Jr. Horatio Alger

“ Walton, in surprise.
"I don't know where; but somewhere where I can earn my own living."
"But you can do that here. You can give me your help on the farm, as you always have done."
"I don't like farming, father."
"You never told me that before. Is it because of the hard work?"
"No," said Harry, earnestly. "I am not afraid of hard work; but you know how it is, father. This isn't a very good farm, and it's all you can do to make a living for the rest of us out of it. If I could go somewhere, where I could work at something else, I could send you home my wages." ”

“ He knew very well the meanness of the board which the squire provided, how inferior it was even to the scanty, but well-cooked meals which he got at home; he knew, also that the squire had the knack of getting more work out of his men than any other farmer in the town; and the prospect of being six months in his employ was enough to terrify him. He looked from Squire Green's mean, crafty face to his father's in anxiety and apprehension. ”

“ I wouldn't be as mean as he is for a hundred dollars."
"You'd rather get trusted for your clothes than do without them," said Frank Heath, slyly; for he happened to know that Luke had run up a bill with the tailor, about which the latter was getting anxious.
"What if I do," said Luke, sharply, "as long as I am going to pay for them?"
"Oh, nothing," said Frank. "I didn't say anything against it, did I? I suppose you are as able to owe the tailor as anyone."
By this time, Harry had come up.
"Where are you going, Walton?" asked Luke. "You look cold." ”

“ Morgan?"
"I intend to study law."
"I should like to be an editor," said Harry; "but I don't see much prospect of it."
"Why not?"
"An editor must know a good deal."
"There are some who don't," said Leonard Morgan, with a smile. "However, you would like to do credit to the profession and it is certainly in these modern days a very important profession."
"How can I prepare myself?"
"By doing your best to acquire a good education; not only by study but by reading extensively. An editor should be a man of large information. Have you ever practiced writing compositions?" ”

“ I'm very short of money."
"So am I," chimed in the squire. He had two hundred dollars in his desk at that moment waiting for profitable investment; but then he didn't call it exactly a lie to misrepresent for a purpose. "So am I. Money's tight, neighbor."
"Money's always tight with me, squire," returned Hiram Walton, with a sigh. ”

“ So, to relieve your suspense, I will tell you that I have engaged as assistant to Professor Henderson, the famous magician and ventriloquist and am to start to-morrow on a tour with him."
"Assistant to a magician!" exclaimed Mrs. Walton
"What does the boy know about magic?"
"It's a bully business," said Tom, enthusiastically. "I only wish I was in Harry's shoes. I'd like to travel round with a magician first-rate."
"You're too thick-headed, Tom," said Marry.
"Shut up!" said Tom. "I guess I'm as smart as you, any day." ”

“ Money is a scarce commodity with farmers everywhere. Most of their income is in the shape of farm produce, and used in the family. Only a small surplus is converted into money, and a dollar, therefore, seems more to them than to a mechanic, whose substantial income is perhaps less. This is the reason, probably, why farmers are generally loath to spend money. Harry knew that if he should hire out to a farmer for the six months the utmost he could expect would be a dollar a week, and it was not certain he could earn that. ”

“ She had many questions to ask about the bold robber who had waylaid him, and expressed the hope that he had left the neighborhood.
"Perhaps he'll come back for his wallet, Harry," said Jeff. "You'd better look out for him."
"I shall take care how I carry much money about with me, after this," said Harry. "That was what got me into a scrape yesterday."
"He wouldn't make out much if he tried to rob me," said Jeff. "I haven't got money enough about me to pay the board of a full-grown fly for twenty-four hours."
"You don't look as if your poverty troubled you much," said his mother. ”

“ It will be seen that Harry was growing ambitious. He didn't expect to go to college, though nothing would have pleased him better; but he felt that some knowledge of a foreign language could do him no harm. Franklin, whom he had taken as his great exemplar, didn't go to college; yet he made himself one of the foremost scientific men of the age and acquired enduring reputation, not only as a statesman and a patriot, but chiefly as a philosopher.
A little later, Leonard Morgan came round to the desk at which Harry was sitting. ”

“ The clothes which he brought with from form Granton were not only of coarse material but were far from stylish in cut, whereas these garments had been made by a fashionable Boston tailor and set off his figure to much greater advantage.
"I wonder what Luke Harrison will say?" said our hero to himself, smiling, as he thought of the surprise of Luke at witnessing his transformation. ”

“ I haven't got five dollars in the world outside of my farm."
"I wish I could help you, neighbor Walton, but I'm a poor man myself."
"I know you are, Elihu. Somehow it doesn't seem fair that my only cow should be taken, when Squire Green has got ten, and they're all alive and well. If all his cows should die, he could buy as many more and not feel the loss."
"Squire Green's a close man."
"He's mean enough, if he is rich."
"Sometimes the richest are the meanest." ”

