Thus it happened that, although one of the managers of the Briar street mission and familiar with its work in a general way, he had never been at the mission-house--had never, in fact, set his foot within the morally plague-stricken district in which it stood.

He had often been urged to go, but could not overcome his reluctance to meet humanity face to face in its sadder and more degraded aspects.
Now a necessity was upon him, and he had to go.

It was about ten o'clock in the morning when, at almost a single step, he passed from what seemed paradise to purgatory, the sudden contrast was so great.

There were but few persons in the little street; where the mission was situated at that early hour, and most of these were children--poor, half-clothed, dirty, wan-faced, keen-eyed and alert bits of humanity, older by far than their natural years, few of them possessing any higher sense of right and wrong than young savages.

The night's late orgies or crimes had left most of their elders in a heavy morning sleep, from which they did not usually awaken before midday.