the bunch of scum is pokin ' at her with sticks and she is tryin ' to keep her dignity under their attack , her head up , but that ai n't gon na happen as they keep pullin ' at her yellow dress and have already torn off her yellow hat with the yellow plumes and trampled it in the dust , and she has cradled her little lapdog to her breast to keep it from bein ' hurt , but they 're pokin ' at it , too , and i can see her eyes all scared and she knows that soon she will be down in the dirt , too , and they will kick her and stomp her and they will step on her little lapdog and kill it but there is nothin ' she can do .