Policemen are often in as great danger as firemen. Sometimes they beat the firemen to a fire. If they do, it is their duty to go into a burning house and help get people out. They often stop runaway horses, and they snatch people from under horses' hoofs and car wheels. They dive into park lagoons, into rivers and harbors to save people from drowning. The most dangerous work policemen have to do is to find and arrest criminals. Many of these men, who live by robbing people and houses, will kill rather than be captured and sent to prison. But policemen will answer a shout for help, a whistle or a telephone call. They will go right into dark basements and alleys, after men who may be waiting for them with pistols and knives. Plain clothes policemen are in every big crowd watching for pickpockets, and in dangerous parts of the city where criminals try to hide, learning to know their faces and their habits.

The very tallest, strongest policemen stand in the middle of two crossing streets in the most crowded part of the city. They can see all four corners and crossings, can guard people who are afoot, and keep the wagons and cars from getting in a tangle. They can stop a stream of traffic by lifting a hand, and send it on again. Some policemen are mounted on horses or bicycles. These are in parks and along speed-ways, to stop automobiles and horses that are going too fast. There are special policemen who watch railway stations and boat docks, where visitors who do not know city ways are likely to get into trouble. There are always a great number along the line of procession, at fairs and celebrations, and where there are labor strikes.

The policeman you know the best is the patrolman. Patrol is a soldier word. It means to walk over and guard a district. A police patrolman has several blocks to watch. He goes over his district several times a day. At night, another man takes his place. The patrolman has to see that no law is broken, and that everyone is protected. Some night, when you are asleep, there may come a ring at the doorbell. A policeman calls up that he found a basement window unlocked. He goes through the place to see if some burglar has broken in. No, he says, you were careless and left that window open. Your father thanks the policeman. And that makes you all the more careful afterwards.

A policeman must see that people obey the health and street cleaning laws. He must stop fights and scatter noisy crowds. He must make people keep things off fire escapes. He must arrest any one whom he finds abusing a child or an animal. He must take care of any person injured on the street, send him home or to a hospital, and arrest any one who is to blame for the injury. If a man is out of money, and has no place to sleep and eat, he can always go to a police station. That is a safe, public lodging house for a night.

Always answer a policeman's questions and obey his orders. He is an officer of the law and he has a right to stop and question people. He has a right to your help, if he needs it. Sometimes boys have clubs or "gangs," just for fun. Policemen are apt to watch "gangs," for they know that crowds of boys often do selfish and mischievous things. But don't look upon them as enemies. Be open and above board, and don't hide or try to play tricks. Active boys can help a patrolman keep order in his district, for they see everything that is going on. In some cities boys have formed

law-and-order clubs, and have been given badges to wear by the Chief of Police. Districts that have a band of little citizens helping the police are always cleaner and more orderly, and are shunned by sneak thieves and mobs. Some boys in such clubs have won medals for bravery in fires and for protecting animals that were being abused.

There's a lot of fun in being a little law-and-order soldier. Try it.