up rather a ch'ice thing in Christmas cards to presint to ye, come
Christmas, because, if ye'll excuse the liberty, miss, they do regard
you as belongin' to the special police!"

I laughed, thanked him for the intended honor, which had been mentioned
to me before, and gave him my card, not without a spasm of terror lest
the entire police force should invade my dwelling.

The "baker lady" across the street caught my eye, smiled, and sent over
a hot bun in a brown paper bag. The "grocery lady" called over in a
clear, ringing tone, "Would you be so kind, 'm, as to step inside on
your way 'ome and fetch 'Enry a bit of work, 'm? 'Enry 'as the 'ooping
cough, 'm, and I don't know 'owever I'm goin' to keep 'im at 'ome
another day, 'm, he pines for school so!"

I give a nod which means, Certainly!

Mrs. Weiss appeared at her window above the grocery with a cloth wound
about her head; appeared, and then vanished mysteriously. Very well, Mr.
Weiss,--you know what to expect! I gave you fair warning last time, and
I shall be as good as my word! Good heavens! Is that--it can't be--yes,
it is--a new McDonald baby at the saloon door! And there was such a
superfluity of the McDonald clan before! One more wretched little human
soul precipitated without a welcome into such a family circle as that!
It set me thinking, as I walked slowly back and toiled up the steps. "I
suppose most people would call this a hard and monotonous life," I
mused. "There is an eternal regularity in the succession of amusing and
heart-breaking incidents, but it is not monotonous, for I am too close
to all the problems that bother this workaday world,--so close that they
touch me on every side. No missionary can come so near to these people.