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THE AMERICAN-SC AN DIN AVIAN REVIEW 
I hurried over to it. And right there in that horse’s face I became 
aware of two eyes which set into vibration every fibre of my being. 
Even to-day I can call to mind their life-gleam as distinctly as a glim¬ 
mering ray seen through two dim panes. But I not only saw them, 
I thought I heard them as well—heard them whisper into my con¬ 
sciousness that choking sensation of— helplessness! 
Was that decent treatment toward a dumb animal? I demanded. 
Would I not be kind enough to tend to my own business and be¬ 
sides keep my accursed mouth shut, the man replied. What affair was 
he or his horse of mine? Or would I like a taste of the lash also, per¬ 
haps? There would be nothing to hinder that, as it happened that he 
was ready to stand treat. 
What did I do next? Well, I got hold of a policeman at once, 
and he made his way to town with both man and beast. That was the 
last I saw of them. 
IV. 
I had a friend who lived opposite “Poverty Court”-—that tene¬ 
ment building in Christiania to whose doors the poor drag themselves 
and seek entrance when every other door is closed. 
I had been to see this same friend, a raw November day, when, as I 
left the building, I caught sight of the huddled figure of a woman 
seated on the cold stone steps with her face in her hands. I passed 
her at first, but then turned, asking what ailed her. 
She did not seem to hear me. Approaching her, I repeated mv 
question. 
She raised her head slowly and glanced up. 
But when I saw before me those wide open eyes, glittering not 
with tears, but with a blue-gray chilly gleam, as of water beginning 
to congeal after the first autumn frost—then again my soul was 
flooded with this whispering wail, this choking sensation of help¬ 
lessness. 
“I—am—ill,” she coughed, “have slept—outside last night—not 
tasted—a bite to-day.” 
I asked where she lived and where she was going. 
She pointed toward “Poverty Court.” “But I am—in such pain 
—in such pain.” I could not do otherwise than take the poor woman and 
half carry, half lead her across the street. I rang the bell. A man 
opened the door. Hurriedly I put a shilling into her hand. The door 
slammed behind her. 
Then I turned and zig-zagged through the crowd on the streets. 
I was dissatisfied with myself and the whole world and began to think 
how fine it would be to possess, as does the Lord, the power to help at 
will the helpless. 
