ce on the other side of the fire, nodded,
and, turning his head round, advised Fred Crashington and little May to
make "less row."

"But we can't put it out widout a row!" remonstrated the Rosebud.

"What! have you found a fire in _this_ cupboard, as well as in the one
o' the old house?" asked Joe, with a laugh.

"Iss, iss; an' it's a far wuss fire than the last one!"

"That's your sort!" cried Fred; "now then, May, don't stand jawin'
there, but down with number two. Look alive!"

"Ha! chips o' the old blocks, I see," said Bob Clazie, with a grin.
"Well, as I was sayin', there's another class o' men, not so bad as the
first, but bad enough, who are indooced to go in for this crime of
fire-raisin'--arson they calls it, but why so is beyond me to diskiver.
A needy tradesman, for instance, when at his wits'-end for money, can't
help thinkin' that a lucky spark would put him all right."

"But how could the burning of his goods put him all right?" demanded
Mary.

"W'y, 'e don't want goods, you know, 'e wants to sell 'is goods an' so
git _money_; but nobody will buy, so 'e can't sell, nor git money, yet
money must be 'ad, for creditors won't wait. Wot then? All the goods
are insured against fire. Well, make a bonfire of 'em, redoose 'em all
to hashes, an' of coorse the insurance companies is bound to pay up, so
'e gits rid of the goods, gits a lot o' ready money in 'and, pays off
'is creditors, and p'r'aps starts fresh in a noo business! Now, a
public officer to inwestigate such matters would mend things to some
extent, though 'e mightn't exactly cure 'em. Some time ago the Yankees,
I'm told, appointed a officer they called a fire-marshal in some of
their cities, and it's said that the consikence was a sudden an'
extraor'nary increase in the conwictions for arson, followed by a
remarkable decrease in the number o' fires! They've got some-thin' o'
the same sort in France, an' over all the chief towns o' Europe, I
b'lieve, but we don't need no such precautions in London. We're rich,
you know, an' can afford to let scamps burn right an' left. It ain't
worth our while to try to redooce the number of _our_ fires. We've
already got an average of about five fires every twenty-four hours in
London. Why should we try to make 'em less, w'en they furnishes 'ealthy
work to such fine fellows as Joe and me and the police--not to mention
the fun afforded to crossin'-sweepers and other little boys, whose chief
enjoyment in