Mark the Match Boy 18
"Well," said Dick, after looking over a collection of juvenile books,
"I'll take these two."
He drew out his pocket-book, and handed Roswell a ten-dollar bill.
Roswell changed it with a feeling of jealousy and envy. He was the "son
of a gentleman," as he often boasted, but he never had a ten-dollar
bill in his pocket. Indeed, he was now working for six dollars a week,
and glad to get that, after having been out of a situation for several
months.
Just then Mr. Gladden, of the large down-town firm of Gladden & Co.,
came into the store, and, seeing Richard, saluted him cordially.
"How are you this morning, Mr. Hunter?" he said. "Are you on your way
down town?"
"Yes, sir," said Richard.
"Come with me. We will take an omnibus together;" and the two walked
out of the store in familiar conversation.
"I shouldn't think such a man as Mr. Gladden would notice a low
boot-black," said Roswell, bitterly.
The rest of the day he was made unhappy by the thought of Dick's
prosperity, and his own hard fate, in being merely a clerk in a
bookstore with a salary of six dollars a week.
CHAPTER XV.
MARK GETS A PLACE.
In a week from the purchase of the books, Mark felt that he was fully
recovered. He never had much color, but the unhealthy pallor had left
his cheeks, and he had an excellent appetite.
"Well, Mark, how do you feel to-night?" asked Richard, on his return
from the store one evening.
"I'm all right, now, Mr. Hunter. I think I will go to work to-morrow
morning."
"What sort of work?"
"Selling matches."
"Do you like to sell matches?"
"I like it better than selling papers, or blacking boots."
"But wouldn't you like better to be in a store?"
"I couldn't get a place," said Mark.
"Why not?"
"My clothes are ragged," said the match boy with some hesitation.
"Besides I haven't got anybody to refer to."
"Can't you refer to your guardian?" asked Richard Hunter, smiling.
"Do you think I had better try to get a place in a store, Mr. Hunter?"
asked Mark.
"Yes, I think it would be much better for you than to sell matches on
the street. You are not a strong boy, and the exposure is not good
for you. As to your clothes, we'll see if we cannot supply you with
something better than you have on."
"But," said Mark, "I want to pay for my clothes myself. I have got ten
dollars in the bank at the Newsboys' Lodge."
"Very well. You can go down to-morrow morning and get it. But we
needn't wait for that. I will go and get you some clothes before I go
to business."
In the morning Richard Hunter went out with the match boy, and for
twenty dollars obtained for him a very neat gray suit, besides a supply
of under-clothing. Mark put them on at once, and felt not a little
pleased with the improvement in his appearance.
"You can carry your old clothes to Mr. O'Connor," said Richard. "They
are not very good, but they are better than none, and he may have an
opportunity of giving them away."
"You have been very kind to me, Mr. Hunter," said Mark, gratefully.
"Good-by."
"Good-by? What makes you say that?"
"Because I am going now to the Newsboys' Lodge."
"Yes, but you are coming back again."
"But I think I had better go there to live now. It will be much
cheaper, and I ought not to put you to so much expense."
"You're a good boy, Mark, but you must remember that I am your
guardian, and am to be obeyed as such. You're not going back to
the Lodge to live. I have arranged to have you stay with me at my
boarding-place. As soon as you have got a place you will work in the
daytime, and every Saturday night you will bring me your money. In the
evening I shall have you study a little, for I don't want you to grow
up as ignorant as I was at your age."
"Were you ignorant, Mr. Hunter?" asked Mark, with interest.
"Yes, I was," said Richard. "When I was fourteen, I couldn't read nor
write."
"I can hardly believe that, Mr. Hunter," said Mark. "You're such a fine
scholar."
"Am I?" asked Richard, smiling, yet well pleased with the compliment.
"Why, you can read French as fast as I can read English, and write
beautifully."
"Well, I had to work hard to do it," said Richard Hunter. "But I
feel paid for all the time I've spent in trying to improve myself.
Sometimes I've thought I should like to spend the evening at some place
of amusement rather than in study; but if I had, there'd be nothing
to show for it now. Take my advice, Mark, and study all you can, and
you'll grow up respectable and respected."
"Now," he added, after a pause, "I'll tell you what you may do. You
may look in my 'Herald' every morning, and whenever you see a boy
advertised for you can call, or whenever, in going along the street,
you see a notice 'Boy wanted,' you may call in, and sooner or later
you'll get something. If they ask for references, you may refer to
Richard Hunter, book-keeper for Rockwell & Cooper."
"Thank you, Mr. Hunter," said Mark. "I will do so."
On parting with his guardian the match boy went down town to the
Lodging House. The superintendent received him kindly.
"I didn't know what had become of you, Mark," he said. "If it had been
some of the boys, I should have been afraid they had got into a scrape,
and gone to the Island. But I didn't think that of you."
"I hope you'll never hear that of me, Mr. O'Connor," said Mark.
"I hope not. I'm always sorry to hear of any boy's going astray.
But you seem to have been doing well since I saw you;" and the
superintendent glanced at Mark's new clothes.
"I've met with some kind friends," said the match boy. "I have been
sick, and they took care of me."
"And now you have come back to the Lodge."
"Yes, but not to stay. I came for the money that I have saved up in the
bank. It is going for these clothes."
"Very well. You shall have it. What is the name of the friend who has
taken care of you?"
"Richard Hunter."
"I know him," said the superintendent. "He is an excellent young man.
You could not be in better hands."
On leaving the Lodge Mark felt a desire to find his old ally, Ben
Gibson, who, though rather a rough character, had been kind to him.
Ben was not difficult to find. During business hours he was generally
posted on Nassau Street, somewhere between Fulton Street and Spruce
Street.
He was just polishing off a customer's boots when Mark came up, and
touched him lightly on the shoulder. Ben looked up, but did not at
first recognize the match boy in the neatly dressed figure before him.
"Shine yer boots!" he asked, in a professional tone.
"Why, Ben, don't you know me?" asked Mark, laughing.
"My eyes, if it aint Mark, the match boy!" exclaimed Ben, in surprise.
"Where've you been all this while, Mark?"
"I've been sick, Ben."
"I'd like to be sick too, if that's the way you got them clo'es. I
didn't know what had 'come of you."
"I found some good friends," said Mark.
"If your friends have got any more good clo'es they want to get rid
of," said Ben, "tell 'em you know a chap that can take care of a few.
Are you in the match business now?"
"I haven't been doing anything for three weeks," said Mark.
"Goin' to sell matches again?"
"No."
"Sellin' papers?"
"No, I'm trying to find a place in a store."
"I don't think I'd like to be in a store," said Ben, reflectively.
"I'm afraid my delicate constitution couldn't stand the confinement.
Besides, I'm my own boss now, and don't have nobody to order me round."
"But you don't expect to black boots all your life, Ben, do you?"
"I dunno," said Ben. "Maybe when I'm married, I'll choose some other
business. It would be rather hard to support a family at five cents a
shine. Are you comin' to the Lodge to-night?"
"No," said Mark, "I'm boarding up at St. Mark's Place."
"Mother Watson hasn't opened a fashionable boardin'-house up there, has
she?"
"I guess not," said Mark, smiling. "I can't think what has become of
her. I haven't seen her since the day she tried to carry me off."
"I've heard of her," said Ben. "She's stoppin' with some friends at the
Island. They won't let her come away on account of likin' her company
so much."
"I hope I shall never see her again," said Mark, with a shudder. "She is a wicked old woman. But I must be going, Ben."
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