pid boys and girls in Lammer's Hall,
where the entrancing strains of the concertina were to be heard every
Sunday afternoon. The young folks out that way were not strong on
religion; or, if they were, they would receive all the soul's medicine
necessary by attending church in the morning, no doubt thereby feeling
more vigorous and fit for enjoying the dance afterwards.

"But I, poor stupid, had learned from my mistress that dance-halls were
vile and abominable. Of course, I believed all that Mrs. Belshow told
me. I had not the slightest idea that she did not know everything. Why,
she belonged to Hull House, that big place in Halsted Street, which had
flowers and lace curtains in all the windows, and big looking-glasses
and carpets and silver things on the inside; and many beautiful ladies
who wore grand silk dresses and big hats with feathers came to see my
mistress nearly every day, and they all talked a great deal about the
evils of dance-halls and saloons and theatres. I had always stupidly
thought that those places were very nice, especially the dance-halls,
because I always enjoyed myself there better than anywhere else. I had
never been in a theatre, but I had often been in the saloons to rush the
can for my father, and I had noticed that people seemed to enjoy
themselves there. There were long green tables in the saloons on which
men played pool, and there were books scattered about in which were
jokes and funny pictures. And the men played cards and told stories and
danced and sang and did about anything they wanted to. This seemed to me
good, and I felt sure at the time that if I were a man I should like to
be there, too.

"But now I learned that these were terrible places, dens of vice and
crime. What vice was, I did not know, but crime meant murdering somebody
or doing something else dreadful. I thought about what I heard the fine
ladies say until my poor little head became quite muddled. Left to
myself, I could not see anything so terrible about these places, but if
these finely dressed ladies said they were terrible, why they must be
so. They knew better than I did. But I wondered dreamily if all terrible
places were as nice as dance-halls.

"After the novelty of the situation wore away, life became rather
wearisome to me, and I sometimes wished I were again working in the old
factory. I thought of the evenings, when my day's work in the factory
was done and I was walking in the streets with my chums, tel