Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-09-10
From Lonemsn's Magazine.

,4rVA V,:o svoidably suggests the
Unattractive az il is, there are vet better
times TO see it than on a rainy night, for then
Green Lion Pavement is at its worst. Light
from the street lamps outside the public houses,
which guard each end of the court, hickers
waveringly, and is reflected in the pools col
lected in the hollows of an uneven pavement.
Its rays, as far as they reach, show how wet and
greasy the fagstones are. and reveal untempt-
ing heaps of cabbage leaves, sodden and
trampled upon, which lie around most OF the
doors;eps. Men with their hands in their pock-
cts and their collars turned up about their ears
lounge about in the immediate vicinity of the
public houses smoking and splitting. Every
now and then the swinging door of one or
other Of the gin palaces is thrown open as
some one goes in or comes oIt-more often goesin
and then a broader stream OF light reveals the
squalor Of the street. 1t shows those dark,
scarcely distinguishable objects against the
wall to be women sitting on the doorsteps. their
shavls huddled over their heads and drawn
CLOSELY around their shoulders.
The children play at their feet, quite indif-
ferent 10 the drilling rain. Some of them
crawl along the greasy pavement with evident
deight-it is impossible to spoil their clothes
Others turn a much-knOtted and ancient rope.
skipping vildly. while they shout and scream at
one another with shrin voices. A barrel
organ begins to play At the other end of the
court perhaps. and the rope is thrown down in
stantlv The children take hands in couples.
and begin TO dance grayely and with consider
able grace. in spite of their large dilapidated
boots such quaint little figures, Their hats,
when they have any. battered down on TO their
heads till there is hardly any face visible. their
hair iraggled and hanging in rats tails from
the rain. Most of the children in Green Lion
Pavement have at some ting or other darced in
the Melchester pantomime, hence the elaborate
steps and the graceful postures. Two or three men
presently stroll up the street and look on. their
pipes in their mouths. except when they remove
them for u moment to laugh or to utter some
forcible comment on the performance.
But this al fresco dancing il not the only
entertainment OF the kind which goes on in the
court. at any rate. In the immediate vicinity.
At first sight The neighborhood does not srg-
gest that its inhabitants are in the habit of Civ
ing dances, for instance. vet il is nevertheless a
fact that real de takes place very frequently
In one of its dilapidated houses-a house. more
over, in which the members Of a hourishing
club for factory boys and girls meet every
evening.
On one of the evenings dedicated to this be-
fore mentioned festiyity young man came
quickly up the street. 1t was early in the year
and detestable night. Sleet was falling. the
pavement was slippery with black half-frozen
snow, and Green Lion Pavement presented
about as uninyitilg an appearance as was well
possible. The young fellow shivered. rubbed
his red hands together. and dragged at his thin
coat. to wrap ii more closely around him Gs he
walked. At an open door he stopped and entered
q square stone lobby. lighted by awire-protected
90 imp So'iuS "a ietei'! We aI0o iioi
VIZ pAsss9 ~ "n..u ". soGne nl"h, 49, -
INN Na' S'oou ''aaiPiNs VIC inuo vi
Figsou was or had been, an important men,
Der of the club in its early days. Indeed. as
~ "'s 80 vi W az 1i.i 'oine
az ii.n '.e oLeeh ie,oh, "nu Nh1ie vas
is maj = was vas enien o"Iis W nis en-
FISH, .Ao, y ma 'ne etup nau peeh s.ai ieu.
. Va ns "nO I 80 .o9Ae e. "ou .p
menioers, eolHImeu t1e HcHnatioh OF the
Navs,ing, eiec,ea himself president ana pre-
Parea sa e.aooIase eooe Vi rules ior the guid-
snSs OF me lai!nicL u. ,;
80. M va M lol tne
orcs,,.;o. ~ 80 st' ,, W VIII h;ah "a Sah, P
eAeep,io-i ~ = Iuoin III Which " aeseno.e' ou'
even lhis oiheu'y was overcome, ahc IN
manner T. lsihApe nos en.,rei! unioreseeh py
tAsson, VINO sone Ino.i.ns previously mao
. maae he scquAin!ance OF genlenah OF pnilan-
.uopS u.sposo Pio' iuen'i! suppie
nea'eu os ineaaS, VINO oeeasionaiiH 'ii'eu Tue
tse.oi! -. Which ,uo Souns man soiH eu- Ohce
ns'ins t riscoeu sae e Ssl VI .lis lare s
oI eoIaoln.tions, IiSson olI not neglect MS
vPPoi'uni . ,i.s, WI 'ne fes' 'na' rooi H on
IS D".N ~ oi4e ~ ZIG noese' ~ oieen
.aj ~ my 49, p,es.s-s pierSs:nus Ply
~ 1.. i..e -. ., - -. $500 80
s.a.;o - " P-oPe' 'i'ion "a TIC
, ..
ni. M, uo"l, as rISson eoiie 'iincs
ThS ~ IL ne oAes az 'n,. 80. oi';
no o'uo was no ionseI, as IN .ne soou olu
otsu S 1,H 70 .ue III ro'elIe me
=. Sue nuo, nrt'oii'! uao crept III: ms
nAPPene1 "neh tne membership was 1oonshly
eAsnueu ~ sHls' fieson uecIIeu oarhy-)
anu 70 MAKE 'nihgs worse MS ola-Ime COM
RACES mad fallen from grace. and, what was
~ reahS tne ZANE .hing, thsn aheshnee, ana
now boldly declared that dancln was better
than 'Lors OF Eth emmy dy.
his evening he smiled superciiously as
the strains OF Ia-ra-ra Boom-de-ay reached
his ears.
Same old toon. he remarked aloud, ring
ing the bell
There was a scutf'e within and the door was
opened by younger boy.
lilo. Bill. ow are yer? exclaimed the
youth eonveHtionally-
The salutation was not used at all in a per-
sonal sense as F1gson well understood II
was merely quotation from q current
muse-hAI song All the BOYS said lt-fre-
quentiy. IL didn mean ANYTHING. though 1t
was expressed II tone OF loud and boisterous
he"rtiness- But that was how the singer de-
hvered It. and without the right infection the
nimicry would have been incomplete.
Ows yersef. Joe: returned FiSson, trip
ping up Joe afectionately as he pushed open a
second door. The room he entered was fairly
large one. with a bare boarded floor and MANY