Little Jack Rag's "Day In The Country"."

of the size of a dinner plate at the rate of a penny a bit for the delectation of caged larks , who are erroneously supposed to be deluded thereby that they are not in prison , but merely placed in a choice enclosure of verdant mead . Alley Jack is not ignorant of what bird music is like . That larkthe

, floor of who ' s abode is a penny slab of frowsy turf , morning and evening raises , loud and long , its shrill lament for liberty , and in its frantic efforts to escape skyward , butts its poor little head so frequently against the topmost bars of its dungeon ,

that Jack has a notion it is dancing as well as singing in the excels of its joy at being so comfortably provided for . There are plenty of feathered pets in Jack ' s alley . There are the ducks which Whiffins , the sweep , keeps in his cellar

( considerately gratifying them with a cold bath by means of a watering pot before they retire these hot nights to roost among the soot bags ); there are pigeons with dipt wings , which take the air among the chimney-pots above the garret where the slop tailor and his famil y work and eat and sleep . Old Blithers , the cat ' s-meat skewer maker at No . 4 , has cages full of sons-birds ,

and Blithers goes on Sunday mornings " pegging " for chaffinches . He has a blind decoy 'finch which to young Jack ' s knowledge is a " regular rattler , " and the envy and admiration of the whole of Squelcher ' s Alley . Blithers blinded the finch himself ,

it being well known that "dark" birds always sing much stouter and stronger than bh'ds who can see . Up Squelcher ' s way , any one would be set down as a fool who affected not to know that eyesight to a pegging chaffinch is an absurd superfluity ,

tending only to distract the bird ' s attention from its business , which is to pipe out its loudest in order to bring unsuspecting free birds to the lure . It is not claimed for young Jack Rag that he has settled convictions on these

matters , or that he is prepared to defend them against objectors . He doesn ' t trouble himself at all about it . They are simply amongst the surroundings in which he was born and has been brought up—component parts of the soil in which his boyhood was

planted and took root . But young Jack is a shrewd little boy , and that first day in the country opens his eyes . Not harmfully , it is hoped . In this unaccountable world

there are many possibilities which are amazing ; but surelyit cannot be that in that first Alley Jack ' s experience of rural delights his moral perceptions are so obscured by the villanous atmosphere of Squelcher ' s , which still clings to him , that he has eyes only for making note of what may be turned to

advantage in the way of live-stock keeping —that when he hears and sees the lark pealing out his glad song in the high blue sky , and marks how much superior the notes are to those of the caged bird of the alley , he conceives the idea of what jolly sport it

would be to tie long threads to the legs of captive larks , and make believe to let them loose for the fun of hearing them singing sky high in thankfulness that they had regained their freedom , and , when you liked , to pull ' em down again ! It is hard ,

indeed , to believe that the prison chaplain ' s theory is so far correct that , for the first time in his life observing the affection and solicitude the sheep disjdays for her lambkin , Alley Jack on the spot books a resolution the next time he meets sheep with lambs in the street to " wallop " the latter , thus hurting two creatures with one and the

same blow . As above stated , it is hard to believe that any one of the young Alley Jacks in a hundred that may be mustered through the length and breadth of London would exhibit himself in such an objectionable light . Nay , I will go further , and espousing my young

friend ' s cause boldly avow that whoever says such hard things against him is in error , and knows next to nothing of what he is talking about . I do . I have accompanied Alley Jack in his day ' s outing . Jolly companions every one , it is not a fortnight since that more than two hundred small

J acks and Jills , inhabiting the back regions of Spitalfiekls , were treated to a day at Epping , and as an honoured guest I was privileged to occupy a seat by the side of the driver , who handled his pair of greys in such a masterly manner and led the van . The " vans " I should rather have said , for

there were five of them . Forty in each vehicle may appear tight packing to persons whose experience of wheeled conveyances is restricted to cabs , omnibusses , and railway trains , the sitting accommodation in which is regulated according to a calculation based upon the average width of adult humanity ; but it would have been