“ If you desire to be a printer, Harry, I shall not object. It is a good trade, and you can make yourself, through it, useful to the community. I do not suppose it will ever make you rich. Still, I should think it might, in time, give you a comfortable living—better, I hope, than I have been able to earn as a farmer. If you determine to win success, you probably will. If you should leave your present place before the first of April, we shall be very glad to have you come home, if only for a day or two. We all miss you very much—your mother, particularly. Tom doesn't say much about it ”

“ I'm strong and stout, and willing to work."
"People don't give much for boys' work."
"I don't expect much; but I know I can get something, and by and by it will lead to more. I want to help you to pay for that cow you've just bought of Squire Green."
"I don't see how I'm going to pay for it," said Mr. Walton, with a sigh. "Hard money's pretty scarce, and we farmers don't get much of it."
"That's just what I'm saying, father. There isn't much money to be got in farming. That's why I want to try something else."
"How long have you been thinking of this plan, Harry?" ”

“ Even in a pecuniary way an education will open to you a more prosperous career, and lead, I hope, to competence, instead of the narrow poverty which has been my lot. I will not complain of my own want of success, if I can see my children prosper."
But while intent upon cultivating his mind, Harry had not lost sight of the great object which had sent him from home to seek employment among strangers. He had undertaken to meet the note which his father had given Squire Green in payment for the cow. By the first of December he had saved up thirty-three dollars toward this object. ”

“ Luke looked a little uneasy.
"By the way, Walton," he said, "I believe I owe you a little money."
"Yes. I believe so."
"I'm sorry I can't pay you the whole of it. It costs considerable to live, you know; but I'll pay part."
"Here are five dollars," he said. "I'll pay you the rest as soon as I can—in a week or two."
Harry took the bank note with secret self-congratulation, for he had given up the debt as bad, and never expected to realize a cent of it.
"I am glad to get it," he said. "I have a use for all my money. Are you working in this town?" ”

“ But he answered, quietly: "I did not leave it at home, for I have none to leave."
"I suppose you are bound to the tailor's to order one."
"What makes you think so?" asked Harry.
"You are not such a fool as to go without one when you have money in your pocket, are you?"
"You seem very curious about my private affairs," said Harry, rather provoked.
"He's only drumming up customers for the tailor," said Frank Heath. "He gets a commission on all he brings."
"That's the way he pays his bill," said Sam Anderson.
"Quit fooling, boys," said Luke, irritated. "I ain't a drummer. ”

“ I am afraid your father won't be able to pay for the cow six months from now."
"I am afraid so, too."
"I don't see how we can possibly save up forty dollars. We are economical now as we can be."
"That is what I have been thinking of, mother. There is no chance of father's paying the money."
"Then it won't be paid, and we shall be worse off when the note comes due, than now."
"Do you think," said Harry, laying down the book on the table, and looking up earnestly, "do you think, mother, I could any way earn the forty dollars before it is to be paid?" ”

“ There's nothing to do there but to work on a farm."
"I shouldn't like that myself; but the city's the best of all."
"Can you make more money in a store than working in a shoe shop?"
"Not so much at first, but after you've got learned there's better chances. There's a clerk, that went from here ten years ago, that gets fifty dollars a week."
"Does he?" asked Harry, to whose rustic inexperience this seemed like an immense salary. "I didn't think any clerk ever got so much."
"They get it often if they are smart," said Robert. ”

“ Mebbe you've been at his store."
"Mebbe I have."
"I ginerally call to see my darter—her name is Nancy—once a week; but it's rather hard for me to walk, now I'm getting' on in years."
"You're most eighty, ain't you?" appeared to proceed from Harry's mouth. Our hero's face twitched and he had hard work to keep from laughing.
"Indeed, I'm not!" said the old lady, indignantly.
"I'm only sixty-seven and folks say I don't look more'n sixty," and the old lady looked angrily at Harry.
"You must excuse him, ma'am," said the professor, soothingly. "He is no judge of a lady's age." ”

“ Frank Heath suggested to Tom Frisbie.
"I wonder what he want anyway?" said Frisbie. "Why didn't he take you?"
"Because I'm too sharp," said Frank. "I should see through his tricks."
Meanwhile, Harry had entered the professor's chamber.
"Sit down," said the magician. "I'll tell you what I want of you. I want you to take tickets at the door of hall to-night. Can you do it?"
"Yes, sir," said Harry, promptly.
"It seems easy enough," said the professor; "but not everyone can do it rapidly without making mistakes. Are you quick at figures?"
"I am usually considered so," said our hero. ”

“ In general, such remarks were rebuked by the father or mother; but the truth of Tom's observation was so clear, that for once he was not reproved.
"Squire Green's money does him very little good," said Hiram Walton. "He spends very little of it on himself, and it certainly doesn't obtain him respect in the village. Rich as he is, and poor as I am, I would rather stand in my shoes than his."
"I should think so," said his wife. "Money isn't everything." ”

