few squares back had been tall and imposing, seemed to be getting
smaller and more insignificant. Lovey Mary felt secure as long as she
was on the avenue. She did not know that the avenue extended for many
miles and that she had reached the frayed and ragged end of it. She
and Tommy passed under a bridge, and after that the houses all seemed
to behave queerly. Some faced one way, some another, and crisscross
between them, in front of them, and behind them ran a network of
railroad tracks.

"What's the name of this street?" asked Lovey Mary of a small, bare-
footed girl.

"'T ain't no street," answered the little girl, gazing with
undisguised amazement at the strange-looking couple; "this here is the
Cabbage Patch."

[Illustration: "'T ain't no street...; this here is the Cabbage
Patch.'"]




CHAPTER III

THE HAZY HOUSEHOLD


"Here sovereign Dirt erects her sable throne,
The house, the host, the hostess all her own."