Suddenly I saw a man go reeling by in the middle of the road. His feet swung. They did not rise and reach forward and touch the ground according to the ancient habit of the human foot. They swung sideways and rose high and each crossed the line of his flight a little, as one might say, when it came to the ground, for the man's movements reminded me of the aimless flight of a sporting swallow. He zig-zagged from one side of the street to the other. He caught my eye just in time and saved me from breaking down. I watched him until he swung around a corner. Only once before had I seen a man drunk and walking, although I had seen certain of our neighbors riding home drunk--so drunk that I thought their horses were ashamed of them, being always steaming hot and in a great hurry. Sally Dunkelberg and her mother came along and said that they were glad I had come to school. I could not talk to them and seeing my trouble, they went on, Sally waving her hand to me as they turned the corner below. I felt ashamed of myself. Suddenly I heard the door open behind me and the voice of Mr. Hacket: "Bart," he called, "I've a friend here who has something to say to you. Come in." I turned and went into the house. "Away with sadness--laddie buck!" he exclaimed as he took his violin from its case while I sat wiping my eyes. "Away with sadness! She often raps at my door, and while I try not to be rude, I always pretend to be very busy. Just a light word o' recognition by way o' common politeness! Then laugh, if ye can an' do it quickly, lad, an' she will pass on." The last words were spoken in a whisper, with one hand on my breast. He tuned the strings and played the _Fisher's Hornpipe_. What a romp of merry music filled the house! I had never heard the like and was soon smiling at him as he played. His bow and fingers flew in the wild frolic of the Devil's Dream. It led me out of my sadness into a world all new to me. "Now, God bless your soul, boy!" he exclaimed, by and by, as he put down his instrument. "We shall have a good time together--that we will. Not a stroke o' work this day! Come, I have a guide here that will take us down to the land o' the fairies." Then with his microscope he showed me into the wonder world of littleness of which I had had no knowledge. "The microscope is like the art o' the teacher," he said. "I've known a good teacher to take a brain no bigger than a fly's foot an' make it visible to the naked eye."