Jr. Horatio Alger

“ I love Filippo,” answered Giacomo, speaking the last words tenderly, and rather to himself than to the padrone. He looked up to Phil, though little older than himself, with a mixture of respect and devotion, leaning upon him as the weak are prone to lean upon the strong. ”

“ You are a coward—afraid of a woman!”
“It was her house,” said Pietro. “She would call the police.”
“So could you. You could say it was your brother you sought. There was no difficulty. Do you think Filippo is there yet?”
“I do not know.”
“To-morrow I will go with you myself,” said the padrone. “I see I cannot trust you alone. You shall show me the house, and I will take the boy.”
Pietro was glad to hear this. It shifted the responsibility from his shoulders, and he was privately convinced that Mrs. McGuire would prove a more formidable antagonist than the padrone imagined. ”

“ It was a strange thing for the homeless fiddler to find himself the object of affectionate care and solicitude—to feel, when he woke up in the morning, no anxiety about the day’s success. He could not have found a better home. Naturally attractive, and without serious faults, Phil soon won his way to the hearts of the good doctor and his wife. The house seemed brighter for his presence, and the void in the heart of the bereaved mother was partially filled. Her lost Walter would have been of the same age as Phil, had he lived. ”

“ A look of exultation and disappointment swept over his face as he saw Phil, but realized that he was out of his reach. He had a hand-organ with him, and this had doubtless encumbered him, and prevented his running as fast as he might otherwise.
“So that is Pietro, is it?” said Paul, regarding him attentively in order to fix his face in his memory.
“Yes, Paolo,” said Phil, his eyes fixed nervously upon his pursuer, who maintained his place, and was watching him with equal attention. ”

“ Thinking over these things, a bold suggestion came into Phil’s mind. Why need he go back at all? Why should he not take this occasion for breaking his fetters, and starting out into life on his own account? There was nothing alarming in that prospect. He was not afraid but that he could earn his own living, and fare better than he did at present, when out of his earnings and those of his comrades the padrone was growing rich. Other boys had run away, and though some had been brought back, others had managed to keep out of the cruel clutches of their despotic master. ”

“ It was a quarter-past eleven when Phil and Giacomo entered the shabby brick house which they called home, for want of a better. From fifteen to twenty of their companions had already arrived, and the padrone was occupied in receiving their several contributions. The apartment was a mean one, miserably furnished, but seemed befitting the principal occupant, whose dark face was marked by an expression of greed, and alternately showed satisfaction or disappointment as the contents of the boys’ pockets were satisfactory or otherwise. Those who had done badly were set apart for punishment. ”

“ The girl turned quickly, and, seeing the young fiddler, let fall her tambourine in surprise.
“Filippo!” she exclaimed, her eyes lighting up with the joy with which we greet a friend’s face in a strange land.
“Why did you drop your tambourine, scelerata?” demanded the man, harshly.
Lucia, a pretty, brown-faced girl, did not lose her joyful look even at this rebuke. She stooped and picked up the tambourine, and began to play mechanically, but continued to speak to Filippo.
“How long are you in the city?” asked Phil, speaking, of course, in his native language. ”

“ Phil felt relieved by this intelligence, but still he was nervous. Knowing well Pietro’s malice, he dreaded the chances of his capturing him.
“He stays there. He does not go away,” said Phil.
“It will do him no good, Phil. He is like a cat watching a canary bird beyond his reach. I don’t think he will catch you to-day.”
“He may go in the cars, too,” suggested Phil.
“That is true. On the whole, Phil, when you get to Newark, I advise you to walk into the country. Don’t stay in the city. He might find you there.”
“I will do what you say, Paolo. It will be better.” ”

“ How much more, then, must it be felt by the young street musician, who, with the exception of a woolen tippet, wore nothing more or warmer than in the warmer months! Yet, Phil, with his natural vigorous frame, was better able to bear the rigor of the winter weather than some of his comrades, as Giacomo, to whom the long hours spent in the streets were laden with suffering and misery. ”

“ Phil shrugged his shoulders, and did not answer. He evidently thought the suggestion an impracticable one. These boys are wont to regard the padrone as above all law. His power seems to them absolute, and they never dream of any interference. And, indeed, there is some reason for their cherishing this opinion. However brutal his treatment, I know of no case where the law has stepped in to rescue the young victim. This is partly, no doubt, because the boys, few of whom can speak the English language, do not know their rights, and seldom complain to outsiders—never to the authorities. ”

