ay--work, work, work from morning to night, partly at
school, partly at home--and she had run to the fish shop as soon as ever
she could, only to find herself too late. Children, there are sad times
in the lives of little girls such as these which none of you will ever
know.

But, as we have said once or twice, the lives of street children are by
no means all darkness; the merry games, the society of other children,
and the stir and life of London make up for a great deal. In some of
the streets you can see the boys running about on roller skates--bits of
wood on tiny wheels, strapped on to their boots. The smooth London
pavements are very good for this sport, and the boys skate about,
getting wonderfully clever at it, and enjoying themselves immensely.
Then they have their tops, which they spin on the pavements or in the
roadway among the feet of the people walking, without minding in the
least. There are tops all over the streets at some times of the year
spinning gaily. The girls have their skipping-ropes, which are apt to be
a nuisance to the people who want to walk on the pavements; but
sometimes there is a side alley where no one goes, and here the children
can skip undisturbed.

One game that seems a great favourite with the children is called
'Hop-scotch,' or 'London Town.' They draw a number of divisions on the
pavement with white chalk, and then hop from one to the other kicking a
bit of stone along the pavement with their toe; they must send it into
the next square at every hop, and they must not put the other foot to
the ground until they send it safely into the last division of all,
which is Home or London. The little girls get quite clever at this,
hopping lightly and daintily. Sometimes they draw a circle instead of a
square, which makes it more difficult to do, but the game is the same.

When the barrel-organ comes round, as it very often does, the children
dance; they don't mind that it has travelled in wind and weather for
perhaps ten years, and that it has lost all tune it may have had, and
only grinds out a horrible noise: they like the noise, and dance up and
down holding their little skirts, or twirling one another round in great
enjoyment. The streets do not allow of wild, romping games, and it would
be dangerous to dash about and try to catch one another, so most of
these are games that can be played on the pavement in safety.

The children who live near parks are luckier than those who have o