Jr. Horatio Alger

“ Helen grew very uneasy at the thought that they might be turned penniless into the street. Hitherto they had never been without money. The five dollars that remained was the last instalment of a small property left her father by his mother.
One morning Helen sat at the table, leaning her head upon her hand, plunged in anxious thought. At first she could think of no possible resource. But when everything looks dark, and all paths seem closed to us, suddenly from out the thick darkness there sometimes streams a ray of hope to cheer and sustain the sinking heart. ”

“ Meanwhile Margaret was making her way through the streets, changing her direction more than once, yet tending ever nearer and nearer to one point. At length she stood before the City Prison! With blanched cheek and aching heart she looked upward at the huge pile. She wondered in what quarter of the prison they had placed Jacob, and how he bore his confinement. What a mystery is a woman’s heart! When she had thought of him only as prosperous and triumphant, her heart had been swayed by vindictive passion. Now in his humiliation she felt drawn towards him—she felt even compassion for him. ”

“ Everything is full of stir and bustle. Even the jaded dray-horse pricks up his ears, and shows some signs of life. Boys and girls expend their superabundant activity in bounding along the sidewalk, and even the man of business seems lightened of a portion of his cares. There is a subtile electricity in the air, which unconsciously affects the spirits of all, and lights up many faces with vague hopefulness.
Helen yielded herself up to the influences of the morning, and a quiet sense of happiness stole over her. ”

“ She was about to offer to procure Helen some work from the establishment where she was employed, but when she looked at the bright face of the young girl, and thought to what hours and days of weariness it would consign her, how it would steal one by one the roses from her cheeks, and the freshness from her heart, leaving her with little to enjoy in the present and less to hope for in the future, she had not the heart to offer her the destiny which she had been compelled to accept for herself ”

“ Helen was silenced, but not wholly convinced. This was the more remarkable, since nothing was more foreign to her nature than to cherish distrust of any living thing. Even now, her feeling was rather an instinctive foreboding than any clearly-defined suspicion. The presence of Mr. Sharp, polite and affable as he appeared, had not impressed her pleasantly,—why, she could not tell. Oftentimes children are truer in their instinctive perception of character than their elders. ”

“ Never, Lewis, suffer yourself to be led hastily into a wrong act—never, as you value your soul’s peace. The thought will come back to you in after years, and never leave you; you may surround 183yourself with all that wealth can give, even as I have done, and your heart will still be an aching void into which no thought of joy or happiness shall enter. When you are on your death-bed, as I am now, you will feel how inestimable above all things else is that peace of mind which comes from a clear conscience and an unblemished life. ”

“ Often they would walk up Broadway, and Helen, at least, found amusement in watching the shifting scenes which present themselves to the beholder in that crowded thoroughfare. Life in all its varieties, from pampered wealth to squalid poverty, too often the fruit of a mis-spent life jostled each other upon the sidewalk, or in the street. The splendid equipage dashes past the humble handcart; the dashing buggy jostles against the loaded dray. Broadway is no exclusive thoroughfare. ”

“ No future seemed so bright to him as that in which he figured himself an artist, achieving fame by his works. Others might become generals, judges, statesmen; he desired nothing better than to be admitted into the confidence of Nature, and to become her interpreter.
Many were the pleasant conversations on art which he held with Helen. She looked up to him with affectionate reverence, and believed in him fully. The compact into which they had entered, to regard each other as brother and sister, had been faithfully kept. Not seldom Herbert was an invited guest at Mr. Ford’s table. ”

“ Strong in hate as in love, there sprang up in her soul a determined purpose, that, as Jacob Wynne had ruthlessly laid waste the garden of her life, she would never rest till she had made his as desolate as her own.
During the half-hour spent from wharf to wharf, she paced the deck of the steamer with hasty strides, her shawl clasped tightly over her throbbing bosom, and her face concealed as before by the capacious sun-bonnet. She heeded not that she was the object of curious attention on the part of her fellow-passengers. ”

“ Margaret was a creature of impulse. Hers was no calm, equable temperament. Her features could express trustful, confiding affection, or the intensity of scorn and hatred. She had come to make a last appeal to Jacob Wynne. He did not deserve it, but it is hard for a woman to resolve to injure a man who has been to her an object of affection. Jacob had often treated her with harshness. This she could bear, but the revelation of his perfidy, which she had heard from his own lips at Staten Island, came upon her with the force of a sudden blow, which at once prostrated her. ”

