Norwich bulletin., 1916-11-02

The big yard around the house ex- tended back to a side street that was
 most undistinguished In fact, down the paved gutter ran a rather muddy l stream of water with intermittent piles of sand, mud and gravel left by the construction gang block or so ahead. It was while pursuing nonchalant barefooted course through this. stream that Pietro arrived at a point dia- n1etrically opposite the festivities and paused. Then he .splashed out Of the gutter, slunk behind the hedge of lilac bushes and finding a. tolerab1y open spot gazed, fascinated. -y-.s It was certainly a lovely party. The woman giving 1t rather prided herself upon the success Of her social affairs, and she had devoted just as much en- ergetic thought to this birthday party of Johns as though the guests had l been older and critical. All theS guests had on their very best clothes, so Pie tro could see, and they were more marvellous than any fairy story. Ptetro. being dressed in a single garment of blue denim, was able to get a perspective in the Judgment of glittery shoes and snowy stockings and suit, of equally snowy white cloth must be a prince, at least. As for the girls, nobody but girls in palaces wore l lace things like those! Piero became | rapidly sure that he had stumbled up-
 
 1 pressed more closely into the lilac hedge. - .=-
 The assemblage behaved very diff ferently from the crowd that lived down in his street They did not ! ed down and no girls braids were NanlSed nearly loose from her head. They moved slowly when they moved at all. Mostly they sat in garden chairs and watched a slight of hand man do tricks-tricks that aroused and caused his eyes to pop out, but | which the guests looked upon with calm equanimity- There was a game with ba!lons, too | balls of silver and rose, pale green and lavender, which they blew up and batted at each other through the air l Some of them would not even trouble to blow up their balloons, but watched 1 the others indifferently. Once when a 1 balloon was waited toward the hedge | the ragged watchers excitement near | ly broke bounds, but it fell short and ! went airly bounding away into a big ] bed of phlox. There was music. and | dancing on a platform, more like fairy l land than evef
 l But when the refreshments arrived i then the iron entered Pietro's soul l He had been able to bear the rest as something outside his ken, but food l was common to all and he could under
 stand it. He had never seen slch 1 things to eat and the rayenous appeal
 from his stomach terrified him. He l hung onto the lilac bush hard with 1 his grimy hands and his nostrils di- lated. Something was happening in side his head. too and, while he could not name it. he suffered from the first bitter flood of envy of the very rict that may curse the very poor. Why should those boys have all those tan l talking things to eat when he 1 couldn't?
 And they did not eat it all. either Plates of salad went away wher 1 scarcely touched and some of then
 crumbled up their cake into the grass | The ice cream looked like peaches and | grapes and pears and had whipped cream around it. Pietre, in the lilac i brush, closed his eyes ina real attac cl of physical faintneSs. At the moment
 1 he would have sold his soul. had hs 1 known he had one, for a double hand ful grab into rhe big frosted. cake be | ing passed around. The very cent e
 of the universe. which previously haC
 seemed ian interesting. carefree place
 was centered in this garden and tbes.