In the dirtiest rooms, the
most hardened of the women, the roughest and rudest of the children,
seemed to become momentarily gentle and tender when the flowers were
laid in their hands.
When all had been given away except one rose, Theodore paused and
considered. There were several rooms that he had not visited. To
which of these should he carry this last rose?
Not to Old Man Schneider surely. He was standing at the moment outside
Old Man Schneider's door. The old man was the terror of all the
children in the house, so ugly and profane was he, and so hideous to
look at. Fearless as Theodore was--the sight of Old Man Schneider
always made him shudder, and the boy had never yet spoken to him.
While he stood there trying to decide who should have the rose, he
heard a deep, hollow groan, and surely it came from the room of Old
Man Schneider. Theodore stood still and listened. There came another
groan and another, and then he knocked on the door. There was no
response and he opened it and went in. He had been in many dirty,
dismal rooms, but never in one so dirty and so dismal as this. It
looked as if it never had been clean. The only furniture was a
tumble-down bed in one corner, a chair and a broken stove. On the bed,
the old man was lying, covered with rags.
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