The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-03-16

All I know about him is that he plods
away ut something in his room al the
spare time that he has. and that he has
saved nearly a hundred dolla4 this
year, although his salary is only a hun
dred and fifty. Father says such a
steady, saving young man will be rich
some day, and / tell him he will be dull
and unintercsting into the bargain.
Why, the fellow never went to dancing
school in his life. and he would not
know what to do if he were in company
with a young lady. The girls never
take any notice of the poor fellow, and
even mother can't bear to have him
around, he is so shabby and so sober. If
it were not for father he would have a
hard time of it,"
"By the way, Wal, 1 hear you gave
Jennie French a diamond ring awhile
ago. Isn't that rather steep? You must
be made of money. 1t is all 1 can do to
take a girl to a thcater once in a while,
or to a festival"
"Ah, Fred, you don't know the tricks
of the trade yet. There are games in
life that young men can play about us
well as older men play theirs. Do you
know how half the rich men get their
money? Why, they get it by tricks of
some kind"
"Did your father tell you so?"
Gather! Not much! He is not very
rich, and never will be; he is not
shrcwd enough, and he IS too nonsensi-
col. If l thought you would not be
silly, 1 would tell you something that
would give a hint how to increase
your salary to the full worth of your
services"
"Do tell me, if you have any compass
sion. To WI up, Wal, I am badly in
debt, and afraid enough that my father
will find it out"
Gail right. Let us get out of this
crowded street first. Come over into
the Park"
Just after Walter and his friend left
the house together, a middle-agcd gen
tleman rang the bell and inquired for
John Holloway.
"He is not in, replied the servant.
"May I see Mr.. Emmons, then?"
The visitor was ushered into the
library, where sat a tine-looking, atfablc
gentleman, who greeted the stranger
cordially, and to whom the latter intro
duced himself as Mr.. Andrews He
said. he had been a ncighbor Of Johns
father, and after Mr.. Holloway lost his
wife and was in a bad way himself, had
lent him a little money-about a hundred
dollars.
After Mr.. Holloway died, the sale of
his effects barely served to pay the bills
for his sickness and funeral. AS no one
was left but the boy of fifteen, Mr.. An
drews had not presented the note he
held for the loan, or as much as men,
toned the debt to any one. It appeared,
however, that John had found a memo
randum of the debt among his fathers
papers, and had come ut once to Mr..
Andrews to express his determination to
cancel it as soon as he could earn
enough.
"'Never mind, john said l. your
father would have paid it had he lived
and regained his health; but you are
under no obligation to do so. If you
can earn your own living you will do
we'll. Be sure I shall never ask YOU for
the money, Dr. tell any one that your
father owed it. In fact, l would will
ingly have given so good a man as much
in his necessity, and he was always n
kind and obliging neighbour
"After John went away 1 forgot all
about it, for I felt. very sure the boy
would have too much to do in earning
his living to insist upon the payment of
this old debt of his father. But here,
yesterday, l received money for the
payment of the debt, with interest to
date. have come in post. haste to see
about it. I do not want the money
from the boy, and l certainly will not
take any interest. 1t is too bad"
TOO bad? Not at all, sir. 1t is just
right. | knew nothing about the debt,
but I am very glad to hear this account
of Johns honesty. 1t is what I should
have expected of him under the circum-
stances; and this explains why he has
denied himself everything he could do
without. | had just sent him on IN
errand, but he will be back soon.
Happy the man, living or dead, who
has II son like that! He will make his
mark in the world in more ways than
one. Why, he has read half the books
in this library since he has been here,
besides doing his work at the bank and
chores ut home and running of errands
for every one of us. Our dclicately-
nurturcd city boys are failures compared
with a boy like this. My son Walter IS
a fine fellow in his way; but 1 should
no more think of asking him to do the
things that John does than I should
think of asking him to fly. All! here
comes the hero"
A plainly dressed boy Of between six
teen and seventeen, with a fine open
c~ountenancc and modest appearance,
entered the library, and his rather sober
face frightened into radiance when he
saw Mr.. Andrews.
In the conversation which followed
John said he could not see that he de-
served praise for paying the debt; his