MS-HRC-SB-4-3

[1630] such as squitch beloved of dogs and from which man too in his
turn has succeeded in extracting an infusion ^{a brew}, and the hoe fell
from his hands. [1631] And even with such humble occupations as
street-cleaning to which with hopefulness he had sometimes
turned, on the off chance of his being a born scavenger, he did
not succeed any better.

[1632] And even he himself was compelled to
admit that the place swept by him looked dirtier at his departure
than on his arrival, as if a demon had driven him to collect,
with the bl^room, shovel and barrow placed gratis at his disposal by
the corporation, all the dirt and filth which chance had removed
withdrawn from the sight of the tax-payer and add them thus re-
covered to those already visible and which he was employed to
remove.

[1633] With the result that at the end of the day, throughout
the sector consigned to him, one could see the peels of oranges
and bananas, cigarette-butts, unspeakable scraps of paper, dogs'
and horses' excrement and other muck, carefully concentrated all
along the sidewalk or distributed on the crown of the street, as
though in order to inspire the greatest possible disgust in the
passers-by or provoke the h^greatest possible number of accidents,
some fatal, by means of the slip.

[1634] And yet he had done his honest
best to give satisfaction, taking as his model his more experienc-
ed colleagues, and doing as they ^did. [1635] But it was truly as if he were
not master of his movements and did not know what he was doing,
while he was doing it, nor what he had done, once he had done it.
[1636] For someone had to say to him, Look at what you have done, stick-
ing his nose in it so to speak, otherwise he did not realize, but
though he had done as any