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+
+
+E-text prepared by Sankar Viswanathan, Juliet Sutherland, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustration.
+      See 31065-h.htm or 31065-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31065/31065-h/31065-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31065/31065-h.zip)
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      The Table of Contents, not in the original book, has been
+      added for the convenience of the reader.
+
+
+
+
+
+TRY AGAIN
+
+Or
+
+The Trials and Triumphs of Harry West
+
+A Story for Young Folks
+
+by
+
+OLIVER OPTIC
+
+Author of
+"The Boat Club," "All Aboard," "Poor and Proud,"
+"Hope and Have," "Now or Never," Etc.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "Harry was Startled by the Discovery of
+a Bright Light."]
+
+
+
+New York
+The New York Book Company
+1911
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+Chapter                                                          Page
+            BIOGRAPHY AND BIBLIOGRAPHY                             4
+      I     IN WHICH HARRY WEST AND SQUIRE WALKER DISAGREE ON AN
+              IMPORTANT POINT                                      5
+     II     IN WHICH HARRY FINDS A FRIEND, AND A PRACTICABLE
+              SCHEME FOR RESISTANCE                               11
+    III     IN WHICH HARRY LEAVES THE POORHOUSE, AND TAKES TO
+              THE RIVER                                           19
+     IV     IN WHICH IT IS SHOWN THAT THE NAVIGATION OF THE
+              RIVER IS DIFFICULT AND DANGEROUS                    26
+      V     IN WHICH HARRY FIGHTS A HARD BATTLE, AND IS
+              DEFEATED                                            33
+     VI     IN WHICH HARRY CONCLUDES THAT A DEFEAT IS SOMETIMES
+              BETTER THAN A VICTORY                               41
+    VII     IN WHICH HARRY FINDS HIMSELF IN A TIGHT PLACE AND
+              EXECUTES A COUNTER MOVEMENT                         48
+   VIII     IN WHICH HARRY KILLS A BIG SNAKE, AND MAKES A NEW
+              FRIEND                                              55
+     IX     IN WHICH HARRY BREAKFASTS ON DOUGHNUTS, AND FINDS
+              THAT ANGELS DO NOT ALWAYS HAVE WINGS                62
+      X     IN WHICH HARRY FARES SUMPTUOUSLY, AND TAKES LEAVE
+              OF THE LITTLE ANGEL                                 69
+     XI     IN WHICH HARRY REACHES THE CITY, AND THOUGH OFTEN
+              DISAPPOINTED, TRIES AGAIN                           76
+    XII     IN WHICH HARRY SUDDENLY GETS RICH AND HAS A
+              CONVERSATION WITH ANOTHER HARRY                     83
+   XIII     IN WHICH HARRY BECOMES A STABLE BOY, AND HEARS
+              BAD NEWS FROM ROCKVILLE                             90
+    XIV     IN WHICH HARRY DOES A GOOD DEED, AND DETERMINES
+              TO "FACE THE MUSIC"                                 97
+     XV     IN WHICH HARRY MAKES THE ACQUAINTANCE OF A VERY
+              IMPORTANT PERSONAGE                                104
+    XVI     IN WHICH HARRY GOES INTO THE DRYGOODS BUSINESS       111
+   XVII     IN WHICH HARRY REVISITS ROCKVILLE, AND MEETS WITH
+              A SERIOUS LOSS                                     117
+  XVIII     IN WHICH HARRY MEETS WITH AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE AND
+              GETS A HARD KNOCK ON THE HEAD                      124
+    XIX     IN WHICH HARRY FINDS THAT EVEN A BROKEN HEAD MAY
+              BE OF SOME USE TO A PERSON                         131
+     XX     IN WHICH HARRY PASSES THROUGH HIS SEVEREST TRIAL,
+              AND ACHIEVES HIS GREATEST TRIUMPH                  137
+    XXI     IN WHICH HARRY IS VERY PLEASANTLY SITUATED, AND
+              THE STORY COMES TO AN END                          147
+
+
+
+
+BIOGRAPHY AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
+
+
+William Taylor Adams, American author, better known and loved by boys
+and girls through his pseudonym "Oliver Optic," was born July 30,
+1822, in the town of Medway, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, about
+twenty-five miles from Boston. For twenty years he was a teacher in
+the Public Schools of Boston, where he came in close contact with boy
+life. These twenty years taught him how to reach the boy's heart and
+interest as the popularity of his books attest.
+
+His story writing began in 1850 when he was twenty-eight years old and
+his first book was published in 1853. He also edited "The Oliver Optic
+Magazine," "The Student and Schoolmate," "Our Little Ones."
+
+Mr. Adams died at the age of seventy-five years, in Boston, March 27,
+1897.
+
+He was a prolific writer and his stories are most attractive and
+unobjectionable. Most of his books were published in series. Probably
+the most famous of these is "The Boat Club Series" which comprises the
+following titles:
+
+"The Boat Club," "All Aboard," "Now or Never," "Try Again," "Poor and
+Proud," "Little by Little." All of these titles will be found in this
+edition.
+
+Other well-known series are his "Soldier Boy Series," "Sailor Boy
+Series," "Woodville Stories." The "Woodville Stories" will also be
+found in this edition.
+
+
+
+
+TRY AGAIN
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+IN WHICH HARRY WEST AND SQUIRE WALKER DISAGREE ON AN IMPORTANT POINT
+
+
+"Boy, come here!"
+
+Squire Walker was a very pompous man; one of the most notable persons
+in the little town of Redfield, which, the inquiring young reader will
+need to be informed, as it is not laid down on any map of
+Massachusetts that I am acquainted with, is situated thirty-one miles
+southwest of Boston.
+
+I am not aware that Redfield was noted for anything in particular,
+unless it was noted for Squire Walker, as Mount Vernon was noted for
+Washington, and Monticello for Jefferson. No doubt the squire thought
+he was as great a man as either of these, and that the world was
+strangely stupid because it did not find out how great a man he really
+was. It was his misfortune that he was born in the midst of stirring
+times, when great energy, great genius, and the most determined
+patriotism are understood and appreciated.
+
+Squire Walker, then, was a great man--in his own estimation. It is
+true, the rest of the world, including many of the people of Redfield,
+had not found it out; but, as the matter concerned himself more nearly
+than any one else, he seemed to be resigned to the circumstances of
+his lot. He had represented the town in the legislature of the state,
+was a member of the school committee, one of the selectmen, and an
+overseer of the poor. Some men would have considered all these offices
+as glory enough for a lifetime; and I dare say the squire would have
+been satisfied, if he had not been ambitious to become one of the
+county commissioners.
+
+The squire had a very high and proper regard for his own dignity. It
+was not only his duty to be a great man, but to impress other people,
+especially paupers and children, with a just sense of his importance.
+Consequently, when he visited the poorhouse, he always spoke in the
+imperative mood. It was not becoming a man of his magnificent
+pretensions to speak gently and kindly to the unfortunate, the
+friendless, and the forsaken; and the men and women hated him, and the
+children feared him, as much as they would have feared a roaring lion.
+
+"Boy, come here!" said Squire Walker, as he raised his arm
+majestically towards a youth who was picking up "windfalls" under the
+apple trees in front of the poorhouse.
+
+The boy was dressed in a suit of blue cotton clothes, extensively, but
+not very skillfully patched. At last two-thirds of the brim of his old
+straw hat was gone, leaving nothing but a snarly fringe of straws to
+protect his face from the heat of the sun. But this was the least of
+the boy's trials. Sun or rain, heat or cold, were all the same to him,
+if he only got enough to eat, and time enough to sleep.
+
+He straightened his back when Squire Walker spoke to him, and stood
+gazing with evident astonishment that the distinguished gentleman
+should condescend to speak to him.
+
+"Come here, you sir! Do you hear?" continued Squire Walker, upon whom
+the boy's look of wonder and perturbation was not wholly lost.
+
+"This way, Harry," added Mr. Nason, the keeper of the poorhouse, who
+was doing the honors of the occasion to the representative of the
+people of Redfield.
+
+Harry West was evidently a modest youth, and appeared to be averse to
+pushing himself irreverently into the presence of a man whom his vivid
+imagination classed with Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, whose
+great deeds he had read about in the spelling book.
+
+Harry slowly sidled along till he came within about a rod of the great
+man, where he paused, apparently too much overawed to proceed any
+farther.
+
+"Come here, I say," repeated Squire Walker. "Why don't you take your
+hat off, and make your manners?"
+
+Harry took his hat off, and made his manners, not very gracefully, it
+is true; but considering the boy's perturbation, the squire was
+graciously pleased to let his "manners" pass muster.
+
+"How old are you, boy?" asked the overseer.
+
+"Most twelve," replied Harry, with deference.
+
+"High time you were put to work."
+
+"I do work," answered Harry.
+
+"Not much; you look as fat and lazy as one of my fat hogs."
+
+Mr. Nason ventured to suggest that Harry was a smart, active boy,
+willing to work, and that he more than paid his keeping by the labor
+he performed in the field, and the chores he did about the house--an
+interference which the squire silently rebuked, by turning up his nose
+at the keeper.
+
+"I do all they want me to do," added the boy, whose tongue seemed to
+grow wonderfully glib under the gratuitous censure of the notable
+gentleman.
+
+"Don't be saucy, Master West."
+
+"Bless you, squire! Harry never spoke a saucy word in his life,"
+interposed the friendly keeper.
+
+"He should know his place, and learn how to treat his superiors. You
+give these boys too much meat, Mr. Nason. They can't bear it. Mush and
+molasses is the best thing in the world for them."
+
+If any one had looked closely at Harry while the functionary was
+delivering himself of this speech, he might have seen his eye snap and
+his chest heave with indignation. He had evidently conquered his
+timidity, and, maugre his youth, was disposed to stand forth and say,
+"I, too, am a man." His head was erect, and he gazed unflinchingly
+into the eye of the squire.
+
+"Boy," said the great man, who did not like to have a pauper boy look
+him in the eye without trembling--"boy, I have got a place for you,
+and the sooner you are sent to it, the better it will be for you and
+for the town."
+
+"Where is it, sir?"
+
+"Where is it? What is that to you, you young puppy?" growled the
+squire, shocked at the boy's presumption in daring to question him.
+
+"If I am going to a place, I would like to know where it is," replied
+Harry.
+
+"You will go where you are sent!" roared the squire.
+
+"I suppose I must; but I should like to know where."
+
+"Well, then, you shall know," added the overseer maliciously; for he
+had good reason to know that the intelligence would give the boy the
+greatest pain he could possibly inflict. "You are going to Jacob
+Wire's."
+
+"Where, sir?" asked the keeper, looking at the squire with
+astonishment and indignation.
+
+"To Jacob Wire's," repeated the overseer.
+
+"Jacob Wire's!" exclaimed Mr. Nason.
+
+"I said so."
+
+"Do you think that will be a good place for the boy?" asked the
+keeper, trying to smile to cover the indignation that was boiling in
+his bosom.
+
+"Certainly I do."
+
+"Excuse me, Squire Walker, but I don't."
+
+The overseer stood aghast. Such a reply was little better than
+rebellion in one of the town's servants, and his blood boiled at such
+unheard-of plainness of speech to him, late representative to the
+general court, member of the school committee, one of the selectmen,
+and an overseer of the poor.
+
+Besides, there was another reason why the temerity of the keeper was
+peculiarly aggravated. Jacob Wire was the squire's brother-in-law; and
+though the squire despised him quite as much and as heartily as the
+rest of the people of Redfield, it was not fitting that any of his
+connections should be assailed by another. It was not so much the
+fact, as the source from which it came, that was objectionable.
+
+"How dare you speak to me in that manner, Mr. Nason?" exclaimed the
+squire. "Do you know who I am?"
+
+Mr. Nason did know who he was, but at that moment, and under those
+circumstances, he so far forgot himself as to inform the important
+functionary that he didn't care who he was; Jacob Wire's was not a fit
+place for a heathen, much less a Christian.
+
+"What do you mean, sir?" gasped the overseer in his rage.
+
+"I mean just what I say, Squire Walker. Jacob Wire is the meanest man
+in the county. He half starves his wife and children; and no hired man
+ever stayed there more than a week--he always starved them out in that
+time."
+
+"If you please, sir, I would rather not go to Mr. Wire's," put in
+Harry, to whom the county jail seemed a more preferable place.
+
+"There, shut up! I say you shall go there!" replied the squire.
+
+"Really, squire, this is too bad. You know Wire as well as any man in
+town, and--"
+
+"Not another word, Mr. Nason! Have the boy ready to go to Jacob Wire's
+to-morrow!" and the overseer, not very well satisfied with the
+interview, hastened away to avoid further argument upon so delicate a
+topic.
+
+Harry stood watching the retreating form of the great man of Redfield.
+The mandate he had spoken was the knell of hope to him. It made the
+future black and desolate. As he gazed the tears flooded his eyes, and
+his feelings completely overcame him.
+
+"Don't cry, Harry," said the kind-hearted keeper, taking him by the
+hand.
+
+"I can't help it," sobbed Harry. "He will whip me, and starve me to
+death. Don't let him put me there."
+
+"I don't know as I can help it, Harry."
+
+"I am willing to work, and work hard, too; but I don't want to be
+starved to death."
+
+"I will do what I can for you; but the other overseers do pretty much
+as Squire Walker tells them to do."
+
+"I can't go to Jacob Wire's," burst from Harry's lips, as he seated
+himself on a rock, and gave way to the violence of his emotions.
+
+"I will see the other overseers; don't cry, Harry. Hope for the best."
+
+"No use of hoping against such a man as Jacob Wire. If he don't starve
+me, he will work me to death. I would rather die than go there."
+
+"Well, well; don't take on so. Perhaps something can be done."
+
+"Something shall be done," added the boy, as he rose from his seat,
+with an air of determination in keeping with the strong words he
+uttered.
+
+The keeper's presence was required in the barn, and he left Harry
+musing and very unhappy about his future prospects. The thought of
+becoming a member of Jacob Wire's family was not to be entertained.
+The boy was a pauper, and had been brought up at the expense of the
+town; but he seemed to feel that, though fortune and friends had
+forsaken him, he was still a member of the great human family.
+
+Jacob Wire, with whom it was proposed to apprentice him, had the
+reputation of being a hard master. He loved money, and did not love
+anything else. His heart was barren of affection, as his soul was of
+good principles; and though he did not literally starve his family and
+his help, he fed them upon the poorest and meanest fare that would
+support human life. The paupers in the poorhouse lived sumptuously,
+compared with those who gathered around the board of Jacob Wire.
+
+The keeper knew this from experience, for years ago, before he had
+been appointed to his present situation, he had worked for Wire; and
+age and prosperity had not improved him. The more he got, the more he
+wanted; the fuller his barn and storehouse, the more stingy he became
+to those who were dependent upon him.
+
+Harry West was a good boy, and a great favorite with the keeper of the
+poorhouse. He was always good-natured, willing to work, and never
+grumbled about his food. He was not only willing to take care of the
+baby washing days, but seemed to derive pleasure from the occupation.
+For all these reasons, Mr. Nason liked Harry, and had a deep interest
+in his welfare; something more than a merely selfish interest, for he
+had suggested to the overseers the propriety of binding him out to
+learn some good trade.
+
+Harry was sad and disheartened; but he had unlimited confidence in the
+keeper, and felt sure that he would protect him from such a calamity
+as being sent to Jacob Wire's. After he had carried the windfalls into
+the shed, he asked Mr. Nason if he might go down to the river for a
+little while. The permission given, he jumped over the cow yard wall,
+and with his eyes fixed in deep thought upon the ground, made his way
+over the hill to Pine Pleasant, as the beautiful grove by the river's
+side was called.
+
+The grove extended to the brink of the stream, which in this place
+widened into a pond. Near the shore was a large flat rock, which was
+connected with the mainland by a log, for the convenience of anglers
+and bathers. This was a favorite spot with Harry; and upon the rock he
+seated himself, to sigh over the hard lot which was in store for him.
+It was not a good way to contend with the trials to which all are
+subjected; but he had not yet learned that sorrow and adversity are as
+necessary for man as joy and prosperity. Besides, it was a turning
+point in his life, and it seemed to him that Jacob Wire's house would
+be the tomb of all his hopes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+IN WHICH HARRY FINDS A FRIEND, AND A PRACTICABLE SCHEME FOR RESISTANCE
+
+
+My young readers will probably desire to know something about Harry's
+"antecedents"; and while the poor fellow is mourning over the hard
+lot which Squire Walker has marked out for him, we will briefly review
+his previous history.
+
+Unlike the heroes of modern novels and romances, Harry did not belong
+to an ancient, or even a very respectable family. We need not trace
+his genealogy for any considerable period, and I am not sure that the
+old records would throw much light on the subject if we should attempt
+to do so. The accident of birth in our republican land is a matter of
+very little consequence; therefore we shall only go back to Harry's
+father, who was a carpenter by trade, but had a greater passion for
+New England rum than for chisels and foreplanes.
+
+The bane of New England was the bane of Franklin West; for he was a
+kind-hearted man, a good husband and a good father, before he was
+deformed by the use of liquor. He made good wages, and supported his
+little family for several years; but the vile habit grew upon him to
+such a degree that the people of Redfield lost all confidence in him.
+As his business decreased, his besetting vice increased upon him, till
+he was nothing but the wreck of the man he had once been. Poverty had
+come, and want stared him in the face.
+
+While everybody was wondering what would become of Franklin West, he
+suddenly disappeared, and no one could form an idea of what had become
+of him. People thought it was no great matter. He was only a nuisance
+to himself and his family. Mrs. West was shocked by this sudden and
+mysterious disappearance. He was her husband, and the father of her
+children, and it was not strange that she wept, and even hoped that he
+would come back. The neighbors comforted her, and put her in the way
+of supporting herself and the children, so that she was very soon
+reconciled to the event.
+
+When West had been gone a month, his wife received a letter from him,
+informing her that he had determined to stop drinking, and be a man
+again. He could not keep sober in Redfield, among his old companions,
+and he was at work in Providence till he could get money enough to
+pay his expenses to Valparaiso, in South America, where a lucrative
+place awaited him. He hoped his wife would manage to get along for a
+few months, when he should be able to send her some money.
+
+Mrs. West was easy again. Her husband was not dead, was not drowned in
+the river, or lost in the woods; and her heart was cheered by the
+prospects of future plenty, which the letter pointed out to her.
+
+A year passed by, and nothing more was heard from Franklin West. The
+poor, forsaken wife had a hard time to support her little family. The
+most constant and severe toil enabled her to pinch her way along; but
+it was a bitter trial. She had no relations to help her; and though
+the neighbors were as kind as neighbors could be, life was a hard
+struggle.
+
+Then the baby sickened and died. This bereavement seemed to unnerve
+and discourage her, and though there was one mouth less to feed, her
+strength failed her, and she was unequal to the task. Care and sorrow
+did their work upon her, and though people said she died of
+consumption, Heaven knew she died of a broken heart and disappointed
+hopes.
+
+Harry was four years old when this sad event left him alone in the
+world. There was none willing to assume the burden of bringing up the
+lonely little pilgrim, and he was sent to the poorhouse. It was a hard
+fate for the tender child to be removed from the endearments of a
+mother's love, and placed in the cheerless asylum which public charity
+provides for the poor and the friendless.
+
+The child was only four years old; but he missed the fond kiss and the
+loving caresses of his devoted mother. They were kind to him there,
+but it was not home, and his heart could not but yearn for those
+treasures of affection which glittered for him only in the heart of
+his mother. There was an aching void, and though he could not
+understand or appreciate his loss, it was none the less painful.
+
+He was a favorite child, not only with the old paupers, but with the
+keeper and his family; and this circumstance undoubtedly softened the
+asperities of his lot. As soon as he was old enough, he was required
+to work as much as the keeper thought his strength would bear. He was
+very handy about the house and barn, more so than boys usually are;
+and Mr. Nason declared that, for the three years before it was
+proposed to send him away, he had more than earned his board and
+clothes.
+
+He had been at school four winters, and the schoolmasters were
+unanimous in their praise. He was a smart scholar, but a little
+disposed to be roguish.
+
+The moral discipline of the poorhouse was not of the most salutary
+character. Mr. Nason, though a generous and kind-hearted man, was not
+as exemplary in his daily life as might have been desired. Besides,
+one or two of the old paupers were rather corrupt in their manners and
+morals, and were not fit companions for a young immortal, whose mind,
+like plastic clay, was impressible to the forming power.
+
+The poorhouse was not a good place for the boy, and the wonder is that
+Harry, at twelve years of age, was not worse than we find him. He had
+learned to love Mr. Nason, as he had learned to fear and to hate
+Squire Walker. The latter seemed to have absolute power at the
+poorhouse, and to be lord and master in Redfield. But when the
+overseer proposed to place the boy in the family of a man whom even
+the paupers looked down upon and despised, his soul rebelled even
+against the mandate of the powerful magnate of the town.
+
+Harry turned the matter over and over in his mind as he sat upon the
+rock at Pine Pleasant. At first he tried to reconcile the idea of
+living with Jacob Wire; but it was a fruitless effort. The poorhouse
+seemed like a paradise to such a fate.
+
+Then he considered the possibility and the practicability of resisting
+the commands of Squire Walker. He could not obtain much satisfaction
+from either view of the difficult problem, and as a happy resort under
+the trials of the moment, he began to console himself with the
+reflection that Mr. Nason might prevail with the overseers, and save
+him from his doom.
+
+He had not much hope from this direction, and while he was turning
+again to the question of resistance, he heard footsteps in the grove.
+He did not feel like seeing any person and wished he could get out of
+sight; but there was no retreating without being observed, so he lay
+down upon the rock to wait till the intruder had passed.
+
+The person approaching did not purpose to let him off so easily; and
+when Harry heard his step on the log he raised himself up.
+
+"Hallo, Harry! What are you doing here? Taking a nap?"
+
+It was Ben Smart, a boy of fourteen, who lived near the poorhouse.
+Ben's reputation in Redfield was not A, No. 1; in fact, he had been
+solemnly and publicly expelled from the district school only three
+days before by Squire Walker, because the mistress could not manage
+him. His father was the village blacksmith, and as he had nothing for
+him to do--not particularly for the boy's benefit--he kept him at
+school all the year round.
+
+"O, is that you, Ben?" replied Harry, more for the sake of being civil
+than because he wished to speak to the other.
+
+"What are you doing here?" asked Ben, who evidently did not understand
+how a boy could be there alone, unless he was occupied about
+something.
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"Been in the water?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Fishing?"
+
+"No."
+
+Ben was nonplussed. He suspected that Harry had been engaged in some
+mysterious occupation, which he desired to conceal from him.
+
+"How long have you been here?" continued Ben, persistently.
+
+"About half an hour."
+
+Ben stopped to think. He could make nothing of it. It was worse than
+the double rule of three, which he conscientiously believed had been
+invented on purpose to bother school boys.
+
+"You are up to some trick, I know. Tell me what you come down here
+for."
+
+"Didn't come for anything."
+
+"What is the use of telling that. No feller would come clear down here
+for nothing."
+
+"I came down to think, then, if you must know," answered Harry, rather
+testily.
+
+"To think! Well, that is a good one! Ain't the poor-farm big enough to
+do your thinking on?"
+
+"I chose to come down here."
+
+"Humph! You've got the blues, Harry. I should think old Walker had
+been afoul of you, by your looks."
+
+Harry looked up suddenly, and wondered if Ben knew what had happened.
+
+"I should like to have the old rascal down here for half an hour. I
+should like to souse him into the river, and hold his head under till
+he begged my pardon," continued Ben.
+
+"So should I," added Harry.
+
+"Should you? You are a good feller, then! I mean to pay him off for
+what he did for me the other day. I wouldn't minded being turned out
+of school. I rather liked the idea; but the old muttonhead got me up
+before all the school, and read me such a lecture! He thinks there
+isn't anybody in the world but him."
+
+"The lecture didn't hurt you," suggested Harry.
+
+"No; it didn't. But that warn't the worst of it."
+
+"What else?"
+
+"My father give me a confounded licking when I got home. I haven't
+done smarting yet. But I will pay 'em for it all."
+
+"You mean Squire Walker."
+
+"And the old man, too."
+
+"If I only had a father, I wouldn't mind letting him lick me now and
+then," replied Harry, to whom home seemed a paradise, though he had
+never understood it; and a father and mother, though coarse and
+brutal, his imagination pictured as angels.
+
+"My father would learn you better than that in a few days," said Ben,
+who did not appreciate his parents, especially when they held the rod.
+
+Harry relapsed into musing again. He thought how happy he should have
+been in Ben's place. A home, a father, a mother! We value most what we
+have not; and if the pauper boy could have had the blessings which
+crowned his reckless companion's lot, it seemed as though he would
+have been contented and happy. His condescension in regard to the
+flogging now and then was a sincere expression of feeling.
+
+"What's old Walker been doing to you, Harry?" asked Ben, suspecting
+the cause of the other's gloom.
+
+"He is going to send me to Jacob Wire's to live."
+
+"Whew! That is a good one! To die, you mean; Harry, I wouldn't stand
+that."
+
+"I don't mean to."
+
+"That's right; I like your spunk. What do you mean to do?"
+
+Harry was not prepared to answer this question. He possessed a certain
+degree of prudence, and though it was easy to declare war against so
+powerful an enemy as Squire Walker, it was not so easy to carry on the
+war after it was declared. The overseer was a bigger man to him than
+the ogre in "Puss in Boots." Probably his imagination largely
+magnified the grandeur of the squire's position, and indefinitely
+multiplied the resources at his command.
+
+"What do you mean to do?" repeated Ben, who for some reason or other
+took a deep interest in Harry's affairs.
+
+"I don't know. I would rather die than go; but I don't know how I can
+help myself," answered the poor boy, gloomily.
+
+"I do."
+
+Harry looked up with interest and surprise. Ben sympathized with him
+in his trials, and his heart warmed towards him.
+
+"What, Ben?"
+
+"I daresn't tell you now," replied Ben after a short pause.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Can you keep a secret?"
+
+"Of course I can. Did I ever blow on you?"
+
+"No, you never did, Harry. You are a first rate feller, and I like
+you. But you see, if you should blow on me now, you would spoil my
+kettle of fish, and your own, too."
+
+"But I won't, Ben."
+
+"Promise me solemnly."
+
+"Solemnly," repeated Harry.
+
+"Well, then, I will get you out of the scrape as nice as a cotton
+hat."
+
+"How?"
+
+"I guess I won't tell you now; but if you will come down here to-night
+at eleven o'clock I will let you into the whole thing."
+
+"Eleven o'clock! I can't come at that time. We all go to bed at eight
+o'clock."
+
+"Get up and come."
+
+"I can do that; but perhaps Mr. Nason will persuade the overseers not
+to send me to Jacob Wire's."
+
+"I'm glad I didn't tell you, then. But promise me this, Harry: that,
+whatever happens, you'll hold your tongue."
+
+"I will, Ben."
+
+"And if Nason don't get you off, be here at eleven o'clock. Put on
+your best clothes, and take everything you want with you."
+
+"Going to run away?"
+
+"I didn't say so."
+
+Ben made him promise again to be secret, and they separated. Harry had
+an idea of what his companion intended, and the scheme solved all his
+doubts. It was a practicable scheme of resistance, and he returned to
+the poorhouse, no longer fearful of the impending calamity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+IN WHICH HARRY LEAVES THE POORHOUSE, AND TAKES TO THE RIVER
+
+
+When Harry reached the poorhouse, Mr. Nason was absent, and one of the
+paupers told him that he had taken the horse and wagon. He conjectured
+that the keeper had gone to see the other overseers, to intercede with
+them in his behalf. He did not feel as much interest in the mission as
+he had felt two hours before, for Ben Stuart had provided a remedy for
+his grievances, which he had fully decided to adopt.
+
+It was nearly sunset before Mr. Nason returned; and when he came his
+looks did not seem to indicate a favorable issue. Harry helped him
+unharness the horse, and as he led him into the barn the keeper opened
+the subject.
+
+"I have been to see the other overseers, Harry," he began, in tones
+which seemed to promise nothing hopeful.
+
+"I thought likely you had gone."
+
+"As I supposed, they are all afraid of Squire Walker. They daresn't
+say their souls are their own."
+
+"Then I must go to Jacob Wire's."
+
+"The other overseers declare, if the squire says so, you must."
+
+"It is a hard case, Mr. Nason," replied Harry, not much disappointed
+at the result.
+
+"I know it is, Harry. Perhaps you might try the place, and then, if
+you found you couldn't stand it we might make another trial to get you
+off."
+
+"I don't want to go there, anyhow. I should like to help duck the
+squire in the horse pond."
+
+"Well, Harry, I have done all I can for you," continued Mr. Nason,
+seating himself on a keg on the barn floor. "I wish I could help you."
+
+"You have been very good to me, Mr. Nason. I shall always remember you
+as the best friend I ever had," replied Harry, the tears streaming
+down his sun-browned cheeks.
+
+"Never mind that, Harry; don't cry."
+
+"I can't help it; you have been so good to me, that I hate to leave
+you," blubbered Harry.
+
+"I am sorry you must leave us; we shall miss you about the place, and
+I wish it was so that you could stay. But what makes it ten times
+worse is the idea of your going to Jacob Wire's."
+
+"Mr. Nason," said Harry, dashing down his tears, and looking earnestly
+at the keeper, "I have made up my mind that I won't go to Wire's
+anyhow."
+
+"I don't blame you; but I don't see how you can fight the squire. He
+carries too many guns for you, or for me, either, for that matter. I
+have been thinking of something, Harry, though I suppose, if I should
+speak it out loud, it would be as much as my place here is worth."
+
+"I have been thinking of something, too," continued Harry, with a good
+deal of emphasis.
+
+"What?"
+
+"I can't tell even you."
+
+Mr. Nason, sympathizing deeply with his young friend, did not attempt
+to obtain any knowledge whose possession might be inconvenient to him.
+He was disposed to help the boy escape the fate in store for him; but
+at the same time, having a family to support, he did not wish to lose
+his situation, though, if the emergency had demanded it, he would
+probably have been willing to make even this sacrifice.
+
+"I was thinking, Harry, how astonished the squire would be, when he
+comes over in the morning to take you to Jacob Wire's, if he should
+not happen to find you here."
+
+"I dare say he would," answered Harry, with a meaning smile.
+
+"By the way, have you heard from Charles Smith lately? You know he
+went to Boston last spring, and they say he has got a place, and is
+doing first rate there."
+
+The keeper smiled as he spoke, and Harry understood him as well as
+though he had spoken out the real thought that was in his mind.
