do
they not raise him?--Why do they suffer him to
injure himself as he does?"
The speaker, at the same time that she shrunk in a
kind of sensitive horror from this exhibition of
human infirmities, now unconsciously stopped, with
an interest in the man that she could not controul,
and thus compelled Maria to pause also.
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