dreadful too. As far as size is concerned he is no bigger than the
others: they are all nine and a half feet. The Archangel Gabriel on the
roof, he's nine and a half. Everybody standing around on the outside of
the roof is nine and a half. If Gabriel had been turned a little to one
side, he would blow his trumpet straight over our flat. He didn't blow
anywhere one night, for a big wind came up behind him and blew him down
and he blew his trumpet at the gutter. But he didn't stay down," boasted
the lad.

Throughout his talk he was making it clear that the cathedral was a
neighborhood affair; that its haps and mishaps possessed for him the
flesh and blood interest of a living person. Love takes mental
possession of its object and by virtue of his affection the cathedral
had become his companion.

"You seem rather interested in the cathedral. Very much interested,"
remarked the man, strengthening his statement and with increased
attention.

"Why, of course, Mister. I've been passing there nearly every day since
I've been selling papers on the avenue. Sometimes I stop and watch the
masons. When I went with Granny to the art school this morning, she told
me to go home that way. I have just come from there. They are building
another one of the chapels now, and the men are up on the scaffolding.
They carried more rock up than they needed and they would walk to the
edge and throw big pieces of it down with a smash. The old house they
are using for the choir school is just under there. Sometimes when the
class is practising, I listen from the outside. If they sing high, I
sing high; if they sing low, I sing low. Why, Mister, I can sing up
to--"