dogs; and I believe these men were no longer answerable for their

acts. It mattered not what they were carrying, they drove straight

into the press, and when they could get no farther, blindly

discharged their barrowful. With my own hand, for instance, I

saved the life of a child as it sat upon its mother's knee, she

sitting on a box; and since I heard of no accident, I must suppose

that there were many similar interpositions in the course of the

evening. It will give some idea of the state of mind to which we

were reduced if I tell you that neither the porter nor the mother

of the child paid the least attention to my act. It was not till

some time after that I understood what I had done myself, for to

ward off heavy boxes seemed at the moment a natural incident of

human life. Cold, wet, clamour, dead opposition to progress, such

as one encounters in an evil dream, had utterly daunted the

spirits. We had accepted this purgatory as a child accepts the

conditions of the world. For my part, I shivered a little, and my

back ached wearily; but I believe I had neither a hope nor a fear,

and all the activities of my nature had become tributary to one

massive sensation of discomfort.

At length, and after how long an interval I hesitate to guess, the

crowd began to move, heavily straining through itself. About the

same time some lamps were lighted, and threw a sudden flare over

the shed. We were being filtered out into the river boat for

Jersey City. You may imagine how slowly this filtering proceeded,

through the dense, choking crush, every one overladen with packages

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