: 
 
 IARY 
 
 ERSITY 
 DRNIA 
 
 Room 
 
 eckman 
 

 ? J. 
 
 
npe me Sir, for Intruding upon yon. 
 
GET MONEY. 
 
 BT 
 
 MRS. L. C. TUTHILL, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "TIP TOP,' ".QUEER BONNETS," ETC. 
 
 "GOLD! THE WORST POISON TO THE SOUL." 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 OHAELES SCRIBNER, 
 
 877 AND 879 BROADWAY, 
 
 1858. 
 
ENTERED according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER, 
 In ttv O *k'8 Office or the District Court for the Southern District of New York. 
 
 W. H. TINSON, Stereotvper. GKO, RUSSBLL, & Co., Printers. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 The Haunted House, .... 
 
 CHAPTER H. 
 Broken Windows, 14 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 A Prepossessing Bow, 31 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Seeking Employment, 82 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 A, Mock Serenade 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Saucy Clerk, 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 Gardening 
 
CONTENTS. 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Morrison Ferguson, ..... 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Burglars, 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 The Boston Merchant, .......... 10 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 A Surprise, ............ 118 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 The Stove Bank, ........... 12 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 The Usurer's Generosity, 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Phineas Shanby, ........... 181 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 The Confidential Clerk, ......... 185 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Idelette Scofield, ........... 14S 
 
 CHAPTER XVH. 
 The Sculptor's Studio, . . . ....... 1B6 
 
 CHAPTER XVIU. 
 Courage and Bravado, ......... l** 8 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 The Handsome Young Man, ........ 173 
 
CONTENTS. V 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Temptation, ............ 180 
 
 CHAPTER 
 News from a Whaler, .......... 185 
 
 CHAPTER XXH. 
 The Double Birthday, .......... 189 
 
 CHAPTER XXTTT. 
 Hand-Writing, ........... 204 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 A Hasty Ejectment, .......... 216 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 A Pleasant Vacation, .......... 221 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 A Long Sea Voyage 229 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 Dandy Dan, ....236 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIIL 
 A Wanderer's Return, 246 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 'A Noble Friend, 252 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 The Gambler's Death-bed, 259 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 A Change in Character, .... 
 
CONTENTS. 
 CHAPTER XXXIL 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Calcutta, ............ 266 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 A Friend's Arrival, 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 Partnership, 27T 
 
GET MONEY. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 THE HAUNTED HOUSE. 
 
 "On, Anna! As I was coming by the 
 haunted house this evening, I saw a light 
 there." 
 
 " Did you ? "What kind of a light was it ?" 
 
 " A blue one dancing about from room to 
 room, in a most mysterious manner." 
 
 The eager listener, a young girl twelve or 
 thirteen years old, grew pale with fear. The 
 first speaker, her brother, two years older 
 continued in a whisper " Anna, do you be 
 lieve in ghosts ?" 
 
 The room in which the brother and sister 
 were sitting, was a handsome, cheerful looking 
 parlor. They had drawn their chairs near 
 
8 GET MONEY. 
 
 to the hearth, on which a bright wood-lire 
 was blazing. 
 
 Though it was the first of May, the even 
 ings were chilly in that latitude the latitude 
 of Boston. 
 
 There was no other light in the room but 
 the nickering one from the fire, which cast 
 loDg fantastic shadows on the ceiling. 
 
 " Say, Anna, do you believe in ghosts ?" 
 
 " Don't ask me that question, Morrison ? 
 Why, I am afraid to pass the Haunted House 
 alone, even in the day-time." 
 
 " Is there not a strange light in this room 
 now?" whispered Morrison, casting his eye 
 over his shoulder. " Look at those hideous 
 figures on the wall." 
 
 " Don't, don't, brother. I can scarcely 
 breathe. Oh, light the lamp do, quick !" 
 exclaimed Anna, holding her hands tightly 
 over her eyes. 
 
 Morrison hastily lighted an astral lamp on 
 the centre-table. 
 
 " What a silly little girl you are to believe 
 in ghosts ! Take your hands away from your 
 eyes. What do you expect to see here, in 
 our own pleasant home ?" 
 
 " Oh, you are brave enough now, brother," 
 said Anna, timidly opening her eyes, "very 
 
THE HAUNTED HOUSE. 9 
 
 brave with that bright light in the room; just 
 now, you were as frightened as I was ; when 
 you saw those strange figures on the wall, you 
 shuddered with fear. And when you talked 
 about the light in the Haunted House, you 
 trembled like a leaf." 
 
 "That's quite another thing; you know, 
 ever since the murder of old Nollins, strange 
 noises have been frequently heard there, and 
 most mysterious lights have flitted about the 
 house." 
 
