,
according to the distance he had to go. At every one of the offices
there are a certain number of boys always going and coming. They take
the messages in order as they come, and they may get a nice one or a
nasty one. If you went into one of these offices and saw the boys
sitting on a bench waiting, you would soon see how it works. Some of the
boys are playing draughts, some are reading, but all are ready at any
minute to go where they are told. There is a young man in charge of the
office, and someone comes in with a message. So he turns to No. 1, a
bright, chubby-faced little lad, and says, 'Go to this address and call
for a parcel for this lady, whose name is written down, and take the
parcel to her house. Be as quick as you can, and you can take a
taxi-cab.' Off goes the boy, delighted to get such a nice job, and he
feels very important to call up a cab for himself. He knows exactly
where to go and how much to pay the cabman, for he has learnt all that
before. The next boy is a big, awkward-looking lad, very tall for his
age, and the young man laughs a little as he gives him a message: 'You
are to call at No. 50 in this street,' he says, 'and the lady will hand
over to you two children aged three and four. You are to take them to
the Zoo and let them have a good time, and bring them back before six
o'clock.'

The big boy makes a face. He does not fancy this idea at all; it is like
being a nursemaid, and he thinks how silly he will look with two wee
children. And all the other boys are grinning; but he cannot refuse. He
is like a soldier, and must do just what he is told. So off he goes and
asks for the children. But when he finds he can take them up in a cab,
and that they are dear, bright, happy little things, full of mischief,
he begins to enjoy himself, and they spend a lovely afternoon together;
and when he brings them back safely, and the mother gives him half a
crown for himself in addition to his fee, he feels he has had a good
day.

Some time elapses when he has left the office before smart little No. 3
gets anything to do, and then he is told to go to King's Cross Station
to meet two schoolboys and see their luggage is safe, and take them
across to Charing Cross. When he gets there he finds both the boys are
bigger than himself, but they are country boys going to school for the
first time, and are very frightened and bewildered, and little No. 3
cheers them up, so that they part quite good friends.

B