[_Lady Margaret Rice._
]
But perhaps the greatest event of the whole year for the children of the
Happy Evenings occurs in summer, when each branch president invites them
for a merry day in the country. Somehow or other the girls manage to
rake up cheap cotton frocks for the occasion of various tints and
degrees of wear--and the boys are carefully washed, brushed, and
patched; and then off to one of the stately homes of England, where they
may romp in the grass or in the woods and pick wild flowers to their
hearts' content. You would scarcely recognise these half-fed,
prematurely old London children in the laughing faces and buoyant forms
of this picture taken at Osterley Park.
[Illustration: A HAPPY EVENING CONCLUDED--SALUTING HIS MAJESTY.
_From a Photo. by George Newnes, Ltd._]
One other picture taken has a special interest as showing that lessons
of loyalty are inculcated at the Happy Evenings. It represents the
conclusion of the sports and games; the boys are seen filing before a
portrait of His Majesty and the Union Jack and saluting as they pass,
while the piano plays "God Save the King."
[Illustration: THE CONVERSION OF AUNT SARAH]