 " Don't, don't, for pity's sake !" exclaimed 
 Anna, stopping her ears as resolutely as she 
 had her eyes a few moments before ; " I can't 
 bear to think of the poor old miser." 
 
 u ~Why, you little fool, what is going to 
 hurt you ?" demanded Morrison, fiercely, 
 as he forced away Anna's hands from her 
 ears. 
 
 Morrison had grown very brave since the 
 lamp was lighted. 
 
 " You are as great a coward as I am any 
 day, Morrison ; you needn't pretend you are 
 not afraid of ghosts." 
 
 " Coward ! who dares to call me coward ? 
 If you were a boy, now, I would knock you 
 down for it. As it is, I have a good mind to 
 give you a shaking." 
 
10 GET MONEY. 
 
 " Hark ! there comes papa. Take your 
 hands off." 
 
 Morrison hastily obeyed, for Mr. Ferguson 
 was already at the door. 
 
 A tall, thin gentleman entered, dressed in 
 black. His high, narrow forehead was partly 
 shaded by straight hair, slightly inclined to 
 grey. His keen, small eyes peered out from 
 beneath shaggy eyebrows, and his thin lips 
 were pressed tightly over long, straggling 
 teeth, while his chin retreated towards the 
 neck at an angle of forty -five degrees. 
 
 " Oh, papa ! I am so glad to see you !" ex 
 claimed Anna, drawing a chair to the fireside, 
 and bringing her own very near to it. " So 
 glad I" 
 
 Morrison ahem'd and winked, and shook 
 his head and his fist, too, at his sister ; but in 
 spite of these menacing hints, she went 
 on : 
 
 " Oh, papa, brother says he saw awful blue 
 lights dancing around all the rooms of the 
 .Haunted House this evening." 
 
 " The blue must have been in Morrison's 
 eyes, for I saw the light, and it was red." 
 
 " Then you did see the lights there I" ex 
 claimed both Morrison and Anna. . 
 
 " I did." 
 
THE HAUNTED HOUSE. 11 
 
 " And what do you think it was ?" 
 
 " A tallow candle." 
 
 " Now, papa, you are joking." 
 
 " Not at all. It was a small tallow candle 
 perhaps a mould perhaps a dip carried 
 about by a boy about your age and size, Mor 
 rison." 
 
 " Now, papa, indeed you are joking." 
 
 " Certainly not. I received an application 
 for the house this very morning, from a young 
 lad who said he had a mother and a sister, for 
 whom he wished to provide a comfortable 
 home, and he must find one immediately. 
 He had seen this house advertised and wished 
 to look at it. I immediately came out here 
 with him, and in an hour from the time I first 
 saw him the bargain was completed. He is 
 there now with his sister arranging some fur 
 niture, which had already arrived at one of 
 the wharfs." 
 
 " What is his name, papa?" 
 
 " Let me see ; here is his name, in fine, 
 manly hand-writing. Lewis Lenning !" said 
 Mr. Ferguson, passing the lease of the house 
 to Morrison. 
 
 " Taken a lease of the Haunted House for 
 a year, and paid ten dollars in advance ! 
 Good !" exclaimed Morrison. 
 
12 GET MONEY. 
 
 " But does he know poor old Nollins was 
 murdered there, and that the house is haunt 
 ed?" asked Anna, with uplifted hands, and 
 her blue eyes as wide open as a full-blown 
 sunflower. 
 
 " Nonsense ! Nobody knows that Nollina 
 was murdered. Even supposing he had been, 
 I hope you are not so weak and credulous as 
 to believe in ghosts. It is too absurd. On 
 no account mention these ridiculous stories to 
 my tenant. The house, a long time ago, may 
 have been searched for the money the miser 
 was supposed to have left there, but by this 
 time it is quite forgotten. You must confess, 
 my son, that you were very cowardly to 
 night when your imagination converted an 
 honest tallow candle into a blue, supernatural 
 light." 
 
 "Yes, Morrison, that was too funny how 
 the tallow dip danced about," said Anna, 
 laughing heartily. 
 
 "You need not laugh, miss," retorted Mor 
 rison; "you were frightened half out of your 
 simple wits yourself, just now, at your own 
 shadow on the wall." 
 
 "Hush, children, don't quarrel. You both 
 must perceive the folly of creating bug-bears 
 of the imagination. Let me hear no more of 
 
THE HAUNTED HOUSE. 13 
 
 this weak superstition. There goes the tea 
 bell." 
 
 They immediately adjourned to the dining- 
 room, and all ghosts were, for the time, dis 
 pelled from their haunted brains. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 BROKEN WINDOWS. 
 
 GLAD was Lewis Lenning to find a shelter 
 for his loved ones at the moderate rate of forty 
 dollars per annum. And yet that was a large 
 sum for one who, at the time, was worth but 
 fifty dollars in the world, one fifth of which 
 he paid in advance for a quarter's rent. 
 
