But at that moment the water came rushing along the gutter and carried off the piece of glass in its arms.
“He has received promotion already,” said the Darning-needle. “It is my pride that stands in my way. I am so very fine, and I am quite right to keep myself to myself,” and it sat up erect and proud, and was filled with great thoughts. “I surely must be the child of some sunbeam,” it thought. “I am so very fine, and the sunbeams always seem to me to be trying to find me beneath the water. Perhaps I am too slender for my mother to be able to see me. I’m sure if I had my old eye that was broken off I should cry. But I won’t; it’s not well-bred to cry.”
Then one day some ragamuffins came poking in the gutter to find farthings and old nails, and other such precious things. It was very muddy and dirty, but they only enjoyed it the better for that.
“Ugh!” cried one, as the Darning-needle ran into his finger. “Ugh! you great ugly fellow!”
“I am a miss, and not a fellow!” shrieked the Darning-needle; but no one heard it.
The ball of sealing-wax had fallen off, and the needle had turned quite black, but it felt more pleased with itself than ever, for one looks so much slimmer in black.
“Here, let us stick it into this egg-shell!” they called, and the Darning-needle was fixed firmly.
“These white walls must be very becoming to me,” the Darning-needle thought. “I shall show up well against them, and shall certainly be seen at last. I hope I shall not become seasick or break.”
But the Darning-needle became neither seasick, nor did it break. A steel stomach is a good preventive against seasickness; and it did not forget that it was something better than a mere man.
“Really, the finer one is, the more one can bear,” it thought.