Page:The cry for justice - an anthology of the literature of social protest. - (IA cryforjusticea00sinc).pdf/687

 he asked for more, after he had eaten the supper allotted by the dietary?"

"He did, sir," replied Bumble.

"That boy will be hung," said the gentleman in the white waistcoat. "I know that boy will be hung."

Nobody controverted the prophetic gentleman's opinion. An animated discussion took place. Oliver was ordered into instant confinement; and a bill was next morning pasted on the outside of the gate, offering a reward of five pounds to anybody who would take Oliver Twist off the hands of the parish. In other words, five pounds and Oliver Twist were offered to any man or woman who wanted an apprentice to any trade, business, or calling.

"I never was more convinced of anything in my life," said the gentleman in the white waistcoat, as he knocked at the gate and read the bill the next morning: "I never was more convinced of anything in my life, than I am that that boy will come to be hung."

The Children's Auction

(English Chartist poet, 1814-1889)

Who bids for the little children— Body, and soul and brain? Who bids for the little children— Young and without a stain? "Will no one bid," said England, "For their souls so pure and white, And fit for all good or evil The world on their page may write?"