 The household furniture, which had been 
 saved from the wreck of a former comfortable 
 establishment, had arrived at this new habita 
 tion, and was being hastily arranged the first 
 evening ; at the time, indeed, when the unac 
 customed light had been seen flitting and 
 flaring about the house. 
 
 Flaring, indeed, for nearly all the panes 
 of glass had been broken out by mischievous 
 boys. 
 
 " How providential it was, Lewis, that this 
 house was waiting for us !" exclaimed Char- 
 
 14 
 
BEOKEN WINDOWS. 15 
 
 lotte Lenning, in one of the sweetest voices 
 that ever came from a pair of cherry lips. 
 Ah, how much there is in a voice ! How the 
 tones of beloved ones linger in memory ! 
 There is something quite shocking in a harsh, 
 coarse voice, coming from a delicate, sweet- 
 looking girl. The voice of Charlotte Lenning 
 was in perfect harmony with her delicate, 
 refined countenance. 
 
 " If it wasn't such a dirty place, and riddled 
 through and through, as if it had been at 
 tacked in the Revolutionary War !" exclaimed 
 a stout servant-girl, who was arranging beds 
 for the night. " Now, I do declare, it's a mar 
 vellous thing how all this splashin' and dash- 
 in' of glass come about; there must be 
 mighty mischievous, thievous boys about 
 here." 
 
 " Boys are apt to break the windows of un 
 inhabited houses, Polly ; you must put up 
 some curtains at the windows. I am sorry 
 the house is not cleaner. Mr. Ferguson 
 promised to have it put in order, but the time 
 was short," said Lewis. 
 
 " Just scraped off with a hoe, I should 
 think ; and as for curtains, sure ! we haven't 
 brought such rare, spare things as curtains," 
 retorted Polly. 
 
16 GET MONET. 
 
 " "Well, blankets, shawls, anything to keep 
 out the cold night air ; to-morrow we will 
 have the glass all set. I am glad our dear 
 mother did not come till we could make her 
 comfortable," said Lewis. " I must put up a 
 bedstead for you, Lottie. Which room will 
 you choose?" 
 
 There were two rooms on the first floor 
 besides the kitchen ; three on the second floor, 
 an attic or garret-room, and an unfinished 
 garret. 
 
 " The front room below must be for mother's 
 bed-room ; then she will be near the dining- 
 room. It is of no consequence which room I 
 have ; but I should prefer the one over the 
 dining-room, if you are willing to take the 
 front room," said Charlotte. 
 
 Lewis assented, and his sister added : 
 
 " Polly, you can take the small room on the 
 second floor." 
 
 " No, I'll take the attic ; I always like to 
 be high and dry." 
 
 Lewis Lenning slept soundly till broad day 
 light. Not so with the other occupants of the 
 Haunted House. Delicate little Lottie had 
 been tenderly nurtured. It was her first ex 
 periment in sleeping on a straw mattress. In 
 addition to the uncomfortable bed, the rats 
 
BROKEN WINDOWS. IT 
 
 " made such a strife " to dislodge the intruder 
 from the premises, to which they had the 
 previous right of possession, as a lawful owner 
 might have done to disperse California squat 
 ters. The rats performed various feats of 
 agility over her head, which induced Lottie 
 to hide herself beneath the bed-covering until 
 she could scarcely breathe. The sleepless 
 night seemed a whole month long, and Lot 
 tie was glad, indeed, when she heard Polly 
 Potts descending from the attic, at early 
 dawn. 
 
 Polly opened the door of Charlotte Len- 
 ning's room, and putting in her unkempt 
 head, exclaimed, " Are you dead or alive, 
 Miss Lottie ?" 
 
 " Alive and well," was the- cheerful re- 
 
 " Well, now, I declare ! I thought the rats 
 had perhaps carried you off bodily. Such a 
 dancin' and prancin' as they kept up the live 
 long night, beats a cattle dance or agricul 
 tural ball all hollow. I threw a pair of 
 'tongs at one big 'un, and killed him stick, 
 stock, stone dead. Here he is." And Polly 
 held up a rat by the tail, and shook him in 
 triumph before the wide-open eyes of the 
 astonished Lottie. 
 
 2* 
 
18 GET MONEY. 
 
 "Take him away oh, for mercy's sake, 
 take him away !" cried Lottie, retreating 
 under the bed-clothes. 
 
 " He won't hurt you ; he's stark, dark dead. 
 I never thought before that you could be 
 afraid of a thing without life. As soon as a 
 body's dead all harm has gone out of it." 
 
 "When Lewis and Lottie came down stairs, 
 Polly had gathered chips and sticks for a 
 fire, and breakfast was all ready in the 
 kitchen. 
 
 Lottie observed at a glance that the table 
 was spread for only two. 
 
