Now for the onset , and , lo ! with little damage save a dash of rain in the face and breast , a splash of mud high up the pantaloons and the left boot full of ice-cold water , behold me at the corner of the street . The lamp throws down a circle of red light around me , and twinkling onward from corner to corner I discern other beacons , marshalling my way to a brighter scene . But this is a lonesome and dreary spot . The tall edifices bid gloomy defiance to the storm with their blinds all closed , even as a man winks when he faces a spattering gust . How loudly tinkles the collected rain down the tin spouts ! The puffs of wind are boisterous , and seem to assail me from various quarters at once . I have often observed that this corner is a haunt and loitering-place for those winds which have no work to do upon the deep dashing ships against our iron-bound shores , nor in the forest tearing up the sylvan giants with half a rood of soil at their vast roots . Here they amuse themselves with lesser freaks of mischief . See , at this moment , how they assail yonder poor woman who is passing just within the verge of the lamplight ! One blast struggles for her umbrella and turns it wrong side outward , another whisks the cape of her cloak across her eyes , while a third takes most unwarrantable liberties with the lower part of her attire . Happily , the good dame is no gossamer , but a figure of rotundity and fleshly substance ; else would these aerial tormentors whirl her aloft like a witch upon a broomstick , and set her down , doubtless , in the filthiest kennel hereabout . From hence I tread upon firm pavements into the centre of the town . Here there is almost as brilliant an illumination as when some great victory has been won either on the battlefield or at the polls . Two rows of shops with windows down nearly to the ground cast a glow from side to side , while the black night hangs overhead like a canopy , and thus keeps the splendor from diffusing itself away . The wet sidewalks gleam with a broad sheet of red light . The raindrops glitter as if the sky were pouring down rubies . The spouts gush with fire . Methinks the scene is an emblem of the deceptive glare which mortals throw around their footsteps in the moral world , thus bedazzling themselves till they forget the impenetrable obscurity that hems them in , and that can be dispelled only by radiance from above . And , after all , it is a cheerless scene , and cheerless are the wanderers in it .
Here comes one who has so long been familiar with tempestuous weather that he takes the bluster of the XXXXX for a friendly greeting , as if it should say , `` How fare ye , brother ? ''
broomstick centre edifices emblem fire night rood storm third tormentors