+
+"I suppose others might do as he has done."
+
+"No doubt of it."
+
+Mr. Nason took from his pocket the large shot bag purse, in which he
+kept his change, and picked out four quarters.
+
+"Here, Harry, take these; when you get over to Wire's, money will keep
+you from starving. It will almost anywhere, for that matter."
+
+"How good you are!" exclaimed Harry, as he took the four quarters.
+"You have been a father to me, and one of these days I shall be able
+to pay you this money back again."
+
+"Don't trouble yourself about that. Keep it; and I wish I had a
+hundred times as much to give you."
+
+"I shall never forget you, Mr. Nason. I shall be a man one of these
+days, and we shall meet again."
+
+The supper bell rang, and they separated. Harry felt the spirit of a
+man stirring within him. He felt that the world had cast him off, and
+refused him a home, even in the poorhouse. He was determined to push
+his way through life like a hero, and he nerved himself to meet
+whatever hardships and trials might be apportioned to him.
+
+After supper he went to his room, gathered up the few articles of
+clothing which constituted his wardrobe, and tying them up in a
+bundle, concealed them in a hollow stump back of the barn.
+
+At eight o'clock he went to bed as usual. He felt no desire to sleep,
+and would not have dared to do so if he had. He heard the old kitchen
+clock strike ten. The house was still, for all had long ago retired to
+their rest, and he could hear the sonorous snores of the paupers in
+the adjoining rooms. His heart beat quick with anxiety. It was a
+novel position in which he found himself. He had been accustomed to do
+everything fairly and "above board," and the thought of rising from
+his bed and sneaking out of the house like a thief was repulsive to
+him. But it was a good cause, in his estimation, and he did not waste
+much sentiment upon the matter. A conspiracy had been formed to cheat
+him of his hopes and of his future happiness, and it seemed right to
+him that he should flee from those with whom he could not successfully
+contend.
+
+Carefully and stealthily he crept out of bed, and put on his best
+clothes, which were nothing to boast of at that, for there was many a
+darn and many a patch upon the jacket and trousers. Stockings and
+shoes were luxuries in which Harry was not indulged in the warm
+season; but he had a pair of each, which he took under his arm.
+
+Like a mouse he crept down stairs, and reached the back door of the
+house without having disturbed any of its inmates. There were no locks
+on the poorhouse doors, for burglars and thieves never invaded the
+home of the stricken, forsaken paupers.
+
+The door opened with a sharp creak, and Harry was sure he was
+detected. For several minutes he waited, but no sound was heard, and
+more carefully he opened the door wide enough to permit his passage
+out.
+
+He was now in the open air, and a sensation of relief pervaded his
+mind. He was free. No man was his master in this world, and he had not
+learned to think much of the other world. As he passed through the cow
+yard he heard the old gray mare whinny, and he could not resist the
+temptation to pay her a parting visit. They had been firm friends for
+years, and as he entered the barn she seemed to recognize him in the
+darkness.
+
+"Good-by, old Prue. I am going away to leave you," said Harry, in low
+tones, as he patted the mare upon her neck. "I hope they will use you
+well. Next to Mr. Nason, you have been my best friend. Good-by, old
+Prue."
+
+The mare whinnied again, as though she perfectly comprehended this
+affectionate speech, and wished to express her sympathy with her young
+friend in her own most eloquent language. Perhaps Harry could not
+render the speech into the vernacular, but he had a high appreciation
+of her good feeling, and repeated his caresses.
+
+"Good-by, old Prue; but, before I go, I shall give you one more feed
+of oats--the very last."
+
+The localities of the barn were as familiar to him as those of his own
+chamber; and taking the half peck measure, he filled it heaping full
+of oats at the grain chest as readily as though it had been clear
+daylight.
+
+"Here, Prue, is the last feed I shall give you"; and he emptied the
+contents of the measure into the trough. "Good-by, old Prue; I shall
+never see you again."
+
+The mare plunged her nose deep down into the savory mess, and seemed
+for a moment to forget her friend in the selfish gratification of her
+appetite. If she had fully realized the unpleasant fact that Harry was
+going, perhaps she might have been less selfish, for this was not the
+first time she had been indebted to him for extra rations.
+
+Passing through the barn, the runaway was again in the open air.
+Everything looked gloomy and sad to him, and the scene was as solemn
+as a funeral. There were no sounds to be heard but the monotonous
+chirp of the cricket, and the dismal piping of the frogs in the
+meadow. Even the owl and the whip-poor-will had ceased their nocturnal
+notes, and the stars looked more gloomy than he had ever seen them
+before.
+
+There was no time to moralize over these things, though, as he walked
+along, he could not help thinking how strange and solemn everything
+seemed on that eventful night. It was an epoch in his history; one of
+those turning points in human life, when all the works of nature and
+art, borrowing the spirit which pervades the soul, assume odd and
+unfamiliar forms. Harry was not old enough or wise enough to
+comprehend the importance of the step he was taking; still he was
+deeply impressed by the strangeness within and without.
+
+Taking his bundle from the hollow stump, he directed his steps toward
+Pine Pleasant. He walked very slowly, for his feelings swelled within
+him and retarded his steps. His imagination was busy with the past, or
+wandering vaguely to the unexplored future, which with bright promises
+tempted him to press on to the goal of prosperity. He yearned to be a
+man; to leap in an instant over the years of discipline, that yawned
+like a great gulf between his youth and his manhood. He wanted to be a
+man, that his strong arm might strike great blows; that he might win
+his way up to wealth and honor.
+
+Why couldn't he be a great man like Squire Walker. Squire West
+wouldn't sound bad.
+
+"One has only to be rich in order to be great," thought he. "Why can't
+I be rich, as well as anybody else? Who was that old fellow that saved
+up his fourpences till he was worth a hundred thousand dollars? I can
+do it as well as he, though I won't be as mean as they say he was,
+anyhow. There are chances enough to get rich, and if I fail in one
+thing, why--I can try again."
+
+Thus Harry mused as he walked along, and fixed a definite purpose
+before him to be accomplished in life. It is true it was not a very
+lofty or a very noble purpose, merely to be rich; but he had been
+obliged to do his own philosophizing. He had not yet discovered the
+true philosopher's stone. He had concluded, like the alchemists of
+old, that it was the art of turning anything into gold. The paupers,
+in their poverty, had talked most and prayed most for that which they
+had not. Wealth was to them the loftiest ideal of happiness, and Harry
+had adopted their conclusions. It is not strange, therefore, that
+Harry's first resolve was to be a rich man.
+
+"Seek ye _first_ the kingdom of heaven, and all these things shall be
+added unto you," was a text which he had often heard repeated; but he
+did not comprehend its meaning, and he had reversed the proposition,
+determined to look out for "all these things" first.
+
+The village clock struck eleven, and the peal of the clear notes on
+the silent air cut short his meditations, and admonished him to
+quicken his pace, or Ben would reach the place of rendezvous before
+him. He entered the still shades of Pine Pleasant, but saw nothing of
+his confederate. Seating himself on the familiar rock in the river, he
+returned to his meditations.
+
+He had hardly laid down his first proposition in solving the problem
+of his future success, before he was startled by the discovery of a
+bright light in the direction of the village. It was plainly a
+building on fire, and his first impulse was to rush to the meeting
+house and give the alarm; but prudence forbade. His business was with
+the great world and the future, not with Redfield and the present.
+
+A few moments later the church bell pealed its startling notes, and he
+heard the cry of fire in the village. The building, whatever it was,
+had become a mass of fierce flames, which no human arm could stay.
+
+While he was watching the exciting spectacle, he heard footsteps in
+the grove, and Ben Smart, out of breath and nearly exhausted, leaped
+upon the rock.
+
+"So you are here, Harry," gasped he.
+
+"I am, Ben," replied Harry. "Where is the fire?"
+
+"We have no time to waste now," panted Ben, rousing himself anew. "We
+must be off at once."
+
+Ben descended to the lower side of the rock, and hauled a small
+flat-bottomed boat out of the bushes that grew on the river's brink.
+
+"Where is the fire, Ben?" persisted Harry.
+
+"Never mind the fire now; jump into the boat, and let us be off."
+
+Harry obeyed, and Ben pushed off from the rock.
+
+"Where are you going?" asked Harry, not much pleased either with the
+imperative tone or the haughty reserve of his companion.
+
+"Down the river. Take the paddle and steer her; the current will take
+her along fast enough. I am so tired I can't do a thing more."
+
+Harry took the paddle and seated himself in the stern of the boat,
+while Ben, puffing and blowing like a locomotive, placed himself at
+the bow.
+
+"Tell me now where the fire is," said Harry, whose curiosity would not
+be longer resisted.
+
+"_Squire Walker's barn._"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+IN WHICH IT IS SHOWN THAT THE NAVIGATION OF THE RIVER IS DIFFICULT AND
+DANGEROUS
+
+
+Harry was astounded at this information. Ben was exhausted, as though
+he had been running very hard; besides, he was much agitated--more so
+than the circumstances of the occasion seemed to justify. In
+connection with the threat which his companion had uttered that day,
+these appearances seemed to point to a solution of the burning
+building. He readily understood that Ben, in revenge for the indignity
+the squire had cast upon him, had set the barn on fire, and was now
+running away by the light of it.
+
+This was more than he had bargained for. However ill-natured he felt
+towards the squire for his proposal to send him to Jacob Wire's, it
+never occurred to him to retaliate by committing a crime. His ideas of
+Christian charity and of forgiveness were but partially developed; and
+though he could not feel right towards his powerful enemy, he felt no
+desire to punish him so severely as Ben had done.
+
+His companion gave him a short answer, and manifested no disposition
+to enlarge upon the subject; and for several minutes both maintained a
+profound silence.
+
+The boat, drifting slowly with the current, was passing from the pond
+into the narrow river, and it required all Harry's skill to keep her
+from striking the banks on either side. His mind was engrossed with
+the contemplation of the new and startling event which had so suddenly
+presented itself to embarrass his future operations. Ben was a
+criminal in the eye of the law, and would be subjected to a severe
+penalty if detected.
+
+"I shouldn't have thought you would have done that," Harry observed,
+when the silence became painful to him.
+
+"Done what?" asked Ben, sharply.
+
+"Set the barn afire."
+
+"Who said I set it afire?"
+
+"Well, I can see through a millstone when there is a hole in it."
+
+"I didn't say I set the barn afire."
+
+"I know you didn't; but you said you meant to pay the squire off for
+what he had done to you."
+
+"I mean to."
+
+"Haven't you done it already?"
+
+"I didn't say I had," answered Ben, who was evidently debating with
+himself whether he should admit Harry to his confidence.
+
+"But didn't you set the barn afire?"
+
+"What if I did?"
+
+"Why, I should say you run a great risk."
+
+"I don't care for that."
+
+"I see the reason now, why you wouldn't tell me what you was going to
+do before."
+
+"We are in for it now, Harry. I meant to pay off the squire, and--"
+
+"Then you did set the barn afire?"
+
+"I didn't say so; and, more than that, I don't mean to say so. If you
+can see through a millstone, why, just open your eyes--that's all."
+
+"I am sorry you did it, Ben."
+
+"No whining, Harry; be a man."
+
+"I mean to be a man; but I don't think there was any need of burning
+the barn."
+
+"I do; I couldn't leave Redfield without squaring accounts with Squire
+Walker."
+
+"Where are you going, Ben?"
+
+"To Boston, of course."
+
+"How shall we get there?"
+
+"We will go by the river, as far as we can; then take to the road."
+
+"But this is George Leman's boat--isn't it?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You hooked it?"
+
+"Of course I did; you don't suppose I should mind trifles at such a
+time as this! But he can have it again, when I have done with it."
+
+"What was the use of taking the boat?"
+
+"In the first place, don't you think it is easier to sail in a boat
+than to walk? And in the second place, the river runs through the
+woods for five or six miles below Pine Pleasant; so that no one will
+be likely to see us. We shall get off without being found out."
+
+"But the river is not deep enough. It is full of rocks about three
+miles down."
+
+"We won't mind them. We can keep her clear of the rocks well enough.
+When I was down the river last spring, you couldn't see a single rock
+above water, and we don't draw more than six inches."
+
+"But that was in the spring, when the water was high. I don't believe
+we can get the boat through."
+
+"Yes, we can; at any rate, we can jump ashore and tow her down,"
+replied Ben, confidently, though his calculations were somewhat
+disturbed by Harry's reasoning.
+
+"There is another difficulty, Ben," suggested Harry.
+
+"O, there are a hundred difficulties; but we mustn't mind them."
+
+"They will miss the boat, and suspect at once who has got it."
+
+"We shall be out of their reach when they miss it."
+
+"I heard George Leman say he was going a fishing in her to-morrow."
+
+"Did you? Then why didn't you say so before?" retorted Ben, angrily.
+
+"Because you didn't tell me what you were going to do. How could I?"
+
+"Never mind; it is no use to cry for spilt milk. We will make the best
+of it."
+
+"We are in for it now."
+
+"That we are; and if you only stick by me, it will all come out right.
+If we get caught, you must keep a stiff upper lip."
+
+"Never fear me."
+
+"And, above all, don't blow on me."
+
+"Of course I won't."
+
+"Whatever happens, promise that you will stick by me."
+
+"I will, Ben."
+
+"That's a good fellow, Harry. On that, we will take a bit of luncheon,
+and have a good time of it."
+
+As he spoke, Ben drew out from under the seat in the bow a box filled
+with bread and cheese.
+
+"You see we are provisioned for a cruise, Harry," added Ben, as he
+offered the contents of the box to his companion. "Here is enough to
+last us two or three days."
+
+"But you don't mean to keep on the river so long as that?"
+
+"I mean to stick to the boat as long as the navigation will permit,"
+replied Ben, with more energy than he had before manifested, for he
+was recovering from the perturbation with which the crime he had
+committed filled his mind.
+
+"There is a factory village, with a dam across the river, six or seven
+miles below here."
+
+"I know it; but perhaps we can get the boat round the dam in the night
+time, and continue our voyage below. Don't you remember that piece in
+the Reader about John Ledyard--how he went down the Connecticut River
+in a canoe?"
+
+"Yes; and you got your idea from that?"
+
+"I did; and I mean to have a first rate time of it."
+
+Ben proceeded to describe the anticipated pleasures of the river
+voyage, as he munched his bread and cheese; and Harry listened with a
+great deal of satisfaction. Running away was not such a terrible
+thing, after all. It was both business and pleasure, and his
+imagination was much inflated by the brilliant prospect before him.
+There was something so novel and exciting in the affair, that his
+first experience was of the most delightful character.
+
+He forgot the crime his companion had committed, and had almost come
+to regard the burning of the squire's barn as a just and proper
+retribution upon him for conspiring against the rights and privileges
+of young America.
+
+My young readers may not know how easy it is even for a good boy to
+learn to love the companionship of those who are vicious, and disposed
+to take the road which leads down to moral ruin and death. Those lines
+of Pope, which are familiar to almost every school boy, convey a great
+truth, and a thrilling warning to those who first find themselves
+taking pleasure in the society of wicked men, or wicked boys:
+
+    "Vice is a monster of so frightful mien
+     As to be hated, needs but to be seen;
+     But seen too oft, familiar with her face,
+     We first endure, then pity, then embrace."
+
+Now, I have not represented my hero, at this stage of the story, as a
+very good boy, and it did not require much time to familiarize him
+with the wickedness which was in Ben's heart, and which he did not
+take any pains to conceal. The transition from enduring to pitying and
+from that to embracing was sudden and easy, if, indeed, there was any
+middle passage between the first and last stage.
+
+I am sorry to say that an hour's fellowship with Ben, under the
+exciting circumstances in which we find them, had led him to think Ben
+a very good fellow, notwithstanding the crime he had committed. I
+shall do my young reader the justice to believe he hopes Harry will be
+a better boy, and obtain higher and nobler views of duty. It must be
+remembered that Harry had never learned to "love God and man" on the
+knee of an affectionate mother. He had long ago forgotten the little
+prayers she had taught him, and none were said at the poorhouse. We
+are sorry he was no better; but when we consider under what influences
+he had been brought up, it is not strange that he was not a good boy.
+Above every earthly good, we may be thankful for the blessing of a
+good home, where we have been taught our duty to God, to our
+fellow-beings, and to ourselves.
+
+The young navigators talked lightly of the present and the future, as
+the boat floated gently along through the gloomy forest. They heard
+the Redfield clock strike twelve, and then one. The excitement had
+begun to die out. Harry yawned, for he missed his accustomed sleep,
+and felt that a few hours' rest in his bed at the poorhouse was even
+preferable to navigating the river at midnight. Ben gaped several
+times, and the fun was really getting very stale.
+
+Those "who go down to the sea in ships," or navigate the river in
+boats, must keep their eyes open. It will never do to slumber at the
+helm; and Harry soon had a practical demonstration of the truth of the
+proposition. He was so sleepy that he could not possibly keep his eyes
+open; and Ben, not having the care of the helm, had actually dropped
+off, and was bowing as politely as a French dancing master to his
+companion in the stern. They were a couple of smart sailors, and
+needed a little wholesome discipline to teach them the duty of those
+who are on the watch.
+
+The needed lesson was soon administered; for just as Ben was making
+one of his lowest bows in his semi-conscious condition, the bow of the
+boat ran upon a concealed rock, which caused her to keel over to one
+side, and very gently pitch the sleeper into the river.
+
+Of course, this catastrophe brought the commander of the expedition to
+his senses, and roused the helmsman to a sense of his own delinquency,
+though it is clear that, as there were no lighthouses on the banks of
+the river, and the intricacies of the channel had never been defined
+and charted for the benefit of the adventurous navigator, no human
+forethought could have provided against the accident.
+
+Harry put the boat about, and assisted his dripping shipmate on board
+again. The ducking he had received did not operate very favorably upon
+Ben's temper, and he roundly reproached his companion for his
+carelessness. The steersman replied with becoming spirit to this
+groundless charge, telling him he had better keep his eyes open the
+rest of the night. Wet and chilly as he was, Ben couldn't help
+growling; and both evidently realized that the affair was not half as
+romantic as they had adjudged it to be an hour or two before.
+
+"Never mind it, Ben. If we fail once let us try again--that's all."
+
+"Try again? You want to drown me, don't you?" snarled Ben.
+
+Harry assured him he did not, and called his attention to the sound of
+dashing waters, which could now be plainly heard. They were
+approaching the rocks, and it was certain from the noise that
+difficult navigation was before them. Harry proposed to haul up by the
+river's side, and wait for daylight; to which proposition Ben, whose
+ardor was effectually cooled by the bath he had received, readily
+assented.
+
+Accordingly they made fast the painter to a tree on the shore, and
+both of them disembarked. While Harry was gathering up a pile of dead
+leaves for a bed, Ben amused himself by wringing out his wet clothes.
+
+"Suppose we make a fire, Harry?" suggested Ben; and it would certainly
+have been a great luxury to one in his damp condition.
+
+"No; it will betray us," replied Harry, with alarm.
+
+"Humph! It is easy enough for you to talk, who are warm and dry,"
+growled Ben. "I am going to have a fire, anyhow."
+
+In vain Harry protested. Ben had some matches in the boat, and in a
+few minutes a cheerful fire blazed in the forest. As the leader of the
+enterprise felt its glowing warmth his temper was sensibly impressed,
+and he even had the hardihood to laugh at his late misfortune. But
+Harry did not care just then whether his companion was pleasant or
+sour, for he had stretched himself on his bed of leaves, and was in a
+fair way to forget the trials and hardships of the voyage in the deep
+sleep which makes it "all night" with a tired boy.
+
+After Ben was thoroughly dried and warmed, he placed himself by the
+side of his fellow-voyager, and both journeyed together through the
+quiet shades of dreamland, leaving no wakeful eye to watch over the
+interests of the expedition while they slumbered.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+IN WHICH HARRY FIGHTS A HARD BATTLE, AND IS DEFEATED
+
+
+The sun was high in the heavens when the tired boatmen awoke.
+Unaccustomed as they were to fatigue and late hours, they had been
+completely overcome by the exertion and exposure of the previous
+night. Harry was the first to recover his lost senses; and when he
+opened his eyes, everything looked odd and strange to him. It was not
+the rough, but neat and comfortable little room in the poorhouse which
+greeted his dawning consciousness; it was the old forest and the
+dashing river. He did not feel quite at home; the affair had been
+divested of its air of romance, and he felt more like a runaway boy
+than the hero of a fairy tale.
+
+"Hallo, Ben!" shouted he, to his sleeping companion.
+
+Ben growled once, and then rolled over, as if angry at being
+disturbed.
+
+"Ben! We shall be caught if you don't wake up. There, the clock is
+striking eight!" and to give Ben a better idea of where he was, he
+administered a smart kick in the region of the ribs.
+
+"What are you about?" snarled Ben, springing to his feet with clinched
+fists.
+
+"Time we were moving. Don't you see how high the sun is? The clock has
+just struck eight."
+
+"No matter for that. We are just as safe here as anywhere else. You
+kick me again, and see where you will be!"
+
+"Come, come, Ben; don't get mad."
+
+"Don't kick me, then."
+
+"What are you going to do now?"
+
+"That's my business. You do what I tell you, that's all you have to do
+with it," replied Ben, imperiously, as he walked to the bank of the
+river to survey the difficulties of the navigation.
+
+"_Is_ it?" asked Harry, not particularly pleased with this
+interpretation of their relations.
+
+"You better believe it is."
+
+"I don't believe anything of the kind. I ain't your <DW65>, anyhow!"
+added Harry, with spirit.
+
+"I'll bet you are."
+
+"I'll bet I ain't."
+
+"What are you going to do about it?"
+
+"I'll let you know what I am going to do."
+
+"If you don't mind what I tell you, I'll wallop you on the spot."
+
+"No, you won't"; and Harry turned on his heel, and leisurely walked
+off towards the thickest of the forest.
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"Off."
+
+"Off where?"
+
+"Do you think I'm going to stay with you, to be treated like a dog!"
+replied Harry, as he continued his retreat.
+
+Ben started after him, but Harry picked up a stick of wood and stood
+on the defensive.
+
+"Now, if you don't come back, I'll break your head!" said Ben.
+
+"Look out that your own don't get broke"; and Harry brandished his
+cudgel in the air.
+
+Ben glanced at the club, and saw from the flash of Harry's bright eye
+that he was thoroughly aroused. His companion was not to be trifled
+with, and he was ready to abandon the point.
+
+"Come, Harry, it's no use for us to quarrel," he added, with a forced
+smile.
+
+"I know that; but I won't be trod upon by you or anybody else."
+
+"I don't want to tread on you."
+
+"Yes, you do; you needn't think you are going to lord it over me in
+that way. I will go back to the poorhouse first."
+
+"Let's be friends again, Harry. Throw down your club."
+
+"Yes, and let you lick me, then! No, you don't!"
+
+"I won't touch you, Harry; upon my word and honor, I won't."
+
+"Humph! Your word and honor ain't worth much. I'll go back, if you'll
+behave yourself; but I shall keep the club handy."
+
+"Anyway you like; but let us be off."
+
+Ben changed his tone, and condescended to tell Harry what he meant to
+do, even at the sacrifice of his dignity as commander of the
+expedition. An appearance at least of good feeling was restored, and
+after breakfasting on their bread and cheese, they embarked again, on
+what promised to be a perilous voyage.
+
+For a quarter of a mile below, the bed of the narrow river was spotted
+with rocks, among which the water dashed with a fury that threatened
+the destruction of their frail bark. For a time they seriously debated
+the question of abandoning the project, Harry proposing to penetrate
+the woods in a northeasterly direction. Ben, however, could not
+abandon the prospect of sailing leisurely down the river when they had
+passed the rapids, making the passage without any exertion. He was not
+pleased with the idea of trudging along on foot for thirty miles, when
+the river would bear them to the city with only a little difficulty
+occasionally at the rapids and shoal places. Perhaps his plan would
+have been practicable at the highest stage of water, but the river was
+now below its ordinary level.
+
+Ben's love of an easy and romantic time carried the day, and Harry's
+practical common-sense reasoning was of no avail, and a taunt at his
+cowardice induced him to yield the point.
+
+"Now, Harry, you take one of the paddles, and place yourself in the
+bow, while I steer," said Ben, as he assumed his position.
+
+"Very well; you shall be captain of the boat, and I will do just as
+you say; but I won't be bullied on shore," replied Harry, taking the
+station assigned him.
+
+"All right; now cast off the painter, and let her slide. Keep both
+eyes open."
+
+"Never fear me; I will do my share."
+
+The boat floated out into the current, and was borne rapidly down the
+swift-flowing stream. They were not very skillful boatmen, and it was
+more a matter of tact than of strength to keep the boat from dashing
+on the sharp rocks. For a little way they did very well, though the
+passage was sufficiently exciting to call their powers into action,
+and to suggest a doubt as to the ultimate result of the venture.
+
+They soon reached a place, however, where the river turned a sharp
+angle, and the waters were furiously precipitated down upon a bed of
+rocks, which threatened them with instant destruction.
+
+"We shall be smashed to pieces!" exclaimed the foolhardy pilot, as his
+eye measured the descent of the waters. "Let's try to get ashore."
+
+"Too late now," replied Harry, coolly. "Put her through, hit or miss."
+
+But Ben's courage all oozed out, in the face of this imminent peril,
+and he made a vain attempt to push the boat toward the shore.
+
+"Paddle your end round, Harry," gasped Ben, in the extremity of fear.
+"We shall be smashed to pieces."
+
+"Too late, Ben; stand stiff, and make the best of it," answered Harry,
+as he braced himself to meet the shock.
+
+The rushing waters bore the boat down the stream in spite of the
+feeble efforts of the pilot to check her progress. Ben seemed to have
+lost all his self-possession, and stooped down, holding on with both
+hands at the gunwale.
+
+Down she went into the boiling caldron of waters, roaring and foaming
+like a little Niagara. One hard bump on the sharp rocks, and Harry
+heard the boards snap under him. He waited for no more, but grasping
+the over-hanging branches of a willow, which grew on the bank, and
+upon which he had before fixed his eyes as the means of rescuing
+himself, he sprang up into the tree, and saw Ben tumbled from the boat
+into the seething caldron.
+
+"Save me, Harry!" shouted Ben.
+
+But Harry had to save himself first, which, however, was not a
+difficult matter. Swinging himself from branch to branch till he
+reached the trunk of the willow, he descended to the ground, without
+having even wet the soles of his shoes.
+
+"Save me! save me!" cried Ben, in piteous accents, as the current bore
+him down the stream.
+
+"Hold on to the boat," replied Harry, "and I will be there in a
+minute."
+
+Seizing a long pole which had some time formed a part of a fence
+there, he hastened down the bank to the water's edge. The water was
+not very deep, but it ran so rapidly that Ben could neither swim nor
+stand upon the bottom; and but for his companion's promptness he would
+undoubtedly have been drowned. Grasping the long pole which Harry
+extended to him, he was drawn to the shore, having received no other
+injury than a terrible fright and a good ducking.
+
+"Here we are," said Harry, when his companion was safely landed.
+
+"Yes, here we are," growled Ben; "and it is all your fault that we are
+here."
+
+"It is my fault that _you_ are here; for if I had not pulled you out
+of the river, you would have been drowned," replied Harry,
+indignantly; and perhaps he felt a little sorry just then that he had
+rescued his ungrateful commander.
+
+"Yes, and if you had only done as I told you, and pushed for the shore
+above the fall, all this would not have happened."
+
+"And if you hadn't been a fool, we should not have tried to go through
+such a hole. There goes your old boat"; and Harry pointed to the
+wreck, filled with water, floating down the stream.
+
+"Here they are!" shouted a voice, not far from them.
+
+Harry started, and so did Ben.
+
+"We are caught!" exclaimed Ben.
+
+"Not yet," replied Harry, with some trepidation, as he broke off a
+piece of the pole that lay at his feet, and retreated from the river.
+"Take a club, for I am not going to be carried back without fighting
+for it."
+
+A survey of the ground and of the pursuers enabled him to prepare for
+the future. He discovered at a glance the weakness of the assailants.
+
+"Take a club, Ben. Don't you see there is only one man on this side of
+the river? and we can easily beat him off."
+
+Ben took the club; but he seemed not to have the energy to use it. In
+fact, Harry showed himself better qualified to manage the present
+interests of the expedition than his companion. All at once he
+developed the attributes of a skillful commander, while his
+confederate seemed to have lost all his cunning and all his
+determination.
+
+"Now, let us run; and if we are caught we will fight for it," said
+Harry.
+
+The boys took to their heels, and having a fair start of their
+pursuer, they kept clear of him for a considerable distance; but Ben's
+wet clothes impeded his progress, and Harry had too much magnanimity
+to save himself at the sacrifice of his companion.
+
+It was evident, after the chase had continued a short time, that
+their pursuer was gaining upon them. In vain Harry urged Ben to
+increase his speed; his progress was very slow, and it was soon
+apparent to Harry that they were wasting their breath in running when
+they would need it for the fight.
+
+"Now, Ben, we can easily whip this man, and save ourselves. Be a man,
+and let us stand by each other to the last."
+
+Ben made no reply; but when Harry stopped, he did the same.
+
+"Keep off! or we will knock your brains out," cried Harry, placing
+himself in the attitude of defense.
+
+But the man took no notice of this piece of bravado; and as he
+approached Harry leveled a blow at his head. The man warded it off,
+and sprang forward to grasp the little rebel.
+
+"Hit him, Ben!" shouted Harry, as he dodged the swoop of his
+assailant.
+
+To his intense indignation and disgust, Ben, instead of seconding his
+assault, dropped his club and fled. He seemed to run a good deal
+faster than he had run before that day; but Harry did not give up the
+point. The man pressed him closely, and he defended himself with a
+skill and vigor worthy a better cause. But it was of no use; or, if it
+was, it only gave Ben more time to effect his escape.
+
+The unequal contest, however, soon terminated in the capture of our
+resolute hero, and the man tied his hands behind his back; but he did
+not dare to leave the young lion to go in pursuit of his less
+unfortunate, but more guilty, confederate.
+
+"There, Master Harry West, I think you have got into a tight place
+now," said his captor, whose name was Nathan Leman, brother of the
+person to whom the boat belonged. "We will soon put you in a place
+where you won't burn any more barns."
+
+Harry was confounded at this charge, and promptly and indignantly
+denied it. He had not considered the possibility of being accused of
+such a crime, and it seemed to put a new aspect upon his case.