 " Come, Polly, where are your cup and 
 saucer and plate ?" she asked, kindly. 
 
 " After you is manners for me," replied 
 Polly, as she placed the tea on the table. 
 
 " !Nb,- Polly, our circumstances are changed, 
 we have our table in the kitchen, and you can 
 take breakfast with us," said Lewis, placing a 
 chair by the table. 
 
 " You eat in the kitchen just this morning ; 
 I shall have the dining-room ready by dinner 
 time. If circumstances are changed, you and 
 Miss Lottie are not, and I'm the selfsame, by 
 name and natnr', that I was a year ago." So 
 saying, Polly hastened out of the kitchen. 
 
 " Her nature is a noble one," said Lewis ; 
 
BKOKEN WINDOWS. 19 
 
 " how few persons are equally generous ! I 
 have done expecting generosity, all I ask now 
 from the world is justice." 
 
 " And I expect generosity," replied Lottie, 
 as she poured out a cup of tea. " Why, it is 
 a beautiful world, dear brother, and many 
 glorious, chivalric spirits yet remain in it. 
 Heroes, and even martyrs, would spring up at 
 once, if circumstances called for them." 
 
 " I look only for the homely virtues of honesty 
 and justice, but I am quite willing that your 
 romance should render everything couleur de 
 rose, especially in our present rather sombre 
 circumstances." 
 
 " Why, Lewis, dear, if a Washington were 
 now needed, do you not think he would come 
 forth for the occasion ? I mean a man just 
 like him." . 
 
 " I hardly think there can ever be another 
 Washington." 
 
 " If our country were in need of a man 
 resembling him, some years hence, I know 
 where that man could be found," remarked 
 Lottie, casting a proud glance at her brother. 
 
 " Oh, my too partial sister, I shall never 
 answer your romantic expectations. You 
 make me blush. I have a very common 
 place mind not a particle of genius not one 
 
20 GET MONEY. 
 
 throb of ambition. My highest ajm is to be a 
 useful man, and to be able to provide for my 
 dear mother and yourself. By the way, how 
 did you sleep last night, Lottie ?" 
 
 "Thank you not particularly well. It 
 was a windy night, I believe." 
 
 " I slept soundly. No wonder you thought 
 it windy with so many loop-holes for the wind 
 to come through. I will go and ask our land 
 lord to have the panes of glass set as soon as 
 possible." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE PREPOSSESSING BOW. 
 
 IMMEDIATELY after breakfast, Lewis was on 
 his way to the house of Mr. Ferguson, about 
 a quarter of a mile distant from the Haunted 
 House. 
 
 The handsome mansion stood in the midst 
 of a beautiful garden, and was shaded by 
 venerable elm and oak trees. Had Lewis not 
 been intent on one object, he would have 
 lingered to admire the rich hyacinths, jon 
 quils, violets, and other spring flowers which 
 bordered the winding path leading to the 
 house. 
 
 He rang at the door like one, if not assured 
 of a welcome, at least assured that he had a 
 right to ring there. A waiter showed Lewis 
 to the breakfast-room, where Mr. Ferguson 
 was seated at table with his two children. 
 
 " Excuse me, sir, for intruding on you at an 
 
22 GET MONET. 
 
 unseasonable hour," said Lewis, bowing polite 
 ly, and standing near the door with his hat in 
 his hand. 
 
 " You are excusable, lad, if you have urgent 
 business. Wait a moment. Another cup of 
 coffee, Anna." Mr. Ferguson tasted the 
 coffee. " Another lump of sugar, Anna." 
 
 Again he deliberately sipped the coffee, 
 and then demanded, " What is your business ? 
 I think you are the boy to whom I ventured 
 to let one of my houses yesterday. Your 
 name I don't remember." 
 
 " Lewis Lenning is my name. I have called 
 to ask you, sir, to have the glass set in the 
 windows of the house. It seems to have been 
 badly used while unoccupied ; there is scarcely 
 a whole pane of glass left from cellar to 
 attic." 
 
 " Wicked boys have done it. I suppose I 
 shall be obliged to put in the glass, though it 
 hardily seems fair, considering that you have 
 it, as the saying is, for a song." 
 
 " Much good will it do to put in the panes," 
 exclaimed Morrison, laughing; "the boys will 
 smash them again before a single night is 
 over." 
 
 " Hush ! hush ! Morrison ; now the house 
 is tenanted they will let it alone." 
 
THE PREPOSSESSING BOW. 23 
 
 " I hope so," replied Lewis ; " they would 
 be wicked, indeed, to throw stones where life 
 would be endangered by it. 
 
 " Oh, but it's a haunted house," began 
 Morrison, eagerly. 
 
