"dump
lot" bounded the Lane on the north and the jail on the south.
Altogether it was not the choicest portion which could fall to the
lot of the young snow cleaners.

"It's enough to make you want to resign from the dramatic club!"
exclaimed Kenneth Vail, who, in common with the other boys, labored
under no delusion that chance fortune had sent them to Plummers
Lane.

"If you had only put some one else in my place--" began Eustice Gray
uncomfortably, but seven voices immediately shouted to him, in
friendly chorus to "dry up."

"We'll make Plummers Lane look sick," declared Jack. "From the looks
of it, I don't think there's been a shovel down here since the first
snow. If the S. C. thinks they have marked more off for us than we
can clean up, we'll show them! Here goes for the first shovel--out
of the way, Mike!"

The grinning driver reined in his team and dodged as Jack hurled a
heavy shovelful over the side of the cart. The other boys followed
suit and twelve strong, sturdy backs bent to their task. The
population of Plummers Lane, that part of it visible by day, draped
itself along the curb to watch operations and hand out advice, but
any more practical help was not offered or expected.

CHAPTER XX

DRESSMAKER ROSEMARY

"I'm an old man," announced Jack Welles that night, dropping into a
chair in Doctor Hugh's office, while he waited for the latter to
prepare a bottle of medicine for his father's cough.

"Back broken, I suppose?" suggested the doctor cheerfully. "The
first ten years are always the hardest, my boy."

Jack groaned and Rosemary, patiently holding a bleary-eyed cat for
Sarah, looked at him anxiously.

"Ten years!" complained Jack. "Another afternoon like this and I
won't live to see ten years. Ye gods, who would have thought a
little snow shoveling could break me up like this!"

"You're out of practice," replied the doctor, busily writing a
label. "Don't try to clean all the streets in one day, Jack; I came
through Main street to-night and I must say the boys have made a
good job of it, though, of course, it was fairly well tramped down.
It's the side streets that are blocked. Where are you working?"

"Plummers Lane," said Jack dryly. "The Juniors have uptown and Main
street. We're providing a side show for the unemployed and if we
don't get any fun out of our job, they at least can laugh their
heads off."

"I told Hugh about the Student Council and the way they acted," said
R