Page:Stories told to a child.djvu/115

 'Well, now, suppose you pick up all the peel you can find; and then go down the streets round about and see how much you can get; and to the one who finds most, when I come back, I shall give a penny.'

So after making the children promise that they would never commit this fault again, Can went on; and it is a remarkable circumstance, that just at that very moment, as Could was walking in quite a different part of London, he also came to a piece of orange peel which was lying across his path.

'What a shame!' he said, as he passed on; 'what a disgrace it is to the city authorities, that this practice of sowing seed, which springs up into broken bones, cannot be made a punishable offence; there is never a winter that one or more accidents do not arise from it! If I could only put it down, how glad I should be! If, for instance, I could offer a bribe to people to abstain from it; or if I could warn or punish; or if I could be placed in a position to legislate for the suppression of this and similar bad habits. But, alas! my wishes rise far above my powers; my philanthropic aspirations can find no—'

'By your leave,' said a tall strong man, with a heavy coal sack on his shoulders.

Could, stepping aside, permitted the coal porter to pass him. 'Yes,' he continued, taking up his soliloquy where it had been interrupted, 'it is strange that so many anxious wishes for the welfare of his species should be implanted in the breast of a man who has no means of gratifying them.' The noise of a thundering fall, and the rushing down as of a great shower of stones, made Could turn hastily round. Several Rh