+
+"You did not set fire to Squire Walker's barn last night?" replied
+Leman, incredulously.
+
+"No, I did not."
+
+"Perhaps you can make the squire believe it," sneered his captor.
+
+"I didn't do it."
+
+"Didn't steal my brother's boat, either, did you?"
+
+"_I_ didn't."
+
+"Who did?"
+
+Harry thought a moment. After the mean trick which Ben Smart had
+served him, he did not feel very kindly towards him, but he was not
+yet prepared to betray him.
+
+"I didn't," was his reply.
+
+Nathan Leman then conducted his prisoner to the river's side. By this
+time the other pursuer, who had been obliged to ascend the river for a
+quarter of a mile before he could cross, joined him.
+
+"Where is the other fellow?" he asked.
+
+"Couldn't catch him. This one fought like a young tiger, and I
+couldn't leave him," replied Nathan. "If you will take Harry up to the
+village I will soon have him."
+
+The other assented, and while Nathan went in search of Ben, Harry was
+conducted back to the village.
+
+The prisoner was sad and depressed in spirits; but he did not lose all
+hope. He was appalled at the idea of being accused of burning the
+barn; but he was innocent, and had a vague assurance that no harm
+could befall him on that account.
+
+When they entered the village, a crowd gathered around them, eager to
+learn the particulars of the capture; but without pausing to gratify
+this curiosity, Harry's conductor led him to the poorhouse, and placed
+him in charge of Mr. Nason.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+IN WHICH HARRY CONCLUDES THAT A DEFEAT IS SOMETIMES BETTER THAN A
+VICTORY
+
+
+The keeper of the poorhouse received Harry in sullen silence, and
+conducted him to the chamber in which he had been ordered to keep him
+a close prisoner. He apparently had lost all confidence in him, and
+regretted that he had connived at his escape.
+
+Harry did not like the cold and repulsive deportment of his late
+friend. Mr. Nason had always been kind to him; now he seemed to have
+fallen in with Squire Walker's plans, and was willing to be the
+instrument of the overseer's narrow and cruel policy. Before, he had
+taken his part against the mighty, so far as it was prudent for him to
+do so; now, he was willing to go over to the enemy.
+
+The reverse made him sadder than any other circumstance of his
+return--sadder than the fear of punishment, or even of being sent to
+live with Jacob Wire.
+
+"I've got back again," said Harry, when they reached the chamber in
+which he was to be confined.
+
+"I see you have," replied Mr. Nason, in freezing tones.
+
+The keeper had never spoken to him in such tones, and Harry burst into
+tears. His only friend had deserted him, and he felt more desolate
+than ever before in his life.
+
+"You needn't cry, now," said Mr. Nason, sternly.
+
+"I can't help it," sobbed the little prisoner.
+
+"Can't you?"
+
+Mr. Nason sneered as he spoke, and his sneer pierced the heart of
+Harry.
+
+"O, Mr. Nason!"
+
+"There--that will do. You needn't blubber any more. You have made your
+bed, and now you can lie in it;" and the keeper turned on his heel to
+leave the room.
+
+"Don't leave me yet," pleaded Harry.
+
+"Leave you? What do you want of me? I suppose you want to tell me I
+advised you to burn the barn."
+
+"I didn't set the barn afire!" exclaimed Harry, now for the first time
+realizing the cause of his friend's displeasure.
+
+"Don't lie."
+
+"I speak the truth. I did not set it afire, or even know that it was
+going to be set on fire."
+
+Mr. Nason closed the door which he had opened to depart. The firm
+denial, as well as the tone and manner of the boy, arrested his
+judgment against him. He had learned to place implicit confidence in
+Harry's word; for, though he might have told lies to others, he never
+told them to him.
+
+"Who did burn the barn?" asked the keeper, looking sternly into the
+eye of the culprit.
+
+Harry hesitated. A sense of honor and magnanimity pervaded his soul.
+He had obtained some false notions; and he did not understand that he
+could hardly be false to one who had been false to himself--that to
+help a criminal conceal his crime was to conspire against the peace
+and happiness of his fellow-beings. Shabbily as Ben Smart had used
+him, he could not make up his mind to betray him.
+
+"You don't answer," added Mr. Nason.
+
+"I didn't do it."
+
+"But who did?"
+
+"I don't like to tell."
+
+"Very well; you can do as you like. After what I had done for you, it
+was a little strange that you should do as you have."
+
+"I will tell you all about it, Mr. Nason, if you will promise not to
+tell."
+
+"I know all about it. You and Ben Smart put your heads together to be
+revenged on the squire; you set his barn afire, and then stole Leman's
+boat."
+
+"No, sir; I didn't set the barn afire, nor steal the boat, nor help to
+do either."
+
+"You and he were together."
+
+"We were; and if it wasn't for being mean to Ben, I would tell you all
+about it."
+
+"Mean to Ben! As soon as it was known that you and Ben were missing,
+everybody in the village knew who set the barn afire. All you have got
+to do is to clear yourself, if you can; Ben is condemned already."
+
+"If you will hear my story I will tell you all about it."
+
+Harry proceeded to narrate everything that had occurred since he left
+the house on the preceding night. It was a very clear and plausible
+statement. He answered all the questions which Mr. Nason proposed with
+promptness, and his replies were consistent.
+
+"I believe you, Harry," said the keeper, when he had finished his
+examination. "Somehow I couldn't believe you would do such a thing as
+set the squire's barn afire."
+
+"I wouldn't," replied Harry, warmly, and much pleased to find he had
+re-established the confidence of his friend.
+
+"But it is a bad case. The fact of your being with Ben Smart is almost
+enough to convict you."
+
+"I shouldn't have been with him, if I had known he set the barn
+afire."
+
+"I don't know as I can do anything for you, Harry; but I will try."
+
+"Thank you."
+
+Mr. Nason left him, and Harry had an opportunity to consider the
+desperate circumstances of his position. It looked just as though he
+should be sent to the house of correction. But he was innocent. He
+felt his innocence; as he expressed it to the keeper afterwards, he
+"felt it in his bones." It did not, on further consideration, seem
+probable that he would be punished for doing what he had not done,
+either as principal or accessory. A vague idea of an all-pervading
+justice consoled him; and he soon reasoned himself into a firm
+assurance that he should escape unharmed.
+
+He was in the mood for reasoning just then--perhaps because he had
+nothing better to do, or perhaps because the added experience of the
+last twenty-four hours enabled him to reason better than before. His
+fine scheme of getting to Boston, and there making a rich and great
+man of himself, had signally failed. He did not give it up, however.
+
+"I have failed once, but I will try again," said he to himself, as the
+conclusion of the whole matter; and he picked up an old school book
+which lay on the table.
+
+The book contained a story, which he had often read, about a man who
+had met with a long list of misfortunes, as he deemed them when they
+occurred, but which proved to be blessings in disguise.
+
+    "Oft from apparent ills our blessings rise,
+     Act well your part; there all the honor lies."
+
+This couplet from the school books came to his aid, also; and he
+proceeded to make an application of this wisdom to his own mishaps.
+
+"Suppose I had gone on with Ben. He is a miserable fellow," thought
+Harry; "he would have led me into all manner of wickedness. I ought
+not to have gone with him, or had anything to do with him. He might
+have made a thief and a robber of me. I know I ain't any better than I
+should be; but I don't believe I'm as bad as he is. At any rate, I
+wouldn't set a barn afire. It is all for the best, just as the parson
+says when anybody dies. By this scrape I have got clear of Ben, and
+learned a lesson that I won't forget in a hurry."
+
+Harry was satisfied with this logic, and really believed that
+something which an older and more devout person would have regarded as
+a special providence had interposed to save him from a life of infamy
+and wickedness. It was a blessed experience, and his thoughts were
+very serious and earnest.
+
+In the afternoon Squire Walker came down to the poorhouse to subject
+Harry to a preliminary examination. Ben Smart had not been taken, and
+the pursuers had abandoned the chase.
+
+"Boy," said the squire, when Harry was brought before him; "look at
+me."
+
+Harry looked at the overseer with all his might. He had got far enough
+to despise the haughty little great man. A taste of freedom had
+enlarged his ideas and developed his native independence, so that he
+did not quail, as the squire intended he should; on the contrary, his
+eyes snapped with the earnestness of his gaze. With an honest and just
+man, his unflinching eye would have been good evidence in his favor;
+but the pompous overseer wished to awe him, rather than get at the
+simple truth.
+
+"You set my barn on fire," continued the squire.
+
+"I did not," replied Harry, firmly.
+
+"Yes, you did. How dare you deny it?"
+
+"I did not."
+
+He had often read, and heard read, that passage of Scripture which
+says, "Let your communication be Yea, yea, Nay, nay; for whatsoever is
+more than these cometh of evil." Just then he felt the truth of the
+inspired axiom. It seemed just as though any amount of violent
+protestations would not help him; and though the squire repeated the
+charge half a dozen times, he only replied with his firm and simple
+denial.
+
+Then Squire Walker called his hired man, upon whose evidence he
+depended for the conviction of the little incendiary.
+
+"Is that the boy, John?" asked the squire, pointing to Harry.
+
+"No, sir; it was a bigger boy than that," replied John, without
+hesitation.
+
+"Are you sure?"
+
+"O, very sure."
+
+"It must be that this is the boy," persisted the squire, evidently
+much disappointed by the testimony of the man.
+
+"I am certain it was a bigger boy than this."
+
+"I feel pretty clear about it, Mr. Nason," added the squire. "You
+see, this boy was mad, yesterday, because I wanted to send him to
+Jacob Wire's. My barn is burned, and it stands to reason he burned
+it."
+
+"But I saw the boy round the barn night afore last," interposed John,
+who was certainly better qualified to be a justice of the peace than
+his employer.
+
+"I know that; but the barn wasn't burned till last night."
+
+"But Harry couldn't have had any grudge against you night before
+last," said Mr. Nason.
+
+"I don't know about that," mused the squire, who was apparently trying
+to reconcile the facts to his theory, rather than the theory to the
+facts.
+
+John, the hired man, lived about three miles from the squire's house.
+His father was very sick; and he had been home every evening for a
+week, returning between ten and eleven. On the night preceding the
+fire, he had seen a boy prowling round the barn, who ran away at his
+approach. The next day, he found a pile of withered grass, dry sticks,
+and other combustibles heaped against a loose board in the side of the
+barn. He had informed the squire of the facts, but the worthy justice
+did not consider them of much moment.
+
+Probably Ben had intended to burn the barn then, but had been
+prevented from executing his purpose by the approach of the hired man.
+
+"This must be the boy," added the squire.
+
+"He had on a sack coat, and was bigger than this boy," replied John.
+
+"Harry has no sack coat," put in Mr. Nason, eagerly catching at his
+evidence.
+
+"It is easy to be mistaken in the night. Search him, and see if there
+are any matches about him."
+
+Undoubtedly this was a very brilliant suggestion of the squire's muddy
+intellect--as though every man who carried matches was necessarily an
+incendiary. But no matches were found upon Harry; and, according to
+the intelligent justice's perception of the nature of evidence, the
+suspected party should have been acquitted.
+
+No matches were found on Harry; but in his jacket pocket, carefully
+enclosed in a piece of brown paper, were found the four quarters of a
+dollar given to him by Mr. Nason.
+
+"Where did you get those?" asked the squire, sternly.
+
+"They were given to me," replied Harry.
+
+Mr. Nason averted his eyes, and was very uneasy. The fact of having
+given this money to Harry went to show that he had been privy to his
+escape; and his kind act seemed to threaten him with ruin.
+
+"Who gave them to you?"
+
+Harry made no reply.
+
+"Answer me," thundered the squire.
+
+"I shall not tell," replied Harry.
+
+"You shall not?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+The squire was nonplussed. The boy was as firm as a hero; and no
+threats could induce him to betray his kind friend, whose position he
+fully comprehended.
+
+"We will see," roared the squire.
+
+Several persons who had been present during the examination, and who
+were satisfied that Harry was innocent of the crime charged upon him,
+interfered to save him from the consequences of the squire's wrath.
+
+Mr. Nason, finding that his young friend was likely to suffer for his
+magnanimity, explained the matter--thus turning the squire's anger
+from the boy to himself.
+
+"So you helped the boy run away--did you?" said the overseer.
+
+"He did not; he told me that money would keep me from starving."
+
+"Did he?"
+
+Those present understood the allusion, and the squire did not press
+the matter any further. In the course of the examination, Ben Smart
+had often been alluded to, and the crime was fastened upon him. Harry
+told his story, which, confirmed by the evidence of the hired man,
+was fully credited by all except the squire, who had conceived a
+violent antipathy to the boy.
+
+The examination was informal; the squire did not hold it as a justice
+of the peace, but only as a citizen, or, at most, as an overseer of
+the poor. However, it proved that, as the burning of the barn had been
+planned before any difficulty had occurred between the squire and
+Harry, he had no motive for doing the deed.
+
+The squire was not satisfied; but the worst he could do was to commit
+Harry to the care of Jacob Wire, which was immediately done.
+
+"I am sorry for you, Harry," whispered Mr. Nason.
+
+"Never mind; I shall _try again_," he replied, as he jumped into the
+wagon with his persecutor.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+IN WHICH HARRY FINDS HIMSELF IN A TIGHT PLACE AND EXECUTES A COUNTER
+MOVEMENT
+
+
+"Jacob, here is the boy," said Squire Walker, as he stopped his horse
+in front of an old, decayed house.
+
+Jacob Wire was at work in his garden, by the side of the house; and
+when the squire spoke, he straightened his back, regarding Harry with
+a look of mingled curiosity and distrust. He evidently did not like
+his appearance. He looked as though he would eat too much; and to a
+man as mean as Jacob, this was the sum total of all enormities.
+Besides, the little pauper had earned a bad reputation within the
+preceding twenty-four hours, and his new master glanced uneasily at
+his barn, and then at the boy, as though he deemed it unsafe to have
+such a desperate character about his premises.
+
+"He is a hard boy, Jacob, and will need a little taming. They fed him
+too high at the poorhouse," continued the squire.
+
+"That spoils boys," replied Jacob, solemnly.
+
+"So it does."
+
+"So, this is the boy that burnt your barn?"
+
+"Well, I don't know. I rather think it was the Smart boy. Perhaps he
+knew about it, though;" and the squire proceeded to give his
+brother-in-law the particulars of the informal examination; for Jacob
+Wire, who could hardly afford to lie still on Sundays, much less other
+days, had not been up to the village to hear the news.
+
+"You must be pretty sharp with him," said the overseer, in conclusion.
+"Keep your eye on him all the time, for we may want him again, as soon
+as they can catch the other boy."
+
+Jacob promised to do the best he could with Harry, who, during the
+interview, had maintained a sullen silence; and the squire departed,
+assured that he had done his whole duty to the public and to the
+little pauper.
+
+"Well, boy, it is about sundown now, and I guess we will go in and get
+some supper before we do any more. But let me tell you beforehand, you
+must walk pretty straight here, or you will fare hard."
+
+Harry vouchsafed no reply to this speech, and followed Jacob into the
+house. His first meal at his new place confirmed all he had heard
+about the penuriousness of his master. There was very little to eat on
+the table, but Mrs. Wire gave him the poorest there was--a hard crust
+of brown bread, a cold potato, and a dish of warm water with a very
+little molasses and milk in it, which he was expected to imagine was
+tea.
+
+Harry felt no disposition to eat. He was too sad and depressed, and
+probably if the very best had been set before him he would have been
+equally indifferent.
+
+He ate very little, and Jacob felt more kindly towards him than before
+this proof of the smallness of his appetite. He had been compelled to
+get rid of his last boy, because he was a little ogre, and it seemed
+as though he would eat him out of house and home.
+
+After supper Harry assisted Jacob about the barn, and it was nearly
+eight o'clock before they finished.
+
+"Now, boy, it is about bed time, and I will show you your rooms, if
+you like," said Jacob. "Before you go, let me tell you it won't do any
+good to try to run away from here, for I am going to borrow Leman's
+bull-dog."
+
+Harry made no reply to this remark, and followed his master to the low
+attic of the house, where he was pointed to a rickety bedstead, which
+he was to occupy.
+
+"There, jump into bed afore I carry the candle off," continued Jacob.
+
+"I don't care about any light. You needn't wait," replied Harry, as he
+slipped off his shoes and stockings.
+
+"That is right; boys always ought to be learnt to go to bed in the
+dark," added Jacob, as he departed.
+
+But Harry was determined not to go to bed in the dark; so, as soon as
+he heard Jacob's step on the floor below, he crept to the stairway,
+and silently descended. He had made up his mind not to wait for the
+bull-dog. Pausing in the entry, he heard Jacob tell his wife that he
+was going over to Leman's to borrow his dog; he was afraid the boy
+would get up in the night and set his barn on fire, or run away. Jacob
+then left the house, satisfied, no doubt, that the bull-dog would be
+an efficient sentinel while the family were asleep.
+
+After allowing time enough to elapse for Jacob to reach Leman's house,
+he softly opened the front door and went out. It was fortunate for him
+that Mrs. Wire was as "deaf as a post," or his suddenly matured plan
+to "try again" might have been a failure. As it was, his departure was
+not observed. It was quite dark, and after he had got a short distance
+from the house, he felt a reasonable degree of security.
+
+His first purpose was to get as far away from Redfield as possible
+before daylight should come to betray him; and, taking the road, he
+walked as fast as his legs would carry him towards Boston. Jacob's
+house was on the turnpike, which was the direct road to the city, and
+the distance which the squire had carried him in his wagon was so much
+clear gain.
+
+He did not feel very sentimental now. The sky was overshadowed with
+clouds, so that he could not see any stars, and the future did not
+look half so bright as his fancy had pictured it on the preceding
+night. But he was free again; and free under more favorable
+circumstances than before. This time he was himself commander of the
+expedition, and was to suffer for no one's bad generalship but his
+own. Besides, the experience he had obtained was almost a guarantee of
+success. It had taught him the necessity of care and prudence.
+
+The moral lesson he had learned was of infinitely more value than even
+the lesson of policy. For the first time in his life he was conscious
+of a deep and earnest desire to be a good boy, and to become a true
+man. As he walked along, he thought more of being a good man than of
+being a rich man. It was very natural for him to do so, under the
+circumstances, for he had come very near being punished as an
+incendiary. The consequences of doing wrong were just then strongly
+impressed upon his mind, and he almost shuddered to think he had
+consented to remain with Ben Smart after he knew that he burned the
+barn. Ah, it was an exceedingly fortunate thing for him that he had
+got rid of Ben as he did.
+
+For two hours he walked as fast as he could, pausing now and then to
+listen for the sound of any approaching vehicle. Possibly Jacob might
+have gone to his room, or attic, to see if he was safe, and his escape
+had been discovered. He could not be too wary, and every sound that
+reached his waiting ear caused his heart to jump with anxiety.
+
+He heard a clock strike eleven. It was not the Redfield clock, and it
+was evident that he was approaching Rockville, a factory village eight
+miles from his native place. But his legs were failing him. He was
+exhausted by the labors and the excitement of the day and night, and
+his strength would hardly hold out till he should get beyond the
+village.
+
+Seating himself on a rock by the side of the road, he decided to hold
+a council of war, to determine what should be done. If he went
+forward, his strength might fail him at the time when a vigorous
+effort should be required of him. Somebody's dog might bark, and bring
+the "Philistines upon him." He might meet some late walker, who would
+detain him. It was hardly safe for him to go through the village by
+night or day, after the search which had been made for Ben Smart.
+People would be on the lookout, and it would be no hard matter to
+mistake him for the other fugitive.
+
+On the other hand, he did not like to pause so near Redfield. He had
+scarcely entered upon the consideration of this side of the question
+before his quick ear detected the sound of rattling wheels in the
+direction from which he had come. His heart beat violently. It was
+Squire Walker and Jacob Wire, he was sure, in pursuit of him; but his
+courage did not fail him.
+
+Leaping over the stone wall by the side of the road, he secured the
+only retreat which the vicinity afforded, and waited, with his heart
+in his throat, for the coming of his pursuers, as he had assured
+himself they were. The present seemed to be his only chance of escape,
+and if he failed now, he might not soon have another opportunity to
+"try again."
+
+The vehicle was approaching at a furious pace, and as the noise grew
+more distinct, his heart leaped the more violently. He thought he
+recognized the sound of Squire Walker's wagon. There was not much time
+for his fancy to conjure up strange things, for the carriage soon
+reached the place where he was concealed.
+
+"Ur-r--woo!" said a big bull-dog, placing his ugly nose against the
+wall, behind which Harry was lying.
+
+"Whoa!" added a voice, which the trembling fugitive recognized as that
+of George Leman.
+
+"The dog has scented him," said another--that of Jacob Wire.
+
+Harry's heart sank within him, and he felt as faint as though every
+drop of blood had been drawn from his veins.
+
+"I knew the dog would fetch him," said George Leman, as he leaped from
+the wagon, followed by Jacob Wire. "At him, Tiger!"
+
+In obedience to this command, Tiger drew back a few steps, and then
+leaped upon the top of the wall. The prospect of being torn to pieces
+by the bull-dog was not pleasant to Harry, and with a powerful effort
+he summoned his sinking energies for the struggle before him. Grasping
+two large stones, he stood erect as the dog leaped on the wall.
+Inspired by the imminence of his peril, he hurled one of the stones at
+Tiger the instant he showed his ugly visage above the fence. The
+missile took effect upon the animal, and he was evidently much
+astonished at this unusual mode of warfare. Tiger was vanquished, and
+fell back from the wall, howling with rage and pain.
+
+"Thunder! He has killed my dog!" exclaimed Leman, as he jumped over
+the wall.
+
+Harry did not wait any longer, but took to his heels, followed by both
+pursuers, though not by the dog, which was _hors de combat_. Our hero
+was in a "tight place," but with a heroism worthy the days of
+chivalry, he resolved not to be captured.
+
+He had not run far, however, before he realized that George Leman was
+more than a match for him, especially in his present worn-out
+condition. He was almost upon him, when Harry executed a counter
+movement, which was intended to "outflank" his adversary. Dodging
+round a large rock in the field, he redoubled his efforts, running now
+towards the road where the horse was standing. Leman was a little
+confused by this sudden action, and for an instant lost ground.
+
+Harry reached the road and leaped the wall at a single bound; it was a
+miracle that, in the darkness, he had not dashed his brains out upon
+the rocks, in the reckless leap. The horse was startled by the noise,
+and his snort suggested a brilliant idea to Harry.
+
+"Go 'long!" he shouted; and the horse started towards Rockville at a
+round pace.
+
+Harry jumped into the wagon over the hind board, and grasping the
+reins, put the high-mettled animal to the top of his speed.
+
+"Go 'long!" hallooed Harry, mad with excitement.
+
+The horse manifested no feeling of partiality toward either of the
+parties, and seemed as willing to do his best for Harry as for his
+master.
+
+"Stop! Stop!" shouted George Leman, astounded at the new phase which
+the chase had assumed. "Stop! and I will let you go."
+
+That was quite reasonable. It was natural that he should prefer to let
+the fugitive escape, to the alternative of losing his horse. George
+Leman was noted for three things in Redfield--his boat, his ugly dog,
+and his fast horse; and Harry, after stealing the boat and killing the
+dog, was in a fair way to deprive him of his horse, upon which he set
+a high value. The boy seemed like his evil genius, and no doubt he was
+angry with himself for letting so mean a man as Jacob Wire persuade
+him to hunt down such small game.
+
+Harry did not deem it prudent to stop, and in a few moments had left
+his pursuers out of sight. Then he began to breathe freer. He had
+played a desperate game, and won the victory; yet he did not feel like
+indulging in a triumph. The battle had been a bitter necessity, and he
+even regretted the fate of poor Tiger, whose ribs he had stove in with
+a rock.
+
+He passed through Rockville. All was still, save the roaring of the
+waters at the dam, and no one challenged him.
+
+"I am safe, at any rate," said he to himself, when he had passed the
+village. "What will be the next scrape, I wonder? Confound it! They
+will have me up for stealing a horse next. But I didn't steal him.
+George Leman is a good fellow, and only for the fun of the thing, he
+wouldn't have come out on such a chase. I wouldn't steal anybody's
+horse. Whoa!"
+
+Harry hauled up by the roadside, and fastened the horse to the fence.
+
+"There, George, you can have your horse again; but I will just put the
+blanket over him, for he is all of a reeking sweat. It will just show
+George, when he comes up, that I don't mean him any harm. I hope his
+dog wasn't killed."
+
+Taking the blanket which lay in the bottom of the wagon (for George
+Leman was very careful of his horse, and though it was October, always
+covered him when he let him stand out at night), he spread it over
+him.
+
+"Now, for Number One again," muttered Harry. "I must take to the
+woods, though I doubt if George will follow me any farther."
+
+So saying, he got over the fence, and made his way across the fields
+to the woods, which were but a short distance from the road.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+IN WHICH HARRY KILLS A BIG SNAKE, AND MAKES A NEW FRIEND
+
+
+Harry was not entirely satisfied with what he had done. He regretted
+the necessity which had compelled him to take George Leman's horse. It
+looked too much like stealing; and his awakened moral sense repelled
+the idea of such a crime. But they could not accuse him of stealing
+the horse; for his last act would repudiate the idea.
+
+His great resolution to become a good and true man was by no means
+forgotten. It is true, at the very outset of the new life he had
+marked out for himself, he had been obliged to behave like a young
+ruffian, or be restored to his exacting guardians. It was rather a bad
+beginning; but he had taken what had appeared to him the only course.
+
+Was it right for him to run away? On the solution of this problem
+depended the moral character of the subsequent acts. If it was right
+for him to run away, why, of course it was right for him to resist
+those who attempted to restore him to Jacob Wire.
+
+Harry made up his mind that it was right for him to run away, under
+the circumstances. His new master had been charged to break him
+down--even to starve him down. Jacob's reputation as a mean and hard
+man was well merited; and it was his duty to leave without stopping to
+say good by.
+
+I do not think that Harry was wholly in the right, though I dare say
+all my young readers will sympathize with the stout-hearted little
+hero. So far, Jacob Wire had done him no harm. He had suffered no
+hardship at his hands. All his misery was in the future; and if he had
+stayed, perhaps his master might have done well by him, though it is
+not probable. Still, I think Harry was in some sense justifiable. To
+remain in such a place was to cramp his soul, as well as pinch his
+body--to be unhappy, if not positively miserable. He might have tried
+the place, and when he found it could not be endured, fled from it.
+
+It must be remembered that Harry was a pauper and an orphan. He had
+not had the benefit of parental instruction. It was not from the home
+of those whom God had appointed to be his guardians and protectors
+that he had fled; it was from one who regarded him, not as a rational
+being, possessed of an immortal soul--one for whose moral, mental, and
+spiritual welfare he was accountable before God--that he had run away,
+but from one who considered him as a mere machine, from which it was
+his only interest to get as much work at as little cost as possible.
+He fled from a taskmaster, not from one who was in any just sense a
+guardian.
+
+Harry did not reason out all this; he only felt it. What was Jacob
+Wire to him? What was even Squire Walker to him? What did they care
+about his true welfare? Nothing. Harry so understood it, and acted
+accordingly.
+
+The future was full of trials and difficulties. But his heart was
+stout; and the events of the last chapter inspired him with confidence
+in his own abilities. He entered the dark woods, and paused to rest
+himself. What should he do next?
+
+While he was discussing this question in his own mind he heard the
+sound of voices on the road, which was not more than fifty rods
+distant. It was George Leman and Jacob Wire. In a few minutes he heard
+the sound of wagon wheels; and soon had the satisfaction of knowing
+that his pursuers had abandoned the chase and were returning home.
+
+The little fugitive was very tired and very sleepy. It was not
+possible for him to continue his journey, and he looked about him for
+a place in which to lodge. The night was chilly and damp; and as he
+sat upon the rock, he shivered with cold. It would be impossible to
+sleep on the wet ground; and if he could, it might cost him his life.
+It was a pine forest; and there were no leaves on the ground, so that
+he could not make such a bed as that in which he had slept the
+previous night.
+
+He was so cold that he was obliged to move about to get warm. It
+occurred to him that he might get into some barn in the vicinity, and
+nestle comfortably in the hay; but the risk of being discovered was
+too great, and he directed his steps towards the depths of the forest.
+
+After walking some distance, he came to an open place in the woods.
+The character of the growth had changed, and the ground was covered
+with young maples, walnuts and oaks. The wood had been recently cut
+off over a large area, but there were no leaves of which he could make
+a bed.
+
+Fortune favored him, however; for, after advancing half way across the
+open space he reached one of those cabins erected for the use of men
+employed to watch coal pits. It was made of board slabs, and covered
+with sods. Near it was the circular place on which the coal pit had
+burned.
+
+At the time of which I write, charcoal was carried to Boston from many
+towns within thirty miles of the city. Perhaps my young readers may
+never have seen a coal pit. The wood is set up on the ends of the
+sticks, till a circular pile from ten to twenty feet in diameter is
+formed and two tiers in height. Its shape is that of a cone, or a
+sugar loaf. It is then covered with turf and soil. Fire is
+communicated to the wood, so that it shall smoulder, or burn slowly,
+without blazing. Just enough air is admitted to the pit to keep the
+fire alive. If the air were freely admitted the pile would burn to
+ashes. Sometimes the outer covering of dirt and sods falls in, as the
+wood shrinks permitting the air to rush in and fan the fire to a
+blaze. When this occurs, the aperture must be closed, or the wood
+would be consumed; and it is necessary to watch it day and night. The
+cabin had been built for the comfort of the men who did this duty.
+
+Harry's heart was filled with gratitude when he discovered the rude
+hut. If it had been a palace, it could not have been a more welcome
+retreat. It is true the stormy wind had broken down the door, and the
+place was no better than a squirrel hole; yet it suggested a thousand
+brilliant ideas of comfort, and luxury even, to our worn-out and
+hunted fugitive.
+
+He entered the cabin. The floor was covered with straw, which
+completed his ideal of a luxurious abode. Raising up the door, which
+had fallen to the ground, he placed it before the aperture--thus
+excluding the cold air from his chamber.
+
+"I'm a lucky fellow," exclaimed Harry, as he threw himself on the
+straw. "This place will be a palace beside Jacob Wire's house. And I
+can stay here a month, if I like."
+
+Nestling closely under the side of the hut, he pulled the straw over
+him, and soon began to feel perfectly at home. Only one consideration
+troubled him. The commissary department of the establishment could not
+be relied on. There were no pork and potatoes in the house, no
+well-filled grain chest, no groceries, not even a rill of pure water
+at hand. This was an unpromising state of things; and he began to see
+that there would be no fun in living in the woods, where the butcher
+and the baker would not be likely to visit him.
