ce? Or, if he had not been a plumber's apprentice did he yearn
to once again assume the unharried peace of whatever legitimate calling
had been his before he bent his steps upon the broad boulevard of sin?
We think he did.

And then he saw through the chinks and apertures in the half ruined wall
of what had once been a hay barn the rosy flare of a genial light which
appeared to announce in all but human terms that man, red blooded and
hospitable, forgathered within. No growling dogs, no bulking bulls
contested the short stretch of weed grown ground between the road and
the disintegrating structure; and presently two wide, brown eyes were
peering through a crack in the wall of the abandoned building. What they
saw was a small fire built upon the earth floor in the center of the
building and around the warming blaze the figures of six men. Some
reclined at length upon old straw; others squatted, Turk fashion. All
were smoking either disreputable pipes or rolled cigarets. Blear-eyed
and foxy-eyed, bearded and stubbled cheeked, young and old, were the men
the youth looked upon. All were more or less dishevelled and filthy; but
they were human. They were not dogs, or bulls, or croaking frogs. The
boy's heart went out to them. Something that was almost a sob rose in
his throat, and then he turned the corner of the building and stood in
the doorway, the light from the fire playing upon his lithe young figure
clothed in its torn and ill fitting suit and upon his oval face and his
laughing brown eyes. For several seconds he stood there looking at the
men around the fire. None of them had noticed him.

"Tramps!" thought the youth. "Regular tramps." He wondered that they had
not seen him, and then, clearing his throat, he said: "Hello, tramps!"

Six heads snapped up or around. Six pairs of eyes, blear or foxy,
were riveted upon the boyish figure of the housebreaker. "Wotinel!"
ejaculated a frowzy gentleman in a frock coat and golf cap. "Wheredju
blow from?" inquired another. "'Hello, tramps'!" mimicked a third.

The youth came slowly toward the fire. "I saw your fire," he said, "and
I thought I'd stop. I'm a tramp, too, you know."

"Oh," sighed the elderly person in the frock coat. "He's a tramp, he is.
An' does he think gents like us has any time for tramps? An' where might
he be trampin', sonny, without his maw?"

The youth flushed. "Oh say!" he cried; "you needn't kid me just because
I'm new at it. You all had to start som