Bound to Rise 15

Bound to Rise 15

"Yes."

 

"And is that what brought you to Centreville?"

 

"Yes."

 

Luke whistled.

 

"I thought--" he began.

 

"What did you think?"

 

"I thought," answered Luke, evasively, "that you might be looking for

work in some of the shoe shops here."

 

"Is there any chance, do you think?"

 

"No, I don't think there is," said Luke; for he was by no means anxious

to have Harry in the same town.

 

"Then I shall probably stay with the professor."

 

"What do you do?"

 

"Take tickets at the door and help him beforehand with his apparatus."

 

"You'll let me in free, to-night, won't you?"

 

"That isn't for me to decide."

 

"I should think the professor would let your friends go in free."

 

"I'll make you an offer, Luke," said he.

 

"What is it?"

 

"Just pay me the rest of; that money to-night and I'll let you in free

at my own expense."

 

"I can't do it. I haven't got the money. If 'you'll give it back, I'll

call it a dollar more and pay you the whole at the end of next week."

 

"I'm afraid your calling it a dollar more wouldn't do much good," said

Harry, shrewdly.

 

"Do you doubt my word?" blustered Luke, who had regained courage now

that he had ascertained the real object of Harry's visit and that it had

no connection with him.

 

"I won't express any opinion on that subject," answered Harry; "but

there's an old saying that a 'bird in the hand's worth two in the

bush.'"

 

"I hate old sayings."

 

"Some of them contain a great deal of truth."

 

"What a fool I was to pay him that five dollars!" thought Luke,

regretfully. "If I hadn't been such a simpleton, I should have found out

what brought him here, before throwing away nearly all I had."

 

This was the view Luke took of paying his debts. He regarded it as money

thrown away. Apparently, a good many young men are of a similar opinion.

This was not, however, according to Harry's code, and was never likely

to be. He believed in honesty and integrity. If he hadn't, I should feel

far less confidence in his ultimate success.

 

"I think I must leave you," said Harry, rising. "The professor may need

me."

 

"Do you like him? Have you got a good place?"

 

"Yes, I like him. He is a very pleasant man."

 

"How does it pay?"

 

"Pretty well."

 

"I wouldn't mind trying it myself. Do you handle all the money?"

 

"I take the money at the door."

 

"I suppose you might keep back a dollar or so, every night, and he'd

never know the difference."

 

"I don't know. I never thought about that," said Harry, dryly.

 

"Oh, I remember, you're one of the pious boys."

 

"I'm too pious to take money that doesn't belong to me, if that's what

you mean," said Harry.

 

This was a very innocent remark; but Luke, remembering how he had kept

Harry's pocketbook, chose to interpret it as a fling to himself.

 

"Do you mean that for me?" he demanded, angrily.

 

"Mean what for you?"

 

"That about keeping other people's money."

 

"I wasn't talking about you at all. I was talking about myself."

 

"You'd better not insult me," said Luke, still suspicious.

 

"I'm not in the habit of insulting anybody."

 

"I don't believe in people that set themselves up to be so much better

than everybody else."

 

"Do you mean that for me?" asked Harry, smiling.

 

"Yes, I do. What are you going to do about it?"

 

"Nothing, except to deny that I make any such claims. Shall you come

round to the hall, to-night?"

 

"Perhaps so."

 

"Then I shall see you. I must be going now."

 

He went out, leaving Luke vainly deploring the loss of the five dollars

which he had so foolishly squandered in paying his debt.

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER XXIX. IN THE PRINTING OFFICE

 

 

"Harry," said the professor, after breakfast the next morning, "I find

we must get some more bills printed. You may go round to the office

of the Centreville Gazette, and ask them how soon they can print me a

hundred large bills and a thousand small ones."

 

"All right, sir. Suppose they can't have them done by the ready to

start?"

 

"They can send them to me by express."

 

Harry had never been in a printing office; but he had a great curiosity

to see one ever since he had read the "Life of Benjamin Franklin." If

there was anyone in whose steps he thought he should like to follow, it

was Franklin, and Franklin was a printer.

 

He had no difficulty in finding the office. It was in the second story

of a building, just at the junction of two roads near the center of the

town, the post office being just underneath. He ascended a staircase,

and saw on the door, at the head of the stairs:

 

 

"CENTREVILLE GAZETTE"

 

 

He opened the door and entered. He saw a large room, containing a press

at the end, while two young men, with paper caps on their heads, were

standing in their shirt sleeves at upright cases setting type. On one

side there was a very small office partitioned off. Within, a man was

seen seated at a desk, with a pile of exchange papers on the floor,

writing busily. This was Mr. Jotham Anderson publisher and editor of the

Gazette.

 

"I want to get some printing done," said Harry, looking toward the

journeymen.

 

"Go to Mr. Anderson," said one, pointing to the office.

 

Harry went in. The editor looked up as he entered.

 

"What can I do for you?" he asked.

 

"I want to get some printing done."

 

"For yourself?"

 

"No; for Professor Henderson."

 

"I've done jobs for him before. What does he want?"

 

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."

 

"That's true; but I'm sorry to say Franklins are scarce in our printing

offices. I never met one yet."

 

"I shouldn't expect to turn out a Franklins; but I think one couldn't

help being improved by the business."

 

"True again, though, of course, it depends on the wish to improve. How

long have you been working for Professor Henderson?"

 

"Not long. Only two or three weeks."

 

"What did you do before?"

 

"I was pegger in a shoe shop."

 

"Didn't you like it?"

 

"Well enough, for I needed to earn money and it paid me; but I don't

think I should like to be a shoemaker all my life. It doesn't give any

chance to learn."

 

"Then you like learning?"

 

"Yes. 'Live and learn'--that is my motto."

