st part of the whole place,
for besides the fact that there was a dump here, the neighbors in the
vicinity seemed to be more than usually untidy and
shiftless,--allowing their pigs to wander about loose, for instance.
That was the kind of street which Shakespeare must have entered every
time he left his own house. Think of it! Some people have, I believe,
attributed his early death to the unhealthful conditions of his
surroundings. Inside the homes, things were but little better. People
laid rushes on the floor in the place of carpets, and these became
filthy from dirt, mud, and other things which clung to them. Fresh
rushes were brought but seldom. The churches were not often swept or
cleaned, either. Once, when the roof of the Guild Chapel was being
repaired, a certain man and his wife were appointed to sweep the
interior and clear away the cobwebs. A widow used to sweep the
market-place. She was provided with her utensils,--a shovel,
broom-stick, and bundle of twigs--and was paid six shillings and
eightpence a year. How carefully and how often do you suppose she
swept? Dear me! I sometimes have wished that I had lived in Queen
Elizabeth's age, but when I remember some of the terrible
circumstances of that time, I cannot be too thankful that I live in
the twentieth century!"

They had been standing before the old Guild Hall for some few minutes
while Mrs. Pitt finished what she was saying. They now turned to
admire and examine it more closely. It is a building of plaster and
huge timbers, long and low, with a second story projecting slightly
over the lower. The old hall on the ground floor is said to be where
the boy Shakespeare first saw a play. A room just above it was the
Grammar School, which Shakespeare probably attended for five years,
and where the desk shown at "the Birthplace" may have been used by
him.

"It was rather different going to school in those days!" declared Mrs.
Pitt. "The hours were very long, the lessons hard, and the masters
strict, and not unwilling to use the rod for the slightest
misdemeanor. There have been terrible stories of boys being much hurt,
or even killed as a result of this practice. The pupils sat on narrow
benches, their heavy books propped up before them on long tables. It
must have been very hard to stay here in this dark room and listen to
the master's voice reciting monotonous Latin, while birds sang and the
fair world of an English summer was just out of reach. If Shakesp