Children, swarms of children, children of all sizes passed him, clean and dirty, smiling, scowling, hurrying, running, pummeling, grabbing, whirling each other 'round and 'round--till the very air seemed quivering with wild spirits and new life! He heard Deborah laughing.

Five hilarious small boys had hold of her hands and were marching in triumph waving their caps.

"Heigh there--heigh there! Heigh--heigh--heigh!" The school was close in front of them.

An enormous building of brick and tile wedged into a disordered mass of tenements, shops and factories, it had been built around a court shut out from the street by a high steel fence.

They squeezed into the gateway, through which a shouting punching mob of urchins were now pushing in; and soon from a balcony above Roger looked down into the court, where out of a wild chaos order was appearing.
Boys to the right and girls to the left were forming in long sinuous lines, and three thousand faces were turned toward the building.