The Hamal is a creature which gets up very early in the morning,
before anyone is out of bed, and opens the doors and windows with as
much noise as may be. He leaves the hooks unfastened, that a feu-de-
joie may celebrate the advent of the first gust of wind. He drops
the lower bolts of the doors, so that they may rake up the matting
every time they are opened. Then he proceeds to dust the furniture
with the duster which hangs over his shoulder. He does this because
it is his duty, and with no view to any practical result;
consequently it never occurs to him to look at what he is doing, and
you will afterwards find curiously shaped patches of dust which have
escaped the sweep of his "towal." He next turns his attention to the
books in the bookcase, and we are all familiar with his ravages
there. He is usually content to bang them well with his duster, but
I refer to high days, when he takes each book out and caresses it on
both sides, replacing it upside down, and putting the different
volumes of each work on different shelves. All this he does, not of
malice, but simply because 'tis his nature to. He does not disturb
the cobwebs on the corners of the bookcase, because you never told
him to do so. As he moves grunting about the room, the duster falls
from his shoulder, and he picks it up with his toes to avoid the
fatigue of stooping. When all the dusting is done, and the table-
covers and ornaments are replaced, then he proceeds to shake the
carpets and sweep the floor, for it is one of his ways, when left to
himself, to dust first and sweep after. Finally he disposes of the
rubbish which his broom has collected, by stowing it away under a
cupboard, or pushing it out over the doorstep among the ferns and
calladiums.