i knew that the tears meant that she felt herself to be one of those who seemed to very happy misfortunes of many kinds came heavily upon the family after the head was gone the great house was my parents were both dead and my grandmother had entire charge of me but from the moment that i received the gift of the spectacles i could not resist their fascination and i withdrew into myself and became a solitary boy there were not many companions for me of my own age and they gradually left me or at least had not a hearty sympathy with me for if they me i pulled out my spectacles and surveyed them so seriously that they acquired a kind of awe of me and evidently regarded my grand father s gift as a concealed weapon which might be drawn upon them at any moment whenever in our games there were quarrels and high words and i began to feel about my dress and to wear a grave look they all took the alarm and shouted look out for s spectacles and scattered like a flock of scared sheep nor could i wonder at it for at first before they took the alarm i saw strange sights when i looked at them through the glasses if two were quarrelling about a marble or a ball i had only to go behind a tree where i was concealed and look at them leisurely then the scene changed and it was no longer a green meadow with boys but a spot which i did not recognize and forms that made me shudder or smile it was not a big boy a little one but a young wolf with glistening teeth and a lamb before him or it was a dog faithful and or a star going slowly into � or a rainbow fading � or a flower blooming � or a sun rising � or a moon the revelations of the spectacles determined my feeling for the boys and for all whom i saw through them no shyness nor awkwardness nor silence could separate me from those who looked lovely as lilies to my illuminated eyes but the vision made me afraid if i felt myself warmly drawn to any one i struggled with the fierce desire of seeing him through the spectacles for i feared to find him something else than i fancied i longed to enjoy the luxury of ignorant feeling to love without knowing iso to float like a leaf upon the of life drifted now to a sunny point now to a solemn shade � now over glittering now over gleaming � and not to determined ports a trim vessel with an inexorable but sometimes mastered after long struggles as if the condition of the spectacles were using them i seized them and sauntered into the little town putting them to my eyes i peered into the houses and at the people who passed me here sat a family at breakfast and i stood at the window looking in o meal fantastic vision the good mother saw her lord sitting opposite a grave respectable being eating but i saw only a bank bill more or less and tattered marked with a larger or lesser figure if a sharp wind blew suddenly i saw it tremble and flutter it was thin flat i removed my glasses and looked with my eyes at the wife i could have smiled to see the tenderness with which she regarded her strange is life only a game of blind man s of droll cross purposes or i put them on again and then looked at the wives how many stout trees i saw � how many tender flowers � how many placid pools yes and how many little streams winding out of sight shrinking before the large hard round eyes opposite and slipping off into solitude and shade with a low inner song for their own solace in many houses i thought to see angels or at least women and could only find or hurrying about rattling and in a state of shrill activity i made calls upon elegant ladies and after i had enjoyed the of silk and the delicacy of lace and the glitter of jewels i slipped on my spectacles and saw a s feather and and fluttering or an iron rod thin sharp and hard nor could i possibly mistake the movement of the for any of the thing draped or mysteriously chilled i saw a statue of perfect form or flowing movement it might be or bronze or marble � but sadly often it was ice and i knew that after it had shone a little and frozen a few eyes with its despairing perfection it could not be put away in the of palaces for ornament and proud family tradition like the or bronze or marble statues but would melt and shrink and fall coldly away in and useless water � be absorbed in the earth and utterly forgotten but the true sadness was rather in seeing those who not having the spectacles � � m � � � j to � � to � to w v w v i � t � thought that the iron rod was and the ice statue warm i saw many a gallant heart which seemed to me brave and loyal as the pursuing through days and nights and a long life of devotion the hope of lighting at least a smile in the cold eyes if not a fire in the icy heart i watched the earnest enthusiastic sacrifice i saw the pure resolve the generous faith the fine scorn of doubt the impatience of suspicion i watched the grace the the glory of devotion through those strange spectacles how often i saw the noblest heart all other hope all other ambition all other life than the possible love of some one of those statues 