nightingale, and this would be one of the boys practising
his notes. The school is large and the roof is flat, and all over the
top and at the sides are high railings filled in with wire, so that the
balls at cricket or football can't jump over the edge and come down on
the heads of the people walking in the street below. That would be a
surprise, wouldn't it? to have a great football drop out of the sky on
to your head. It is a funny idea, playing up there among the chimneys
and the roofs, and I don't think it can be very clean; I expect the boys
have always to wash their hands before they put on their pure white
surplices and go into the great solemn cathedral to sing. There is going
to be a chapter in this book telling something about the cathedral of
St. Paul's, so you will remember this about the choir-boys when you come
to it.

CHAPTER VI

LONDON MARKETS

There are seven millions of people in London. That does not give any
idea of the real number, but if you were to begin now and count hard for
three days and nights, you would not have counted a million then, even
if you never stopped to eat or to sleep. Just think of it, that great
crowd of people all wanting to be fed, and many of them wanting three
good meals every day! If all the carts in the world were to be marching
into London the whole time, you would think they could hardly bring food
enough for this multitude of people. Yet somehow it is done, and it does
not seem to be very difficult either. I think I hear someone saying,
'But there are the shops; people can go and buy there.' Yes, they can,
of course, but where do the shopmen get their stuff from? Where does all
the meat come from, and the fruit and the flowers and vegetables, and
all the things that must be kept fresh? Where does the shopman buy
them? The shopman gets them from the markets, and the markets get them
from the country. There are many great markets, and to-day we will visit
three of them--that where we can see the meat, and that where the
flowers and vegetables are, and that where the fish are. The flower
market is much the nicest, of course, so we will keep it for the last.

The fish market is down close by the river, just where you would expect
it to be. If you want to see it you must not mind getting up very early,
long before any cabs or omnibuses are about--in fact, it will be very
difficult to get there at all unless you can bicycle or can walk a long
way without being