John Habberton

“ It was not at all wonderful that the boys stared, for none of them had ever before seen the new pupil, and Laketon was so small a town that the appearance of a strange boy was almost as unusual an event as the coming of a circus.
“Let’s give it up,” said Will Palmer, who had for five minutes been discussing with several other boys all sorts of improbabilities about the origin of the new pupil; “let’s give it up until roll-call; then we’ll learn his name, and that’ll be a little comfort.” ”

“ Morton’s Select School were not the only people at Laketon who were curious about Paul Grayson. Although the men and women had daily duties like those of men and women elsewhere, they found a great deal of time in which to think and talk about other people and their affairs. So all the boys who attended the school were interrogated so often about their new comrade, that they finally came to consider themselves as being in some way a part of the mystery. ”

“ Mr. Morton took out his watch, and looked at it; the boys who had not been engaged in the mischief looked virtuously around them, and the guilty boys looked at their desks.
“Now,” exclaimed Mr. Morton, replacing his watch in his pocket. “Stand up like men. Will none of you do it?”
Benny Mallow whispered, “Yes, sir,” but the teacher did not hear him; besides, Benny made no effort to keep his word, so his whispering amounted to nothing.
“Grayson,” said Mr. Morton, “come here.” ”

“ Usually your deeds done out of school-hours are not for me to notice; but the cowardly, shameful treatment of that organ-grinder began in the school-yard, and before you had gone to your homes, so I think it my duty to inquire into the matter. Justice Stott thinks so too. When any one has done a wrong that he cannot amend, the only manly course is to confess. I want those boys who followed the organ-grinder up the alley to stand up. ”

“ As for the supper, a month passed before Sam Wardwell could think of it without his mouth watering. There were chicken salad and three kinds of cake, and ice-cream and water ices and lemonade, and oranges and bananas that had come all the way from New York in a box by themselves, and there were mottoes and mixed candies and figs and raisins and English walnuts, while so many of the almonds had double kernels that every girl in the room ate at least two philopenas, and therefore had enough to busy her mind for a day in determining what presents she would claim. ”

“ Morton was willing that Benny should tell every one that the only reason he had opened school at Laketon at all was his desire to be near the old friend whom he could not desert in his trouble, and to have near the prisoner, whose real name was Paul Gray, the son for whom, since the death of his wife, Paul Gray had felt an affection that Mr. Morton knew would make a good man of him when again he had a chance to start in the world. ”

“ But the boys did not take as much interest in the game as they had expected to, for a rival attraction had unexpectedly appeared on the ground since recess; two rival attractions, more properly speaking, or perhaps three, for in a shady corner sat an organ-grinder, on the ground in front of him was an organ, and on top of this sat a monkey. Now to city boys more than ten years of age an organ-grinder is almost as uninteresting as a scolding; but Laketon was not a city, organ-grinders reached it seldom, and monkeys less often ”

“ When, however, he had one day, soon after his arrival, asked several prominent men why the town had no society, or even person, to visit the very poor and the persons who might be in prison, he ran some risk of being considered meddlesome.
“We know our own people best,” said Sam Wardwell’s father. “The only people here who suffer from poverty are those who won’t work, while the few people who get into our jail are hard cases; half of them wouldn’t listen to you if you talked to them, and the others would listen only to have an excuse to beg tobacco or something. ”

“ Meanwhile Napoleon Nott, who generally was called Notty, and who had more imagination than all the rest of the boys combined, remarked, “I believe he’s a foreign prince in disguise.”
“He’s well-bred, anyhow,” said Will Palmer to Benny Mallow. “I hope he’ll be man enough to stand no nonsense. He’s big enough, and smart enough, if looks go for anything, to run this school, and I’d like to see him do it—anything to get rid of Joe Appleby’s airs.” ”

“ Paul replied; “they’re made out of bark, with hoops and strips of wood inside, to give them shape and make them strong.”
“How do they fasten up the ends?” asked Ned.
“They first sew or tie them together with strings, and then they put pitch over the seams to make them water-tight.”
“Did you ever see the Indians race in birch canoes?” asked Sam.
“Oh yes, often,” Paul replied; “and they make fast time too, I can tell you.”
“Did you ever race yourself?” asked Benny.
“No,” said Paul, “but I learned to paddle a canoe pretty well. ”

