{"product_id":"2940012363237","title":"Maggie: A Girl of the Streets","description":"Chapter I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA very little boy stood upon a heap of gravel for the honor of Rum\u003cbr\u003eAlley.  He was throwing stones at howling urchins from Devil's Row who\u003cbr\u003ewere circling madly about the heap and pelting at him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHis infantile countenance was livid with fury.  His small body was\u003cbr\u003ewrithing in the delivery of great, crimson oaths.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Run, Jimmie, run!  Dey'll get yehs,\" screamed a retreating Rum Alley\u003cbr\u003echild.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Naw,\" responded Jimmie with a valiant roar, \"dese micks can't make me\u003cbr\u003erun.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHowls of renewed wrath went up from Devil's Row throats.  Tattered\u003cbr\u003egamins on the right made a furious assault on the gravel heap.  On\u003cbr\u003etheir small, convulsed faces there shone the grins of true assassins.\u003cbr\u003eAs they charged, they threw stones and cursed in shrill chorus.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe little champion of Rum Alley stumbled precipitately down the other\u003cbr\u003eside.  His coat had been torn to shreds in a scuffle, and his hat was\u003cbr\u003egone.  He had bruises on twenty parts of his body, and blood was\u003cbr\u003edripping from a cut in his head.  His wan features wore a look of a\u003cbr\u003etiny, insane demon.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn the ground, children from Devil's Row closed in on their antagonist.\u003cbr\u003eHe crooked his left arm defensively about his head and fought with\u003cbr\u003ecursing fury.  The little boys ran to and fro, dodging, hurling stones\u003cbr\u003eand swearing in barbaric trebles.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom a window of an apartment house that upreared its form from amid\u003cbr\u003esquat, ignorant stables, there leaned a curious woman.  Some laborers,\u003cbr\u003eunloading a scow at a dock at the river, paused for a moment and\u003cbr\u003eregarded the fight.  The engineer of a passive tugboat hung lazily to a\u003cbr\u003erailing and watched.  Over on the Island, a worm of yellow convicts\u003cbr\u003ecame from the shadow of a building and crawled slowly along the river's\u003cbr\u003ebank.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA stone had smashed into Jimmie's mouth.  Blood was bubbling over his\u003cbr\u003echin and down upon his ragged shirt.  Tears made furrows on his\u003cbr\u003edirt-stained cheeks.  His thin legs had begun to tremble and turn weak,\u003cbr\u003ecausing his small body to reel.  His roaring curses of the first part\u003cbr\u003eof the fight had changed to a blasphemous chatter.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the yells of the whirling mob of Devil's Row children there were\u003cbr\u003enotes of joy like songs of triumphant savagery.  The little boys seemed\u003cbr\u003eto leer gloatingly at the blood upon the other child's face.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDown the avenue came boastfully sauntering a lad of sixteen years,\u003cbr\u003ealthough the chronic sneer of an ideal manhood already sat upon his\u003cbr\u003elips.  His hat was tipped with an air of challenge over his eye.\u003cbr\u003eBetween his teeth, a cigar stump was tilted at the angle of defiance.\u003cbr\u003eHe walked with a certain swing of the shoulders which appalled the\u003cbr\u003etimid.  He glanced over into the vacant lot in which the little raving\u003cbr\u003eboys from Devil's Row seethed about the shrieking and tearful child\u003cbr\u003efrom Rum Alley.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Gee!\" he murmured with interest.  \"A scrap.  Gee!\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe strode over to the cursing circle, swinging his shoulders in a\u003cbr\u003emanner which denoted that he held victory in his fists.  He approached\u003cbr\u003eat the back of one of the most deeply engaged of the Devil's Row\u003cbr\u003echildren.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Ah, what deh hell,\" he said, and smote the deeply-engaged one on the\u003cbr\u003eback of the head.  The little boy fell to the ground and gave a hoarse,\u003cbr\u003etremendous howl.  He scrambled to his feet, and perceiving, evidently,\u003cbr\u003ethe size of his assailant, ran quickly off, shouting alarms.  The\u003cbr\u003eentire Devil's Row party followed him.  They came to a stand a short\u003cbr\u003edistance away and yelled taunting oaths at the boy with the chronic\u003cbr\u003esneer.  The latter, momentarily, paid no attention to them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"What deh hell, Jimmie?\" he asked of the small champion.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJimmie wiped his blood-wet features with his sleeve.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Well, it was dis way, Pete, see!  I was goin' teh lick dat Riley kid\u003cbr\u003eand dey all pitched on me.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSome Rum Alley children now came forward.  The party stood for a moment\u003cbr\u003eexchanging vainglorious remarks with Devil's Row.  A few stones were\u003cbr\u003ethrown at long distances, and words of challenge passed between small\u003cbr\u003ewarriors.  Then the Rum Alley contingent turned slowly in the direction\u003cbr\u003eof their home street.  They began to give, each to each, distorted\u003cbr\u003eversions of the fight.  Causes of retreat in particular cases were\u003cbr\u003emagnified.  Blows dealt in the fight were enlarged to catapultian\u003cbr\u003epower, and stones thrown were alleged to have hurtled with infinite\u003cbr\u003eaccuracy.  Valor grew strong again, and the little boys began to swear\u003cbr\u003ewith great spirit.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Ah, we blokies kin lick deh hull damn Row,\" said a child, swaggering.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLittle Jimmie was striving to stanch the flow of blood from his cut\u003cbr\u003elips.  Scowling, he turned upon the speaker.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Ah, where deh hell was yeh when I was doin' all deh fightin?\" he\u003cbr\u003edemanded.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47163553153264,"sku":"2940012363237","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012363237_p0.jpg?v=1763568021","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012363237","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}