man wishes to discover whether or no he has really learnt to
regard the line between man and brute as merely relative and
evolutionary, let him say again to himself those frightful words,
"Creatures that once were Men."

G. K. CHESTERTON.


Creatures that once were Men.

PART I.

In front of you is the main street, with two rows of miserable
looking huts with shuttered windows and old walls pressing on
each other and leaning forward. The roofs of these time-worn
habitations are full of holes, and have been patched here and
there with laths; from underneath them project mildewed beams,
which are shaded by the dusty-leaved elder-trees and crooked
white willows--pitiable flora of those suburbs inhabited by the
poor.

The dull green time-stained panes of the windows look upon each
other with the cowardly glances of cheats. Through the street and
towards the adjacent mountain, runs the sinuous path, winding
through the deep ditches filled with rain-water. Here and there
are piled heaps of dust and other rubbish--either refuse or else
put there purposely to keep the rain-water from flooding the
houses. On the top of the mountain, among green gardens with
dense foliage, beautiful stone houses lie hidden; the belfries of
the churches rise proudly towards the sky, and their gilded