"Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating."

the meaning of instigates is..

"A very thin and very agile person may, by observing his reflection in a rapid sequence of longitudinal strips, obtain a fairly accurate conception of his looks."

the meaning of agile is..

"So now Della’s beautiful hair fell about her rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters."

the meaning of cascade is..

"She was ransacking the stores for Jim’s present."

the meaning of ransacking is..

"She got out her curling irons and lighted the gas and went to work repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love."

the meaning of ravage is..

"White fingers and nimble tore at the string and paper."

the meaning of nimble is..

"And then an ecstatic scream of joy; and then, alas! a quick feminine change to hysterical tears and wails, necessitating the immediate employment of all the comforting powers of the lord of the flat."

the meaning of ecstatic is..

"Beautiful combs, pure tortoise shell, with jewelled rims—just the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair."

the meaning of vanished is..

"And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house."

the meaning of sacrifice is..