+
+Various means of supplying the deficiency suggested themselves. There
+were rabbits, partridges, and quails in the woods; he might set a
+snare, and catch some of them. But he had no fire to cook them; and
+Dr. Kane had not then demonstrated the healthy and appetizing
+qualities of raw meat. The orchards in the neighborhood were
+accessible; but prudence seemed to raise an impassable barrier between
+him and them.
+
+While he was thus considering these matters, he dropped asleep, and
+forgot all about his stomach. He was completely exhausted; and no
+doubt the owls and bats were astonished as they listened to the
+sonorous sounds that came from the deserted cabin.
+
+Long and deep was his sleep. The birds sang their mating songs on the
+tree tops; but he heard them not. The sun rose, and penetrated the
+chinks of the hut; but the little wanderer still slumbered. The
+Rockville clock struck nine; and he heard it not.
+
+I think it was Harry's grumbling stomach that finally waked him; and
+it was no wonder that neglected organ grew impatient under the injury
+put upon it, for Harry had eaten little or nothing since his dinner at
+the poorhouse on the preceding day.
+
+Jumping out of the heap of straw in which he had "cuddled" all night
+scarcely without moving, he left the hut to reconnoitre his position.
+So far as security was concerned, it seemed to be a perfectly safe
+place. He could see nothing of the village of Rockville, though,
+beyond the open space, he saw the top of a chimney; but it was at
+least half a mile distant.
+
+Just then he did not feel much interested in the scenery and natural
+advantages of the position. His stomach was imperative, and he was
+faint from the want of food. There was nothing in the woods to eat.
+Berry time was past; and the prospect of supplying his wants was very
+discouraging. Leaving the cabin, he walked towards the distant chimney
+that peered above the tree tops. It belonged to a house that "was set
+on a hill, and could not be hid."
+
+After going a little way, he came to a cart path, which led towards
+the house. This he followed, descending a hill into a swamp, which was
+covered over with alders and birches. At the foot of the declivity he
+heard the rippling of waters; but the bushes concealed the stream from
+his view.
+
+He had descended nearly to the foot of the hill when the sound of
+footsteps reached his ears. His heart beat quick with apprehension,
+and he paused to listen. The step was soft and light; it was not a
+man's, and his courage rose. Pat, pat, pat, went the steps on the
+leafy ground, so gently that his fears were conquered; for the person
+could be only a child.
+
+Suddenly a piercing shriek saluted his ears. Something had occurred to
+alarm the owner of the fairy feet which made the soft pat, pat, on the
+ground. Another shriek, and Harry bounded down the road like an
+antelope, heedless of the remonstrances of his grumbling stomach.
+
+"Mercy! help!" shouted a voice, which Harry perceived was that of a
+little girl.
+
+In a moment more he discovered the young lady running with all her
+might towards him.
+
+"Save me!" gasped the girl.
+
+"What is the matter?"
+
+But Harry had scarcely asked the question before he saw what had
+alarmed her. Under other circumstances he would have quailed himself;
+for, as he spoke, a great black snake raised his head two or three
+feet from the ground directly in front of him. He was an ugly-looking
+monster, and evidently intended to attack him. All the chivalry of
+Harry's nature was called up to meet the emergency of the occasion.
+Seizing a little stick that lay in the path, he struck sundry
+vigorous blows at the reptile, which, however, seemed only to madden,
+without disabling him. Several times he elevated his head from the
+ground to strike at his assailant; but the little knight was an old
+hand with snakes, and vigorously repelled his assaults. At last, he
+struck a blow which laid out his snakeship; and the field was won,
+when Harry had smashed his head with a large rock. The reptile was
+about four feet and a half long, and as big round as a small boy's
+wrist.
+
+"There, miss, he won't hurt you now," said Harry, panting with his
+exertions.
+
+"Won't he? Are you sure he is dead?"
+
+"Very sure."
+
+The little girl ventured to approach the dead body of the snake, and
+satisfied herself that he could not harm her.
+
+"What an ugly snake! I was crossing the brook at the foot of the hill,
+when he sprang out from beneath my feet and chased me. I never was so
+frightened in all my life," said the little miss.
+
+"I don't wonder," replied Harry.
+
+"I am very much obliged to you. What is your name?" asked she, with
+childish simplicity.
+
+Harry did not like to answer that question, and made no reply.
+
+"Do you live in Rockville?" she continued.
+
+"No; I used to live in Redfield."
+
+"Where do you live now?"
+
+"I don't live anywhere."
+
+The little girl wanted to laugh then, it seemed such a funny answer.
+
+"Don't you? Who is your father?"
+
+"I have no father."
+
+"Who is your mother, then?"
+
+"I have no mother."
+
+"Poor boy! Then you are an orphan."
+
+"I suppose so. But, little girl, I don't want you to tell any one that
+you have seen me. You won't--will you?"
+
+"Not father and mother?" asked the maiden, with a stare of
+astonishment.
+
+"If you please, don't. I am a poor boy, and have run away from a hard
+master."
+
+"I won't tell anybody."
+
+"And I am very hungry."
+
+"Poor boy! How lucky that I have lots of goodies in my basket!"
+exclaimed she. "You shall eat all you can."
+
+"I haven't eat anything since yesterday noon," replied Harry, as he
+took a handful of doughnuts she handed him.
+
+"Sit down on this rock, and do eat all you want. I never knew what it
+was to be very hungry."
+
+Harry seated himself, and proceeded to devour the food the
+sympathizing little maiden had given him, while she looked on with
+astonishment and delight as he voraciously consumed cake after cake,
+without seeming to produce any effect upon the "abhorred vacuum."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+IN WHICH HARRY BREAKFASTS ON DOUGHNUTS, AND FINDS THAT ANGELS DO NOT
+ALWAYS HAVE WINGS
+
+
+Harry was very hungry, and the little girl thought he would never have
+eaten enough. Since he had told her he had run away, she was deeply
+interested in him, and had a hundred questions to ask; but she did not
+wish to bother him while he was eating, he was so deeply absorbed in
+the occupation.
+
+"What a blessed thing doughnuts are!" laughed she, as Harry leveled on
+the sixth cake. "I never thought much of them before, but I never
+shall see a doughnut again without thinking of you."
+
+Our hero was perfectly willing to believe that doughnuts were a very
+beneficent institution; but just then he was too busily occupied to be
+sentimental over them.
+
+"What is your name, little girl?" asked Harry as he crammed half of
+the cake into his mouth.
+
+"I have a great mind not to tell you, because you wouldn't tell me
+what yours is," replied she, roguishly.
+
+"You see how it is with me. I have run away from--well, from
+somewhere."
+
+"And you are afraid I will tell? I won't though. But, as you killed
+the snake, I shall tell you. My name is Julia Bryant."
+
+"Mine is Harry West," replied he, unable to resist the little lady's
+argument. "You must not tell any one about me for three days, for then
+I shall be out of the way."
+
+"Where are you going, Harry?"
+
+"To Boston."
+
+"Are you? They say that none but bad boys run away. I hope you are not
+a bad boy." And Julia glanced earnestly at the fugitive.
+
+"I don't think I am."
+
+"I don't think you are, either."
+
+It was a hearty endorsement, and Harry's heart warmed as she spoke.
+The little maiden was not more than nine or ten years old, but she
+seemed to have some skill in reading faces; at least, Harry thought
+she had. Whatever might be said of himself, he was sure she was a good
+girl. In short, though Harry had never read a novel in his life, she
+was a little angel, even if she had no wings. He even went so far as
+to believe she was a little angel, commissioned by that mysterious
+something, which wiser and more devout persons would have called a
+special providence, to relieve his wants with the contents of her
+basket, and gladden his heart by the sunshine of her sweet smile.
+There is something in goodness which always finds its way to the face.
+It makes little girls look prettier than silks, and laces, and
+ribbons, and embroidery. Julia Bryant was pretty, very pretty. Harry
+thought so; but very likely it was the doughnuts and her kind words
+which constituted her beauty.
+
+"I am pretty sure I am not a bad boy," continued Harry; "but I will
+tell you my own story, and you shall judge for yourself."
+
+"You will tell me all of it--won't you?"
+
+"To be sure I will," replied Harry, a little tartly, for he
+misapprehended Julia's meaning.
+
+He thought she was afraid he would not tell his wrong acts; whereas
+her deep interest in him rendered her anxious to have the whole, even
+to the smallest particulars.
+
+"I shall be so delighted! I do so love to hear a good story!"
+exclaimed Julia.
+
+"You shall have it all; but where were you going? It will take me a
+good while."
+
+"I was going to carry these doughnuts to Mrs. Lane. She is a poor
+widow, who lives over the back lane. She has five children, and has
+very hard work to get along. I carry something to her every week."
+
+"Then you are a little angel!" added Harry, who could understand and
+appreciate kindness to the poor.
+
+"Not exactly an angel, though Mrs. Lane says I am," replied Julia,
+with a blush.
+
+"Aunty Gray, over to the poorhouse, used to call everybody an angel
+that brought her anything good. So I am sure you must be one."
+
+"Never mind what I am now. I am dying to hear your story," interposed
+Julia, as she seated herself on another rock, near that occupied by
+Harry.
+
+"Here goes, then"; and Harry proceeded with his tale, commencing back
+beyond his remembrance with the traditionary history which had been
+communicated to him by Mr. Nason and the paupers.
+
+When he came to the period of authentic history, or that which was
+stored up in his memory, he grew eloquent, and the narrative glowed
+with the living fire of the hero. Julia was quite as much interested
+as Desdemona in the story of the swarthy Moor. His "round, unvarnished
+tale," adorned only with the flowers of youthful simplicity, enchained
+her attention, and she "loved him for the dangers he had passed;"
+loved him, not as Desdemona loved, but as a child loves. She was sure
+now that he was not a bad boy; that even a good boy might do such a
+thing as run away from cruel and exacting guardians.
+
+"What a strange story, Harry! How near you came to being drowned in
+the river! I wonder the man had not killed you! And then they wanted
+to send you to prison for setting the barn afire!" exclaimed Julia,
+when he had finished the story.
+
+"I came pretty near it; that's a fact!" replied Harry, warming under
+the approbation of his partial auditor.
+
+"And you killed the big dog?"
+
+"I don't know; I hope I didn't."
+
+"But you didn't steal the horse?"
+
+"I didn't mean to steal him."
+
+"No one could call that stealing. But what are you going to do next,
+Harry?"
+
+"I am going to Boston."
+
+"What will you do when you get there?"
+
+"I can go to work."
+
+"You are not big enough to work much."
+
+"I can do a good deal."
+
+For some time longer they discussed Harry's story, and Julia regretted
+the necessity of leaving him to do her errand at Mrs. Lane's. She
+promised to see him when she returned, and Harry walked down to the
+brook to get a drink, while she continued on her way.
+
+Our hero was deeply interested in the little girl. Like the "great
+guns" in the novels, he was sure she was no ordinary character. He was
+fully satisfied in relation to the providential nature of their
+meeting. She had been sent by that incomprehensible something to
+furnish him with food, and he trembled when he thought what might have
+happened if she had not come.
+
+"I can't be a very bad boy," thought he, "or she would not have liked
+me. Mr. Nason used to say he could tell an ugly horse by the looks of
+his eye; and the schoolmaster last winter picked out all the bad boys
+at a glance. I can't be a very bad boy, or she would have found me
+out. I _know_ I am not a bad boy. I feel right, and try to do right."
+
+Harry's investigation invested Julia Bryant with a thousand poetical
+excellences. That she felt an interest in him--one so good as she--was
+enough to confirm all the noble resolutions he had made, and give him
+strength to keep them; and as he seated himself by the brook, he
+thought over his faults, and renewed his determination to uproot them
+from his character. His meeting with the "little angel," as he chose
+to regard her, was an oasis in the desert--a place where his moral
+nature could drink the pure waters of life.
+
+No one had ever before seemed to care much whether he was a good boy
+or a bad boy. The minister used now and then to give him a dry
+lecture; but he did not seem to feel any real interest in him. He was
+minister, and of course he must preach; not that he cared whether a
+pauper boy was a saint or a sinner, but only to do the work he was
+hired to do, and earn his money.
+
+Julia did not preach. Her sweet face was the "beauty of holiness." She
+hoped he was not a bad boy. She liked a good boy; and this was
+incentive enough to incur a lifetime of trial and self-sacrifice.
+Harry was an orphan. To have one feel an interest in his moral
+welfare, to have one wish him to be a good boy, had not grown stale by
+long continuance. He had known no anxious mother, who wished him to be
+good, who would weep when he did wrong. The sympathy of the little
+angel touched a sensitive chord in his heart and soul, and he felt
+that he should go forward in the great pilgrimage of life with a new
+desire to be true to himself, and true to her who had inspired his
+reverence.
+
+Even a child cannot be good without having it felt by others. "She
+hoped he was not a bad boy," were the words of the little angel; and
+before she returned from her errand of mercy, he repeated them to
+himself a hundred times. They were a talisman to him, and he was sure
+he should never be a bad boy in the face of such a wish.
+
+He wandered about the woods for two or three hours, impatient for the
+return of the little rural goddess who had taken possession of his
+thoughts, and filled his soul with admiration. She came at last, and
+glad was the welcome which he gave her.
+
+"I have been thinking of you ever since I left you," said Julia, as
+she approached the place where he had been waiting her return.
+
+Harry thought this was a remarkable coincidence. He had been thinking
+of her also.
+
+"I hope you didn't think of me as a bad boy," replied he, giving
+expression to that which was uppermost in his mind.
+
+"I am sure I didn't. I am sure you must be a good boy."
+
+"I am glad you think so; and that will help me be a good boy."
+
+"Will it?"
+
+"I never had any one to care whether I was good or bad. If you do, you
+will be the first one."
+
+The little girl looked sad. She had a father and mother who loved her,
+and prayed for her every day. It seemed hard that poor Harry should
+have no mother to love him as her mother loved her; to watch over him
+day and night, to take care of him when he was sick, and, above all,
+to teach him to be good. She pitied the lonely orphan, and would
+gladly have taken him to her happy home, and shared with him all she
+had, even the love of her mother.
+
+"Poor boy!" she sighed. "But I have been thinking of something," she
+added, in more sprightly tones.
+
+"What, Julia?"
+
+"If you would only let me tell my father that you are here--"
+
+"Not for the world!" cried Harry.
+
+"O, I won't say a word, unless you give me leave; but my father is
+rich. He owns a great factory and a great farm. He has lots of men to
+work for him; and my father is a very good man, too. People will do as
+he wants them to do, and if you will let me tell him your story, he
+will go over to Redfield and make them let you stay at our house. You
+shall be my brother then, and we can do lots of things together. Do
+let me tell him."
+
+"I don't think it would be safe. I know Squire Walker wouldn't let me
+go to any place where they would use me well."
+
+"What a horrible man he must be!"
+
+"No; I think I will go on to Boston."
+
+"You will have a very hard time of it."
+
+"No matter for that."
+
+"They may catch you."
+
+"If they do, I shall try again."
+
+"If they do catch you, will you let my father know it? He will be your
+friend, for my friends are his friends."
+
+"I will. I should be very glad to have such a friend."
+
+"There is our dinner bell!" said Julia, as Harry heard the distant
+sound. "I must go home. How I wish you were going with me!"
+
+"I wish I was. I may never see you again," added Harry, sadly.
+
+"O, you must see me again! When you get big you must come to
+Rockville."
+
+"You will not wish to see the little poorhouse boy, then."
+
+"Won't I? I shall always be glad to see the boy that killed that
+snake! But I shall come up after dinner, and bring you something to
+eat. Do let me tell mother you are here."
+
+"I would rather you wouldn't."
+
+"Suppose she asks me what I am going to do with the dinner I shall
+bring you? I can't tell a lie."
+
+"Don't bring any, then. I would rather not have any dinner than have
+_you_ tell a lie."
+
+Harry would not always have been so nice about a lie; but for the
+little angel to tell a falsehood, why, it seemed like mud on a white
+counterpane.
+
+"I won't tell a lie, but you shall have your dinner. I suppose I must
+go now."
+
+Harry watched the retreating form of his kind friend, till she
+disappeared beyond the curve of the path, and his blessing went with
+her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+IN WHICH HARRY FARES SUMPTUOUSLY, AND TAKES LEAVE OF THE LITTLE ANGEL
+
+
+When Harry could no longer see the little angel, he fixed his eyes
+upon the ground, and continued to think of her. It is not every day
+that a pauper boy sees an angel, or even one whom the enthusiasm of
+the imagination invests with angelic purity and angelic affections.
+
+In the records of individual experience, as well as in the history of
+the world, there are certain points of time which are rendered
+memorable by important events. By referring to a chronological table,
+the young reader will see the great events which have marked the
+progress of civilized nations from the lowest depths of barbarism up
+to their present enlightened state. Every individual, if he had the
+requisite wisdom, could make up a list of epochs in his own
+experience. Perhaps he would attach too little importance to some
+things, too much to others; for we cannot always clearly perceive the
+influences which assist in forming the character. Some trivial event,
+far back in the past, which inspired him with a new reverence for
+truth and goodness, may be forgotten. The memory may not now cherish
+the look, the smile of approbation, which strengthened the heart, when
+it was struggling against the foe within; but its influence was none
+the less potent. "It is the last pound which breaks the camel's back;"
+and that look, that smile, may have closed the door of the heart
+against a whole legion of evil spirits, and thus turned a life of woe
+and bitterness into a life of sunshine and happiness.
+
+There are hundreds of epochs in the experience of every person, boy or
+man--events which raised him up or let him down in the scale of moral
+existence. Harry West had now reached one of these epochs in his
+pilgrimage.
+
+To meet a little girl in the woods, to kill a black snake, and thus
+relieve her from a terrible fright, to say the least, was not a great
+event, as events are reckoned in the world; yet it was destined to
+exert a powerful influence upon his future career. It was not the
+magnitude of the deed performed, or the chivalrous spirit which called
+it forth, that made this a memorable event to Harry; it was the angel
+visit--the kindling influence of a pure heart that passed from her to
+him. But I suppose the impatient reader will not thank me for
+moralizing over two whole pages, and I leave the further application
+of the moral to the discretion of my young friends.
+
+Harry felt strangely--more strangely than he had ever felt before. As
+he walked back to the cabin everything seemed to have assumed a new
+appearance. Somehow the trees did not look as they used to look. He
+saw through a different medium. His being seemed to have undergone a
+change. He could not account for it; perhaps he did not try.
+
+He entered the cabin; and, without dropping the train of thought which
+Julia's presence suggested, he busied himself in making the place more
+comfortable. He shook up the straw, and made his bed, stuffed dried
+grass into the chinks and crannies in the roof, fastened the door up
+with some birch withes, and replaced some of the stones of the chimney
+which had fallen down. This work occupied him for nearly two hours,
+though, so busy were his thoughts, they seemed not more than half an
+hour.
+
+He had scarcely finished these necessary repairs before he heard the
+light step of her who fed him, as Elijah was fed by the ravens, for it
+seemed like a providential supply. She saw him at the door of the
+cabin; and she no longer dallied with a walk, but ran with all her
+might.
+
+"O, Harry, I am so glad!" she cried, out of breath, as she handed him
+a little basket, whose contents were carefully covered with a piece of
+brown paper.
+
+"Glad of what, Julia?" asked Harry, smiling from sympathy with her.
+
+"I have heard all about it; and I am so glad you are a good boy!"
+exclaimed she, panting like a pretty fawn which had gamboled its
+breath away.
+
+"About what?"
+
+"Father has seen and talked with--who was he?"
+
+Harry laughed. How could he tell whom her father had seen and talked
+with? He was not a magician.
+
+"The man that owned the dog, and the horse and the boat."
+
+"O! George Leman," replied Harry, now deeply interested in the little
+maiden's story. "Where did he see him?"
+
+"Over at the store. But I have brought you some dinner; and while you
+are eating it, I will tell you all about it. Come, there is a nice big
+rock--that shall be your table."
+
+Julia, full of excitement, seized the basket, and ran to the rock, a
+little way from the cabin. Pulling off half a dozen great oak leaves
+from a shrub, she placed them on the rock.
+
+"Here is a piece of meat, Harry, on this plate," she continued,
+putting it on an oak leaf; "here is a piece of pie; here is some bread
+and butter; here is cheese; and here is a piece of cold apple pudding.
+There! I forgot the sauce."
+
+"Never mind the sauce," said Harry; and he could hardly keep from
+bursting into tears, as he saw how good the little angel was.
+
+It seemed as though she could not have been more an angel, if she had
+had a pair of wings. The radiant face was there; the pure and loving
+heart was there; all was there but the wings, and he could easily
+imagine them.
+
+And what a dinner! Roast beef, pudding, pie! He was not much
+accustomed to such luxuries; but just then he did not appreciate the
+sumptuousness of the feast, for it was eclipsed by the higher
+consideration of the devotion of the giver.
+
+"Come, eat, Harry! I am so glad!" added Julia.
+
+"So am I. If you feed me as high as this, I shall want to stay here a
+good while."
+
+"I hope you will."
+
+"Only to-day; to-morrow I must be moving towards Boston."
+
+"I was hoping you would stay here a good long while. I shall be so
+pleased to bring you your breakfast, and dinner, and supper every
+day!"
+
+"Your father would not like it."
+
+"I don't know why he shouldn't. You are not very hungry; you don't eat
+as you did this morning."
+
+"I ate so much then. Tell me, now, what your father said, Julia."
+
+"He saw George Leman; and he told him how you tied his horse to the
+fence, and how careful you were to put the blanket on him, so that he
+shouldn't catch cold after his hard run. That was very kind of you,
+Harry, when you knew they were after you. Father said almost any one
+would have run the horse till he dropped down. That one thing showed
+that you were not a bad boy."
+
+"I wouldn't have injured George Leman for anything," added Harry.
+"He's a good fellow, and never did me any harm."
+
+"He said, when he found his horse, he was so glad he wouldn't have
+chased you any farther for all the world. He told father what Mr.
+Nason said about you--that you were a good boy, had good feelings, and
+were willing to work. He didn't blame you for not wanting to go to
+Jacob Wire's--wasn't that the man?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And he didn't blame you for running away. Nobody believes that you
+set the barn afire; and, Harry, they have caught the other boy--Ben
+Smart, wasn't it?"
+
+"Yes, that was his name."
+
+"They caught him in the woods, over the other side of the river."
+
+"Did you find out whether the dog was killed?" asked Harry.
+
+"Mr. Leman said he thought he would get over it; and he has got his
+boat again."
+
+"I am glad of that; and if anybody ever catches me with such a fellow
+as Ben Smart again, they'll know it."
+
+"You can't think how I wanted to tell father where you were, when he
+spoke so well of you. He even said he hoped you would get off, and
+that you must be in the woods around here somewhere. You will let me
+tell him now--won't you, Harry?"
+
+"I think not."
+
+"Why not, Harry?"
+
+"He may hope I will get off, and still not be willing to help me off."
+
+Julia looked very much disappointed; for she had depended upon
+surprising her father with the story of the snake, and the little
+fugitive in the woods.
+
+"He will be very good to you," pleaded she.
+
+"I dare say he would; but he may think it his duty to send me back to
+Redfield; and Squire Walker would certainly make me go to Jacob
+Wire's."
+
+"But you won't go yet."
+
+"To-morrow, Julia."
+
+"I'm afraid you will never get to Boston."
+
+"O, yes, I shall. I don't think it is safe for me to stay here much
+longer."
+
+"Why not? Hardly any one ever goes through the woods here at this time
+of year but myself."
+
+"Didn't your mother want to know what you were going to do with the
+dinner you brought me?"
+
+"No, I went to the store room, and got it. She didn't see me; but I
+don't like to do anything unknown to her."
+
+"You mustn't do it again."
+
+"You must have something to eat."
+
+"You have brought enough to last me while I stop here. To-morrow
+morning I must start; so I suppose I shall not see you again. But I
+shall never forget you," said Harry looking as sad as he felt.
+
+"No, you mustn't go off without any breakfast. Promise me you will not
+go till I have brought you some."
+
+Harry assured Julia he had enough, and tried to persuade her not to
+bring him any more food; but Julia was resolute, and he was obliged to
+promise. Having finished his dinner, she gathered up the remnants of
+the feast and put them in the cabin for his supper. She was afraid to
+remain any longer, lest she might be missed at home and Harry
+gallantly escorted her beyond the brook on her return home.
+
+He busied himself during the greater part of the afternoon in
+gathering dry grass and dead leaves for the improvement of his bed in
+the cabin. About an hour before sundown, he was surprised to receive
+another visit from Julia Bryant. She had her little basket in one
+hand, and in the other she carried a little package.
+
+"I didn't expect to see you again," said Harry, as she approached.
+
+"I don't know as you will like what I have done," she began timidly;
+"but I did it for the best."
+
+"I shall like anything you have done," answered Harry promptly, "even
+if you should send me back to Redfield."
+
+"I wouldn't do such a mean thing as that; but I have told somebody
+that you are here."
+
+"Have you?" asked Harry, not a little alarmed.
+
+"You will forgive me if I have done wrong--won't you?"
+
+Harry looked at her. He mistook her anxious appearance for sorrow at
+what she had done. He could not give her pain; so he told her that,
+whatever she had done, she was forgiven.
+
+"But whom have you told?"
+
+"John Lane."
+
+"Who is he?"
+
+"Mrs. Lane's oldest son. He drives the baggage wagon that goes to
+Boston every week. He promised not to lisp a word to a single soul,
+and he would be your friend for my sake."
+
+"Why did you tell him?"
+
+"Well, you see, I was afraid you would never get to Boston; and I
+thought what a nice thing it would be if you could only ride all the
+way there with John Lane. John likes me because I carry things to his
+mother, and I am sure he won't tell."
+
+"How good you are, Julia!" exclaimed Harry. "I may forget everybody
+else in the world; but I shall never forget you."
+
+A tear moistened his eye, as he uttered his enthusiastic declaration.
+
+"The worst of it is, John starts at two o'clock--right in the middle
+of the night."
+
+"So much the better," replied Harry, wiping away the tear.
+
+"You will take the wagon on the turnpike, where the cart path comes
+out. But you won't wake up."
+
+"Yes, I shall."
+
+"I am sorry to have you go; for I like you, Harry. You will be a very
+good boy, when you get to Boston; for they say the city is a wicked
+place."
+
+"I will try."
+
+"There are a great many temptations there, people say."
+
+"I shall try to be as good as you are," replied Harry, who could
+imagine nothing better. "If I fail once, I shall try again."
+
+"Here, Harry, I have brought you a good book--the best of all books. I
+have written your name and mine in it; and I hope you will keep it and
+read it as long as you live. It is the Bible."
+
+Harry took the package, and thanked her for it.
+
+"I never read the Bible much; but I shall read this for your sake."
+
+"No, Harry; read it for your own sake."
+
+"I will, Julia."
+
+"How I shall long to hear from you! John Lane goes to Boston every
+week. Won't you write me a few lines, now and then, to let me know how
+you prosper, and whether you are good or not?"
+
+"I will. I can't write much; but I suppose I can--"
+
+"Never mind how you write, if I can only read it."
+
+The sun had gone down, and the dark shadows of night were gathering
+over the forest when they parted, but a short distance from Mr.
+Bryant's house. With the basket which contained provisions for his
+journey and the Bible in his hand, he returned to the hut, to get what
+sleep he might before the wagon started.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+IN WHICH HARRY REACHES THE CITY, AND THOUGH OFTEN DISAPPOINTED, TRIES
+AGAIN
+
+
+Harry entered the cabin, and stretched himself on his bed of straw and
+leaves; but the fear that he should not wake in season to take the
+wagon at the appointed place, would scarcely permit him to close his
+eyes. He had not yet made up for the sleep he had lost; and Nature,
+not sharing his misgiving, at last closed and sealed his eyelids.
+
+It would be presumptuous for me to attempt to inform the reader what
+Harry dreamed about on that eventful night; but I can guess that it
+was about angels, about bright faces and sweet smiles, and that they
+were very pleasant dreams. At any rate, he slept very soundly, as
+tired boys are apt to sleep, even when they are anxious about getting
+up early in the morning.
+
+He woke, at last, with a start; for with his first consciousness came
+the remembrance of the early appointment. He sprang from his bed, and
+threw down the door of the cabin. It was still dark; the stars
+twinkled above, the owls screamed, and the frogs sang merrily around
+him. He had no means of ascertaining the time of night. It might be
+twelve; it might be four; and his uncertainty on this point filled him
+with anxiety. Better too early than too late; and grasping the basket
+and the Bible, which were to be the companions of his journey, he
+hastened down the cart path to the turnpike.
+
+There was no sound of approaching wheels to cheer him, and the clock
+in the meeting house at Rockville obstinately refused to strike. He
+reached the designated place; there was no wagon there. Perhaps he was
+too late. The thought filled him with chagrin; and he was reading
+himself a very severe lesson for having permitted himself to sleep at
+all, when the church clock graciously condescended to relieve his
+anxiety by striking the hour.
+
+"One," said he, almost breathless with interest.
+
+"Two," he repeated, loud enough to be heard, if there had been any one
+to hear him.
+
+"Three"; and he held his breath, waiting for more.
+
+"No more!" he added, with disappointment and chagrin, when it was
+certain that the clock did not mean to strike another stroke. "I have
+lost my chance. What a fool I have been! Miss Julia will think that I
+am a smart fellow, when she finds that her efforts to get me off have
+been wasted. Why did I go to sleep? I might have known that I should
+not wake;" and he stamped his foot upon the ground with impatience.
+
+He had been caught napping, and had lost the wagon. He was never so
+mortified in his life. One who was so careless did not deserve to
+succeed.
+
+"One thing is clear--it is no use to cry for spilt milk," muttered he,
+as he jumped over the fence into the road. "I have been stupid, but
+try again."
+
+Unfortunately, there was no chance to try again. Like thousands of
+blessed opportunities, it had passed by, never to return. He had come
+at the eleventh hour, and the door was closed against him. With the
+wagon it had been "now or never."
+
+Harry got over his impatience, and resolved that Julia should not come
+to the cabin, the next morning, to find he had slept when the
+bridegroom came. He had a pair of legs, and there was the road. It was
+no use to "wait for the wagon;" legs were made before wagon wheels;
+and he started on the long and weary pilgrimage.
+
+He had not advanced ten paces before pleasant sounds reached his ears.
