Horatio Alger

“ Mark saw with terror that her hand was already feeling in her pocket where she kept the leather strap. Much as he always feared the strap, the idea of having it applied to him in the public streets made it even more distasteful.
"What shall I do, Ben?" he said, clutching the arm of his companion.
"What are you afraid of? Do you see a copp after you?"
A "copp" is a street-boy's name for a policeman.
"No," said Mark; "there's Mother Watson coming after me. Don't you see her?"
"That's Mother Watson, is it?" asked Ben, surveying the old body with a critical eye. She's a beauty, she is!" ”

“ Didn't that chap open his eyes when I told him about paying five hundred dollars?"
"I don't think it's right, Ben," said Mark, seriously.
"Don't you go preaching, Mark," said Ben, not alto- gether pleased. "You've been tied to an old woman's apron-string too long,--that's what's the matter with you."
"Mother Watson didn't teach me the truth," said Mark. "She didn't care whether I tell it or not except to her. It was my mother that told me I ought always to tell the truth."
"Women don't know anything about business," said Ben. "Nobody in business speaks the truth. ”