{Children sitting in the market places} (paidiois
kath(886d)enois en tais agorais). This parable of the children
playing in the market place is given also in  Lu 7:31f . Had
Jesus as a child in Nazareth not played games with the children?
He had certainly watched them often since. The interest of Christ
in children was keen. He has really created the modern child's
world out of the indifference of the past. They would not play
wedding or funeral in a peevish fret. These metaphors in the
Gospels are vivid to those with eyes to see. The agora was
originally the assembly, then the forum or public square where
the people gathered for trade or for talk as in Athens ( Ac
17:17 ) and in many modern towns. So the Roman Forum. The
oriental bazaars today are held in streets rather than public
squares. Even today with all the automobiles children play in the
streets. In English the word "cheap" (Cheapside) meant only
barter and price, not cheap in our sense. The word for mourn
(ekopsasthe) means to beat the heart, direct middle, after the
fashion of eastern funeral lamentations.