+He stopped short, and listened. A wagon was certainly approaching, and
+his heart leaped high with hope. Was it possible that John Lane had
+not yet gone? Retracing his steps, he got over the fence at the place
+where John was to take him. Perhaps it was not he, after all. He had
+no right to suppose it was; but he determined to wait till the wagon
+had passed.
+
+The rumbling noise grew more distinct. It was a heavy wagon, heavily
+loaded, and approached very slowly; but at last it reached the spot
+where the impatient boy was waiting.
+
+"Whoa!" said the driver; and the horses stopped.
+
+Harry's heart bounded with joy. Some lucky accident had detained the
+team, and he had regained his opportunity.
+
+"Harry West!" said he on the wagon.
+
+"John Lane!" replied Harry, as he leaped over the fence.
+
+"You are on hand," added John Lane.
+
+"I am; but I was sure you had gone. It is after three o'clock."
+
+"I know it. I don't generally get off much before this time," answered
+John. "Climb up here, and let us be moving on."
+
+It was a large wagon, with a sail-cloth cover--one of those regular
+baggage wagons which railroads have almost driven out of existence in
+Massachusetts. It was drawn by four horses, harnessed two abreast, and
+had a high "box" in front for the driver.
+
+Harry nimbly climbed upon the box, and took his seat by the side of
+John Lane--though that worthy told him he had better crawl under the
+cover, where he would find plenty of room to finish his nap on a bale
+of goods.
+
+"I thought likely I should have to go up to the cabin and wake you.
+Julia told me I must, if you were not on the spot."
+
+"I am glad I have saved you that trouble; but Julia said you would
+start at two o'clock."
+
+"Well, I get off by two or three o'clock. I don't carry the mail, so I
+ain't so particular. What do you mean to do when you get to Boston?"
+
+"I mean to go to work."
+
+"What at?"
+
+"Anything I can find."
+
+John Lane questioned the little wanderer, and drew from him all the
+incidents of his past history. He seemed to feel an interest in the
+fortunes of his companion, and gave him much good advice on practical
+matters, including an insight into life in the city.
+
+"I suppose Squire Walker would give me fits, if he knew I carried you
+off. He was over to Rockville yesterday looking for you."
+
+"He won't find me."
+
+"I hope not, my boy; though I don't know as I should have meddled in
+the matter, if Julia hadn't teased me. I couldn't resist her. She is
+the best little girl in the world; and you are a lucky fellow to have
+such a friend."
+
+"I am; she is an angel;" and when Harry began to think of Julia, he
+could not think of anything else, and the conversation was suspended.
+
+It was a long while before either of them spoke again, and then John
+advised Harry to crawl into the wagon and lie down on the load.
+Notwithstanding his agreeable thoughts, our hero yawned now and then,
+and concluded to adopt the suggestion of the driver. He found a very
+comfortable bed on the bales, softened by heaps of mattings, which
+were to be used in packing the miscellaneous articles of the return
+freight.
+
+John Lane took things very easily; and as the horses jogged slowly
+along, he relieved the monotony of the journey by singing sundry
+old-fashioned psalm tunes, which had not then gone out of use. He was
+a good singer; and Harry was so pleased with the music, and so
+unaccustomed to the heavy jolt of the wagon, that he could not go to
+sleep at once.
+
+    "While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
+      All seated on the ground,
+    The angel of the Lord came down,
+      And glory shone around."
+
+Again and again John's full and sonorous voice rolled out these
+familiar lines, till Harry was fairly lulled to sleep by the
+harmonious measures. The angel of the Lord had come down for the
+fortieth time, after the manner of the ancient psalmody, and for the
+fortieth time Harry had thought of _his_ angel, when he dropped off to
+dream of the "glory that shone around."
+
+Harry slept soundly after he got a little used to the rough motion of
+the wagon, and it was sunrise before he woke.
+
+"Well, Harry, how do you feel now?" asked John, as he emerged from his
+lodging apartment.
+
+"Better; I feel as bright as a new pin. Where are we?"
+
+"We have come about twelve miles. Pretty soon we shall stop to bait
+the team and get some breakfast."
+
+"I have got some breakfast in my basket. Julia gave me enough to last
+a week. I shan't starve, at any rate."
+
+"No one would ever be hungry in this world, if everybody were like
+Julia. But you shall breakfast with me at the tavern."
+
+"It won't be safe--will it?"
+
+"O, yes; nobody will know you here."
+
+"Well, I have got some money to pay for anything I have."
+
+"Keep your money, Harry; you will want it all when you get to Boston."
+
+After going a few miles farther, they stopped at a tavern, where the
+horses were fed, and Harry ate such a breakfast as a pauper never ate
+before. John would not let him pay for it, declaring that Julia's
+friends were his friends.
+
+The remaining portion of the journey was effected without any incident
+worthy of narrating, and they reached the city about noon. Of course
+the first sight of Boston astonished Harry. His conceptions of a city
+were entirely at fault; and though it was not a very large city
+twenty-five years ago, it far exceeded his expectations.
+
+Harry had a mission before him, and he did not permit his curiosity to
+interfere with that. John drove down town to deliver his load; and
+Harry went with him, improving every opportunity to obtain work. When
+the wagon stopped, he went boldly into the stores in the vicinity to
+inquire if they "wanted to hire a hand."
+
+Now, Harry was not exactly in a condition to produce a very favorable
+impression upon those to whom he applied for work. His clothes were
+never very genteel, nor very artistically cut and made; and they were
+threadbare, and patched at the knees and elbows. A patch is no
+disguise to a man or boy, it is true; but if a little more care had
+been taken to adapt the color and kind of fabric in Harry's patches to
+the original garment, his general appearance would undoubtedly have
+been much improved. Whether these patches really affected his ultimate
+success I cannot say--only that they were an inconvenience at the
+outset.
+
+It was late in the afternoon before John Lane had unloaded his
+merchandise and picked up his return freight. Thus far Harry had been
+unsuccessful; no one wanted a boy; or if they did, they did not want
+such a boy as Harry appeared to be. His country garb, with the five
+broad patches, seemed to interfere with the working out of his
+manifest destiny. Yet he was not disheartened. Spruce clerks and
+ill-mannered boys laughed at him; but he did not despond.
+
+"Try again," exclaimed he, as often as he was told that his services
+were not required.
+
+When the wagon reached Washington Street, Harry wanted to walk, for
+the better prosecution of his object; and John gave him directions so
+that he could find Major Phillips's stable, where he intended to put
+up for the night.
+
+Harry trotted along among the gay and genteel people that thronged the
+sidewalk; but he was so earnest about his mission, that he could not
+stop to look at their fine clothes, nor even at the pictures, the
+gewgaws, and gimcracks that tempted him from the windows.
+
+"'Boy wanted'" Harry read on a paper in the window of a jeweler's
+shop. "Now's my time;" and, without pausing to consider the chances
+that were against him, he entered the store.
+
+"You want a boy--don't you?" asked he of a young man behind the
+counter.
+
+"We do," replied the person addressed, looking at the applicant with a
+broad grin on his face.
+
+"I should like to hire out," continued Harry, with an earnestness that
+would have secured the attention of any man but an idiot.
+
+"Do you? Your name is Joseph--isn't it?"
+
+"No, sir; my name is Harry West."
+
+"O, I thought it was Joseph. The Book says he had a coat of many
+colors, though I believe it don't say anything about the trousers,"
+sneered the shopkeeper.
+
+"Never mind the coat or the trousers. If you want to hire a boy, I
+will do the best I can for you," replied Harry, willing to appreciate
+the joke of the other, if he could get a place.
+
+"You won't answer for us; you come from the country."
+
+"I did."
+
+"What did you come to Boston for?"
+
+"After work."
+
+"You had better go back, and let yourself to some farmer. You will
+make a good scarecrow to hang up in the field. No crow would ever come
+near you, I'll warrant."
+
+Harry's blood boiled with indignation at this gratuitous insult. His
+cheeks reddened, and he looked about him for the means of inflicting
+summary vengeance upon the poltroon who so wantonly trifled with his
+glowing aspirations.
+
+"Move on, boy; we don't want you," added the man.
+
+"You are a ----"
+
+I will not write what Harry said. It was a vulgar epithet, coupled
+with a monstrous oath for so small a boy to utter. The shopkeeper
+sprang out from his counter; but Harry retreated, and escaped him,
+though not till he had repeated the vulgar and profane expression.
+
+But he was sorry for what he had said before he had gone ten paces.
+
+"What would the little angel say, if she had heard that?" Harry asked
+himself. "'Twon't do; I must try again."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+IN WHICH HARRY SUDDENLY GETS RICH AND HAS A CONVERSATION WITH ANOTHER
+HARRY
+
+
+By the time he reached the stable, Harry would have given almost
+anything to have recalled the hasty expressions he had used. He had
+acquired the low and vulgar habit of using profane language at the
+poorhouse. He was conscious that it was not only wicked to do so, but
+that it was very offensive to many persons who did not make much
+pretension to piety, or even morality; and, in summing up his faults
+in the woods, he had included this habit as one of the worst.
+
+She hoped he was a good boy--Julia Bryant, the little angel, hoped so.
+Her blood would have frozen in her veins if she had listened to the
+irreverent words he had uttered in the shop. He had broken his
+resolution, broken his promise to the little angel, on the first day
+he had been in the city. It was a bad beginning; but instead of
+permitting this first failure to do right to discourage him, he
+determined to persevere--to try again.
+
+A good life, a lofty character, with all the trials and sacrifices
+which it demands, is worth working for; and those who mean to grow
+better than they are will often be obliged to "try again." The spirit
+may be willing to do well, but the flesh is weak, and we are all
+exposed to temptation. We may make our good resolutions--and it is
+very easy to make them, but when we fail to keep them--it is sometimes
+very hard to keep them--we must not be discouraged, but do as Harry
+did--TRY AGAIN. The strong Spirit may conquer the weak Flesh.
+
+"Well, Harry, how did you make out?" asked John Lane, when Harry
+joined him at the stable.
+
+"I didn't make out at all. Nobody seems to want a boy like me."
+
+"O, well, you will find a place. Don't be discouraged."
+
+"I am not. To-morrow I shall try again."
+
+"I don't know what I shall do with you to-night. Every bed in the
+tavern up the street, where I stop, is full. I shall sleep with
+another teamster."
+
+"Never mind me! I can sleep in the wagon. I have slept in worse places
+than that."
+
+"I will fix a place for you, then."
+
+After they had prepared his bed, Harry drew out his basket, and
+proceeded to eat his supper. He then took a walk down Washington
+Street, with John, went to an auction, and otherwise amused himself
+till after nine o'clock, when he returned to the stable.
+
+After John had left him, as he was walking towards the wagon, with the
+intention of retiring for the night, his foot struck against something
+which attracted his attention. He kicked it once or twice, to
+determine what it was, and then picked it up.
+
+"By gracious!" he exclaimed; "it is a pocketbook. My fortune is made;"
+and without stopping to consider the matter any further, he scrambled
+into the wagon.
+
+His heart jumped with excitement, for his vivid imagination had
+already led him to the conclusion that it was stuffed full of money.
+It might contain a hundred dollars, perhaps five hundred; and these
+sums were about as far as his ideas could reach.
+
+He could buy a suit of new clothes, a new cap, new shoes, and be as
+spruce as any of the boys he had seen about the city. Then he could go
+to a boarding house, and live like a prince, till he could get a place
+that suited him; for Harry, however rich he might be, did not think of
+living without labor of some kind. He could dress himself up in fine
+broadcloth, present himself at the jeweler's shop where they wanted a
+boy, and then see whether he would make a good scarecrow.
+
+Then his thoughts reverted to the cabin, where he had slept two
+nights, and, of course, to the little angel, who had supplied the
+commissary department during his sojourn in the woods. He could dress
+himself up with the money in the pocketbook, and, after a while, when
+he got a place, take the stage for Rockville. Wouldn't she be
+astonished to see him then, in fine broadcloth! Wouldn't she walk with
+him over to the spot where he had killed the black snake! Wouldn't she
+be proud to tell her father that this was the boy she had fed in the
+woods!
+
+What would she say to him? He had promised to write to her when he got
+settled, and tell her how he got along, and whether he was good or
+not. What should he say? How glad she would be to hear that he was
+getting along so finely!
+
+"Stop!" said he to himself. "What have I been thinking about? This
+pocketbook isn't mine."
+
+I am sorry to say it, but Harry really felt sad when the thought
+occurred to him. He had been building very pretty air castles on this
+money, and this reflection suddenly tumbled them all down--new
+clothes, new cap, boarding house, visit to Rockville--all in a heap.
+
+"But I found it," Harry reasoned with himself.
+
+Something within him spoke out, saying:
+
+"You stole it, Harry."
+
+"No, I didn't; I found it."
+
+"If you don't return it to the owner, you will be a thief," continued
+the voice within.
+
+"Nobody will know that I found it. I dare say the owner does not want
+it half so much as I do."
+
+"No matter for that, Harry; if you keep it you will be a thief."
+
+He could not compromise with that voice within. It was the real Harry,
+within the other Harry, that spoke, and he was a very obstinate
+fellow, positively refusing to let him keep the pocketbook, at any
+rate.
+
+"What am I about? She hoped I would be a good boy, and the evil one is
+catching me as fast as he can," resumed Harry.
+
+"Be a good boy," added the other Harry.
+
+"I mean to be, if I can."
+
+"The little angel will be very sad when she finds out that you are a
+thief."
+
+"I don't mean to be a thief. But this pocketbook will make me rich.
+She never will know anything about it."
+
+"If she does not, there is One above who will know, and his angels
+will frown upon you, and stamp your crime upon your face. Then you
+will go about like Cain, with a mark upon you."
+
+"Pooh!" said the outer Harry, who was sorely tempted by the treasure
+within his grasp.
+
+"You will not dare to look the little angel in the face, if you steal
+this money. She will know you are not good, then. Honest folks always
+hold their heads up, and are never ashamed to face any person."
+
+"I don't keep it!" replied the struggling, tempted Flesh. "Why did I
+think of such a thing?"
+
+He felt strong then, for the Spirit had triumphed over the Flesh. The
+foe within had been beaten back, at least for the moment; and as he
+laid his head upon the old coat that was to serve him for a pillow, he
+thought of Julia Bryant. He thought he saw her sweet face, and there
+was an angelic smile upon it.
+
+My young readers will remember, after Jesus had been tempted, and
+said, "Get thee behind, Satan," that "behold, angels came and
+ministered unto him." They came and ministered to Harry after he had
+cast out the evil thought; they come and minister to all who resist
+temptation. They come in the heart, and minister with the healing balm
+of an approving conscience.
+
+Placing the pocketbook under his head, with the intention of finding
+the owner in the morning, he went to sleep. The fatigue and excitement
+of the day softened his pillow, and not once did he open his eyes till
+the toils of another day had commenced around him. I question whether
+he would have slept so soundly if he had decided to keep the
+pocketbook.
+
+But the tempter was not banished. He had only been conquered for the
+moment--subdued only to attack him again. The first thought of the
+treasure, in the morning, was to covet it. Again he allowed his fancy
+to picture the comforts and the luxuries which it would purchase.
+
+"No one will know it," he added. "Why shouldn't I keep it?"
+
+"God will know it; you will know it yourself," said the other Harry,
+more faithful and conscientious than the outside Harry, who, it must
+be confessed, was sometimes disposed to be the "Old Harry."
+
+"No use of being too good. I will keep it."
+
+"_She_ hoped you would be a good boy," added the monitor within.
+
+"I will--that is, when I can afford it."
+
+"Be good now, or you never will."
+
+One hundred dollars!--perhaps five hundred! It was a fortune. The
+temptation was very great. But the little angel--the act would forever
+banish him from her presence. He would never dare to look at her
+again, or even to write the letter he had promised.
+
+"Be true to yourself, Harry. Good first, and rich next."
+
+"I will," exclaimed Harry, in an earnest whisper; and again the
+tempter was cast out.
+
+Once more the fine air castles began to pile themselves up before
+him, standing on the coveted treasure; but he resolutely pitched them
+down, and banished them from his mind.
+
+"Where did you lose it?" said a voice near the wagon.
+
+"I don't know. I didn't miss it till this morning; and I have been to
+every place where I was last night; so I think I must have lost it
+here, when I put my horse up," replied another.
+
+The first speaker was one of the ostlers; and the moment Harry heard
+the other voice he started as though a rattlesnake had rattled in his
+path. Was it possible? As the speaker proceeded, he was satisfied
+beyond the possibility of a doubt that the voice belonged to Squire
+Walker.
+
+"Was there much money in it?" asked the ostler.
+
+"About a hundred and fifty dollars; and there were notes and other
+papers of great value," replied Squire Walker.
+
+"Well, I haven't seen or heard anything about it."
+
+"I remember taking it out of my great-coat pocket, and putting it into
+a pocket inside of my vest, when I got out of the wagon."
+
+"I don't think you lost it here. Some of us would have found it, if
+you had."
+
+Here was a dilemma for Harry. He had determined to restore the
+pocketbook; but he could not do so without exposing himself. Besides,
+if there had been any temptation to keep the treasure before, it was
+ten times as great now that he knew it belonged to his enemy. It would
+be no sin to keep it from Squire Walker.
+
+"It would be stealing," said the voice within.
+
+"But if I give it to him, he will carry me back to Jacob Wire's. I'll
+be--I'll be hanged if I do."
+
+"She hopes you will be a good boy."
+
+There was no resisting this appeal; and again the demon was put down,
+and the triumph added another laurel to the moral crown of the little
+hero.
+
+"It will be a dear journey to me," continued Squire Walker. "I was
+looking all day yesterday after a boy that ran away from the
+poorhouse, and came to the city for him. I had better let him go."
+
+"Did you find him?"
+
+"No. I brought that money down to put in the bank. It is gone, I
+suppose. Confound the boy!"
+
+Harry waited no longer; but while his heart beat like the machinery in
+the great factory at Rockville, he tumbled out of his nest, and slid
+down the bale of goods to the pavement.
+
+"Ah, Master Harry West! You are here--are you?" exclaimed Squire
+Walker, springing forward to catch him.
+
+Harry dodged, and kept out of his reach.
+
+"Catch him!" shouted the squire to the ostler.
+
+"Wait a minute, Squire Walker," said Harry. "I won't go back to Jacob
+Wire's, anyhow. Just hear what I have got to say; and then, if you
+want to take me, you may, if you can."
+
+It was evident, even to the squire, that Harry had something of
+importance to say; and he involuntarily paused to hear it.
+
+"I have found your pocketbook, squire, and--"
+
+"Give it to me, and I won't touch you," cried the overseer, eagerly.
+
+It was clear that the loss of his pocketbook had produced a salutary
+impression on the squire's mind. He loved money, and the punishment
+was more than he could bear.
+
+"I was walking along here, last night, when I struck my foot against
+something. I picked it up, and found it was a pocketbook. I haven't
+opened it. Here it is;" and Harry handed him his lost treasure.
+
+"By gracious!" exclaimed he, after he had assured himself that the
+contents of the pocketbook had not been disturbed. "That is more than
+ever I expected of you, Master Harry West."
+
+"I mean to be honest," replied Harry, proudly.
+
+"Perhaps you do. I told you, Harry, I wouldn't touch you; and I
+won't," continued the squire. "You may go."
+
+The overseer was amazed. He had come to Boston with the intention of
+catching Harry, cost what it might,--he meant to charge the expense to
+the town; but the recovery of his money had warmed his heart, and
+banished the malice he cherished toward the boy.
+
+Squire Walker volunteered some excellent advice for the guidance of
+the little pilgrim, who, he facetiously observed, had now no one to
+look after his manners and morals--manners first, and morals
+afterwards. He must be very careful and prudent, and he wished him
+well. Harry, however, took this wholesome counsel as from whom it
+came, and was not very deeply impressed by it.
+
+John Lane came to the stable soon after, and congratulated our hero
+upon the termination of the persecution from Redfield, and, when his
+horses were hitched on, bade him good bye, with many hearty wishes for
+his future success.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+IN WHICH HARRY BECOMES A STABLE BOY, AND HEARS BAD NEWS FROM ROCKVILLE
+
+
+Harry was exceedingly rejoiced at the remarkable turn his affairs had
+taken. It is true, he had lost the treasure upon which his fancy had
+built so many fine castles; but he did not regret the loss, since it
+had purchased his exemption from the Redfield persecution. He had
+conquered his enemy--which was a great victory--by being honest and
+upright; and he had conquered himself--which was a greater victory--by
+listening to the voice within him. He resisted temptation, and the
+victory made him strong.
+
+Our hero had won a triumph, but the battlefield was still spread out
+before him. There were thousands of enemies lurking in his path, ready
+to fall upon and despoil him of his priceless treasure--his integrity.
+
+"She had hoped he would be a good boy." He had done his duty--he had
+been true in the face of temptation. He wanted to write to Julia then,
+and tell her of his triumph--that, when tempted, he had thought of
+her, and won the victory.
+
+The world was before him; it had no place for idlers, and he must get
+work. The contents of the basket were not yet exhausted, and he took
+it to a retired corner to eat his breakfast. While he was thus
+engaged, Joe Flint, the ostler, happened to see him.
+
+"That is cold comfort," said he. "Why don't you go to the tavern and
+have your breakfast like a gentleman?"
+
+"I can't afford it," replied Harry.
+
+"Can't afford it? How much did the man that owned the pocketbook give
+you?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"Nothing! I'm blamed if he ain't a mean one!" exclaimed Joe, heartily.
+"I don't wonder you run away."
+
+"I didn't want anything. I was too glad to get clear of him to think
+of anything else."
+
+"Next time he loses his pocketbook, I hope he won't find it."
+
+And with this charitable observation, Joe resumed his labors. Harry
+finished his meal, washed it down with a draught of cold water at the
+pump, and was ready for business again. Unfortunately, there was no
+business ready for him. All day long he wandered about the streets in
+search of employment; but people did not appreciate his value. No one
+would hire him or have anything to do with him. The five patches on
+his clothes, he soon discovered, rendered it useless for him to apply
+at the stores. He was not in a condition to be tolerated about one of
+these; and he turned his attention to the market, the stables, and the
+teaming establishments, yet with no better success. It was in vain
+that he tried again; and at night, weary and dispirited, he returned
+to Major Phillips's stable.
+
+His commissariat was not yet exhausted; and he made a hearty supper
+from the basket. It became an interesting question for him to
+consider how he should pass the night. He could not afford to pay one
+of his quarters for a night's lodging at the tavern opposite. There
+was the stable, however, if he could get permission to sleep there.
+
+"May I sleep in the hay loft, Joe?" he asked, as the ostler passed
+him.
+
+"Major Phillips don't allow any one to sleep in the hay loft; but
+perhaps he will let you sleep there. He was asking about you to-day."
+
+"How should he know anything about me?" said Harry, not a little
+surprised to find his fame had gone before him.
+
+"He heard about the pocketbook, and wanted to see you. He said it was
+the meanest thing he ever heard of, that the man who lost it didn't
+give you anything; and them's my sentiments exactly. Here comes the
+major; I will speak to him about you."
+
+"Thank you, Joe."
+
+"Major Phillips, this boy wants to know if he may sleep in the hay
+loft to-night."
+
+"No," replied the stable keeper, short as pie crust.
+
+"This is the boy that found the pocketbook, and he hain't got no place
+to sleep."
+
+"O, is it? Then I will find a place for him to sleep. So, my boy, you
+are an honest fellow."
+
+"I try to be," replied Harry, modestly.
+
+"If you had kept the pocketbook you might have lodged at the Tremont
+House."
+
+"I had rather sleep in your stable, without it."
+
+"Squire Walker was mean not to give you a ten-dollar bill. What are
+you going to do with yourself?"
+
+"I want to get work; perhaps you have got something for me to do. I am
+used to horses."
+
+"Well, I don't know as I have."
+
+Major Phillips was a great fat man, rough, vulgar, and profane in his
+conversation; but he had a kind of sympathizing nature. Though he
+swore like a pirate sometimes, his heart was in the right place, so
+far as humanity was concerned.
+
+He took Harry into the counting room of the stable, and questioned him
+in regard to his past history and future prospects. The latter,
+however, were just now rather clouded. He told the major his
+experience in trying to get something to do, and was afraid he should
+not find a place.
+
+The stable keeper was interested in him and in his story. He swore
+roundly at the meanness of Jacob Wire and Squire Walker, and commended
+him for running away.
+
+"Well, my lad, I don't know as I can do much for you. I have three
+ostlers now, which is quite enough, and all I can afford to pay; but I
+suppose I can find enough for a boy to do about the house and the
+stable. How much wages do you expect?"
+
+"Whatever you think I can earn."
+
+"You can't earn much for me just now; but if you are a-mind to try it,
+I will give you six dollars a month and your board."
+
+"Thank you, sir; I shall be very glad of the chance."
+
+"Very well; but if you work for me, you must get up early in the
+morning, and be wide awake."
+
+"I will, sir."
+
+"Now, we will see about a place for you to sleep."
+
+Over the counting room was an apartment in which two of the ostlers
+slept. There was room for another bed, and one was immediately set up
+for Harry's use.
+
+Once more, then, our hero was at home, if a mere abiding place
+deserves that hallowed name. It was not an elegant, or even a
+commodious, apartment in which Harry was to sleep. The walls were
+dingy and black; the beds looked as though they had never been clean;
+and there was a greasy smell which came from several harnesses that
+were kept there. It was comfortable, if not poetical; and Harry soon
+felt perfectly at home.
+
+His first duty was to cultivate the acquaintance of the ostlers. He
+found them to be rough, good-natured men, not over-scrupulous about
+their manners or their morals. If it does not occur to my young
+readers, it will to their parents, that this was not a fit place for
+a boy--that he was in constant contact with corruption. His companions
+were good-hearted men; but this circumstance rendered them all the
+more dangerous. There was no fireside of home, at which the evil
+effects of communication with men of loose morals would be
+counteracted. Harry had not been an hour in their society before he
+caught himself using a big oath--which, when he had gone to bed, he
+heartily repented, renewing his resolution with the promise to try
+again.
+
+He was up bright and early the next morning, made a fire in the
+counting room, and had let out half the horses in the stable to water,
+before Major Phillips came out. His services were in demand, as Joe
+Flint, for some reason, had not come to the stable that morning.
+
+The stable keeper declared that he had gone on a "spree," and told
+Harry he might take his place.
+
+Harry did take his place; and the ostlers declared that, in everything
+but cleaning the horses, he made good his place. The knowledge and
+skill which he had obtained at the poorhouse was of great value to
+him; and, at night, though he was very tired, he was satisfied that he
+had done a good day's work.
+
+The ostlers took their meals at the house of Major Phillips, which
+stood at one side of the stable yard. Harry did not like Mrs. Phillips
+very well; she was cross, and the men said she was a "regular Tartar."
+But he was resolved to keep the peace. He afterwards found it a
+difficult matter; for he had to bring wood and water, and do other
+chores about the house, and he soon ascertained that she was
+determined not to be pleased with anything he did. He tried to keep
+his temper, however, and meekly submitted to all her scolding and
+grumbling.
+
+Thus far, while Harry has been passing through the momentous period of
+his life with which we commenced his story, we have minutely detailed
+the incidents of his daily life, so that we have related the events of
+only a few days. This is no longer necessary. He has got a place, and
+of course one day is very much like every other. The reader knows him
+now--knows what kind of boy he is, and what his hopes and expectations
+are. The reader knows, too, the great moral epoch in his history--the
+event which roused his consciousness of error, and stimulated him to
+become better; that he has a talisman in his mind, which can be no
+better expressed than by those words he so often repeated, "She hoped
+he would be a good boy." And her angel smile went with him to
+encourage him in the midst of trial and temptation--to give him the
+victory over the foes that assailed him.
+
+We shall henceforth give results, instead of a daily record, stopping
+to detail only the great events of his career.
+
+We shall pass over three months, during which time he worked
+diligently and faithfully for Major Phillips. Every day had its trials
+and temptations; not a day passed in which there were none. The habit
+of using profane language he found it very hard to eradicate; but he
+persevered; and though he often sinned, he as often repented and tried
+again, until he had fairly mastered the enemy. It was a great triumph,
+especially when it is remembered that he was surrounded by those whose
+every tenth word at least was an oath.
+
+He was tempted to lie, tempted to neglect his work, tempted to steal,
+tempted in a score of other things. And often he yielded; but the
+remembrance of the little angel, and the words of the good Book she
+had given him, cheered and supported him as he struggled on.
+
+Harry's finances were in a tolerably prosperous condition. With his
+earnings he had bought a suit of clothes, and went to church half a
+day every Sunday. Besides his wages, he had saved about five dollars
+from the "perquisites" which he received from customers for holding
+their horses, running errands, and other little services a boy could
+perform. He was very careful and prudent with his money; and whenever
+he added anything to his little hoard, he thought of the man who had
+become rich by saving up his fourpences. He still cherished his
+purpose to become a rich man, and it is very likely he had some
+brilliant anticipations of success. Not a cent did he spend foolishly,
+though it was hard work to resist the inclination to buy the fine
+things that tempted him from the shop windows.
+
+Those who knew him best regarded him as a very strange boy; but that
+was only because he was a little out of his element. He would have
+preferred to be among men who did not bluster and swear; but, in spite
+of them, he had the courage and the fortitude to be true to himself.
+The little angel still maintained her ascendency in his moral nature.
+
+The ostlers laughed at him when he took out his little Bible, before
+he went to bed, to drink of the waters of life. They railed at him,
+called him "Little Pious," and tried to induce him to pitch cents, in
+the back yard, on Sunday afternoon, instead of going to church. He
+generally bore these taunts with patience, though sometimes his high
+spirit would get the better of his desire to be what the little angel
+wished him to be.
+
+John Lane put up at the stable once a week; and, every time he
+returned to Rockville, he carried a written or a verbal account of the
+prosperity of the little pauper boy. One Sunday, he wrote her a long
+letter all about "being good"--how he was tempted, and how he
+struggled for her sake and for the sake of the truth.
+
+In return, he often received messages and letters from her, breathing
+the same pure spirit which she had manifested when she "fed him in the
+wilderness." These communications strengthened his moral nature, and
+enabled him to resist temptation. He felt just as though she was an
+angel sent into the world to watch over him. Perhaps he had fallen
+without them; at any rate, her influence was very powerful.
+
+About the middle of January, when the earth was covered with snow, and
+the bleak, cold winds of winter blew over the city, John Lane informed
+Harry, on his arrival, that Julia was very sick with the scarlet fever
+and canker rash, and it was feared she would not recover.
