All in a garden fair; the simple story of three boys ... - University Library

ALL L\ A GARDi:X FAIR. 223
iiiunovcd l)y this as l)y tlio other voices. It
)'et wanted a quarter to one, when the doors
would be opened.
Anotlier man ^readied temperance, and
drew tlie usual api)alling pictui-es of misery
and of money wasted which should have been
money saved, and of crime, and deatli, and
disgrace, tliroiigli drink.
' This,' said Will, ' seems the most sensible
Voice of the lot.'
The workmen on the pavement liad heard
it all before ; they knew what was coming.
They stood still and listened, but ])aid no lieeil.
They only smoked their i)ipes and remarked
to each other that it was ten minutes to
one.
In the side streets the young children were
])laying, but no grown pei^sons were visible at
all. And the houses in this district were more
squalid than any they had seen before.
' There is no dcMibt,' said Will, * tliat we
have got to the lowest level here—the liard
pan, as the Americans say. Do you feel yet