one," said Tiny.

Without a word the woman gave her child--it was a poor little cripple--
into his arms; and then she went on to obey him; and softly on the
evening air, in that damp, dismal lane, arose the songs which Tiny sang
to soothe and comfort the poor little creature. And in his arms it
slept, hushed by the melody, a slumber such as had not for a long time
visited his eyes.

Wonderful singer! blessed songs! sung for a wretched sickly stranger,
who could not even thank him! But you think they died away upon the
air, those songs? that they did no other good than merely hushing a
hungry child to sleep?

A student in an attic heard the song, and smiled, and murmured to
himself, "That is like having a long walk in in the woods, and hearing
all the birds sing."

A sick girl, who had writhed upon her bed in pain all the day, heard the
gentle singing voice, and it was like a charm upon her--she lay resting
in a sweet calm, and said, "Hark! it is an angel!" A blind old man
started up from a troubled slumber, and smiled a happy smile that said
as plain as any voice, "It gives me back my youth, my children, and my
country home;" and he smiled again and again, and listened at his
window, scarcely daring to breathe lest he should lose a single word. A
baby clad in rags, and sheltered from the cold with them, a baby in its
cradle--what do you think that cradle was? as truly as you live, nothing
but a box such as a merchant packs his goods in! that baby, sleeping,
heard it, and a light like sunshine spread over its pretty face. A
thief skulking along in the shadow of the great high building, heard
that voice and was struck to the heart, and crept back to his den, and
did no wicked thing that night. A prisoner who was condemned to die
heard it in his cell near by, and he forgot his chains, and dreamed that
he was once more innocent and free--a boy playing with his mates, and
loved and trusted by them.

At length the mother of the crippled infant came back, and brought food
for her child, and a warm blanket for it, and she, and Tiny, and the
beggar girl, Tiny's companion, ate their supper there upon the sidewalk
of that dark, narrow lane, and then they went their separate ways--Tiny
and his friend, taking the poor woman's blessing with them, going in one
direction, and the mother and her baby in another, but they all slept in
the street that night.

The next morning by daybreak Tiny was again on his way down that s