“But we learned that the steam launch scudding along the west shore of the bay was a smuggler, and its pursuer a Government revenue tug. For weeks—perhaps for months—the contrabandists, of Canadian origin, had been selling meat at frivolous rates, and the avengers of sacrilege were now at their heels.” JUVENILE DEPRAVITY “From the window of one of these air-trains, a package came clattering down on the sidewalk, scattering a shower of biscuits and hard-boiled eggs which were seized and devoured by the children of poverty before the guardians of law and order could interfere. One youngster of five or six years captured a piece of fruit cake and took to his heels with whoops of unregenerate glee, whereupon two older boys raced him down and deprived him of his prize—probably to restrain his penchant for dietetic luxuries.” MENDICANCY LIMITED “Two constables dragged along a shrieking girl, who every now and then resisted progress by throwing herself on the ground.... Of what crime could a child of her age possibly have been guilty? ... It appeared that she had been begging in support of an invalid mother, thus tempting taxpaying citizens to an expenditure of coin that should have been reserved for other purposes.... “Begging, however, is not wholly prohibited. Politicians often solicit millions in behalf of candidates who pledge themselves to protect the associations of wealth and suppress the holiday amusements of the poor.” WINGED REFUGEES “... saw nothing but a few crows and two kingfishers, flitting up and down the rocky banks of the brook. Experience had made them unapproachably shy, perhaps much to the regret of the neighboring saints, since they had probably been guilty of fishing on Sunday.” A FASTING-CURE VICTORY “Some forty families had been evicted to make room for a trainload of meek immigrants, who agreed to subsist on potatoes and the promise of a better hereafter.” SKY LADDERS “Seclusion in the upper cavities of these brick mountains must entail incredible hardships, ... but the landlords seem to hold that all these discomforts are compensated by the advantage of dwelling nearer heaven.” A CHEERING PROSPECT “In Oriental cities, with rare exceptions, everything suggesting the thought of death is hidden out of view; no sculptor would venture to exhibit an assortment of gravestones; but people to whom life brings nothing but a roundabout of toil and tedium may find solace in contemplating mementoes of the hour that will witness the end of their doom.” * * * * *