`` As I stood there at my window , cold and hungry , solitary and despairing , I said to myself , in a desperate mood , -- '' ` It is all a mistake ; I have no talent , and there is no room in the world for me , so the quicker I get out of it the better . ' `` Just then a little chap came from a gate opposite , with a shovel on his shoulder , and trudged away , whistling shrilly , to look for a job . I watched him out of sight , thinking bitterly , -- '' ` Now look at the injustice of it ! Here am I , a young man full of brains , starving because no one will give me a chance ; and there is that ignorant little fellow making a living with an old shovel ! ' '' A voice seemed to answer me , saying , -- '' ` Why do n't you do the same ? If brains do n't pay , try muscles , and thank God that you have health . ' `` Of course it was only my own pluck and common sense ; but I declare to you I was as much struck by the new idea as if a strange voice had actually spoken ; and I answered , heartily , -- '' ` As I live I will try it ! and not give up while there is any honest work for these hands to do . ' `` With sudden energy I put on my shabbiest clothes , -- and they were very shabby , of course , added an old cap and rough comforter , as disguise , and stole down to the shed where I had seen a shovel . It was early , and the house was very quiet , for the other lodgers were hard workers all the week , and took their rest Sunday morning . `` Unseen by the sleepy girl making her fires , I got the shovel and stole away by the back gate , feeling like a boy out on a frolic . It was bitter cold , and a heavy snow-storm had raged all night . The streets were full of drifts , and the city looked as if dead , for no one was stirring yet but milkmen , and other poor fellows like me , seeking for an early job . `` I made my way to the West End , and was trying to decide at which of the tall houses to apply first , when the door of one opened , and a pretty housemaid appeared , broom in hand . `` At sight of the snowy wilderness she looked dismayed , and with a few unavailing strokes of her broom at the drift on the steps , was about to go in , when her eye fell on me . `` My shovel explained my mission , and she beckoned with an imperious wave of her duster to the shabby man opposite . I ploughed across , and received in silence the order to -- '' ` Clear them steps and sidewalk , and sweep 'em nice , for our folks always go to church , rain or shine . ' `` Then leaving her broom outside , the maid slammed the door with a shiver , and I fell to work manfully . It was a heavy job , and my hands , unused to any heavier tool than a pen , were soon blistered ; but I tugged away , and presently found myself much stimulated by the critical and approving glances bestowed upon me by the pretty girl , taking breakfast in the basement with a buxom cook and a friend , who had evidently dropped in on her way home from early Mass. . `` I was a young fellow , and in spite of my late despair , the fun of the thing tickled me immensely , and I laughed behind my old tippet , as I shovelled and swept with a vigor that caused the stout cook to smile upon me .
`` When the job was done , and I went to the lower door for my well-earned pay , the maid said , with condescension , as she glanced coquettishly at my ruddy face and eyes that twinkled under the old cap , I suspect , -- '' ` You can wait here while I run up , and XXXXX the money , if master is awake . ' ''
beckoned blistered declare frolic get looked made starving try whistling