“ Nobody can deny that a monkey, even when soberly eating his dinner, is a very comical animal, and no boy ever lived, not excepting that good little boy Abel, who did not naturally wonder what a strange animal would do if some one disturbed him in some way. Which of Mr. Morton’s pupils first felt this wonder about the organ-grinder’s monkey was never known; the boys soon became too sick of the general subject to care to compare notes about this special phase of it ”

“ Notty suddenly remembered that his mother had sent him to the market to order something, so he hurried away from society that he had mistakenly supposed might be congenial, while Ned Johnston made the round of the residences of the various boys who had been at school with Paul. The end of it all was that the entire school met in the school-yard that evening after supper for the purpose of formally drafting resolutions of sympathy. Condolence also was suggested by Sam Wardwell, but Canning Forbes said that the meeting should not make a fool of itself if he could prevent it. ”

“ There was not the slightest chance of catching the prisoner again, the would-be deputy had said to Ned; there wasn’t brains enough in the sheriff and all his staff to get the better of a smart man; but things would be very different if proper men were in office.
When the party finally broke up, several boys were still missing; but as their absence gave several other boys the chance to escort two girls home instead of one, these faithful beaux determined that they had not lost so very much by remaining, after all. ”

“ You did a shameful thing in attacking a harmless man, but you have done nobly by confessing. I cannot let you off without punishment, but you will suffer far less than you would have done by successfully concealing your fault. None of you are to go out at recess next week. Now go to your seats. Sharp, you may take any unoccupied desk you like. After this I think I can trust you to behave yourself without being watched.”
The boys had never before seen Sharp look as he did as he walked to a desk in the back of the room and sat down. ”

“ Within the next five minutes any boy in that front gallery row could have sold his seat for a dollar, but not a boy flinched from what he considered a public duty, although every one knew just what to do with a dollar if he could get it. Soon the lawyers flocked in by the judge’s door, and grouped themselves about the table inside the rail, and at five minutes before ten his honor the judge entered and took his seat. Then the sheriff allowed Mr. Morton and Paul to enter by the judge’s door, because they were unable to get through the crowd in front. ”

“ No one answered for a moment, but finally Sam Wardwell said, “We want you to tell us stories.”
“Stories about Indians,” explained Ned Johnston.
Paul laughed. “You’re welcome to all I know,” said he; “but I don’t think they’re very interesting. Really, I can’t remember a single one that’s worth telling.”
This was very discouraging; but Canning Forbes, who was so smart that, although he was only fourteen years of age, he was studying mental philosophy, 95whispered to Will Palmer that people never saw anything interesting about their own daily lives. ”

“ If you want to know some of the bigger girls, I suppose you’ll have to ask Appleby. What’s 25the use of big girls, though? They never play marbles with a fellow, or have anything to trade. Say—I hope you’re not too big to play marbles?”
“Oh no,” said Grayson; “I’ll buy some, and we’ll have a royal game.”
“Don’t do it,” said Benny; “I’ve got a pocketful. Come on.” And to the great disgust of all the larger boys Benny led his new friend into the school-yard, scratched a ring on the dirt, divided his stock of marbles into two equal portions, and gave one to Grayson ”

“ But Grayson clung to ball; he did not seem to care much for it in the school-yard, which, indeed, was rather small for such games, but after school was dismissed in the afternoons he always tried to get up a game on the new grounds, and he generally succeeded. Even boys who did not care particularly for the sport had been told by Mr. Morton that about the only diversion of the wretched men in the jail was to look out the window while ball-playing was going on ”

“ Such of your family as remains to you would honor any one, even the highest man in the land, and I am assured that you are sincerely desirous of forsaking evil courses and devoting your life to this—family. ”