 " Nonsense ! nonsense !" exclaimed Mr. 
 Ferguson, casting a reproving glance at his 
 son, who, not having reverence any more 
 largely developed than is common to ' ; Young 
 America," took no notice of the reproof and 
 went on rapidly : 
 
 " Yes, a haunted house ; everybody knows 
 it has been haunted ever since old Collins 
 was murdered there for his money." 
 
 "There is an absurd prejudice against the 
 house, because a poor old miser died there in 
 his bed four or five years ago." 
 
 "Died! Why, father, wasn't he mur 
 dered?" asked .Anna. 
 
 "There is no other reason for supposing it, 
 excepting that no money was found in the 
 house after his death. The jury of inquest 
 gave in their verdict, " Accidental Death." 
 
 " Some persons have died in almost every 
 house ; we do not on that account fear to live 
 in houses," replied Lewis. 
 
 " But if a man had been murdered in a 
 
24: GET MONEY. 
 
 house, would you not then fear to live in it ?" 
 inquired Anna. 
 
 " ISTo, miss. Why should I be afraid to live 
 in it, unless there were the same reasons for 
 my being murdered 2" 
 
 " Because, you know, the ghosts of the mur 
 dered appear in the place where the murder 
 was committed," replied Anna, shuddering. 
 
 " I wonder who has filled your poor little 
 head with such absurd notions! Do not 
 trouble the lad with them, Anna," said Mr. 
 Ferguson, reprovingly. 
 
 " The superstitious notions do not trouble 
 me, but the broken panes do ; will you have 
 the kindness, sir, to see that they are mended 
 immediately ?" 
 
 " It shall be done this very day ; you are a 
 brave boy; but will not your sister be 
 alarmed if she should hear these idle re 
 ports?" 
 
 " No, sir, she has been taught to fear God, 
 and to keep his commandments ; and I believe 
 such is her love for her Heavenly Father, and 
 so strong her trust in Him, that she has not 
 this vague fear of the supernatural." This was 
 said by Lewis Lenning with such perfect 
 simplicity and earnestness, as quite to sur- 
 
THE PREPOSSESSING BOW. 25 
 
 prise Mr. Ferguson and his children, who had 
 not been taught to " fear God." 
 
 "Well, well, I hope you are an honest lad, 
 and I will do what I can to make the house 
 tenantable. You may go now," said Mr. Fer 
 guson, waving his hand towards the door, 
 near which Lewis had all the while been 
 standing. 
 
 " Good morning, sir." Lewis bowed to 
 Mr. Ferguson, and then to Anna and Morri 
 son, politely bidding them " good morning," 
 while they only stared, and slightly and 
 awkwardly nodded to him. 
 
 " Morrison, I would give fifty dollars this 
 minute if you could make such a bow as 
 that," exclaimed Mr. Ferguson, as soon as the 
 door closed upon Lewis. 
 
 "Why so, father? I didn't see anything 
 remarkable in the bow ; I don't believe the 
 boy has ever been to dancing-school in his 
 life," tartly replied Morrison. 
 
 " No ; that was not a dancing-school bow, 
 but it is one which will make the boy's for 
 tune. You know 'manners make the man.' 
 I had not intended to do anything towards re 
 pairing the troublesome old house, for I let it 
 for a song ; but I could not resist that bow. 
 It seemed to say, * I know you are an honorable 
 3 
 
26 GET MONEY. 
 
 man, and will do what is right.' The lad has 
 uncommon self-respect, as well as respect for 
 his superiors. I shall go to the house at once, 
 and attend to the matter." 
 
 Mr. Ferguson had not mistaken the expres 
 sion of the bow made by the boy when he 
 entered the room, though some doubt might 
 have crept into the mind of Lewis Lenning, 
 as he stood there, with regard to the polite 
 ness of the gentleman who allowed him to stand 
 for so long a time, while he leisurely sipped 
 his coffee, and deliberately took breakfast. 
 There is much meaning in the different modes 
 of this common salutation, and frequently it 
 reveals character. In this case, it certainly 
 did. Lewis Lenning's manners were the 
 result of good sense and good feeling, and 
 therefore his bow was polite and respectful. 
 
 There is the surly nod of an ill-natured boy ; 
 the sheepish dropping of the head of a silly 
 boy ; the low, cringing stoop of a mean fel 
 low ; the saucy bobbing of an impudent fel 
 low ; the throwing back of the head of a 
 proud, self-sufficient boy. Lewis Lenning's 
 bow bore no resemblance to any of these. 
 Even the waiter, who showed him out, though 
 he could not have told why, was perfectly 
 satisfied with it, when made to himself, and 
 
THE PKEPOSSESSING BOW. 27 
 
 went back from the front door to the break 
 fast-room thinking, " That young lad is more 
 politer than Mr. Ferguson, who did not ask 
 him to take a seat, and a thousand times more 
 politer nor Master Morrison. I shouldn't 
 wonder if he was a rael gintleman." 
 
