ABSTRACT
It was dreadfully cold, snowing, and turning dark. It was the last evening of the year, New Year’s Eve. In this cold and darkness walked a little girl. She was poor and both her head and feet were bare … Now the little girl walked barefoot through the streets. Her feet were swollen and red from the cold. She was carrying a little bundle of matches in her hand and had more in her apron pocket. No one had bought any all day, or given her so much as a penny. Cold and hungry, she walked through the city; cowed by life, the poor thing!