“ If I was as rich as he, I'd do it."
"I believe you would, Elihu; but there's some difference between you and him."
"Maybe the squire would lend you money to buy a cow. He always keeps money to lend on high interest."
Mr. Walton reflected a moment, then said slowly, "I must have a cow, and I don't know of any other way, but I hate to go to him."
"He's the only man that's likely to have money to lend in town." ”

“ Our hero explained.
"Very well, we will do it."
"Can you have it done before two o'clock?"
"Impossible. I am just bringing out my paper."
"When can you have the job finished?"
"To-morrow noon."
"I suppose that will do. We perform to-morrow at Berlin and they can be sent over to the hotel there."
"You say 'we,'" answered Harry, amused. "I take tickets, and assist him generally."
"How do you like the business?"
"Very well; but I should like your business better."
"What makes you think so?"
"I have been reading the 'Life of Benjamin Franklin.' He was a printer." ”

“ But he was one of those men who, for some unaccountable reason, never get on in the world. They can do a great many things creditably, but do not have the knack of conquering fortune. So Hiram had always been a poor man, and probably always would be poor. He was discontented at times, and often felt the disadvantages of his lot, but he was lacking in energy and ambition, and perhaps this was the chief reason why he did not succeed better.
After breakfast Elihu Perkins, the "cow doctor," came to the door. He was an old man with iron-gray hair, and always wore steel-bowed spectacles ”

“ My uncle, Benjamin Streeter, mother's brother, keeps a dry goods store on Washington street. It'll be jolly living in the city."
"I don't know," said Harry thoughtfully. "I think I like a village just as well."
"What sort of a place is Granton, where you come from?"
"It's a farming town. There isn't any village at all." ”

“ Waiting passively for something to turn up is bad policy and likely to lead to disappointment; but waiting actively, ready to seize any chance that may offer, is quite different. The world is full of chances, and from such chances so seized has been based many a prosperous career.
During his first idle day, Harry's attention was drawn to a handbill which had been posted up in the store, the post office, the tavern, and other public places in the village. ”

“ I've tried to bring you along as far as possible toward the temple of learning, but some of you have held back, and have not done as well as I should like—John Plympton, if you don't stop whispering I'll keep you after school—I want you all to remember that knowledge is better than land or gold. ”

“ He has always been a hard-working man."
"If you start out with such a good object, I think you will succeed. Have you any plans at all, or any idea what you would like to do?"
"I thought I should like to work in a shoe shop, if I got a chance," said Harry.
"You like that better than working on a farm, then?"
"Yes, sir, There isn't much money to be earned by working on a farm. I had a chance to do that before I came away."
"You mean working on your father's land, I suppose?"
"No, Squire Green wanted to hire me."
"What wages did he offer?"
"Two dollars a month, at first. ”

“ Tom did, indeed, seem to be growing out of his pants, which were undeniably too short for him.
"You ought to have some new pants," said his mother, sighing; "but I don't see where the money is to come from."
"Nor I," said Mr. Walton, soberly. "Somehow I don't seem to get ahead at all. To-morrow my note for the cow comes due, and I haven't but two dollars to meet it."
"How large it the note?"
"With six months' interest, it amounts to forty-one dollars and twenty cents."
"The cow isn't worth that. She doesn't give as much milk as the one we lost." ”

“ Robert proceeded, "for I go into my uncle's store. I am to board at his house, and get three dollars a week."
"That's what your father offers me," said Harry.
"Yes; you'll earn more after a while, and I can now; but I'd rather live in the city. There's lots to see in the city—theaters, circuses, and all kinds of amusements."
"You won't have much money to spend on theaters," said Harry, prudently. ”

“ Squire Green is a very mean man, and he will try to take advantage of any need."
"It is better to have a poor resource than none at all."
"Well, I'll go and see what can be done."
Squire Green was the rich man of the town. He had inherited from his father, just as he came of age, a farm of a hundred and fifty acres, and a few hundred dollars.
The land was not good, and far from productive; but he had scrimped and saved and pinched and denied himself, spending almost nothing, till the little money which the farm annually yielded him had accumulated to a considerable sum. ”

“ Dunham in his old-fashioned chaise. "I might have known that you were not running away," said the doctor. "I should be more likely to suspect your Brother Tom."
"Tom's too lazy to run away to earn his own living," said Harry, laughing, "as long as he can get it at home."
The doctor smiled.
"And what put it into your head to start out in this way?" he asked.
"The first thing, was reading the' Life of Franklin.'"
"To be sure. I remember his story."
"And the next thing was, because my father is so poor. He finds it hard work to support us all. The farm is small, and the land is poor. ”

“ Then he charged me with being a miser, as he often does."
"Did he come all the way home with you?"
"No; he left me at Deacon Brewster's. He said he must go back to the store."
"There is something queer about this," said Mr. Leavitt, shrewdly. "Do you want my advice?"
"Yes; I wish you would advise me, for I don't know what to do."
"Then go to the store at once. Ask, but without attracting any attention, if Luke came back there after leaving you. Then ask Mr. Meade, the storekeeper, whether he noticed you put back your pocketbook." ”