 When Lewis reached his new home, he was 
 quite surprised to find the small, front parlor 
 already assuming a habitable appearance. 
 Polly had nailed down a cheap, but very neat 
 carpet, and placed chairs, bureau and table in 
 the room, and now wanted him to assist her in 
 putting up the best bedstead an old-fashion-' 
 ed, carved, mahogany one, with high posts, 
 which Polly had ever viewed with an emotion 
 akin to veneration. 
 
 Lottie placed on the mantel-shelf two plated 
 candlesticks, and a small china vase, saying, 
 " I shall keep mother's vase filled with flowers 
 through the season, for the wild flowers grow 
 here even by the wayside. Who is it, Lewis, 
 that compares unexpected pleasures to way 
 side flowers, from seeds scattered by chance?" 
 
 " I don't remember exactly- 1 think, how 
 ever, it was Dr. Johnson." 
 
 " It was a pretty comparison. Don't you 
 think, brother, we might always find com 
 parisons with natural objects, pretty and ap- 
 
28 GET MONEY. 
 
 propriate, for all the little events of life, even 
 every day life, if our imaginations were cul 
 tivated as they ought to be." 
 
 " I never should, Lottie. Now, the cord 
 ing up of this bedstead suggests nothing to me 
 but bruised fingers." 
 
 " It suggests to me the love that is willing 
 to suffer for the loved one ; the bruised ver 
 bena which gives out its fragrance to the one 
 who crushes it." 
 
 " Eather far fetched, Lottie dear, and not 
 exactly appropriate." 
 
 Polly brought down a looking-glass, and as 
 she was hanging it, said : 
 
 "There now, all is handy-dandy for our 
 Miss Lenning when she comes, and I know 
 she won't speer and jeer at the room, because 
 it's not as smart as what she's accustomed to." 
 
 There was a loud rap at the door. It was 
 Mr. Ferguson, whom Polly showed into the 
 parlor bed-room with much mock ceremony, 
 and half a dozen short courtesies. 
 
 Lewis introduced Mr. Ferguson to Char 
 lotte, and then politely offered a chair. 
 
 " Thank you, I cannot sit. I am surprised 
 to see you so soon in order." 
 
 " Not in order yet ; just beginning to get 
 settled. The house is still in confusion, ex- 
 
THE PREPOSSESSING BOW. 29 
 
 cepting this one room, which was safe from 
 the window-breakers, in consequence of the 
 closed shutters," said Lewis. 
 
 " How many panes of glass are wanting?" 
 
 " Please take a seat, and I will go and 
 count them," replied Lewis. * 
 
 As soon as Lewis had left the room, Mr. 
 Ferguson began questioning Lottie : 
 
 " Did I understand your brother rightly, 
 that you have no father ?" 
 
 " You did not, sir ; my father has been 
 absent in a distant part of the country for 
 several years," replied Lottie, with evident 
 embarrassment. 
 
 " And does your young brother expect to 
 support your mother and yourself?" 
 
 u He hopes to be able to do so, sir ; he has 
 the steadiness and capability of a man, though 
 he seems to you so young." 
 
 " I am afraid he will have a hard task ?" 
 
 " Oh ! do not say that, sir ; he is the best 
 of sons and brothers, and I cannot bear to 
 think of hardships for him." 
 
 " Is your mother an invalid?" 
 
 " She has nearly lost the use of her hands 
 and feet from repeated attacks of nervous 
 rheumatism, otherwise her health is tolerably 
 good at present," 
 
 3* 
 
30 GET MONEY. 
 
 "Helpless helpless," replied Mr. Fergu 
 son, in an indifferent tone, which jarred quite 
 discordantly with the tender emotions of 
 Lottie's warm heart. After a few moments 
 of consideration the suspicious Mr. Ferguson 
 shook his head, saying, "I am afraid you are 
 runaways ; why did you leave your home ?" 
 
 " The house was mortgaged ; the mortgage 
 was foreclosed and the house sold ; w r e were 
 obliged to leave, and my brother came to 
 find employment." Here the tears streamed 
 down Lottie's face, and she could scarcely 
 keep from sobbing aloud. 
 
 " Well, well, don't cry, girl ; I was only afraid 
 your brother had made a mistake in coming 
 here, for we are overrun with strangers and 
 foreigners." 
 
 Just as Mr. Ferguson made this unfeeling 
 speech, Lewis returned and said there were 
 eighty-three panes of glass broken. 
 
 " Eighty-three ! Why it will cost your 
 first quarter's rent to put them in ; and ten 
 chances to one they will be broken out 
 again." 
 
 " You have promised, sir, that it should be 
 done." 
 
