The option that best describes the tone of this excerpt is D. sympathetic.
The tone of a literary work is the attitude that the writer has towards a subject. Moreover, tone is usually expressed through the choice of words and style. In this excerpt, phrases such as 'the fear of hunger' and 'children without dinner' indicate that the tone of the speaker is sympathetic. 'Sympathetic' is used to refer to the writer's feeling of compassion for the poor living conditions of that people.