As the mayor
veered in his chair to face his visitors, a girl of some fifteen years
stepped out of the line. She was still in her schoolgirl's dresses, but
tall, with features of a fine, pensive cut and earnest eyes that were
already peering from out the child's life into the opening doors of
womanhood.
"May it please your Honour," she began, "we are a committee from the
Central Bureau of Federated Children's Organisations and we have come
here to protest against certain intolerable conditions of which our
members are the victims."
Had they come in behalf of those additional three million dollars, the
mayor wondered uneasily. "State the nature of your grievance," he said.
The leader of the delegation came a step nearer. "Your Honour, I can
only attempt the merest outline of our general position. Several of my
associates will take turns in acquainting you with the details of our
case. Our complaint is that we, the children of this country, are being
overworked. Formerly it was supposed to be the inalienable right of
children to remain free from the cares of life. That theory has long
been abandoned.
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