“ Therefore even if my many engagements would suffer it, I doubt whether I should become a successful inventor. You, my dear sir, who so happily combine both, are admirably adapted to that high vocation.”
“I ought to succeed,” said Mr. Ford, with a little sigh, “if the labor and thought of many years employed in one direction can achieve success.”
“I hope,” said the visitor, as if the question had just occurred to him, “that you have made free use of the money it was my privilege to offer you recently.” ”

“ Even after she was fairly in the street, Helen found it difficult to throw off the illusion of the stage. She could still see in imagination the gorgeous spectacle, the splendid fairy palace, the graceful sylphs, and the queen in her regal magnificence. She was so entirely under the dominion of fancy that to her the outer world seemed unreal, and that which she had seen, the real. She walked on, heeding little, till she was suddenly roused from her reverie in a very forcible manner, by coming in collision with some person. ”

“ Ford,” said Mr. Sharp, with effusion, “I feel abundantly repaid in having been the humble agent of restoring to you and my charming young friend, Miss Helen, that property which rightfully belongs to you. Yet, if you desire to acknowledge in any way the obligation, I will suggest that you will probably require a man of business, to undertake the charge of your large property. I believe I am right in asserting that you will not desire so far to interrupt your scientific pursuits, for the petty details of business, to which an inferior capacity can equally well attend. ”

“ No man of a well balanced mind would have labored with such sanguine expectations of success on a project so uncertain as the invention of a flying machine. But Mr. Ford had not a well balanced mind. He was much given to theorizing, and, like many amiable but obstinate persons, it was as difficult to dislodge from his mind a purpose which had once gained entrance there as to convert him by some miraculous transformation into a sharp man of the world. ”

“ Lewis encountered him at the foot of the stairs. They looked at each other—those long-estranged cousins—a moment in silence. Lewis was as pale as death. His lips were compressed and bloodless. The shadow of failure darkened his way. Dismay and anger and strong disappointment struggled with him for the mastery. Robert was calmer. He would not have been human if the sight of his cousin had not awakened within him a feeling of resentment. 186But this was swallowed up by a feeling yet stronger—the desire to see his father. ”

“ His feelings are so imbittered against his cousin, that he has refused to answer a letter containing overtures of reconciliation. He makes his head-quarters at Paris, where he lives in elegant style, and receives the homage which wealth always commands. But does he find in his riches the full satisfaction which he anticipated? I answer, no. He finds, too late, that happiness must be earned; it can never be bought. To those who, like Helen, consecrate their lives to the noblest objects, and study to promote the happiness of all around them, the blessing comes unsought. ”

“ A lawyer should be made of sterner stuff. I rejoice that your father should have sent to me immediately. It is a proof of his confidence, which I value. He will always find in me a true friend, and I trust he will not fail to call upon me for assistance whenever any trouble shall befall him. Your father, my dear Miss Ford, is a man of genius; but, as you perhaps have observed, is not so well versed in the ways of the world as those who possess not a tithe of his inventive talent and intellectual ability.”
Helen was quite ready to acknowledge a deficiency which no one knew better than herself. ”

“ Nothing has come of Mr. Ford’s invention yet, though he has filled the room with strange, out-of-the-way appliances, wheels, and bits of machinery, on which he labors day after day in the construction of his proposed flying machine. His repeated failures have little effect in damping his spirits. He has the true spirit of a discoverer, and is as sanguine as ever of ultimate success. He has learned the difficult lesson of patience.
“With such an end in view,” he sometimes exclaims with enthusiasm, half to himself, half to Helen, “what matter a few months or years! ”

“ Girdle seemed satisfied.
“No need of artificial color here,” said she, with a glance at Helen’s flushed cheeks. “Nature has taken care of that. You are really very pretty, Miss Ford.”
“Thank you,” said Helen; “but it sounds strange to have you call me Miss Ford. Nobody calls me so.”
“What is your name, then?”
“Helen.”
“I am glad it is a pretty one. It suits you better. Does no one tell you that you are pretty?” ”

“ Can you who have the power to bring happiness and peace to that bedside, and its unhappy occupant, who can bring the light of joy to those eyes soon to close forever, and repair a great injustice, still refuse to do it? There may come a time, whether near or remote, Heaven alone knows, when you would give all the wealth for which you are scheming if you had only done it. ”