 "I have, and shall keep my promise ; but 
 after this, if they are broken you must pay for 
 
THE PREPOSSESSING BOW. 31 
 
 them." So saying, Mr. Ferguson departed 
 without so much as bidding Anna and Lewis 
 good morning, notwithstanding he was so 
 great an admirer of good manners ! 
 
 Through the joint exertions of the brother 
 and sister, and their faithful domestic, the 
 furniture was all arranged, and the house in 
 order before night. 
 
 Lewis had succeeded in purchasing a load 
 of wood, and spent three or four hours in 
 cutting up some for immediate use. 
 
 The panes of glass were all set by two men 
 whom Mr. Ferguson had dispatched for the 
 purpose. 
 
 Polly heard one of these men say to the 
 other, "I wouldn't live in this house for a 
 mint of money." The other replied, "I 
 wouldn't for all the old miser was worth." 
 
 Polly pondered over this, but did not re 
 peat it. "I suppose," thought 'she, "these 
 men are afraid they should get their heads 
 broken by the stones. I shall place my bed 
 where no stones can reach it from the win 
 dows." 
 
 That night the tenants of the Haunted 
 House were undisturbed, even by the rats, 
 who seemed to have been frightened from 
 the premises by the new occupants. 
 
CHAPTEE IY. 
 
 SEEKING EMPLOYMENT. 
 
 THE next morning, Lewis came down to 
 breakfast neatly dressed, his countenance 
 beaming with cheerfulness and hope. 
 
 Lottie came down, at the same time, re 
 freshed by sweet sleep and pleasant dreams. 
 
 The breakfast table was already spread in 
 the dining-room. 
 
 "I am going to seek my fortune in the city 
 to-day, sister mine," said Lewis, cheerily. 
 " I know you. heartily wish me success." 
 
 " Indeed, I do, brother ; I have laid dear 
 mother's Bible and prayer book on this little 
 table. Will you read this morning ? I should 
 feel more at home if you would thus conse 
 crate our new dwelling." 
 
 Lewis, for a moment, looked doubtful and 
 embarrassed. He had never before been 
 
SEEKING EMPLOYMENT. 33 
 
 called on to officiate at morning prayers, 
 though he had always devoutly joined when 
 his mother led the family devotions. The 
 doubt lasted but for a moment. Lewis took 
 his seat by the small table, and opened the 
 Bible at the 23rd Psalm. 
 
 Lottie called Polly, who dropped in a chair 
 and threw her apron over her head to con 
 ceal the tears which would come in spite of 
 her, as she thought of her absent mistress, and 
 listened to the beautiful psalni from the pre 
 cious Bible of that good mistress. The slight 
 embarrassment which rendered the voice of 
 Lewis, tremulous at first, soon passed off, and 
 his reading became natural arid earnest. He 
 then knelt and repeated the Lord's Prayer, in 
 which he was fervently joined by Lottie. 
 
 This breakfast was the finishing meal of the 
 provisions they had brought with them. 
 Lewis, taking a basket on his arm for the 
 purpose of bringing home a further supply, 
 bade Lottie " good morning," and started for 
 the city. 
 
 -Tie walked briskly over the long neck 
 which joins Koxbury to Boston. " He 
 whistled as he went," not "for want of 
 thought," but because the birds were trilling 
 forth their joyful songs at the return of spring, 
 
34 GET MONEY. 
 
 and the heart of the boy was in unison with 
 them. God bless him ! 
 
 " The world was all before him where to choose, 
 And Providence his guide." 
 
 Lewis had decided to offer himself as a 
 merchant's clerk". He soon found himself 
 jostled by the hurrying crowd which throngs 
 Washington street, the narrow thoroughfare 
 of the city of Boston, where business of all 
 kinds is carried on with activity and energy. 
 lie stepped into a large " dry goods store." 
 " What's wanted ?" roughly demanded a 
 dapper clerk, with a dashing waistcoat and 
 gay cravat, the long ends of which reminded 
 Lewis of the ears of a donkey. 
 
 "I wish to see the master of the shop." 
 " Master ! Shop ! What do you mean ! 
 We have no master here. This is not a shop 
 either, it's a merchant's store." 
 
 "I wish, then, to see the gentleman who is 
 at the head of this establishment," said Lewis, 
 placing his basket on the counter. 
 " Do you mean our Mr. Seaborn ?" 
 " I am a stranger here, excuse me ; I did 
 not know the apprentices owned their mas 
 ter." 
 
SEEKING EMPLOYMENT. 35 
 
 " We are not 'prentices, we are clerks, and 
 we do own our Mr. Seaborn. Off with your 
 basket from my counter !" As the dapper 
 clerk said this, he gave the basket a shove 
 which sent it nearly to the outer door. 
 
 Lewis, without seeming to notice the basket, 
 continued quietly standing by the counter, 
 against which the saucy clerk was leaning, 
 and inquired, "Is Mr. Seaborn within?" 
 