+
+This was the most severe trial of all. He wept when he thought of her
+sweet face reddened with the flush of fever; and he fled to his
+chamber, to vent his emotions in silence and solitude.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+IN WHICH HARRY DOES A GOOD DEED, AND DETERMINES TO "FACE THE MUSIC"
+
+
+While Harry sat by the stove in the ostlers' room, grieving at the
+intelligence he had received from Rockville, a little girl, so lame
+that she walked with a crutch, hobbled into the apartment.
+
+"Is my father here?" she asked, in tones so sad that Harry could not
+help knowing she was in distress.
+
+"I don't know as I am acquainted with your father," replied Harry.
+
+"He is one of the ostlers here."
+
+"Oh, Joseph Flint!"
+
+"Yes; he has not been home to dinner or supper to-day, and mother is
+very sick."
+
+"I haven't seen him to-day."
+
+"O, dear! What will become of us?" sighed the little girl, as she
+hobbled away.
+
+Harry was struck by the sad appearance of the girl, and the desponding
+words she uttered. Of late, Joe Flint's vile habit of intemperance had
+grown upon him so rapidly that he did not work at the stable more than
+one day in three. For two months, Major Phillips had been threatening
+to discharge him; and nothing but kindly consideration for his family
+had prevented him from doing so.
+
+"Have you seen Joe to-day?" asked Harry of one of the ostlers, who
+came into the room soon after the departure of the little girl.
+
+"No, and don't want to see him," replied Abner, testily; for, in Joe's
+absence, his work had to be done by the other ostlers, who did not
+feel very kindly towards him.
+
+"His little girl has just been here after him."
+
+"Very likely he hasn't been home for a week," added Abner. "I should
+think his family would be very thankful if they never saw him again.
+He is a nuisance to himself and everybody else."
+
+"Where does he live?"
+
+"Just up in Avery Street--in a ten-footer there."
+
+"The little girl said her mother was very sick."
+
+"I dare say. She is always sick; and I don't much wonder. Joe Flint is
+enough to make any one sick. He has been drunk about two-thirds of the
+time for two months."
+
+"I don't see how his family get along."
+
+"Nor I, either."
+
+After Abner had warmed himself, he left the room. Harry was haunted by
+the sad look and desponding tones of the poor lame girl. It was a
+bitter cold evening; and what if Joe's family were suffering with the
+cold and hunger! It was sad to think of such a thing; and Harry was
+deeply moved.
+
+"She hoped I would be a good boy. She is very sick now, and perhaps
+she will die," said Harry to himself. "What would she do, if she were
+here now?"
+
+He knew very well what she would do, and he determined to do it
+himself. His heart was so deeply moved by the picture of sorrow and
+suffering with which his imagination had invested the home of the
+intemperate ostler that it required no argument to induce him to go.
+
+But he must go prepared to do something. However sweet and consoling
+may be the sympathy of others to those in distress, it will not warm
+the chilled limbs or feed the hungry mouths; and Harry thanked God
+then that he had not spent his money foolishly upon gewgaws and
+gimcracks, or in gratifying a selfish appetite.
+
+After assuring himself that no one was approaching, he jumped on his
+bedstead, and reaching up into a hole in the board ceiling of the
+room, he took out a large wooden pill box, which was nearly filled
+with various silver coins, from a five-cent piece to a half dollar.
+Putting the box in his pocket, he went down to the stable, and
+inquired more particularly in relation Joe's house.
+
+When he had received such directions as would enable him to find the
+place, he told Abner he wanted to be absent a little while, and left
+the stable. He had no difficulty in finding the home of the drunkard's
+family. It was a little, old wooden house, in Avery Street, opposite
+Haymarket Place, which has long since been pulled down to make room
+for a more elegant dwelling.
+
+Harry knocked, and was admitted by the little lame girl whom he had
+seen at the stable.
+
+"I have come to see if I can do anything for you," said Harry, as he
+moved forward into the room in which the family lived.
+
+"Have you seen anything of father?" asked the little girl.
+
+"I haven't; Abner says he hasn't been to the stable to-day. Haven't
+you any lights?" asked Harry, as he entered the dark room.
+
+"We haven't got any oil, nor any candles."
+
+In the fireplace, a piece of pine board was blazing, which cast a
+faint and fitful glare into the room; and Harry was thus enabled to
+behold the scene which the miserable home of the drunkard presented.
+
+In one corner was a dilapidated bedstead, on which lay the sick woman.
+Drawn from under it was a trundle bed, upon which lay two small
+children, who had evidently been put to bed at that early hour to keep
+them warm, for the temperature of the apartment was scarcely more
+comfortable than that of the open air. It was a cheerless home; and
+the faint light of the blazing board only served to increase the
+desolate appearance of the place.
+
+"Who is it?" asked the sick woman, faintly.
+
+"The boy that works at the stable," replied the lame girl.
+
+"My name is Harry West, marm; and I come to see if you wanted
+anything," added Harry.
+
+"We want a great many things," sighed she. "Can you tell me where my
+husband is?"
+
+"I can't; he hasn't been at the stable to-day."
+
+"Oh, God! what will become of us?" sobbed the woman.
+
+"I will help you, marm. Don't take on so. I have money! and I will do
+everything I can for you."
+
+When her mother sobbed, the lame girl sat down on the bed and cried
+bitterly. Harry's tender heart was melted; and he would have wept also
+if he had not been conscious of the high mission he had to perform;
+and he felt very grateful that he was able to dry up those tears and
+carry gladness to those bleeding hearts.
+
+"I don't know what you can do for us," said the poor woman, "though I
+am sure I am very much obliged to you."
+
+"I can do a great deal, marm. Cheer up," replied Harry, tenderly.
+
+As he spoke, one of the children in the trundle bed sobbed in its
+sleep; and the poor mother's heart seemed to be lacerated by the
+sound.
+
+"Poor child," wailed she. "He had no supper but a crust of bread and a
+cup of cold water. He cried himself to sleep with cold and hunger. Oh,
+Heaven! that we should have come to this!"
+
+"And the room is very cold," added Harry, glancing around him.
+
+"It is. Our wood is all gone but two great logs. Katy could not bring
+them up."
+
+"I worked for an hour trying to split some pieces off them," said
+Katy, the lame girl.
+
+"I will fix them, marm," replied Harry, who felt the strength of ten
+stout men in his limbs at that moment. "But you have had no supper."
+
+"No."
+
+"Wait a minute. Have you a basket?"
+
+Katy brought him a peck basket, and Harry rushed out of the house as
+though he had been shot. Great deeds were before him, and he was
+inspired for the occasion.
+
+In a quarter of an hour he returned. The basket was nearly full.
+Placing it in a chair, he took from it a package of candles, one of
+which he lighted and placed in a tin candlestick on the table.
+
+"Now we have got a little light on the subject," said he, as he began
+to display the contents of the basket. "Here, Katy, is two pounds of
+meat; here is half a pound of tea; you had better put a little in the
+teapot, and let it be steeping for your mother."
+
+"God bless you!" exclaimed Mrs. Flint. "You are an angel sent from
+Heaven to help us in our distress."
+
+"No, marm; I ain't an angel," answered Harry, who seemed to feel that
+Julia Bryant had an exclusive monopoly of that appellation, so far as
+it could be reasonably applied to mortals. "I only want to do my duty,
+marm."
+
+Katy Flint was so bewildered that she could say nothing, though her
+opinion undoubtedly coincided with that of her mother.
+
+"Here is two loaves of bread and two dozen crackers; a pound of
+butter; two pounds of sugar. There! I did not bring any milk."
+
+"Never mind the milk. You are a blessed child."
+
+"Give me a pitcher, Katy. I will go down to Thomas's in two shakes of
+a jiffy."
+
+Mrs. Flint protested that she did not want any milk--that she could
+get along very well without it; but Harry said the children must have
+it; and, without waiting for Katy to get the pitcher, he took it from
+the closet, and ran out of the house.
+
+He was gone but a few minutes. When he returned he found Katy trying
+to make the teakettle boil, but with very poor success.
+
+"Now, Katy, show me the logs, and I will soon have a fire."
+
+The lame girl conducted him to the cellar, where Harry found the
+remnants of the old box which Katy had tried to split. Seizing the
+axe, he struck a few vigorous blows, and the pine boards were reduced
+to a proper shape for use. Taking an armful, he returned to the
+chamber; and soon a good fire was blazing under the teakettle.
+
+"There, marm, we will soon have things to rights," said Harry, as he
+rose from the hearth, where he had stooped down to blow the fire.
+
+"I am sure we should have perished if you had not come," added Mrs.
+Flint, who was not disposed to undervalue Harry's good deeds.
+
+"Then I am very glad I came."
+
+"I hope we shall be able to pay you back all the money you have spent;
+but I don't know. Joseph has got so bad, I don't know what he is
+coming to. He is a good-hearted man. He always uses me well, even when
+he is in liquor. Nothing but drink could make him neglect us so."
+
+"It is a hard case, marm," added Harry.
+
+"Very hard; he hasn't done much of anything for us this winter. I have
+been out to work every day till a fortnight ago, when I got sick and
+couldn't do anything. Katy has kept us alive since then; she is a good
+girl, and takes the whole care of Tommy and Susan."
+
+"Poor girl! It is a pity she is so lame."
+
+"I don't mind that, if I only had things to do with," said Katy, who
+was busy disposing of the provisions which Harry had bought.
+
+As soon as the kettle boiled, she made tea, and prepared a little
+toast for her mother, who, however, was too sick to take much
+nourishment.
+
+"Now, Katy, you must eat yourself," interposed Harry, when all was
+ready.
+
+"I can't eat," replied the poor girl, bursting into tears. "I don't
+feel hungry."
+
+"You must eat."
+
+Just then the children in the trundle bed, disturbed by the unusual
+bustle in the room, waked, and gazed with wonder at Harry, who had
+seated himself on the bed.
+
+"Poor Susy!" exclaimed Katy; "she has waked up. And Tommy, too! They
+shall have their supper, now."
+
+They were taken up; and Harry's eyes were gladdened by such a sight as
+he had never beheld before. The hungry ate; and every mouthful they
+took swelled the heart of the little almoner of God's bounty. If the
+thought of Julia Bryant, languishing on a bed of sickness, had not
+marred his satisfaction, he had been perfectly happy. But he was
+doing a deed that would rejoice her heart; he was doing just what she
+had done for him; he was doing just what she would have done, if she
+had been there.
+
+"She hoped he would be a good boy." His conscience told him he had
+been a good boy--that he had been true to himself, and true to the
+noble example she had set before him.
+
+While the family were still at supper, Harry, lighting another candle,
+went down cellar to pay his respects to those big logs. He was a stout
+boy, and accustomed to the use of the axe. By slow degrees he chipped
+off the logs, until they were used up, and a great pile of serviceable
+wood was before him. Not content with this, he carried up several
+large armfuls of it, which he deposited by the fireplace in the room.
+
+"Now, marm, I don't know as I can do anything more for you to-night,"
+said he, moving towards the door.
+
+"The Lord knows you have done enough," replied the poor woman. "I hope
+we shall be able to pay you for what you have done."
+
+"I don't want anything, marm."
+
+"If we can't pay you, the Lord will reward you."
+
+"I am paid enough already. I hope you will get better, marm."
+
+"I hope so. I feel better to-night than I have felt before for a
+week."
+
+"Good night, marm! Good night, Katy!" And Harry hurried back to the
+stable.
+
+"Where have you been, Harry?" asked Abner, when he entered the
+ostler's room.
+
+"I have been out a little while."
+
+"I know that. The old man wanted you; and when he couldn't find you,
+he was mad as thunder."
+
+"Where is he?" said Harry, somewhat annoyed to find that, while he had
+been doing his duty in one direction, he had neglected his duty in
+another.
+
+"In the counting room. You will catch fits for going off."
+
+Whatever he should catch, he determined to "face the music," and left
+the room to find his employer.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+IN WHICH HARRY MAKES THE ACQUAINTANCE OF A VERY IMPORTANT PERSONAGE
+
+
+Major Phillips was in the counting room, where Harry, dreading his
+anger, presented himself before him. His employer was a violent man.
+He usually acted first, and thought the matter over afterwards; so
+that he frequently had occasion to undo what had been done in haste
+and passion. His heart was kind, but his temper generally had the
+first word.
+
+"So you have come, Harry," exclaimed he, as our hero opened the door.
+"Where have you been?"
+
+"I have been out a little while," replied Harry, whose modesty
+rebelled at the idea of proclaiming the good deed he had done.
+
+"Out a little while!" roared the major, with an oath that froze the
+boy's blood. "That is enough--enough, sir. You know I don't allow man
+or boy to leave the stable without letting me know it."
+
+"I was wrong, sir; but I--"
+
+"You little snivelling monkey, how dared you leave the stable?"
+continued the stable keeper, heedless of the boy's submission. "I'll
+teach you better than that."
+
+"Will you?" said Harry, suddenly changing his tone, as his blood began
+to boil. "You can begin as quick as you like."
+
+"You saucy young cub! I have a great mind to give you a cowhiding,"
+thundered the enraged stable keeper.
+
+"I should like to see you do it," replied Harry, fixing his eyes on
+the poker that lay on the floor near the stove.
+
+"Should you, you impertinent puppy?"
+
+The major sprang forward, as if to grasp the boy by the collar; but
+Harry, with his eyes still fixed on the poker, retreated a pace or
+two, ready to act promptly when the decisive moment should come.
+Forgetting for the time that he had run away from one duty to attend
+to another, he felt indignant that he should be thus rudely treated
+for being absent a short time on an errand of love and charity. He
+gave himself too much credit for the good deed, and felt that he was a
+martyr to his philanthropic spirit. He was willing to bear all and
+brave all in a good cause; and it seemed to him, just then, as though
+he was being punished for assisting Joe Flint's family, instead of for
+leaving his place without permission. A great many persons who mean
+well are apt to think themselves martyrs for any good cause in which
+they may be engaged, when, in reality, their own want of tact, or the
+offensive manner in which they present their truth, is the stake at
+which they are burned.
+
+"Keep off!" said Harry, his eyes flashing fire.
+
+The major was so angry that he could do nothing; and while they were
+thus confronting each other, Joe Flint staggered into the counting
+room. Intoxicated as he was, he readily discovered the position of
+affairs between the belligerents.
+
+"Look here--hic--Major Phillips," said he, reeling up to his employer,
+"I love you--hic--Major Phillips, like a--hic--like a brother, Major
+Phillips; but if you touch that boy, Major Phillips, I'll--hic--you
+touch me, Major Phillips. That's all."
+
+"Go home, Joe," replied the stable keeper, his attention diverted from
+Harry to the new combatant. "You are drunk."
+
+"I know I'm drunk, Major Phillips. I'm as drunk as a beast; but I
+ain't--hic--dead drunk. I know what I'm about."
+
+"No, you don't. Go home."
+
+"Yes, I dzoo. I'm a brute; I'm a hog; I'm a--dzwhat you call it? I'm a
+villain."
+
+Joe tried to straighten himself up, and look at his employer; but he
+could not, and suddenly bursting into tears, he threw himself heavily
+into a chair, weeping bitterly in his inebriate paroxysm. He sobbed,
+and groaned, and talked incoherently. He acted strangely, and Major
+Phillips's attention was excited.
+
+"What is the matter, Joe?" he asked; and his anger towards Harry
+seemed to have subsided.
+
+"I tell you I am a villain, Major Phillips," blubbered Joe.
+
+"What do you mean by that?"
+
+"Haven't I been on a drunk, and left my family to starve and freeze?"
+groaned Joe, interlarding his speech with violent ebullitions of
+weeping. "Wouldn't my poor wife, and my poor children--O my God," and
+the poor drunkard covered his face with his hands, and sobbed like an
+infant.
+
+"What is the matter? What do you mean, Joe?" asked Major Phillips, who
+had never seen him in this frame before.
+
+"Wouldn't they all have died if Harry hadn't gone and fed 'em, and
+split up wood to warm 'em?"
+
+As he spoke, Joe sprang up, and rushed towards Harry, and in his
+drunken frenzy attempted to embrace him.
+
+"What does this mean, Harry?" said the stable keeper, turning to our
+hero, who, while Joe was telling his story, had been thinking of
+something else.
+
+"What a fool I was to get mad!" thought he. "What would she say if she
+had seen me just now? Poor Julia! perhaps she is dead, even now."
+
+"My folks would have died if it hadn't been for him," hiccoughed Joe.
+
+"Explain it, Harry," added the major.
+
+"The lame girl, Katy, came down here after her father early in the
+evening. She seemed to be in trouble and I thought I would go up and
+see what the matter was. I found them in rather a bad condition,
+without any wood or anything to eat. I did what I could for them, and
+came away," replied Harry.
+
+"Give me your hand, Harry!" and the major grasped his hand like a
+vise. "You are a good fellow," he added, with an oath.
+
+"Forgive me, Mr. Phillips, for saying what I did; I was mad," pleaded
+Harry.
+
+"So was I, my boy; but we won't mind that. You are a good fellow, and
+I like your spunk. So you have really been taking care of Joe's family
+while he was off on a drunk?"
+
+"I didn't do much, sir."
+
+"Look here, Harry, and you, Major Phillips. When I get this rum out of
+me I'll never take another drop again," said Joe, throwing himself
+into a chair.
+
+"Bah, Joe! You have said that twenty times before," added Major
+Phillips.
+
+"You dzee!" exclaimed Joe, doubling his fist, and bringing it down
+with the intention of hitting the table by his side to emphasize his
+resolution; but, unfortunately, he missed the table--a circumstance
+which seemed to fore-shadow the fate of his resolve.
+
+Joe proceeded to declare in his broken speech what a shock he had
+received when he went home, half an hour before--the first time for
+several days--and heard the reproaches of his suffering wife; how
+grateful he was to Harry, and what a villain he considered himself.
+Either the sufferings of his family, or the rum he had drunk, melted
+his heart, and he was as eloquent as his half-paralyzed tongue would
+permit. He was a pitiable object; and having assured himself that
+Joe's family were comfortable for the night, Major Phillips put him to
+bed in his own house.
+
+Harry was not satisfied with himself; he had permitted his temper to
+get the better of him. He thought of Julia on her bed of suffering,
+wept for her, and repented for himself. That night he heard the clock
+on the Boylston market strike twelve before he closed his eyes to
+sleep.
+
+The next day, while he was at work in the stable, a boy of about
+fifteen called to see him, and desired to speak with him alone. Harry,
+much wondering who his visitor was, and what he wanted, conducted him
+to the ostlers' chamber.
+
+"You are Harry West?" the boy began.
+
+"That is my name, for the want of a better," replied Harry.
+
+"Then there is a little matter to be settled between you and me. You
+helped my folks out last night, and I want to pay you for it."
+
+"Your folks?"
+
+"My name is Edward Flint."
+
+"Then you are Joe's son."
+
+"I am," replied Edward, who did not seem to feel much honored by the
+relationship.
+
+"Your folks were in a bad condition last night."
+
+"That's a fact; they were."
+
+"But I didn't know Joe had a son as old as you are."
+
+"I am the oldest; but I don't live at home, and have not for three
+years. How much did you pay out for them last night?"
+
+"One dollar and twenty cents."
+
+"As much as that?"
+
+"Just that."
+
+Edward Flint manifested some uneasiness at the announcement. He had
+evidently come with a purpose, but had found things different from
+what he had expected.
+
+"I didn't think it was so much."
+
+"What matters how much?" asked Harry.
+
+"Why, I want to pay you."
+
+"You needn't mind that."
+
+"The fact is, I have only three dollars just now; and I promised to go
+out to ride with a fellow next Sunday. So, you see, if I pay you, I
+shall not have enough left to foot the bills."
+
+Harry looked at his visitor with astonishment; he did not know what to
+make of him. Was he in earnest? Would a son of Joseph Flint go out to
+ride--on Sunday, too--while his mother and his brothers and sisters
+were on the very brink of starvation? Our hero had some strange,
+old-fashioned notions of his own. For instance, he considered it a
+son's duty to take care of his mother, even if he were obliged to
+forego the Sunday ride; that he ought to do all he could for his
+brothers and sisters, even if he had to go without stewed oysters,
+stay away from the theatre, and perhaps wear a little coarser cloth on
+his back. If Harry was unreasonable in his views, my young reader will
+remember that he was brought up in the country, where young America is
+not quite so "fast" as in the city.
+
+"I didn't ask you to pay me," continued Harry.
+
+"I know that; but, you see, I suppose I ought to pay you. The old man
+don't take much care of the family."
+
+Harry wanted to say that the young man did not appear to do much
+better; but he was disposed to be as civil as the circumstances would
+permit.
+
+"You needn't pay me."
+
+"Oh, yes, I shall pay you; but if you can wait till the first of next
+month, I should like it."
+
+"I can wait. Do you live out?"
+
+"Live out? What do you mean by that? I am a clerk in a store
+downtown," replied Edward, with offended dignity.
+
+"Oh, are you? Do they pay you well?"
+
+"Pretty fair; I get five dollars a week."
+
+"Five dollars a week! Thunder! I should think you did get paid pretty
+well!" exclaimed Harry, astonished at the vastness of the sum for a
+week's work.
+
+"Fair salary," added Edward, complacently. "What are you doing here?"
+
+"I work in the stable and about the house."
+
+"That's mean business," said Mr. Flint, turning up his nose.
+
+"It does very well."
+
+"How much do you get?"
+
+"Six dollars a month and perquisites."
+
+"How much are the perquisites?"
+
+"From one to two dollars a month."
+
+"Humph! I wonder you stay here."
+
+"It is as well as I can do."
+
+"No, it isn't; why don't you go into a store? We want a boy in our
+store."
+
+"Do you?"
+
+"We do."
+
+"How much do you pay?"
+
+"We pay from two to four dollars a week."
+
+"Can't you get me the place?" asked Harry, now much interested in his
+companion.
+
+"Well, yes; perhaps I can."
+
+"What should I have to do?"
+
+"Make the fires, sweep out in the morning, go on errands, and such
+work. Boys must begin at the foot of the ladder. I began at the foot
+of the ladder," answered Mr. Flint, with an immense self-sufficiency,
+which Harry, however, failed to notice.
+
+"I should like to get into a store."
+
+"You will have a good chance to rise."
+
+"I am willing to do anything, so that I can have a chance to get
+ahead."
+
+"We always give boys a good chance."
+
+Harry wanted that mysterious "we" defined. As it was, he was left to
+infer that Mr. Flint was a partner in the concern, unless the five
+dollars per week was an argument to the contrary; but he didn't like
+to ask strange questions, and desired to know whom "he worked for."
+
+Edward Flint did not "work for" anybody. He was a clerk in the
+extensive dry goods establishment of the Messrs. Wake & Wade, which,
+he declared, was the largest concern in Boston; and one might further
+have concluded that Mr. Flint was the most important personage in the
+said concern.
+
+Mr. Flint was obliged to descend from his lofty dignity, and compound
+the dollar and twenty cents with the stable boy by promising to get
+him the vacant place in the establishment of Wake & Wade, if his
+influence was sufficient to procure it. Harry was satisfied, and
+begged him not to distress himself about the debt. The visitor took
+his leave, promising to see him again the next day.
+
+About noon Joe Flint appeared at the stable again, perfectly sober.
+Major Phillips had lent him ten dollars, in anticipation of his
+month's wages, and he had been home to attend to the comfort of his
+suffering family. After dinner he had a long talk with Harry, in
+which, after paying him the money disbursed on the previous evening,
+he repeated his solemn resolution to drink no more. He was very
+grateful to Harry, and hoped he should be able to do as much for him.
+
+"Don't drink any more, Joe, and it will be the best day's work I ever
+did," added Harry.
+
+"I never will, Harry--never!" protested Joe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+IN WHICH HARRY GOES INTO THE DRYGOODS BUSINESS
+
+
+Mr. Edward Flint's reputation as a gentleman of honor and a man of his
+word suffered somewhat in Harry's estimation; for he waited all day,
+and all evening, without hearing a word from the firm of Wake & Wade.
+He had actually begun to doubt whether the accomplished young man had
+as much influence with the firm as he had led him to suppose. But his
+ambition would not permit him longer to be satisfied with the humble
+sphere of a stable boy; and he determined, if he did not hear from
+Edward, to apply for the situation himself.
+
+The next day, having procured two hours' leave of absence from the
+stable, he called at the home of Joe Flint to obtain further
+particulars concerning Edward and his situation. He found the family
+in much better circumstances than at his previous visit. Mrs. Flint
+was sitting up, and was rapidly convalescing; Katy was busy and
+cheerful; and it seemed a different place from that to which he had
+been the messenger of hope and comfort two nights before.
+
+They were very glad to see him, and poured forth their gratitude to
+him so eloquently that he was obliged to change the topic. Mrs. Flint
+was sure that her husband was an altered man. She had never before
+known him to be so earnest and solemn in his resolutions to amend and
+lead a new life.
+
+But when Harry alluded to Edward, both Katy and her mother suddenly
+grew red. They acknowledged that they had sent for him in their
+extremity, but that he did not come till the next morning, when the
+bounty of the stable boy had relieved them from the bitterness of
+want. The mother dropped a tear as she spoke of the wayward son; and
+Harry had not the heart to press the inquiries he had come to make.
+
+After speaking as well as he dared to speak of Edward, he took his
+leave, and hastened to the establishment of Wake & Wade, to apply for
+the vacant place. He had put on his best clothes, and his appearance
+this time was very creditable.
+
+Entering the store, he inquired for Edward Flint; and that gentleman
+was summoned to receive him.
+
+"Hallo, Harry West!" said Edward, when he recognized his visitor. "I
+declare I forgot all about you."
+
+"I thought likely," replied Harry, willing to be very charitable to
+the delinquent.
+
+"The fact is, we have been so busy in the store I haven't had time to
+call on you, as I promised."
+
+"Never mind, now. Is the place filled?"
+
+"No."
+
+"I am glad to hear that. Do you think there is any chance for me?"
+
+"Well, I don't know. I will do what I can for you."
+
+"Thank you, Edward."
+
+"Wait here a moment till I speak with one of the partners."
+
+The clerk left him, and was absent but a moment, when Harry was
+summoned to the private room of Mr. Wake. The gentleman questioned him
+for a few moments, and seemed to be pleased with his address and his
+frankness. The result of the interview was that our hero was engaged
+at a salary of three dollars a week, though it was objected to him
+that he had no parents residing in the city.
+
+"I thought I could fix it," said Edward, complacently, as they left
+the counting room.
+
+"I am much obliged to you, Edward," replied Harry, willing to humor
+his new friend. "Now I want to get a place to board."
+
+"That is easy enough."
+
+"Where do you board?"
+
+"In Green Street."
+
+"How much do you pay a week?"
+
+"Two dollars and a half."
+
+"I can't pay that."
+
+"Well, I suppose you can't."
+
+"I was thinking of something just now. Suppose we should both board
+with your mother."
+
+"Me?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"What, in a ten-footer!" exclaimed Edward, starting back with
+astonishment and indignation at the proposal.
+
+"Why not? If it is good enough for your mother, isn't it good enough
+for you?"
+
+"Humph! I'll bet it won't suit me."
+
+"We can fix up a room to suit ourselves, you know. And it will be much
+cheaper for both of us."
+
+"That, indeed; but the idea of boarding with the old man is not to be
+thought of."
+
+"I should think you would like to be with your mother and your
+brothers and sisters."
+
+"Not particular about it."
+
+"Better think of it, Edward."
+
+The clerk promised to think about it, but did not consider it very
+probable that he should agree to the proposition.
+
+Harry returned to the stable, and immediately notified Major Phillips
+of his intention to leave his service. As may be supposed, the stable
+keeper was sorry to lose him; but he did not wish to stand in the way
+of his advancement. He paid him his wages, adding a gift of five
+dollars, and kindly permitted him to leave at once, as he desired to
+procure a place to board, and to acquaint himself with the localities
+of the city, so that he could discharge his duty the more acceptably
+to his new employers.
+
+The ostlers, too, were sorry to part with him--particularly Joe Flint,
+whose admiration of our hero was unbounded. In their rough and honest
+hearts they wished him well. They had often made fun of his good
+principles; often laughed at him for refusing to pitch cents in the
+back yard on Sunday, and for going to church instead; often ridiculed
+him under the name of "Little Pious"; still they had a great respect
+for him. They who are "persecuted for righteousness' sake"--who are
+made fun of because they strive to do right--are always sure of
+victory in the end. They may be often tried, but sooner or later they
+shall triumph.
+
+After dinner, he paid another visit to Mrs. Flint, in Avery Street. He
+opened his proposition to board in her family, to which she raised
+several objections, chief of which was that she had no room. The plan
+was more favorably received by Katy; and she suggested that they could
+hire the little apartment upstairs, which was used as a kind of lumber
+room by the family in the other part of the house.
+
+Her mother finally consented to the arrangement, and it became
+necessary to decide upon the terms, for Harry was a prudent manager,
+and left nothing to be settled afterwards. He then introduced the
+project he had mentioned to Edward; and Mrs. Flint thought she could
+board them both for three dollars a week, if they could put up with
+humble fare. Harry declared that he was not "difficult," though he
+could not speak for Edward.
+
+Our hero was delighted with the success of his scheme, and only wished
+that Edward had consented to the arrangement; but the next time he saw
+him, somewhat to his surprise, the clerk withdrew his objections, and
+entered heartily into the scheme.
+
+"You see, Harry, I shall make a dollar a week--fifty-two dollars a
+year--by the arrangement," said Edward, after he had consented.
+
+He evidently considered that some apology was due from him for
+condescending from the social dignity of his position in the Green
+Street boarding house to the humble place beneath his mother's roof.
+
+"Certainly you will; and that is a great deal of money," replied
+Harry.
+
+"It will pay my theatre tickets, and for a ride once a month besides."
+
+"For what?" asked Harry, astonished at his companion's theory of
+economy.
+
+Edward repeated his statement.
+
+"Why don't you save your money?"
+
+"Save it? What is the use of that? I mean to have a good time while I
+can."
+
+"You never will be a rich man."
+
+"I'll bet I will."
+
+"You could give your mother and Katy a great many nice things with
+that money."
+
+"Humph! The old man must take care of them. It is all I can do to take
+care of myself."
+
+"If I had a mother, and brothers and sisters, I should be glad to
+spend all I got in making them happy," sighed Harry.