“ Many times, as they trudged through the streets, weary and hungry, sometimes cold, they thought with homesick sadness of the sunny fields in which their earliest years had been passed, but the hard realities of the life they were now leading soon demanded their attention.
Naturally light-hearted, Filippo, or Phil, bore his hard lot more cheerfully than some of his comrades. But Giacomo was more delicate, and less able to bear want and fatigue. His livelier comrade cheered him up, and Giacomo always felt better after talking with Phil. ”

“ He heard the grocer’s last words, and their inhumanity made him indignant.
“What do these boys want, Mr. Perkins?” he said.
“They want to spend their time in my shop. I have no room for such vagabonds.”
“We are cold,” said Phil. “We only want to warm ourselves by the fire.”
“I don’t want you here,” said the grocer, irritably.
“Mr. Perkins,” said the gentleman, sharply, “have you no humanity? What harm can it do you to let these poor boys get warm by your fire? It will cost you nothing; it will not diminish your personal comfort; yet you drive them out into the cold.” ”

“ Now go and play a tune to Jimmy. He is waiting for you. If you remain in the streets, your old enemy, Tim Rafferty, may want to borrow your fiddle again.”
“You are very kind to me, Paolo,” said Phil, raising his dark eyes with a sudden impulse of gratitude.
“It’s nothing, Phil,” said Paul, modestly; “you would do the same for me if I needed it.”
“Yes, I would,” said Phil; “but I am poor, and I cannot help you.”
“You won’t be poor always, Phil,” said Paul, cheerfully, “nor I either, I hope. I mean to be a merchant some time on a bigger scale than now. ”

“ Time and tide wait for no man, but it often happens that we are compelled to wait for them. But at length the boat touched the Jersey shore, and Pietro sprang out and hurried to the gates, looking eagerly on all sides for a possible glimpse of the boy he sought. He did not see him, for the cars were already on their way, but his eyes lighted up with satisfaction as they lighted on Paul, whom he recognized as the companion of Phil. ”

“ You don’t know Lucia. She lived in my home in Italy, and I used to play with her. She told me of my mother.”
“That’s lucky, Phil. I hope your mother is well.”
“She is not sick, but she is thin. She thinks of me,” said Phil.
“Of course she does. You will go home and see her some day.”
“I hope so.”
“Of course you will,” said Paul, confidently.
“I saw the boy who stole my fiddle,” continued Phil.
“Tim Rafferty?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“I was with a bootblack—the one they call ‘Ragged Dick.’ Do you know him?”
“Yes; I know Dick. He is a bully fellow, always joking.” ”

“ Tim is a bully with small boys, but he is a coward among large ones. Have you had any supper?”
“No,” said Phil.
“Won’t you come home and take supper with me?”
Phil hesitated.
“You are kind,” he said, “but I fear the padrone.”
“What will he do to you?”
“He will beat me if I don’t bring home enough money.”
“How much more must you get?”
“Sixty cents.”
“You can play better after a good supper. Come along; I won’t keep you long.”
Phil made no more objection. He was a healthy boy, and his wanderings had given him a good appetite. So he thanked Paul, and walked along by his side. ”

“ Nearly all ate as if famished, plain and uninviting as was the supper, for they had been many hours without food. But Phil, who, as we know, had eaten a good supper at Mrs. Hoffman’s, felt very little appetite. He slyly gave his bread to one of the boys, who, on account of the small sum he brought home, had been sentenced to go without. But the sharp eyes of the padrone, which, despite his occupation, managed to see all that was going on, detected this action, and he became suspicious that Phil had bought supper out of his earnings. ”

“ Phil shrugged his shoulders
“Always,” he answered.
“At what time do you go home?”
“At eleven.”
“It is too late for a boy of your age to sit up. Why do you not go home sooner?”
“The padrone would beat me.”
“Who is the padrone?”
“The man who brought me from Italy to America.”
“Poor boys!” said the gentleman, compassionately. “Yours is a hard life. I hope some time you will be in a better position.”
Phil fixed his dark eyes upon the stranger, grateful for his words of sympathy. ”