 

"It is a good one. Do you mean to be a printer?"

 

"If I get a chance."

 

"You may come into my office on the first of April, if you like. One of

my men will leave me by the first of May. If you are a smart boy, and

really wish to learn the business, you can break in so as to be useful

in four weeks."

 

"I should like it," said Harry; "but," he added, with hesitation, "I am

poor, and could not afford to work for nothing while I was learning."

 

"I'll tell you what I'll do, then," said the editor. "I'll give you your

board for the first month, on condition that you'll work for six months

afterwards for two dollars a week and board. That's a fair offer. I

wouldn't make it if I didn't feel assured that you were smart, and would

in time be valuable to me."

 

"I'll come if my father does not object."

 

"Quite tight. I should not like to have you act contrary to his wishes.

I suppose, for the present, you will remain with Professor Henderson."

 

"Yes, sir."

 

"Very well. Let me hear from you when you have communicated with your

father."

 

Harry left the office plunged in thought. It came upon him with

surprise, that he had engaged himself to learn a new business, and

that the one which he had longed to follow ever since he had become

acquainted with Franklin's early life. He realized that he was probably

making immediate sacrifice. He could, undoubtedly, make more money in

the shoe shop than in the printing office, for the present at least. By

the first of April the shoe business obtain employment. But then he was

sure he should like printing better, and if he was ever going to change,

why, the sooner he made the change the better.

 

When he returned to the hotel, he told the professor what he had done.

 

"I am glad you are not going at once," said his employer, "for I should

be sorry to lose you. I generally give up traveling for the season about

the first of April, so that I shall be ready to release you. I commend

your choice of a trade. Many of our best editors have been practical

printers in their youth."

 

"I should like to be an editor, but I don't know enough."

 

"Not at present; but you can qualify yourself to become one--that is, if

you devote you spare time to reading and studying."

 

"I mean to do that."

 

"Then you will fair chance of becoming what you desire. To a certain

extent, a boy, or young man, holds the future in his own hands."

 

Harry wrote to father, at once, in regard to the plan which he had in

view. The answer did not reach him for nearly a week; but we will so far

anticipate matters as to insert that part which related to it.

 

"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; but I know he will be as glad to see you as

the rest of us."

 

Harry read this letter with great pleasure, partly because it brought

him permission to do as he desired, and partly because it was gratifying

to him to feel that he was missed at home. He determined, if it was a

possible thing, to leave the professor a week before his new engagement,

and spend that time in Granton.

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER XXX. THE YOUNG TREASURER

 

 

On the morning after receiving the letter from his father, Harry came

down to breakfast, but looked in vain for the professor. Supposing he

would be down directly, he sat down to the breakfast table. When he had

nearly finished eating, a boy employed about the hotel came to his side.

 

"That gentleman you're with is sick. He wants you to come to his room as

soon as you are through breakfast."

 

Harry did not wait to finish, but got up from the table at once, and

went up to his employer's room.

 

"Are you sick, sir?" he inquired, anxiously.

 

The professor's face was flushed, and he was tossing about in bed.

 

"Yes," he answered. "I am afraid I am threatened with a fever."

 

"I hope not, sir."

 

"I am subject to fevers; but I hope I might not have another for some

time to come. I must have caught cold yesterday, and the result is, that

I am sick this morning."

 

"What can I do for you, sir?"

 

"I should like to have you go for the doctor. Inquire of the landlord

who is the best in the village."

 

"I will go at once."

 

On inquiry, our hero was informed that Dr. Parker was the most trusted

physician in the neighborhood, and he proceeded to his house at once.

The doctor was, fortunately, still at home, and answered the summons

immediately. He felt the sick man's pulse, asked him a variety of

questions, and finally announced his opinion.

 

"You are about to have a fever," he said, "if, indeed, the fever has not

already set in."

 

"A serious fever, doctor?" asked the sick man, anxiously.

 

"I cannot yet determine."

 

"Do you think I shall be long sick?"

 

"That, also, is uncertain. I suppose you will be likely to be detained

here a fortnight, at least."

 

"I wish I could go home."

 

"It would not be safe for you to travel, under present circumstances."

 

"If I were at home, I could be under my wife's care."

 

"Can't she come here?"

 

"She has three young children. It would be difficult for her to leave

them."

 

"Who is the boy that called at my house?"

 

"Harry Walton. He is my assistant--takes money at the door, and helps me

other ways."

 

"Is he trustworthy?"

 

"I have always found him so."

 

"Why can't he, attend upon you?"

 

"I mean to retain him with me--that is, if he will stay. It will be dull

work for a boy of his age."

 

"You can obtain a nurse, besides, if needful."

 

"You had better engage one for me, as I cannot confine him here all the

time."

 

"I will do so. I know of one, skillful and experienced, who is just now

at leisure. I will send her round here this morning."

 

"What is her name?"

 

"Not a very romantic one--Betsy Chase."

 

"I suppose that doesn't prevent her being a good nurse," said the

professor, smiling.

 

"Not at all."

 

Here Harry entered the room.

 

"Harry," said the professor, "the doctor tells me I am going to be

sick."

 

"I am very sorry, sir," said our hero, with an air of concern.

 

"I shall probably be detained here at least a fortnight. Are you willing

to remain with me?"

 

"Certainly, sir. I should not think of leaving you, sick and alone, if

you desired me to stay. I hope I can make myself useful to you."

 

"You can. I shall need you to do errands for me, and to sit with me a

part of the time."

 

"I shall be very willing to do so, sir."

 

"You will probably find it dull."

 

"Not so dull as you will find it, sir. The time must seem very long to

you, lying on that bed."

 

"I suppose it will; but that can't be helped."

 

"A nurse will be here this afternoon," said the doctor.

 

"Until she comes, you will be in attendance here."