+
+On the following Monday morning, Harry went to his new place. He was
+in a strange position. All was untried and unfamiliar. Even the
+language of the clerks and salesmen was strange to him; and he was
+painfully conscious of the deficiencies of his education and of his
+knowledge of business. He was prompt, active and zealous; yet his
+awkwardness could not be concealed. The transition from the stable to
+the store was as great as from a hovel to a palace. He made a great
+many blunders. Mr. Wake laughed at him; Mr. Wade swore at him; and all
+the clerks made him the butt of their mirth or their ill nature, just
+as they happened to feel.
+
+What seemed to him worse than all, Edward Flint joined the popular
+side, and laughed and swore with the rest. Poor Harry was almost
+discouraged before dinner time, and began very seriously to consider
+whether he had not entirely mistaken his calling. Dinner, however,
+seemed to inspire him with new courage and new energy; and he hastened
+back to the store, resolved to try again.
+
+The shop was crowded with customers; and partners and clerks hallooed
+"Harry" till he was so confused that he hardly knew whether he stood
+on his head or his heels. It was, Come here, Go there, Bring this,
+Bring that; but in spite of laugh and curse, of push and kick, he
+persevered, suiting nobody, least of all himself.
+
+It was a long day, a very long day; but it came to an end at last. Our
+hero had hardly strength enough left to put up the shutters. His legs
+ached, his head ached, and, worst of all, his heart ached at the
+manifest failure of his best intentions. He thought of going to the
+partners, and asking them whether they thought he was fit for the
+place; but he finally decided to try again for another day, and
+dragged himself home to rest his weary limbs.
+
+He and Edward had taken possession of their room at Joe Flint's house
+that morning; and on their arrival they found that Katy had put
+everything in excellent order for their reception. Harry was too much
+fatigued and disheartened to have a very lively appreciation of the
+comforts of his new home; but Edward, notwithstanding the descent he
+had made, was in high spirits. He even declared that the room they
+were to occupy was better than his late apartments in Green Street.
+
+"Do you think I shall get along with my work, Edward?" asked Harry,
+gloomily, after they had gone to bed.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Everybody in the store has kicked and cuffed me, swore at and abused
+me, till I feel like a jelly."
+
+"Oh, never mind that; they always do so with a green one. They served
+me just so when I first went into business."
+
+"Did they?"
+
+"Fact. One must live and learn."
+
+"It seemed to me just as though I never could suit them."
+
+"Pooh! Don't be blue about it."
+
+"I can't help it, I know I did not suit them."
+
+"Yes, you did."
+
+"What made them laugh at me and swear at me, then?"
+
+"That is the fashion; you must talk right up to them. If they swear at
+you, swear at them back again--that is, the clerks and salesmen. If
+they give you any 'lip,' let 'em have as good as they send."
+
+"I don't want to do that."
+
+"Must do it, Harry. 'Live and learn' is my motto. When you go among
+the Romans, do as the Romans do."
+
+Harry did not like this advice; for he who, among the Romans, would do
+as the Romans do, among hogs would do as the hogs do.
+
+"If I only suit them, I don't care."
+
+"You do; I heard Wake tell Wade that you were a first-rate boy."
+
+"Did you?" And Harry's heart swelled with joy to think that, in spite
+of his trials, he had actually triumphed in the midst of them.
+
+So he dropped the subject, with the resolution to redouble his
+exertions to please his employers the next day, and turned his
+thoughts to Julia Bryant, to wonder if she were still living, or had
+become an angel indeed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+IN WHICH HARRY REVISITS ROCKVILLE, AND MEETS WITH A SERIOUS LOSS
+
+
+The next evening Harry was conscious of having gained a little in the
+ability to discharge his novel duties. Either the partners and the
+clerks had become tired of swearing and laughing at him, or he had
+made a decided improvement, for less fault was found with him, and
+his position was much more satisfactory. With a light heart he put up
+the shutters; for though he was very much fatigued, the prestige of
+future success was so cheering that he scarcely heeded his weary,
+aching limbs.
+
+Every day was an improvement on the preceding day, and before the week
+was out Harry found himself quite at home in his new occupation. He
+was never a moment behind the time at which he was required to be at
+the store in the morning. This promptness was specially noted by the
+partners; for when they came to their business in the morning they
+found the store well warmed, the floor nicely swept, and everything
+put in order.
+
+When he was sent out with bundles he did not stop to look at the
+pictures in the shop windows, to play marbles or tell long stories to
+other boys in the streets. If his employers had even been very
+unreasonable, they could not have helped being pleased with the new
+boy, and Wake confidentially assured Wade that they had got a
+treasure.
+
+Our hero was wholly devoted to his business. He intended to make a man
+of himself, and he could only accomplish his purpose by constant
+exertion, by constant study and constant "trying again." He was
+obliged to keep a close watch over himself, for often he was tempted
+to be idle and negligent, to be careless and indifferent.
+
+After supper, on Thursday evening of his second week at Wake & Wade's,
+he hastened to Major Phillips' stable to see John Lane, and obtain the
+news from Rockville. His heart beat violently when he saw John's great
+wagon, for he dreaded some fearful announcement from his sick friend.
+He had not before been so deeply conscious of his indebtedness to the
+little angel as now, when she lay upon the bed of pain, perhaps of
+death. She had kindled in his soul a love for the good and the
+beautiful. She had inspired him with a knowledge of the difference
+between the right and the wrong. In a word, she was the guiding star
+of his existence. Her approbation was the bright guerdon of fidelity
+to truth and principle.
+
+"How is Julia?" asked Harry, without giving John time to inquire why
+he had left the stable.
+
+"They think she is a little grain better."
+
+"Then she is still living?" continued Harry, a great load of anxiety
+removed from his soul.
+
+"She is; but it is very doubtful how it will turn. I went in to see
+her yesterday, and she spoke of you."
+
+"Spoke of me?"
+
+"She said she should like to see you."
+
+"I should like to see her very much."
+
+"Her father told me, if you was a mind to go up to Rockville, he would
+pay your expenses."
+
+"I don't mind the expenses. I will go, if I can get away."
+
+"Her father feels very bad about it. Julia is an only child, and he
+would do anything in the world to please her."
+
+"I will go and see the gentlemen I work for, and if they will let me,
+I will go with you to-morrow morning."
+
+"Better take the stage; you will get there so much quicker."
+
+"I will do so, then."
+
+Harry returned home to ascertain of Edward where Mr. Wake lived, and
+hastened to see him. That gentleman, however, coldly assured him if he
+went to Rockville he must lose his place--they could not get along
+without a boy. In vain Harry urged that he should be gone but two
+days; the senior was inflexible.
+
+"What shall I do?" said he to himself, when he got into the street
+again. "Mr. Wake says she is no relation of mine, and he don't see why
+I should go. Poor Julia! She may die, and I shall never see her again.
+I must go."
+
+It did not require a great deal of deliberation to convince himself
+that it was his duty to visit the sick girl. She had been a true
+friend to him, and he could afford to sacrifice his place to procure
+her even a slight gratification. Affection and duty called him one
+way, self-interest the other. If he did not go, he should regret it as
+long as he lived. Perhaps Mr. Wake would take him again on his
+return; if not, he could at least go to work in the stable again.
+
+"Edward, I am going to Rockville to-morrow," he remarked to his
+"chum," on his return to Mrs. Flint's.
+
+"The old man agreed to it, then? I thought he wouldn't. He never will
+let a fellow off even for a day."
+
+"He did not; but I must go."
+
+"Better not, then. He will discharge you, for he is a hard nut."
+
+"I must go," repeated Harry, taking a candle, and going up to their
+chamber.
+
+"You have got more spunk than I gave you credit for; but you are sure
+of losing your place," replied Edward, following him upstairs.
+
+"I can't help it."
+
+Harry opened a drawer in the old broken bureau in the room, and from
+beneath his clothes took out the great pill box which served him for a
+savings bank.
+
+"You have got lots of money," remarked Edward, as he glanced at the
+contents of the box.
+
+"Not much; only twelve dollars," replied Harry, taking out three of
+them to pay his expenses to Rockville.
+
+"You won't leave that box there, will you, while you are gone?"
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Somebody may steal it."
+
+"I guess not. I can hide it, though, before I go."
+
+"Better do so."
+
+Harry took his money and went to a bookstore in Washington Street,
+where he purchased an appropriate present for Julia, for which he gave
+half a dollar. On his return, he wrote her name in it, with his own as
+the giver. Then the safety of his money came up for consideration; and
+this matter was settled by raising a loose board in the floor and
+depositing the pill box in a secure place. He had scarcely done so
+before Edward joined him.
+
+Our hero did not sleep much that night. He was not altogether
+satisfied with the step he was about to take. It was not doing right
+by his employers; but he compromised the matter in part by engaging
+Edward, "for a consideration," to make the fires and sweep out the
+next morning.
+
+At noon, on the following day, he reached Rockville, and hastened to
+the house of Mr. Bryant.
+
+"How is she?" he asked, breathless with interest, of the girl who
+answered his knock.
+
+"She is better to-day. Are you the boy from Boston?"
+
+"Yes. Do they think she will get well?"
+
+"The doctor has more hope of her."
+
+"I am very glad to hear it."
+
+Harry was conducted into the house, and Mr. Bryant was informed of his
+presence.
+
+"I am glad you have come, Harry. Julia is much better to-day," said
+her father, taking him by the hand. "She has frequently spoken of you
+during her illness, and feels a very strong interest in your welfare."
+
+"She was very good to me. I don't know what would have become of me if
+she had not been a friend to me."
+
+"That is the secret of her interest in you. We love those best whom we
+serve most. She is asleep now; but you shall see her as soon as she
+wakes. In the meantime you had better have your dinner."
+
+Mr. Bryant looked very pale, and his eyes were reddened with weeping.
+Harry saw how much he had suffered during the last fortnight; but it
+seemed natural to him that he should suffer terribly at the thought of
+losing one so beautiful and precious as the little angel.
+
+He dined alone with Mr. Bryant, for Mrs. Bryant could not leave the
+couch of the little sufferer. The fond father could speak of nothing
+but Julia, and more than once the tears flooded his eyes, as he told
+Harry how meek and patient she had been through the fever, how loving
+she was, and how resigned even to leave her parents, and go to the
+heavenly Parent, to dwell with Him forever.
+
+Harry wept, too; and after dinner he almost feared to enter the
+chamber, and behold the wreck which disease had made of this bright
+and beautiful form. Removing the wrapper from the book he had
+brought--a volume of sweet poems, entitled "Angel Songs"--he followed
+Mr. Bryant into the sick girl's chamber.
+
+"Ah, Harry, I am delighted to see you!" exclaimed she, in a whisper,
+for her diseased throat rendered articulation difficult and painful.
+
+"I am sorry to see you so sick, Julia," replied Harry, taking the
+wasted hand she extended to him.
+
+"I am better, Harry. I feel as though I should get well now."
+
+"I hope you will."
+
+"You don't know how much I have thought of you while I lay here; how I
+wished you were my brother, and could come in every day and see me,"
+she continued, with a faint smile.
+
+"I wish I could."
+
+"Now tell me how you get along in Boston."
+
+"Very well; but your father says I must not talk much with you now. I
+have brought you a little book," and he placed it in her hand.
+
+"How good you are, Harry! 'Angel Songs.' How pretty! Now, Harry, you
+must read me one of the angel songs."
+
+"I will; but I can't read very well," said he, as he opened the
+volume.
+
+But he did read exceedingly well. The piece he selected was a very
+pretty and a very touching little song; and Harry's feelings were so
+deeply moved by the pathetic sentiments of the poem and their
+adaptation to the circumstances of the case, that he was quite
+eloquent.
+
+When he had finished, Mrs. Bryant interfered to prevent further
+conversation; and Julia, though she had a great deal to say to her
+young friend, cheerfully yielded to her mother's wishes, and Harry
+reluctantly left the room.
+
+Towards night he was permitted to see her again, when he read several
+of the angel songs to her, and gave her a brief account of the events
+of his residence in Boston. She was pleased with his earnestness, and
+smiled approvingly upon him for the moral triumphs he had achieved.
+The reward of all his struggles with trial and temptation was lavishly
+bestowed in her commendation, and if fidelity had not been its own
+reward, he could have accepted her approval as abundant compensation
+for all he had endured. There was no silly sentiment in Harry's
+composition; he had read no novels, seen no plays, knew nothing of
+romance even "in real life." The homage he yielded to the fair and
+loving girl was an unaffected reverence for simple purity and
+goodness; that which the True Heart and the True Life never fail to
+call forth whenever they exert their power.
+
+On the following morning, Julia's condition was very much improved,
+and the physician spoke confidently of a favorable issue. Harry was
+permitted to spend an hour by her bedside, inhaling the pure spirit
+that pervaded the soul of the sick one. She was so much better that
+her father proposed to visit the city, to attend to some urgent
+business, which had been long deferred by her illness; and an
+opportunity was thus afforded for Harry to return.
+
+Mr. Bryant drove furiously in his haste, changing horses twice on the
+journey, so that they reached the city at one o'clock. On their
+arrival, Harry's attention naturally turned to the reception he
+expected to receive from his employers. He had not spoken of his
+relations with them at Rockville, preferring not to pain them, on the
+one hand, and not to take too much credit to himself for his devotion
+to Julia, on the other. After the horse was disposed of at Major
+Phillips's stable, Mr. Bryant walked down town with Harry; and when
+they reached the store of Wake & Wade, he entered with him.
+
+"What have you come back for?" asked the senior partner, rather
+coldly, when he saw the delinquent. "We don't want you."
+
+Harry was confused at this reception, though it was not unexpected.
+
+"I didn't know but that you might be willing to take me again."
+
+"No, we don't want you. Ah, Mr. Bryant! Happy to see you," continued
+Mr. Wake, recognizing Harry's friend.
+
+"Did I understand you aright? Did you say that you did not want my
+young friend, here?" replied Mr. Bryant, taking the offered hand of
+Mr. Wake.
+
+"I did say so," said the senior. "I was not aware that he was your
+friend, though," and he proceeded to inform Mr. Bryant that Harry had
+left them against their wish.
+
+"A few words with you, if you please."
+
+Mr. Wake conducted him to the private office, where they remained for
+half an hour.
+
+"It is all right, Harry," continued Mr. Wake, on their return. "I did
+not understand the matter."
+
+"Thank you, sir!" ejaculated our hero, rejoiced to find his place was
+still secure. "I would not have gone if I could possibly have helped
+it."
+
+"You did right, my boy, and I honor you for your courage and
+constancy."
+
+Mr. Bryant bade him an affectionate adieu, promising to write to him
+often until Julia recovered, and then departed.
+
+With a grateful heart Harry immediately resumed his duties, and the
+partners were probably as glad to retain him as he was to remain.
+
+At night, when he went to his chamber, he raised the loose board to
+get the pill box, containing his savings, in order to return the money
+he had not expended. To his consternation, he discovered that it was
+gone!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+IN WHICH HARRY MEETS WITH AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE AND GETS A HARD KNOCK ON
+THE HEAD
+
+
+It was in vain that Harry searched beneath the broken floor for his
+lost treasure; it could not be found. He raised the boards up, and
+satisfied himself that it had not slipped away into any crevice, or
+fallen through into the room below; and the conclusion was inevitable
+that the box had been stolen.
+
+Who could have done it? The mystery confused Harry, for he was certain
+that no one had seen him deposit the box beneath the floor. No one
+except Edward even knew that he had any money. He was sure that
+neither Mrs. Flint nor Katy would have stolen it; and he was not
+willing to believe that his room-mate would be guilty of such a mean
+and contemptible act.
+
+He tried to assure himself that it had not been stolen--that it was
+still somewhere beneath the floor; and he pulled up another board, to
+resume the search. He had scarcely done so before Edward joined him.
+
+"What are you about, Harry?" he asked, apparently very much astonished
+at his chum's occupation. "Are you going to pull the house down?"
+
+"Not exactly. You know my pill box?" replied Harry, suspending
+operations to watch Edward's expression when he told him of his loss.
+
+"The one you kept your money in?"
+
+"Yes. Well, it is gone."
+
+"Gone!" exclaimed Edward, starting back with surprise.
+
+"It is either lost or stolen."
+
+"What did you do with it?"
+
+"Put it here, under this loose board."
+
+"It must be there now, then. I will help you find it."
+
+Edward manifested a great deal of enthusiasm in the search. He was
+sure it must be where Harry had put it, or that it had rolled back out
+of sight; and he began tearing up the floor with a zeal that
+threatened the destruction of the building. But the box could not be
+found, and they were obliged to abandon the search.
+
+"Too bad, Harry."
+
+"That is a fact; I can't spare that money, anyhow. I have been a good
+while earning it, and it is too thundering bad to lose it."
+
+"I don't understand it," continued Edward.
+
+"Nor I either," replied Harry, looking his companion sharp in the eye.
+"No one knew I had it but you."
+
+"Do you mean to say I stole it?" exclaimed Edward, doubling his fist,
+while his cheek reddened with anger.
+
+"I don't say so."
+
+"Humph! Well, you better not!"
+
+"Don't get mad, Edward. I didn't mean to lay it to you."
+
+"Didn't you?" And Edward was very glad to have the matter compromised.
+
+"I did not; perhaps I spoke hastily. You know how hard I worked for
+this money; and it seems hard to lose it. But no matter; I will try
+again."
+
+Mrs. Flint and Katy were much grieved when Harry told of his loss.
+They looked as though they suspected Edward, but said nothing, for it
+was very hard to accuse a son or a brother of such a crime.
+
+Mrs. Flint advised Harry to put his money in the savings bank in
+future, promising to take care of his spare funds till they amounted
+to five dollars, which was then the smallest sum that would be
+received. It was a long time before our hero became reconciled to his
+loss. He had made up his mind to be a rich man; and he had carefully
+hoarded every cent he could spare, thus closely imitating the man who
+got rich by saving his fourpences.
+
+A few days after the loss he was reading in one of Katy's Sunday
+school books about a miser. The wretch was held up as a warning to
+young folks by showing them how he starved his body and soul for the
+sake of gold.
+
+"That's why I lost my money!" exclaimed Harry, as he laid the book
+upon the window.
+
+"What do you mean, Harry?" asked Katy, who sat near him.
+
+"I have been hoarding up my money just like this old man in the book."
+
+"You are not a miser, Harry. You couldn't be mean and stingy if you
+tried."
+
+"Yes, I could. I love money."
+
+"So does everybody."
+
+"A miser wouldn't do what you did for us, Harry," added Mrs. Flint.
+"We ought to be careful and saving."
+
+"I have been thinking too much of money. After all, perhaps it was
+just as well that I lost that money."
+
+"I am sorry you lost it; for I don't think there is any danger of your
+becoming a miser," said Katy.
+
+"Perhaps not; at any rate, it has set me to thinking."
+
+Harry finished the book; and it was, fortunately, just such a work as
+he required to give him right and proper views in regard to the value
+of wealth. His dream of being a rich man was essentially modified by
+these views; and he renewedly resolved that it was better to be a good
+man than a rich man, if he could not be both. It seemed to him a
+little remarkable that the minister should preach upon this very topic
+on the following Sunday, taking for his text the words, "Seek ye first
+the kingdom of heaven and all these things shall be added unto you."
+He was deeply impressed by the sermon, probably because it was on a
+subject to which he had given some attention.
+
+A few days after his return from Rockville, Harry received a very
+cheerful letter from Mr. Bryant, to which Julia had added a few lines
+in a postscript. The little angel was rapidly recovering, and our hero
+was rejoiced beyond expression. The favorable termination of her
+illness was a joy which far outbalanced the loss of his money, and he
+was as cheerful and contented as ever. As he expressed it, in rather
+homely terms, he had got "the streak of fat and the streak of lean."
+Julia was alive; was to smile upon him again; was still to inspire him
+with that love of goodness which had given her such an influence over
+him.
+
+Week after week passed by, and Harry heard nothing of his lost
+treasure; but Julia had fully recovered, and for the treasure lost an
+incomparably greater treasure had been gained. Edward and himself
+continued to occupy the same room, though ever since the loss of the
+money box Harry's chum had treated him coldly. There had never been
+much sympathy between them; for while Edward was at the theatre, or
+perhaps at worse places, Harry was at home, reading some good book,
+writing a letter to Rockville, or employed in some other worthy
+occupation. While Harry was at church or at the Sunday school, Edward,
+in company with some dissolute companion, was riding about the
+adjacent country.
+
+Mrs. Flint often remonstrated with her son upon the life he led, and
+the dissipated habits he was contracting; and several times Harry
+ventured to introduce the subject. Edward, however, would not hear a
+word from either. It is true that we either grow better or worse, as
+we advance in life; and Edward Flint's path was down a headlong steep.
+His mother wept and begged him to be a better boy. He only laughed at
+her.
+
+Harry often wondered how he could afford to ride out and visit the
+theatre and other places of amusement so frequently. His salary was
+only five dollars a week now; it was only four when he had said it was
+five. He seemed to have money at all times, and to spend it very
+freely. He could not help believing that the contents of his pill box
+had paid for some of the "stews" and "Tom and Jerrys" which his
+reckless chum consumed. But the nine dollars he had lost would have
+been but a drop in the bucket compared with his extravagant outlays.
+
+One day, about six months after Harry's return from Rockville, as he
+was engaged behind the counter, a young man entered the store and
+accosted him.
+
+"Halloo, Harry! How are you?"
+
+It was a familiar voice; and, to Harry's surprise, but not much to his
+satisfaction, he recognized his old companion, Ben Smart, who, he had
+learned from Mr. Bryant, had been sent to the house of correction for
+burning Squire Walker's barn.
+
+"How do you do, Ben?" returned Harry, not very cordially.
+
+"So you are here--are you?"
+
+"Yes, I have been here six months."
+
+"Good place?"
+
+"First rate."
+
+"Any chance for me?"
+
+"No, I guess not."
+
+"You have got a sign out for a boy, I see."
+
+It was true they had. There were more errands to run than one boy
+could attend to; besides, Harry had proved himself so faithful and so
+intelligent, that Mr. Wake wished to retain him in the store, to fit
+him for a salesman.
+
+"You can speak a good word for me, Harry; for I should like to work
+here," continued Ben.
+
+"I thought you were in--in the--"
+
+Harry did not like to use the offensive expression, and Ben's face
+darkened when he discovered what the other was going to say.
+
+"Not a word about that," said he. "If you ever mention that little
+matter, I'll take your life."
+
+"But how was it?"
+
+"My father got me out, and then I ran away. Not a word more, for I had
+as lief be hung for an old sheep as a lamb."
+
+"There is Mr. Wake; you can apply to him," continued Harry.
+
+Ben walked boldly up to Mr. Wake, and asked for the place. The senior
+talked with him a few moments, and then retired to his private office,
+calling Harry as he entered.
+
+"If you say anything, I will be the death of you," whispered Ben, as
+Harry passed him on his way to the office.
+
+Our hero was not particularly pleased with these threats; he certainly
+was not frightened by them.
+
+"Do you know that boy, Harry?" asked Mr. Wake, as he presented himself
+before the senior.
+
+"I do, sir."
+
+"Who is he, and what is he?"
+
+"His name is Benjamin Smart. He belongs to Redfield."
+
+"To Redfield? He said he came from Worcester."
+
+"I believe Mr. Bryant told you the story about my leaving Redfield,"
+said Harry.
+
+"He did."
+
+"That is the boy that run away with me."
+
+"And the one that set the barn afire?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"That is enough." And Harry returned to his work at the counter.
+
+"What did he say to you?" asked Ben.
+
+Before Harry had time to make any reply, Mr. Wake joined them.
+
+"We don't want you, young man," said he.
+
+With a glance of hatred at Harry, the applicant left the store. Since
+leaving Redfield, our hero's views of duty had undergone a change; and
+he now realized that to screen a wicked person was to plot with him
+against the good order of society. He knew Ben's character; he had no
+reason, after their interview, to suppose it was changed; and he could
+not wrong his employers by permitting them ignorantly to engage a bad
+boy, especially when he had been questioned directly on the point.
+
+Towards evening Harry was sent with a bundle to a place in Boylston
+Street, which required him to cross the Common. On his return, when he
+reached the corner of the burying ground, Ben Smart, who had evidently
+followed him, and lay in wait at this spot for him, sprang from his
+covert upon him. The young villain struck him a heavy blow in the eye
+before Harry realized his purpose. The blow, however, was vigorously
+returned; but Ben, besides being larger and stronger than his victim,
+had a large stone in his hand, with which he struck him a blow on the
+side of his head, knocking him insensible to the ground.
+
+The wretch, seeing that he had done his work, fled along the side of
+the walk of the burying ground, pursued by several persons who had
+witnessed the assault. Ben was a fleet runner this time, and succeeded
+in making his escape.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+IN WHICH HARRY FINDS THAT EVEN A BROKEN HEAD MAY BE OF SOME USE TO A
+PERSON
+
+
+When Harry recovered his consciousness, he found himself in an
+elegantly furnished chamber, with several persons standing around the
+bed upon which he had been laid. A physician was standing over him,
+engaged in dressing the severe wound he had received in the side of
+his head.
+
+"There, young man, you have had a narrow escape," said the doctor, as
+he saw his patient's eyes open.
+
+"Where am I?" asked Harry, faintly, as he tried to concentrate his
+wandering senses.
+
+"You are in good hands, my boy. What is your name?"
+
+"Harry West. Can't I go home now?" replied the sufferer, trying to
+rise on the bed.
+
+"Do you feel as though you could walk home?"
+
+"I don't know; I feel kind of faint."
+
+"Does your head pain you?"
+
+"No, sir; it feels numb, and everything seems to be flying round."
+
+"I dare say."
+
+Harry expressed an earnest desire to go home, and the physician
+consented to accompany him in a carriage to Mrs. Flint's residence. He
+had been conveyed in his insensible condition to a house in Boylston
+Street, the people of which were very kind to him, and used every
+effort to make him comfortable.
+
+A carriage was procured, and Harry was assisted to enter it; for he
+was so weak and confused that he could not stand alone. Ben had struck
+him a terrible blow; and, as the physician declared, it was almost a
+miracle that he had not been killed.
+
+Mrs. Flint and Katy were shocked and alarmed when they saw the
+helpless boy borne into the house; but everything that the
+circumstances required was done for him.
+
+"Has Edward come home?" he asked, when they had placed him on the bed.
+
+"No, not yet."
+
+"They will wonder what has become of me at the store," continued the
+sufferer, whose thoughts reverted to his post of duty.
+
+"I will go down to the store and tell them what has happened," said
+Mr. Callender, the kind gentleman to whose house Harry had been
+carried, and who had attended him to his home.
+
+"Thank you, sir; you are very good. I don't want them to think that I
+have run away, or anything of that sort."
+
+"They will not think so, I am sure," returned Mr. Callender, as he
+departed upon his mission.
+
+"Do you think I can go to the store to-morrow?" asked Harry, turning
+to the physician.
+
+"I am afraid not; you must keep very quiet for a time."
+
+Harry did not like this announcement. He had never been sick a day in
+his life; and it seemed to him just then as though the world could not
+possibly move on without him to help the thing along. A great many
+persons cherish similar notions, and cannot afford to be sick a single
+day.
+
+I should like to tell my readers at some length what blessings come to
+us while we are sick; what angels with healing ministrations for the
+soul visit the couch of pain; what holy thoughts are sometimes kindled
+in the darkened chamber; what noble resolutions have their birth in
+the heart when the head is pillowed on the bed of sickness. But my
+remaining space will not permit it; and I content myself with
+remarking that sickness in its place is just as great a blessing as
+health; that it is a part of our needed discipline. When any of my
+young friends are sick, therefore, let them yield uncomplainingly to
+their lot, assured that He who hath them in his keeping "doeth all
+things well."
+
+Harry was obliged to learn this lesson; and when the pain in his head
+began to be almost intolerable, he fretted and vexed himself about
+things at the store. He was not half as patient as he might have been;
+and, during the evening, he said a great many hard things about Ben
+Smart, the author of his misfortune. I am sorry to say he cherished
+some malignant, revengeful feelings towards him, and looked forward
+with a great deal of satisfaction to the time when he should be
+arrested and punished for his crime.
+
+Both Mr. Wake and Mr. Wade called upon him as soon as they heard of
+his misfortune. They were very indignant when they learned that Harry
+was suffering for telling the truth. They assured him that they should
+miss him very much at the store, but they would do the best they
+could--which, of course, was very pleasant to him. But they told him
+they could get along without him, bade him not fret, and said his
+salary should be paid just the same as though he did his work.
+
+"Thank you! thank you! You are very good," exclaimed Harry.
+
+"Yes," Mr. Wade continued; "and, as it will cost you more to be sick,
+we will raise your wages to four dollars a week. What do you say,
+Wade?"
+
+"Certainly," replied the junior, warmly.
+
+There was no possible excuse for fretting now. With so many kind
+friends around him, he had no excuse for fretting; but his human
+nature rebelled at his lot, and he made himself more miserable than
+the pain of his wound could possibly have made him. Mrs. Flint, who
+sat all night by his bedside, labored in vain to make him resigned to
+his situation. It seemed as though the great trial of his lifetime had
+come--that which he was least prepared to meet and conquer.
+
+The next day he was very feverish. His head ached, and the pain of his
+wound was very severe. His moral condition was, if possible, worse
+than on the preceding night. He was fretful, morose, and unreasonable
+towards those kind friends who kept vigil around his bedside. Strange
+as it may seem, and strange as it did seem to himself, his thoughts
+seldom reverted to the little angel. Once, when he thought of her
+extended on the bed of pain as he was then, her example seemed to
+reproach him. She had been meek and patient through all her
+sufferings--had been content to die, even, if it was the will of the
+Father in heaven. With a peevish exclamation, he drove her--his
+guardian angel, as she often seemed to him--from his mind, with the
+reflection that she could not have been as sick as he was, that she
+did not endure as much pain as he did. For several days he remained in
+pretty much the same state. His head ached, and the fever burned in
+his veins. His moral symptoms were not improved, and he continued to
+snarl and growl at those who took care of him.
+
+"Give me some cold water, marm; I don't want your slops," fretted he,
+when Mrs. Flint brought him his drink.
+
+"But the doctor says you mustn't have cold water." It was twenty-five
+years ago.
+
+"Confound the doctor! Give me a glass of cold water, and I will--"
+
+The door opened then, causing him to suspend the petulant words; for
+one stood there whose good opinion he valued more than that of any
+other person.
+
+"Oh, Harry! I am so sorry to see you so sick!" exclaimed Julia Bryant,
+rushing to his bedside.
+
+She was followed by her father and mother; and Katy had admitted them
+unannounced to the chamber.
+
+"Julia! is it you?" replied Harry, smiling for the first time since
+the assault.
+
+"Yes, Harry; I hope you are better. When I heard about it last night,
+I would not give father any peace till he promised to bring me to
+Boston."
+
+"Don't be so wild, Julia," interposed her mother. "You forget that he
+is very sick."
+
+"Forgive me, Harry; I was so glad and so sorry. I hope I didn't make
+your head ache," she added, in a very gentle tone.
+
+"No, Julia. It was very good of you to come and see me."
+
+Harry felt a change come over him the moment she entered the room. The
+rebellious thoughts in his bosom seemed to be banished by her
+presence; and though his head ached and his flesh burned as much as
+ever, he somehow had more courage to endure them.
+
+After Mr. and Mrs. Bryant had asked him a few questions, and expressed
+their sympathy in proper terms, they departed, leaving Julia to remain
+with the invalid for a couple of hours.
+
+"I did not expect to see you, Julia," said Harry, when they had gone.
+
+"Didn't you think I would do as much for you as you did for me?"
+
+"It was rather different with you. I am only a poor boy, and you are a
+rich man's child."
+
+"Pooh, Harry! Our souls are all of a color. You can't think how bad I
+felt when father got Mr. Wake's letter."
+
+"It's a hard case to be knocked down in that way, and laid up in the
+house for a week or two."
+
+"I know it; but we must be patient."
+
+"Can't be patient. I haven't any patience--not a bit. If I could get
+hold of Ben Smart, I would choke him. I hope they will catch him and
+send him to the state prison for life."
+
+Julia looked sad. These malignant words did not sound like those of
+the Harry West she had known and loved. They were so bitter that they
+curdled the warm blood in her veins, and the heart of Harry seemed
+less tender than before.
+
+"Harry," said she, in soft tones, and so sad that he could not but
+observe the change which had come over her.
+
+"Well, Julia."
+
+"You don't mean what you said."
+
+"Don't mean it?"
+
+"No, I am sure you don't. Do you remember what the Bible says?"
+
+"What does it say?" asked he, deeply impressed by the sad and solemn
+tones of the little angel.
+
+"'Forgive your enemies,' Harry."
+
+"Forgive Ben Smart, after he has almost killed me?" Julia took up the
+Bible, which lay on the table by the bedside--it was the one she had
+given him--and read several passages upon the topic she had
+introduced.
+
+Harry was ashamed of himself. The gentle rebuke she administered
+touched his soul, and he thought how peevish and ill-natured he had
+been.
+
+"You have been badly hurt, Harry, and you are very sick. Now, let me
+ask you one question: Which would you rather be, Harry West, sick as
+you are, or Ben Smart, who struck the blow?"
+
+"I had rather be myself," replied he, promptly.
+
+"You ought to be glad that you are Harry West, instead of Ben Smart.
+Sick as you are, I am sure you are a great deal happier than he can
+be, even if he is not punished for striking you."
+
+"You are right, Julia. I have been very wicked. Here I have been
+grumbling and growling all the time for four days. I have learned
+better. It is lucky for me that I am Harry, instead of Ben."
+
+"I am sure I have been a great deal better since I was sick than
+before. When I lay on the bed, hardly able to move, I kept thinking
+all the time; and my thoughts did me a great deal of good."
+
+Harry had learned his lesson, and Julia's presence was indeed an
+angel's visit. For an hour longer she sat by his bed, and her words
+were full of inspiration; and when her father called for her he could
+hardly repress a tear as she bade him good night.
+
+After she had gone Harry begged Mrs. Flint and Katy to forgive him for
+being so cross, promising to be patient in the future. And he kept his
+promise. The next day Julia came again. She read to him, conversed
+with him about the scenes of the preceding autumn in the woods, and
+told him again about her own illness. In the afternoon she bade him a
+final adieu, as she was to return that day to her home.
+
+The patience and resignation which he had learned gave a favorable
+turn to his sickness, and he began to improve. It was a month,
+however, before he was able to take his place in the store again.
+Without the assistance of Julia, perhaps, he had not learned the moral
+of sickness so well. As it was, he came forth from his chamber with
+truer and loftier motives, and with a more earnest desire to lead the
+true life.
+
+Ben Smart had been arrested; and, shortly after his recovery, Harry
+was summoned as a witness at his trial. It was a plain case, and Ben
+was sent to the house of correction for a long term.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+IN WHICH HARRY PASSES THROUGH HIS SEVEREST TRIAL, AND ACHIEVES HIS
+GREATEST TRIUMPH
+
+
+Three years may appear to be a great while to the little pilgrim
+through life's vicissitudes; but they soon pass away and are as "a
+tale that is told." To note all the events of Harry's experience
+through this period would require another volume; therefore I can only
+tell the reader what he was, and what results he had achieved in that
+time. It was filled with trials and temptations, not all of which were
+overcome without care and privation. Often he failed, was often
+disappointed, and often was pained to see how feebly the Spirit warred
+against the Flesh.
+
+He loved money, and avarice frequently prompted him to do those things
+which would have wrecked his bright hopes. That vision of the grandeur
+and influence of the rich man's position sometimes deluded him,
+causing him to forget at times that the soul would live forever, while
+the body and its treasures would perish in the grave. As he grew
+older, he reasoned more; his principles became more firmly fixed; and
+the object of existence assumed a more definite character. He was an
+attentive student, and every year not only made him wiser, but better.
+I do not mean to say that Harry was a remarkably good boy, that his
+character was perfect, or anything of the kind. He meant well, and
+tried to do well, and he did not struggle in vain against the trials
+and temptations that beset him. I dare say those with whom he
+associated did not consider him much better than themselves. It is
+true, he did not swear, did not frequent the haunts of vice and
+dissipation, did not spend his Sundays riding about the country; yet
+he had his faults, and captious people did not fail to see them.
+
+He was still with Wake & Wade, though he was a salesman now, on a
+salary of five dollars a week. He still boarded with Mrs. Flint,
+though Edward was no longer his room-mate. A year had been sufficient
+to disgust his "fast" companion with the homely fare and homely
+quarters of his father's house; and, as his salary was now eight
+dollars a week, he occupied a room in the attic of a first-class
+hotel.
+
+Harry was sixteen years old, and he had three hundred dollars in the
+Savings Bank. He might have had more if he had not so carefully
+watched and guarded against the sin of avarice. He gave some very
+handsome sums to the various public charities, as well as expended
+them in relieving distress wherever it presented itself. It is true,
+it was sometimes very hard work to give of his earnings to relieve the
+poor; and if he had acted in conformity with the nature he had
+inherited, he might never have known that it was "more blessed to give
+than to receive." As he grew older, and the worth of money was more
+apparent, he was tempted to let the poor and the unfortunate take care
+of themselves; but the struggle of duty with parsimony rendered his
+gifts all the more worthy.
+
+Joe Flint had several times violated his solemn resolution to drink no
+more ardent spirits; but Harry, who was his friend and confidant,
+encouraged him, when he failed, to try again; and it was now nearly a
+year since he had been on a "spree."
+
+Our hero occasionally heard from Rockville; and a few months before
+the event we are about to narrate he had spent the pleasantest week of
+his life with Julia Bryant, amid those scenes which were so full of
+interest to both of them. As he walked through the woods where he had
+first met the "little angel"--she had now grown to be a tall girl--he
+could not but recall the events of that meeting. It was there that he
+first began to live, in the true sense of the word. It was there that
+he had been born into a new sphere of moral existence.
+
+Julia was still his friend, still his guiding star. Though the freedom
+of childish intimacy had been diminished, the same heart resided in
+each, and each felt the same interest in the other. The correspondence
+between them had been almost wholly suspended, perhaps by the
+interference of the "powers" at Rockville, and perhaps by the growing
+sense of the "fitness of things" in the parties. But they occasionally
+met, which amply compensated for the deprivations which propriety
+demanded.
+
+But I must pass on to the closing event of my story--it was Harry's
+severest trial, yet it resulted in his most signal triumph.
+
+Edward Flint was always short of money. He lived extravagantly, and
+his increased salary was insufficient to meet his wants. When Harry
+saw him drive a fast horse through the streets on Sundays, and heard
+him say how often he went to the theatre, what balls and parties he
+attended--when he observed how elegantly he dressed, and that he wore
+a gold chain, a costly breastpin and several rings--he did not wonder
+that he was "short." He lived like a prince, and it seemed as though
+eight dollars a week would be but a drop in the bucket in meeting his
+expenses.
+
+One day, in his extremity, he applied to Harry for the loan of five
+dollars. Our hero did not like to encourage his extravagance, but he
+was good-natured, and could not well avoid doing the favor, especially
+as Edward wanted the money to pay his board. However, he made it the
+occasion for a friendly remonstrance, and gave the spendthrift youth
+some excellent advice. Edward was vexed at the lecture; but, as he
+obtained the loan, he did not resent the kindly act.
+
+About a fortnight after, Edward paid him the money. It consisted of a
+two-dollar bill and six half dollars. Harry was about to make a
+further application of his views of duty to his friend's case, when
+Edward impatiently interrupted him, telling him that, as he had got
+his money, he need not preach. This was just before Harry went home to
+dinner.
+
+On his return Mr. Wake called him into the private office, and when
+they had entered he closed and locked the door. Harry regarded this as
+rather a singular proceeding; but, possessing the entire confidence of
+his employers, it gave him no uneasiness.
+
+"Harry," Mr. Wake began, "we have been losing money from the store for
+the last year or more. I have missed small sums a great many times."
+
+"Indeed!" exclaimed Harry, not knowing whether he was regarded as a
+confidant or as the suspected person.
+
+"To-day I gave a friend of mine several marked coins, with which he
+purchased some goods. These coins have all been stolen."
+
+"Is it possible, sir!"
+
+"Now, we have four salesmen besides yourself. Which stole it?"
+
+"I can form no idea, sir," returned Harry. "I can only speak for
+myself."
+
+"Oh, well, I had no suspicion it was you," added Mr. Wade, with a
+smile. "I am going to try the same experiment again; and I want you to
+keep your eyes on the money drawer all the rest of the afternoon."
+
+"I will do so, sir."
+
+Mr. Wade took several silver coins from his pocket and scratched them
+in such a way that they could be readily identified, and then
+dismissed Harry, with the injunction to be very vigilant.
+
+When he came out of the office he perceived that Edward and Charles
+Wallis were in close conversation.
+
+"I say, Harry, what's in the wind?" asked the former, as our hero
+returned to his position behind the counter.
+
+Harry evaded answering the question, and the other two salesmen, who
+were very intimate and whose tastes and amusements were very much
+alike, continued their conversation. They were evidently aware that
+something unusual had occurred, or was about to occur.
+
+Soon after, a person appeared at the counter and purchased a dozen
+spools of cotton, offering two half dollars in payment. Harry kept his
+eye upon the money drawer, but nothing was discovered. From what he
+knew of Edward's mode of life, he was prepared to believe that he was
+the guilty person.
+
+The experiment was tried for three days in succession before any
+result was obtained. The coins were always found in the drawer; but on
+the fourth day, when they were very busy, and there was a great deal
+of money in the drawer, Harry distinctly observed Edward, while making
+change, take several coins from the till. The act appalled him; he
+forgot the customer to whose wants he was attending, and hastened to
+inform Mr. Wake of the discovery.
+
+"Where are you going, Harry?" asked Edward, as he passed him.
+
+"Only to the office," replied he; and his appearance and manner might
+have attracted the attention of any skillful rogue.
+
+"Come, Harry, don't leave your place," added Edward, playfully
+grasping him by the collar, on his return.
+
+"Don't stop to fool, Edward," answered Harry, as he shook him off and
+took his place at the counter again.
+
+He was very absent-minded the rest of the forenoon, and his frame
+shook with agitation as he heard Mr. Wake call Edward shortly after.
+But he trembled still more when he was summoned also, for it was very
+unpleasant business.
+
+"Of course, you will not object to letting me see the contents of
+your pockets, Edward," said Mr. Wake, as Harry entered the office.
+
+"Certainly not, sir;" and he turned every one of his pockets inside
+out.
+
+Not one of the decoy pieces was found upon him, or any other coins,
+for that matter; he had no money. Mr. Wake was confused, for he fully
+expected to convict the culprit on the spot.
+
+"I suppose I am indebted to this young man for this," continued
+Edward, with a sneer. "I'll bet five dollars he stole the money
+himself, if any has been stolen. Why don't you search him?"
+
+"Search me, sir, by all means," added Harry; and he began to turn his
+pockets out.
+
+From his vest pocket he took out a little parcel wrapped in a shop
+bill.
+
+"What's that?" said Edward.
+
+"I don't know. I wasn't aware that there was any such thing in my
+pocket."
+
+"I suppose not," sneered Edward.
+
+"But you seem to know more about it than Edward," remarked Mr. Wade,
+as he took the parcel.
+
+"I know nothing about it."
+
+The senior opened the wrapper, and to his surprise and sorrow found it
+contained two of the marked coins. But he was not disposed hastily to
+condemn Harry. He could not believe him capable of stealing; besides,
+there was something in Edward's manner which seemed to indicate that
+our hero was the victim of a conspiracy.
+
+"As he has been so very generous towards me, Mr. Wake," interposed
+Edward, "I will suggest a means by which you may satisfy yourself. My
+mother keeps Harry's money for him, and perhaps, if you look it over,
+you will find more marked pieces."
+
+"Mr. Wake, I'm innocent," protested Harry, when he had in some measure
+recovered from the first shock of the heavy blow. "I never stole a
+cent from anybody."
+
+"I don't believe you ever did, Harry. But can you explain how this
+money happened to be in your pocket?"
+
+"I cannot, sir. If you wish to look at my money, Mrs. Flint will show
+it to you."
+
+"Perhaps I had better."
+
+"Don't let him go with you, though," said Edward, maliciously.
+
+Mr. Wake wrote an order to Mrs. Flint, requesting her to exhibit the
+money, and Harry signed it. The senior then hastened to Avery Street.
+
+"Now, Master Spy!" sneered Edward, when he had gone. "So you have been
+watching me, I thought as much."
+
+"I only did what Mr. Wade told me to do," replied Harry, exceedingly
+mortified at the turn the investigation had taken.
+
+"Humph! That is the way with you psalm-singers. Steal yourself, and
+lay it to me!"
+
+"I did not steal. I never stole in my life."
+
+"Wait and see."
+
+In about half an hour Mr. Wake returned.
+
+"I am sorry, Harry, to find that I have been mistaken in you. Is it
+possible that one who is outwardly so correct in his habits should be
+a thief? But your career is finished," said he, very sternly, as he
+entered the office.
+
+"Nothing strange to the rest of us," added Edward. "I never knew one
+yet who pretended to be so pious that did not turn out a rascal."
+
+"And such a hypocrite!"
+
+"Mr. Wake, I am neither a thief nor a hypocrite," replied Harry, with
+spirit.
+
+"I found four of the coins--four half dollars--which I marked first,
+at Mrs. Flint's," said the senior, severely.
+
+Harry was astounded. Those half dollars were part of the money paid
+him by Edward, and he so explained how they came in his possession.
+
+"Got them from me!" exclaimed Edward, with well-feigned surprise. "I
+never borrowed a cent of him in my life; and, of course, never paid
+him a cent."
+
+Harry looked at Edward, amazed at the coolness with which he uttered
+the monstrous lie. He questioned him in regard to the transaction, but
+the young reprobate reiterated his declaration with so much force and
+art that Mr. Wake was effectually deceived.
+
+Our hero, conscious of his innocence, however strong appearances were
+against him, behaved with considerable spirit, which so irritated Mr.
+Wake that he sent for a constable, and Harry soon found himself in
+Leverett Street Jail. Strange as it may seem to my young friends, he
+was not very miserable there. He was innocent, and he depended upon
+that special Providence which had before befriended him to extricate
+him from the difficulty. It is true, he wondered what Julia would say
+when she heard of his misfortune. She would weep and grieve; and he
+was sad when he thought of her. But she would be the more rejoiced
+when she learned that he was innocent. The triumph would be in
+proportion to the trial.
+
+On the following day he was brought up for examination. As his name
+was called, the propriety of the court was suddenly disturbed by an
+exclamation of surprise from an elderly man, with sun-browned face and
+monstrous whiskers.
+
+"Who is he?" almost shouted the elderly man, regardless of the dignity
+of the court.
+
+An officer was on the point of turning him out; but his earnest manner
+saved him. Pushing his way forward to Mr. Wake, he questioned him in
+regard to the youthful prisoner.
+
+"Strange! I thought he was dead!" muttered the elderly man, in the
+most intense excitement.
+
+The examination proceeded. Harry had a friend who had not been idle,
+as the sequel will show.
+
+Mr. Wake first testified to the facts we have already related, and the
+lawyer, whom Harry's friends had provided, questioned him in regard to
+the prisoner's character and antecedents. Edward Flint was then
+called. He was subjected to a severe cross-examination by Harry's
+counsel, in which he repeatedly denied that he had ever borrowed or
+paid any money to the accused.
+
+Mr. Wade was the next witness. While the events preceding Harry's
+arrest were transpiring, he had been absent from the city, but had
+returned early in the afternoon. He disagreed with his partner in
+relation to our hero's guilt, and immediately set himself to work to
+unmask the conspiracy, for such he was persuaded it was.
+
+He testified that, a short time before, Edward had requested him to
+pay him his salary two days before it was due, assigning as a reason
+the fact that he owed Harry five dollars, which he wished to pay. He
+produced two of the marked half dollars, which he had received from
+Edward's landlady.
+
+Of course, Edward was utterly confounded; and, to add to his
+confusion, he was immediately called to the stand again. This time his
+coolness was gone; he crossed himself a dozen times, and finally
+acknowledged, under the pressure of the skillful lawyer's close
+questioning, that Harry was innocent. He had paid him the money found
+in Mrs. Flint's possession, and had slipped the coins wrapped in the
+shop bills into his pocket when he took him by the collar on his
+return from the office.
+
+He had known for some time that the partners were on the watch for the
+thief. He had heard them talking about the matter; but he supposed he
+had managed the case so well as to exonerate himself and implicate
+Harry, whom he hated for being a good boy.
+
+Harry was discharged. His heart swelled with gratitude for the kindly
+interposition of Providence. The trial was past--the triumph had come.
+
+Mr. Wake, Mr. Wade, and other friends, congratulated him on the happy
+termination of the affair; and while they were so engaged the elderly
+man elbowed his way through the crowd to the place where Harry stood.
+
+"Young man, what is your father's name?" he asked, in tones tremulous
+with emotion.
+
+"I have no father," replied Harry.
+
+"You had a father--what was his name?"
+
+"Franklin West; a carpenter by trade. He went from Redfield to
+Valparaiso when I was very young, and we never heard anything from
+him."
+
+"My son!" exclaimed the stranger, grasping our hero by the hand, while
+the tears rolled down his brown visage.
+
+Harry did not know what to make of this announcement.
+
+"Is it possible that you are my father?" asked he.
+
+"I am, Harry; but I was sure you were dead. I got a letter, informing
+me that your mother and the baby had gone; and about a year after I
+met a man from Rockville who told me that you had died also."
+
+"It was a mistake."
+
+They continued the conversation as they walked from the court room to
+the store. There was a long story for each to tell. Mr. West confessed
+that, for two years after his arrival at Valparaiso, he had
+accomplished very little. He drank hard, and brought on a fever, which
+had nearly carried him off. But that fever was a blessing in disguise;
+and since his recovery he had been entirely temperate. He had nothing
+to send to his family, and shame prevented him from even writing to
+his wife. He received the letter which conveyed the intelligence of
+the death of his wife and child, and soon after learned that his
+remaining little one was also gone.
+
+Carpenters were then in great demand in Valparaiso. He was soon in a
+condition to take contracts, and fortune smiled upon him. He had
+rendered himself independent, and had now returned to spend his
+remaining days in his native land. He had been in Boston a week, and
+happened to stray into the Police Court, where he had found the son
+who, he supposed, had long ago been laid in the grave.
+
+Edward Flint finished his career of "fashionable dissipation" by being
+sentenced to the house of correction. Just before he was sent over, he
+confessed to Mr. Wade that it was he who had stolen Harry's money,
+three years before.
+
+The next day Harry obtained leave of absence, for the purpose of
+accompanying his father on a visit to Redfield. He was in exuberant
+spirits. It seemed as though his cup of joy was full. He could hardly
+realize that he had a father--a kind, affectionate father--who shared
+the joy of his heart.
+
+They went to Redfield; but I cannot stop to tell my readers how
+astonished Squire Walker, and Mr. Nason, and the paupers were, to see
+the spruce young clerk come to his early home, attended by his
+father--a rich father, too.
+
+We can follow our hero no farther through the highways and byways of
+his life-pilgrimage. We have seen him struggle like a hero through
+trial and temptation, and come off conqueror in the end. He has found
+a rich father, who crowns his lot with plenty; but his true wealth is
+in those good principles which the trials, no less than the triumphs,
+of his career have planted in his soul.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+IN WHICH HARRY IS VERY PLEASANTLY SITUATED, AND THE STORY COMES TO AN
+END
+
+
+Perhaps my young readers will desire to know something of Harry's
+subsequent life; and we will "drop in" upon him at his pleasant
+residence in Rockville, without the formality of an introduction. The
+years have elapsed since we parted with him, after his triumphant
+discharge from arrest. His father did not live long after his return
+to his native land, and when he was twenty-one, Harry came into
+possession of a handsome fortune. But even wealth could not tempt him
+to choose a life of idleness; and he went into partnership with Mr.
+Wade, the senior retiring at the same time. The firm of Wade and West
+is quite as respectable as any in the city.
+
+Harry is not a slave to business; and he spends a portion of his time
+at his beautiful place in Rockville; for the cars pass through the
+village, which is only a ride of an hour and a half from the city.
+
+Mr. West's house is situated on a gentle eminence not far distant from
+the turnpike road. It is built upon the very spot where the cabin of
+the charcoal burners stood, in which Harry, the fugitive, passed two
+nights. The aspect of the place is entirely changed, though the very
+rock upon which our hero ate the sumptuous repast the little angel
+brought him may be seen in the centre of the beautiful garden, by the
+side of the house. Mr. West often seats himself there to think of the
+events of the past, and to treasure up the pleasant memories connected
+with the vicinity.
+
+The house is elegant and spacious, though there is nothing gaudy or
+gay about it. Let us walk in. It is plainly furnished, though the
+articles are rich and tasteful. This is the sitting room. Who is that
+beautiful lady sitting at the piano-forte? Do you not recognize her,
+gentle reader? Of course you do. It is Mrs. West, and an old
+acquaintance. She is no longer the little angel, though I cannot tell
+her height or her weight; but her husband thinks she is just as much
+of an angel now as when she fed him on doughnuts upon the flat rock in
+the garden.
+
+Ah, here comes Harry! He is a fine-looking man, rather tall; and
+though he does not wear a mustache, I have no doubt Mrs. West thinks
+he is handsome--which is all very well, provided he does not think so
+himself.
+
+"This is a capital day, Julia; suppose we ride over to Redfield, and
+see friend Nason," said Mr. West.
+
+"I shall be delighted," replied Julia.
+
+The horse is ordered; and as they ride along, the gentleman amuses his
+wife with the oft-repeated story of his flight from Jacob Wire's.
+
+"Do you see that high rock, Julia?" he asked, pointing over the fence.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"That is the very one where I dodged Leman, and took the back track;
+and there is where I knocked the bull-dog over."
+
+They arrived at the house of Mr. Nason. It is a pleasant little
+cottage, for he is no longer in the service of the town. It was built
+by Mr. West expressly for him. Connected with it is a fine farm of
+twenty acres. This little property was sold to Mr. Nason by his
+protege, though no money was paid. Harry would have made it a free
+gift, if the pride of his friend would have permitted; but it amounts
+to the same thing.
+
+Mr. West and his lady are warmly welcomed by Mr. Nason and his family.
+The ex-keeper is an old man now. He is a member of the church, and
+considered an excellent and useful citizen. He still calls Mr. West
+his "boy," and regards him with mingled pride and admiration.
+
+Our friends dine at the cottage; and, after dinner, Mr. Nason and Mr.
+West talk over old times, ride down to Pine Pleasant, and visit the
+poorhouse. Great changes have come over Redfield. Squire Walker, Jacob
+Wire, and most of the paupers who were the companions of our hero, are
+dead and gone, and the living speak gently of the departed.
+
+At Pine Pleasant, they fasten the horse to a tree, and cross over to
+the rock which was Harry's favorite resort in childhood.
+
+"By the way, Harry, have you heard anything of Ben Smart lately?" asks
+Mr. Nason.
+
+"After his discharge from the state prison, I heard that he went to
+sea."
+
+"He was a bad boy."
+
+"And a bad man."
+
+"I believed he killed his mother. They say she never smiled after she
+gave him up as a hopeless case."
+
+"Poor woman! I pity a mother whose son turns out badly. What a wreck
+of fond hopes!"
+
+"Just so," added Mr. Nason.
+
+After visiting various interesting localities, Mr. West and his lady
+returned home. In their absence, a letter for Julia from Katy Flint
+has arrived. The Flint family are now in good circumstances. Joe is a
+steady man, and, with Harry's assistance, has purchased an interest in
+the stable formerly kept by Major Phillips, who has retired on a
+competency.
+
+"What does she say, Julia?" asked Harry, as she broke the seal.
+
+"They have heard from Edward."
+
+"Bad news, I am afraid. He was a hard boy."
+
+"Yes; he has just been sent to the Maryland penitentiary for
+housebreaking."
+
+"I am sorry for him."
+
+"Katy says her mother feels very badly about it."
+
+"No doubt of it. Mrs. Flint is an excellent woman; she was a mother to
+me."
+
+"She says they are coming up to Rockville next week."
+
+"Glad of that; they will always be welcome beneath my roof. I must
+call upon them to-morrow when I go to the city."
+
+"Do; and give my love to them."
+
+And, here, reader, I must leave them--not without regret, I confess,
+for it is always sad to part with warm and true-hearted friends; but
+if one must leave them, it is pleasant to know that they are happy,
+and are surrounded by all the blessings which make life desirable, and
+filled with that bright hope which reaches beyond the perishable
+things of this world. It is cheering to know that one's friends, after
+they have fought a hard battle with foes without and foes within, have
+won the victory, and are receiving their reward.
+
+If my young friends think well of Harry, let me admonish them to
+imitate his virtues, especially his perseverance in trying to do well;
+and when they fail to be as good and true as they wish to be, to TRY
+AGAIN.
+
+THE END
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
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+RETAIL PRICE, FIFTEEN CENTS A COPY
+
+Books for children that are not only picture books but play books.
+Beautifully printed in four colors. Books that children can cut out,
+paint or puzzle over. More entertaining than the most expensive toys.
+
+_The following books are ready to deliver:_
+
+The Painting Book--Post Cards
+
+The Scissors Book--Our Army
+
+The Scissors Book--Dolls of All Nations
+
+The Puzzle Book--Children's Pets
+
+
+_Others in preparation_
+
+ASK FOR THE NEW YORK BOOK COMPANY'S
+
+NOVELS WORTH READING AND CHILDREN'S COLOR BOOKS
+
+SOLD BY DEALERS EVERYWHERE
+
+THE NEW YORK BOOK COMPANY
+
+PUBLISHERS, 147 FOURTH AVENUE
+
+NEW YORK, N. Y.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+OUR GIRLS BOOKS
+
+RETAIL PRICE, FIFTEEN CENTS EACH
+
+A new series of FICTION FOR GIRLS containing the best books of the
+most popular writers of girls' books, of the same interesting, high
+class as the Alger Books for Boys, of which we sold a million and a
+half copies in 1909.
+
+_The following books are ready to deliver:_
+
+A Girl from America          By Meade
+
+A Sweet Girl Graduate        "  Meade
+
+A World of Girls             "  Meade
+
+Daddy's Girl                 "  Meade
+
+Polly--A New-Fashioned Girl  "  Meade
+
+Sue--A Little Heroine        "  Meade
+
+The Princess of the Revels   By Meade
+
+The School Queens            "  Meade
+
+Wild Kitty                   "  Meade
+
+Faith Gartney's Girlhood     "  Whitney
+
+Grimm's Tales                "  Grimm
+
+Fairy Tales and Legends      "  Perrault
+
+These will be followed by other titles until the series contains sixty
+volumes of the best literature for girls.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+FAMOUS FICTION LIBRARY
+
+RETAIL PRICE, FIFTEEN CENTS A VOLUME
+
+A new series of novels, which will contain the great books of the
+greatest novelists, in distinctively good-looking cloth-bound volumes,
+with attractive new features.
+
+_The following books are ready to deliver:_
+
+
+Ten Nights in a Bar Room     By Arthur
+
+Golden Gates                 "  Clay
+
+Two Years Before the Mast    "  Dana
+
+Cast Up by the Tide          "  Delmar
+
+Great Expectations, Vol. 1   "  Dickens
+
+Great Expectations, Vol. 2   "  Dickens
+
+Beulah                       "  Evans
+
+Inez                         "  Evans
+
+The Baronet's Bride          "  Fleming
+
+Who Wins                     "  Fleming
+
+Staunch as a Woman           "  Garvice
+
+Led by Love                  By Garvice
+
+Aikenside                    "  Holmes
+
+Dora Deane                   "  Holmes
+
+Lena Rivers                  "  Holmes
+
+Soldiers Three               "  Kipling
+
+The Light That Failed        "  Kipling
+
+The Rifle Rangers            "  Reid
+
+Ishmael, Vol. 1              "  Southworth
+
+Ishmael, Vol. 2              "  Southworth
+
+Self-Raised, Vol. 1          "  Southworth
+
+Self-Raised, Vol. 2          "  Southworth
+
+Other books of the same high class will follow these until the Library
+contains one hundred titles.
+
+The size of Our Girls Books series and the Famous Fiction series is
+five by seven and a quarter inches; they are printed from new plates,
+and bound in cloth with decorated covers. The price is half of the
+lowest price at which cloth-bound novels have been sold heretofore,
+and the books are better than many of the higher-priced editions.
+
+SOLD BY DEALERS EVERYWHERE. ASK FOR THE N. Y. BOOK CO.'S OUR GIRLS
+BOOKS AND FAMOUS FICTION BOOKS.
+
+THE NEW YORK BOOK COMPANY
+
+PUBLISHERS, 147 FOURTH AVENUE
+
+NEW YORK, N. Y.
+
+
+
+***
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