The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1879-12-07

The gentleman looked down at him
with a quizzical smile, and the two rode
on in silence until they reached the
school house.
PLEASE don't forget the grammar y
suggested Tom, as he lifted the old cap
again.
mot IL returned the gentleman.
ga man who cannot keep a promise
should not make one-hey, my lad?"
Nell tossed her head, and the boy soon
lost sight of the driver. Then he looked
down at his shoes, at his coat, and his
old cap as he hung it on a peg in the
entry, and silently contrasted them all
with the fur-trimmed overcoat and out.
ft OF the stranger. "Never mind, %
said Tom to himself, 81 will have them
too, when l am q member of congress. y
AT the end Of two weeks a bundle OF
books was left at the school house.
There was not only a Latin grammar,
but a well-worn copy of "Virgil,' d
"Esop's Fables, {" and sundry other vol.
umes such as Tom had never seen.
Pine-knots were plentiful where Tom
lived, n he sat up until midnight all
the rest of the winter, pondering ovef
the mysteries of these books.
As good luck would have it, the
schoolmaster, who boarded around with
his pupils, had not eaten the rations
due him at Toms fathers. When he
arrived he entered warmly into the lads
ambitious projects, and, as he had y
smattering of Latin himself, was quail
fed to aid his pupil.
Although the ~schoolmaster was al
lowed the use of a tallow candle, he
vastly preferred the more brilliant light
of Toms pine knot; so that as often as
the long winter evening set in, the
master and pupil might be seen land
were SEEM sitting before the large fire.
place with their heads buried in the
pages of the books, along which they
plodded slowly, but to such purpose
that at the end of the winter Tom
could read his fable and solve his prob
lem in a manner very creditable to him.
self and master.
1t was uphill work with poor Tom,
but he lever lost what little he gained,
and managed to make what little he ac-
complished tell in the future.
One day his father brought home a
stranger, and told Tom that he was ap-
prenticed, during his minority, to this
man, who would make him a black
smith.
"But l am not going to be a black
SMITH" cried Tom, in a passion; "I'm
going to congressl',
1.-The mort need that you should
learn to shoe the horse that carries you
there, replied the father, with a shrug.
Tom packed up his worldly goods
not forgetting his books, and trudged
away to a distant village, where he
pared horses hoofs by day, and read at
night by stealth, for he was allowed
neither knot nor candle.
Six months the poor fellow was faith
full to duty; but mi night, when his
master had thrown his grammar into
the fire, and upbraided him for his dis
obedience, Tom took leave of the work
shop. He made his way, barefooted as
he was, over boys and briers, until he
ventured into the main road, and BY
dint of begging a ride now and then,
reached the city, whereas Ben Frank
lin had done before him-with his roll
under his arm, he sought and obtained
employment.
Perhaps the happiest day of TOMS
life was when he found himself in the
antiquarian bookstore with plenty of
leisure, plenty of books, and nothing to
fear from friend or foe. 1t was won
derful how he read-and readl The
parched earth does not more greedily
devour the summer rain.
When his intellectual thirst was par
TALLY satisfied, he began to work. He
saw the ladder up which he must climb,
and, seizing the lowest round, he made
his way steadily upward. We all know
by what steps an ambitious man makes
progressLpatient toil-by self-denial
by courteous deportment-by the
acquisition of knowledge.
Years passed by, during all Of which
Tom had lookedin vain for his early
friend, the stranger. In his timid awk-
wardness, he had not thought to ask
the name of his ~benefactor, and the
only opportunity to do so had been lost.
Well, years slid away, and Tom was
elected member of congress from the
very county where he spent his strug-
Cling boyhood. He went to Washing
ton, not in cowhide shoes and butter
nut-colored homespun, but dressed
something as Imagination had pictured,
rs he looked after his benefactor on the
eventful day of the sleigh-ride. A
nobler looking man, the ladies in the
galleries said, eve had appeared up
on the floor than this Yankee member,
who, if spoke through his nose, always
drove his arrows home to the mark.
One day there appeared in the house
the venerable form of an ex-member,
whom all present delighted to honor.
1t needed but one glance at that genial
face for Tom to recognize in him the
giver of the Latin grammar. HE had
come" he said, ito listen to the gentle
man who had SC manfully defended the
right, and to wish him Godspeed!n
IT." said Tom with his old modesty,
'if it has been my good fortune to do
anything for country in the hour
of her peril, / owe my ability to do so,
in a great measure to yourself"
ITO mel'' echoed the ~astonished gen.
tleman; Ito mel 1 do not recollect ever
having had the pleasure of meeting you
before in my life"
"Ah, sir, have you forgotten, then,
the little school-boy among the hills OF
New Hampshire, to whom you so kind
ly sold a Latin grammar"
The gentleman unused.
"Sold-sold a Latin grammar Now
that you recall the incident, l do recol-
lect a little fellow that interested me,
and to whom l gave some school
books.n
"WelI, sir, 1 am that boy. You told
me that 1 might pay for them when
got to congress. If you will honor me
by meeting a few friends at dinner ]
will settle the BILL"