“ Why should he not earn money for his own benefit, as well as for the padrone? True, he was bound to the latter by a legal contract entered into by his father, but Phil, without knowing much about law, had an indistinct idea that the contract was a one-sided one, and was wholly for the advantage of the other party. The tyrant is always in danger of losing his hold upon the victim when the latter begins to think. ”

“ We go back now to Phil. Though he and his friends had again gained a victory over Pietro and the padrone, he thought it would not be prudent to remain in Newark any longer. He knew the revengeful spirit of his tyrants, and dreaded the chance of again falling into their hands. He must, of course, be exposed to the risk of capture while plying his vocation in the public streets. Therefore he resisted the invitation of his warm-hearted protectors to make his home with them, and decided to wander farther away from New York. ”

“ And this white slavery—for it merits no better name—is permitted by the law of two great nations. Italy is in fault in suffering this traffic in her children of tender years, and America is guilty as well in not interfering, as she might, at all events, to abridge the long hours of labor required of these boys, and forcing their cruel guardians to give them some instruction. ”

“ So, whatever may be his fatigue, or however inclement the weather, the poor Italian boy is compelled to stay out till near midnight, before he is permitted to return to the hard pallet on which only he can sleep off his fatigues.
Again in the street, Phil felt that he must make up for lost time. Now six o’clock is not a very favorable time for street music; citizens who do business downtown have mostly gone home to dinner. Those who have not started are in haste, and little disposed to heed the appeal of the young minstrel. ”

“ Meanwhile the boys are treated with scarcely less rigor by him than by his uncle, and toil early and late, suffering hardships and privations, that Pietro may grow rich.
Paul Hoffman had often thought of Phil, and how he had fared. He was indeed surprised and pleased when the young fiddler walked up and called him by name.
“Phil,” he exclaimed, grasping his hand heartily, “I am very glad to see you. Have you made a fortune?”
“He has found a father,” said Dr. Drayton, speaking for Phil, “who wants to thank you for your past kindness to his son.” ”

“ Grover, cheerfully, “We can make room for him. He is an Italian, I suppose. What is your name?”
“Filippo.”
“I will call you Philip. I suppose that is the English name. Will you lay down your violin and draw up to the fire?”
“I am not cold,” said Phil.
“He is not cold, he is hungry, as Ollendorf says,” said Edwin, who had written a few French exercises according to Ollendorf’s system. “Is supper almost ready?”
“It will be ready at once. There is your father coming in at the front gate, and Henry with him.”
Mr. Grover entered, and Phil made the acquaintance of the rest of the family. ”

“ And where does that man live that trates you so bad?”
“In New York.”
“And does Peter—or whatever the haythen’s name is—live there too?”
“Yes, Pietro lives there. The padrone is his uncle, and treats him better than the rest of us. He sent him after me to bring me back.”
“And what is your name? Is it Peter, like his?”
“No; my name is Filippo.”
“It’s a quare name.”
“American boys call me Phil.”
“That’s better. It’s a Christian name, and the other isn’t. Before I married my man I lived five years at Mrs. Robertson’s, and she had a boy they called Phil. His whole name was Philip.” ”

“ Probably, in some cases, the treatment is less brutal than I have depicted; but from the best information I can obtain from trustworthy sources, I fear that the reality, if anything, exceeds the picture I have drawn.
“I think I should enjoy giving your padrone a horsewhipping,” said the gentleman, impetuously. “Can such things be permitted in the nineteenth century?”
“I have no doubt the little rascals deserve all they get,” said the grocer, who would probably have found in the Italian padrone a congenial spirit. ”

“ In fact, if the example were generally followed, it would have made a large diminution of his income, though the boys might have been benefited. He listened to Pietro with an ominous scowl, and decided to inflict condign punishment upon the young offenders.
Meanwhile Phil and Giacomo resumed their wanderings. They no longer hoped to make up the large difference between what they had and the sum they were expected by the padrone to bring. As the evening advanced the cold increased, and penetrated through their thin clothing, chilling them through and through. Giacomo felt it the most. ”

“ He was his own employer, as long as he kept out of the clutches of the padrone.
Phil continued to roam about the streets very much after the old fashion, playing here and there as he thought it expedient. By noon he had picked up seventy-five cents, and felt very well satisfied with his success. But if, as we are told, the hour that is darkest is just before day, it also happens sometimes that danger lies in wait for prosperity, and danger menaced our young hero, though he did not know it. ”