ent politicians; and while they are
waiting in the publishing-office for their papers they are prone to
indulge in political gossip, after the manner of their betters at the
west-end clubs. On the trial of Bernard, the excitement among the
newspaper boys was very great. I heard some of them, on the last day of
the trial, confess to having been too excited all that day to do
anything; their admiration of the speech of Edwin James was intense. A
small enthusiast near me said to another, "That ere James is the fellow
to work 'em; didn't he pitch hin to the hemperor?"

"Yes," said a sadder and wiser boy; "yes, he's all werry well, but he'd a
spoke on t'other side just as well if he'd been paid."

"No; would he?"

"Yes, to be sure."

"Well, that's wot I call swindling."

"No, it ain't. They does their best. Them as pays you, you works for."

Whether the explanation was satisfactory I can't say, as the small boy's
master's name was called, and he vanished with "two quire" on his
youthful head. But generally these small boys prefer wit to politics;
they are much given to practical jokes at each other's expense, and have
no mercy for individual peculiarities. Theirs is a hard life, from five
in the morning, when the daily papers commence publishing, to seven in
the evening, when the second edition of the _Sun_ with the _Gazette_
appears. What becomes of them when they cease to be newspaper boys, must
be left to conjecture. Surely such riotous youths can never become
tradesmen in a small way, retailers of greens, itinerant dealers in coal.
Do not offend these gentry if you are a newspaper proprietor. Their
power for mischief is great. At the _Illustrated __News_ office I have
seen a policeman required to reduce them to order.

Finally, of all newspaper people, high or low, let me ask the public to
speak charitably. They are hard-worked, they are not over-paid, and some
of them die prematurely old. Ten years of night-work in the office of a
daily newspaper is enough to kill any man, even if he has the
constitution of a horse; one can't get on without them; and it is a sad
day for his family when Paterfamilias misses his paper. Whigs, tories,
prelates, princes, valiant warriors, and great lawyers, are not so
essential to the daily weal of the public, as newspaper people. In other
ways they are useful--the great British naturalist, Mr. Yarell, was a
newspaper vendor.

CHAPTER II.
SPIRITUALISM.

In