The following statement best summarizes the passage: "young boys in the slums appreciated beauty in spite of their harsh lives and rough appearances" (C).
This text describes the instinctive attitudes humans have towards flowers ("wild entreaty," "the eager love") and how it gives flowers the power to instigate peace into troubled neighborhoods: "I have seen an armful of daisies keep the peace of a block."
The flowers' impact on young boys is expressed by phrases such as "the brightened faces" and "the sudden abandonment of play and fight."
The following are allusions to their harsh lives: