Q: "Norton," Sheppard said, "I saw Rufus Johnson yesterday. Do you know what he was doing?" The child looked at him with a kind of half attention, his eyes forward but not yet engaged. They were a paler blue than his father's as if they might have faded like the shirt; one of them listed, almost imperceptibly , toward the outer rim. "He was in a path," Sheppard said, "and he had his hand in a garbage can. He was trying to get something to eat out of it." He paused to let this soak in. "He was hungry," he finished, and tried to pierce the child's conscience with his gaze. The boy picked up the piece of chocolate cake and began to bite it from one corner. "Norton," Sheppard said, "do you have any idea what it means to share?" A flicker of attention. "Some of it is yours," Norton said. "Some of it is his," Sheppard said heavily. It was hopeless. Almost any fault would have been preferable to selfishness--a violent temper, even a tendency to lie. The child turned the bottle of tomato sauce upside-down and began thumping sauce onto the cake. Sheppard's look of pain increased. "You are ten and Rufus Johnson is fourteen," he said. "Yet, I'm sure your shirts would fit Rufus." Rufus Johnson was a boy whom he had been trying to help at the reformatory for the past year. He had been released two months ago. "When he was in the reformatory, he looked pretty good, but when I saw him yesterday, he was skin and bones. He hasn't been eating cake with peanut butter on it for breakfast." The child paused. "It's not fresh," he said. "That's why I have to put stuff on it." Sheppard turned his face to the window at the end of the bar. The side lawn, green and even, sloped fifty feet or so down to a small suburban wood. When his wife was living, they had often eaten outside, even breakfast on the grass. He had never noticed then that the child was selfish. ks5u "Listen to me," he said, turning back to him, "look at me and listen." The boy looked at him. At least his eyes were forward. "I gave Rufus a key to the house when he left the reformatory---to show my confidence in him and so he would have a place he could come to and feel welcome any time. He didn't use it, but I think he'll use it now because he's seen me and he's hungry. And if he doesn't use it, I'm going out and find him and bring him here. I can't see a child eating out of garbage cans." The boy frowned. It was dawning upon him that something of his was threatened. Sheppard's mouth stretched in disgust. "Rufus's father died before he was born," he said. "His mother is in the state penitentiary . He was raised by his grandfather in a shack without water or electricity and the old man beat him every day. How would you like to belong to a family like that?" "I don't know" the child said lamely. "Well, you might think about it sometime," Sheppard said. Sheppard was City Recreational Director. On Saturday he worked at the reformatory as a counselor, receiving nothing for it but the satisfaction of knowing he was helping boys no one else cared about. Johnson was the most intelligent boy he had worked with. Norton turned what was left of the cake over as if he no longer wanted it. "You started that, now finish it," Sheppard said. "Maybe he won't come," the child said and his eyes brightened slightly.

1. Rufus

Numbered questions:
1. Who did Sheppard see?

Q: John "Mad Jack" Mytton (1796--1834) was a carefree English aristocrat who was born into immense wealth. However, he died a poor man after a life that was once described as " _ ". So, what went wrong?

As a young boy, Jack went to Westminster School, but after only one year he was expelled for fighting with a teacher. He was then sent to Harrow School but only lasted three days before he was also thrown out. He was eventually educated by private tutors.

After school, Jack went to Cambridge University. He arrived with 2,000 bottles of port, but left without graduating - he found university life boring. Later, he joined the army, enlisting with the 7th Hussars. As a young officer, he spent a year with the regiment in France as part of the occupation force after Napoleon's defeat in 1815. Jack passed the time gambling and drinking before resigning his commission. At the age of 21, he returned to his country house just in time to receive his inheritance.

With an annual income of over PS800,000 in today's money, Jack was extremely rich... but it didn't take him long to spend it all. In 1819, he became an MP. In order to secure his seat, he offered voters PS10 notes to vote for him, spending more than PS10,000 in total. However, he found politics dull and went to parliament only once. Back at home, he would often drop bank notes in the gardens of his estate, and gave his servants vast amounts of spending money. Once he lost his racetrack winnings (several thousand pounds) when the wind blew all the money away.

One of Jack's favorite pastimes was hunting. He would go in any kind of weather, occasionally with no clothes on. Sometimes, he would get up in the middle of the night, take off with a gun to look for something to shoot.

Jack also kept a large number of pets. These included about 2,000 dogs. Some were fed on steak and Champagne and even wore livery. A favorite horse had free range inside Halston Hall and would often lie with Jack in front of the fire.

Jack was a bit of a practical joker, too. He once left a horse in the bedroom of a guest. Another visitor fell asleep and woke up to find a live bear and two bulldogs in his bed. In 1826, as a result of a bet, Jack rode his horse into the Bedford Hotel, up the grand staircase and onto the balcony. Then, still sitting on the horse, he jumped off the balcony, landing among the diners in the restaurant below.

Another time, he invited a local doctor to dine at Halston Hall. As soon as the doctor had left, Jack put on a highwayman's costume and raced ahead to rob the unsuspecting man. On another occasion, a passenger in Jack's carriage admitted that he'd never been in an accident, so Jack drove the carriage up a hill and turned it over. He would also slip red-hot coals into people's pockets as a joke.

Eventually, Jack ran out of money and fell into debt. In 1830, he fled to France to avoid his creditors , but returned a couple of years later, ending up in prison in Southwark, London. Jack died there in 1834, a poor, lonely man. [(<<>> 20119 "Hell Raiser")]

1. Cambridge University.
2. 2,000
3. no
4. Mytton
5. "Mad Jack"
6. over PS800,000
7. no
8. army
9. 7th Hussars.
10. in France
11. 1815
12. gambling and drinking
13. 21
14. PS10,000
15. only went once
16. hunting
17. np

Numbered questions:
1. Where did Jack go when he finished school?
2. how many bottles of port did he go up with?
3. did he graduate?
4. what was his Surname?
5. and his nickname?
6. how much income did he get a year?
7. was he poor?
8. which reigment of the army did he enlist in?
9. the 8th hussars?
10. where did he serve?
11. what year?
12. what did he do while there?
13. how old was he on his return?
14. how much did he spend to get elected?
15. how much time did he spend in parliament?
16. what was one of his favorite hobbies?
17. did he hunt with clothes on always?