in.

I had taught these children some simple rules of order, and when I
opened the door I rang a little bell. There was absolute silence. They
had been actually tearing each other's clothing to rags for a position
near the door. I told them that I was so poor that I had scarcely
enough food for myself. That the little I had I was going to share
with seven of my special friends; of course they all considered
themselves included in that characterization.

"Dear little friends," I said, "I never had a birthday party before;
and now you are going to spoil this one."

Up to this time the crowd didn't know who the guests were. I proceeded
to call the names. As those called made a move there was a violent
fight for the door. Some of them I had to drag out of the clutches of
the unsuccessful. Only six of the seven were there. There was a howl
from a hundred throats to take the place of the absent one.

"No," I said sternly; "he'll come, all right." A roar of discontent
went up and chaos reigned. I couldn't make myself heard; I rang the
bell and again calmed them. I was at a loss to know what to say.

"Dear little folks," I said, "I thought you loved me!"

"Do too!" whined a dozen voices.

"Then if you do, go away and some day I will have a party for every
child on 'the bottoms.'"

That quieted the youthful mob and they departed--that is, the majority
departed. Some stayed and bombarded the doors and windows with stones.
There were few stones to be found, and as it didn't occur to them to
use the same stones twice they used mud and plastered the front of the
hut with it.

This form of expression, however, did not disturb us much. I sent
three of my guests into the back yard to wash and arrange their hair.
They returned for inspection but didn't pass, the hair refusing to
comply on such short notice. I put the finishing touches on each of
their toilets and we sat down to supper. The oldest boy, "Fritz," was
half past twelve and the youngest, "Ano," had just struck ten. Ano was
a cripple and both legs were twisted out of shape--he hobbled about on
crutches. "Jake" was eleven--two of his eleven years he had spent in
a reformatory where he had learned to chew tobacco and to swear.

"Eddy" was also eleven, but the oldest of all in point of wits. I had
a claim on Eddy: one day he was amusing himself by jerking a cat at
the end of a string, in and out of Frau Belgarde's well. She was
stealthily approaching him with a piece