clock,
as the bells began to ring--as they did every evening at that time. I
think that was about the last of our Wednesday afternoon outings alone,
as it came to the knowledge of the usher, and he was afraid it might get
to the school authorities.

CHAPTER 3.--Entertainments and Sports.

Entertainment or amusement in Chelsea was very poor, as there was no room
or place for the purpose. The only one I can recollect was when a
professor of mesmerism and clairvoyance came down and took the skittle
ground at the back of the "George and Dragon." He was a thin, shabby old
man, dressed in black with very dirty linen. With him were his wife, and
two girls--his daughters, he informed us--one about twelve and the other
about fourteen, with ringlets, shabbily dressed and closely covered up in
old cloaks. They did all the advertising and canvassing themselves, by
taking round the bills and trying to sell tickets at sixpence each. The
sides of the skittle ground were decorated by the hanging of table
covers, curtains, pieces of carpet, sheets, or anything else that would
cover over the walls. The platform at the end was composed of the
taproom tables with some boards across, an old square piano belonging to
the house stood on the floor; the lighting was effected by double tin
sconces hung on the wall with two tallow dips in each. The seating
accommodation for the ticket holders consisted of chairs; those who paid
threepence at the doors had forms or planks to sit on with a gangway down
the middle. The performance commenced about seven by one of the young
ladies playing the piano, and the other a triangle, the old lady being
engaged in taking the money at the entrance. The professor mounted the
platform and addressed his audience, commenting upon the wonderful and
mysterious scene he was about to enact. He commenced with the usual
conjuring tricks of borrowing a hat and making a pudding in it and
bringing a live pigeon and a large cabbage out of it, and then returning
the hat undamaged to its owner, which to us children was a great wonder.
Then came the card tricks, and the ventriloquial dialogue with the
puppets, with a handkerchief over each hand to form the figures, and then
the grand event of the evening. The table was removed from the platform
and replaced by two chairs, and the two girls, dressed in white frocks
and yellow sashes, came on. After addressing the audience, he proceeded
to throw the elder one