"They say them foreign sparrows drive
all the other birds away," he added, severely; and then walked off
with a certain reserved manner, as if it were not impossible for
him to be called upon some morning to take the entire feathered
assembly into custody, and if so called upon he should do it.
Next, I think, in procession among the early risers, and surely
next in fresh and innocent exterior, were the work-women or shop-
girls. I have seen this fine avenue on gala afternoons bright with
the beauty and elegance of an opulent city, but I have see no more
beautiful faces than I have seen among these humbler sisters. As
the mere habits of dress in America, except to a very acute critic,
give no suggestion of the rank of the wearer, I can imagine an
inexperienced foreigner utterly mystified and confounded by these
girls, who perhaps work a sewing-machine or walk the long floors of
a fashionable dry-goods shop. I remember one face and figure,
faultless and complete,--modestly yet most becomingly dressed,--
indeed, a figure that Compte-Calix might have taken for one of his
exquisite studies, which, between seven and eight A.
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