“ Sharp he began to explain some of the chief features in his invention, the lawyer listening with the greatest apparent interest.
“It is admirable!” he exclaimed, with enthusiasm. “Take my word for it, it must and will succeed. But pardon me for suggesting that with better materials your model would be likely to prove more satisfactory. An inventor should be able to command large means in order to perfect his plans.”
“Of that I am aware,” said Mr. Ford, with hesitation. “But, as you have no doubt inferred, from the style in which Helen and I live, my means are very limited.” ”

“ Helen looked up, but did not speak.
“I heard you sing at the theatre, last evening.”
“Yes, madam.”
“Nothing would have induced me to come forward so publicly at your age. However, I suppose you don’t mind it.”
“No,” said Helen, with rising color; “I don’t mind it, since it enables me to earn money for my father.”
“Isn’t your father well? It isn’t usual for children to be called upon to support their parents.”
“Good morning, M’lle Fanchette,” said Helen, abruptly. The implied censure upon her father kindled her resentment as no insult to herself would have done. ”

“ He was not a practical man, and in business matters he was very liable to be deceived. But he knew sufficient of the extent of his father’s wealth to divine, that the pittance which his cousin offered was less than the hundredth part of the entire estate.
Knowing this, his pride rose in indignant rebellion at this insult.
“Do you think, Lewis,” he said, scornfully, “that if my father had lived long enough to change his will according to the desire which you have several times seen fit to express, that this is the provision which he would have made for me?” ”

“ Mr. Sharp rose rapidly in Helen’s estimation. The respect with which he spoke of her father, and the warmth with which he espoused his interests, impressed the unsuspecting child most favorably. She began to wonder how she could ever have thought of him otherwise than as a friend. She even felt a degree of compunction and self-reproach for having harbored suspicions of so excellent a man.
“You can return home quite at ease, my dear Miss Ford,” resumed Mr. Sharp. “Within two hours at most I will take care that your father’s property shall be restored to him.” ”

“ Ford looked thoughtfully back upon the spires and roofs of the city momentarily receding.
“How everything has changed,” he said slowly, “since I last crossed in a row-boat more than twenty years ago! And all this change has been effected by the tireless energy of man. Does it not seem strange that the outward aspect of inanimate nature should be so completely altered?”
Half an hour landed them at the island. Helen took her father’s hand and assumed the office of guide. They gazed with interest at the gay crowds as they availed themselves of the means of amusement which the place afforded. ”

“ Far less will I be indebted to you for a miserable pittance of that wealth which you have wrested from me by a systematic course of treachery and deceit. Come, Helen, let us go.”
Lewis Rand turned red and white by turns during this unexpected address, which satisfied him that Mr. Sharp had proved faithless to his trust. But flushed as he was with success, he could afford to disregard it all now.
“Do as you please,” he said, coldly. “At any rate, you cannot deny that I have made the offer. You may, some day, regret not having accepted it.”
“Never!” said his cousin, vehemently. ”

“ It was easy to see that lodging in the fourth story back was sufficient in her eyes to stamp Helen as one whose acquaintance it was quite beneath her dignity to cultivate.
“She has a very sweet, attractive face,” said Martha Grey.
“Beautiful! angelic!” exclaimed Mr. Eustace, with enthusiasm.
“I don’t see anything very beautiful or angelic about her,” remarked M’lle Fanchette, who would much prefer to have had her dashing neighbor’s admiration bestowed upon herself.
“You should have seen the beautiful flush upon her cheeks.” ”

“ Don’t think,” he added, hastily, “that I consider this the only impediment to my success. I have doubtless much, very much, to learn. There is great room for improvement, and if I could I should be content to work on for years without selling a picture, striving only to improve myself, not achieving, but learning to achieve. Yet I have seen paintings sold for generous sums, on account of the artist’s name, no better than mine.”
“I am sure your ‘Country Farm-house’ is a beautiful painting,” said Helen, enthusiastically. “There must be a great many that would like to buy it.” ”

“ Sharp, as if the idea suddenly struck him, “whether your father is not an inventor? I think I was told so by the very respectable lady down stairs.”
“Yes,” said Helen, more at her ease. “Papa has been busy a great while about his invention. It requires a great deal of time and patience.”
“Indeed! Would it be taking too great a liberty to inquire the nature of the proposed invention?”
“It is a flying machine,” said Helen. “Some people laugh at it,” she added, a little hurriedly. “It seems strange to them because they have never thought much about it.” ”

“ As Helen spoke her eyes sparkled, and her face flushed with enthusiasm. The exhibition of deep natural feeling is always impressive. Martha felt it to be so, and could not help admiring and loving the child more than ever. ”