gave him a shilling, with which he at once returned to Jim, and
thrusting it into his hand, said:

"There, Jim, your dad's hard up just now. Go you an' get physic with
that for the fairy. Them 'floo-enzers is ticklish things to play with.
Where d'ye stop?"

"Well, you _are_ a queer 'un; thank'ee all the same," said Jim,
pocketing the shilling. "We've got a sort o' cellar just two doors east
o' the burnt 'ouse. Why?"

"'Cause I'll come an' see you, Jim. I'd like to see a live fairy in
plain clo'se, with her wings off--"

The rest of the sentence was cut short by the clown, who, having
disposed of the old arm-chair to a chimney-sweep, ordered Jim to "'and
up another harticle." At the same moment Frank touched Willie on the
shoulder, and said, "Let's go, lad; I'll be late, I fear, for the
gymnastics."

At the period of which we write, the then Chief of the London Fire
Brigade, Mr Braidwood, had introduced a system of gymnastic training
among the firemen, which he had found from experience to be a most
useful exercise to fit the men for the arduous work they had to perform.
Before going to London to take command of and reorganise the brigade
which then went by the name of the London Fire-Engine Establishment, and
was in a very unsatisfactory condition, Mr Braidwood had, for a long
period, been chief of the Edinburgh Fire Brigade, which he had brought
to a state of great efficiency. Taking the requirements and conditions
of the service in Edinburgh into consideration, he had come to the
conclusion that the best men for the work in that city were masons,
house-carpenters, slaters, and suchlike; but these men, when at their
ordinary employments, being accustomed to bring only certain muscles
into full play, were found to have a degree of stiffness in their
general movements which prevented them from performing their duty as
firemen with that ease and celerity which are so desirable. To obviate
this evil he instituted the gymnastic exercises, which, by bringing all
the muscles of the body into action, and by increasing the development
of the frame generally, rendered the men lithe and supple, and in every
way more fitted for the performance of duties in which their lives
frequently depended on their promptitude and vigour.

In addition to these advantages, it was found that those exercises gave
the men confidence when placed in certain situations of danger. "For
example," writes Mr Braidwood, "a fireman untraine