“ I’d rather have a good row-boat, though, than any birch I ever saw. If you run one 96of them on a sharp stone, it may be cut open, unless it’s pretty new.”
“How do the Indians kill buffaloes?” asked Will Palmer.
“Why, just as white men do—they shoot them with rifles. Nearly all the Indians have rifles nowadays.”
This was very unromantic, most of the boys thought, for an Indian without bows and arrows could not be very different from a white man. Still, something wonderful would undoubtedly come before Paul was done talking. ”

“ Bouncer affected him powerfully in spite of the efforts made by Sam Wardwell, as the Printer, to restrain him. The tableaux pleased the audience greatly; even that of “Prometheus,” with Ned Johnston as the sufferer, and Mrs. Battle’s big red rooster as the vulture, brought down the house.
But the great tableau of the evening was the 87teacher’s “Civilization.” When Paul Grayson had understood fully what the scene was to be, he refused so earnestly to have anything to do with it that the boys were startled. They did not excuse him from taking the part of the young Indian, however ”

“ Paul himself talked about the prisoners, and he reminded the boys that some of those men had wives who were being unhappy about them; and others, particularly the younger ones, were keeping loving mothers in misery; and perhaps some of them had children that were suffering, even starving, because their fathers were in jail. How could any fellow help being curious about men, asked Paul, whose condition put such stories into a man’s mind?
“Perhaps, too,” Paul argued, “some of those men are not as bad as they seem. Every man has a little good of some sort in him ”

“ Napoleon Nott saw all this, although, as the Indian boy’s mother, he was supposed to be dead beyond recall. Suddenly he felt himself to be inspired, and when the curtain was down 88he flew into the dressing-room and exclaimed, “I’ve got it!”
“Be careful not to hurt it,” said Canning Forbes, sarcastically.
“I’ve got it!” declared Notty, without noticing Canning’s cruel speech. “Grayson is an Indian, a chief’s son. You don’t suppose he could have made believe so well as all that, do you? That’s it. I knew he was a great person of some sort. Sh—h! he’s coming.” ”

“ The organ-grinder began munching his food very rapidly, as if in haste to finish his meal, yet he did not forget to pass morsels across his shoulder to his funny little companion, and the manner in which the monkey put up a paw to take the food amused the boys greatly. Benny Mallow thought that monkey was simply delightful, but he could not 43help wondering what the animal would do if a marble were to strike his paw as he put it up. Animals’ paws are soft at bottom, reasoned Benny to himself, and marbles shot through the air cannot hurt much, if any ”

“ Bert spoke feelingly, for he was that afternoon to remain at school until he had recited from memory four pages of history, as a punishment for his long truancy.
JUST IN TIME TO SEE GRAYSON GIVE BERT A BLOW IN THE CHEST.
“Who’s going to tell him, though?” asked Sam. 29“It should be some fellow big enough to take care of himself, for Grayson looks as if he could be lively.”
“I’ll do it myself,” declared Bert, savagely; saying which he lounged over toward the ring at which Benny and Grayson were playing. ”

“ The other boys could not see what there could be about such a lot of bad men to interest a fine fellow like Paul; but Canning 108Forbes explained that perhaps the spectacle would be interesting to them too if they were strangers, and had not seen the prisoners in every-day life, and known what a common, stupid, uninteresting set they were. All of the boys, Canning reminded them, had been full of curiosity about the counterfeiter when he had first been put into the jail ”

“ The new fellow isn’t going to be thought much of in this school if he’s going to allow himself to belong to any youngster that chooses to take hold of 26him. I’ll tell you one thing: Joe Appleby’s birthday party is to come off in a few days, and I’ll bet you a fish-line to a button that Master Benny won’t get near enough to it to smell the ice-cream. ”

“ Morton.
THE RECONCILIATION.
Bert hung his head a little lower, which is a way 33that all boys have when they are in the wrong; so the teacher did not question him any farther, but said:
“Boys, Grayson is a stranger here. I know him to be a boy of good habits and manners, and I give you my word that if you have any trouble with him, you will have to begin it yourselves. And if you expect to be gentlemen when you grow up, you must learn now to treat strangers as you would like to be treated if away from your own homes. Grayson, Sharp, go to your seats.” ”