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 con-
ditions 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 dis-
comfort.

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 pro-
ceeded, through the dense, choking crush, every one
overladen with packages or children, and yet under the
necessity of fishing out his ticket by the way; but it
ended at length for me, and I found myself on deck
under a flimsy awning and with a trifle of elbow-room to

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