 Without replying to this civil question, the 
 clerk stepped towards the door and gave the 
 basket a kick which sent it out upon the 
 pavement, exclaiming, " Off with yourself 
 now !" 
 
 " Not till I have seen Mr. Seaborn," said 
 Lewis, resolutely, after having picked up the 
 basket, placed it on his arm, and returned to 
 the place where he had been standing. 
 
 " Mr. Seaborn is not in, and will not be 
 here for more than an hour," said an older 
 and more civil clerk, who had stepped for 
 ward and heard the latter part of the dia 
 logue. 
 
 ' "Thank you, sir ; I cannot wait for an hour, 
 I may possibly call again," replied Lewis, 
 bowing politely as he left the store. 
 
 " You ought to be ashamed of yourself, 
 Dick, to treat the young gentleman so rudely ; 
 
36 GET MONEY. 
 
 you have no more manners than a Hottentot, 7 ' 
 remarked the older clerk. 
 
 " Who wants to waste manners on country 
 loons, carrying coarse baskets, and talking 
 about masters, and 'prentices, and shops to us 
 clerks ! Young gentleman to be sure I" ex 
 claimed the impertinent clerk, twitching the 
 long ends of his gay cravat. 
 
 Lewis left his basket at a baker's, where he 
 intended buying bread on his way home, and 
 then walked on. He entered another large 
 dry-goods establishment and made inquiry of 
 "the master" if he wanted a clerk. 
 
 " No, I have half a dozen lazy fellows now, 
 who don't earn salt for their porridge," was 
 the reply. 
 
 " Will you please, sir, tell me what you 
 give your clerks the first year?" 
 
 "Nothing at all; they are learning the 
 business !" 
 
 ^ewis hastened out of the store. Attracted 
 by the brilliant window of a dealer in looking- 
 glasses and picture-frames ; he stepped in and 
 inquired, not for the master, but for Mr. 
 Noby, whose name in large gilt letters he had 
 noticed over the door. 
 
 Mr. Noby came forward. 
 
 "gir, do you want a clerjs: in your STORE.?" 
 
SEEKING EMPLOYMENT. 37 
 
 " I waut a boy to run errands." 
 
 " Would he be in the way of learning the 
 business in which you are engaged ?" 
 
 " Of course not, for a year or two. Are 
 you looking for a situation ?" 
 
 " I am." 
 
 " Have you ever been in a store as clerk ?" 
 
 " Never." 
 
 " Then what could you do better than run 
 errands ?" 
 
 " I write a respectable hand and can keep 
 accounts." 
 
 " Book-keeping by double-entry?" 
 
 " No, sir ; but I could easily learn that." 
 
 "You are too young to be trusted with 
 books. If you can bring a good recommenda 
 tion, I will try you as errand-boy, and give 
 you half a dollar a week." 
 
 " A half a dollar a week, without board ?" 
 
 " Yes, many a boy would be glad to under 
 take it for that." 
 
 " Good morning, sir," said Lewis, making a 
 hasty exit. 
 
 - " There's real grit in that boy," remarked 
 Mr. Noby. 
 
 And so there was, for his courage did not 
 abate ; he walked into the very next door, 
 a ready-made-clothing store, and made the 
 4 
 
38 GET MONET. 
 
 same inquiry. No clerk was wanted. So on 
 he went from shop to shop ; in some places 
 meeting with civility, and in others with rude 
 ness, till, tired and hungry, he gave out, and 
 went for his basket. 
 
 Having bought bread, butter, beef, and 
 potatoes, he took the basket on his arm and 
 walked homeward. When he started that 
 morning his basket was light, so was his heart, 
 now they were both heavier. But the thought 
 that his sister and her faithful domestic might 
 have been for several hours needing dinner, 
 quickened his steps, and he soon reached 
 home. 
 
 Lottie was looking out for her brother, and 
 ran to meet him, saying, "Let me help you 
 with that heavy basket. How tired you are ! 
 It has been a long, long day." 
 
 " I am afraid, by this time, you are as 
 ravenously hungry as I am," said Lewis. 
 
 "That we are hurry up !" exclaimed Polly, 
 rushing out and seizing the basket. "You 
 shall have dinner in half an hour." 
 
 " Come in, brother, you look tired. Come 
 in here and rest yourself in mother's easy- 
 chair;" so saying, Lottie took her brother's 
 hat and led him into the front parlor. Then 
 she threw a towel over her arm, poured water 
 
SEEKING EMPLOYMENT. 39 
 
 in a wash-basin, and insisted on bringing it to 
 him and holding it while he bathed hands and 
 face. " I have so much to tell you," said Lottie ; 
 "I can't waste a minute. I hope you like Bos 
 ton ; it looks gloriously from that high hill just 
 over the way. I went up there and sat down on 
 a rock to enjoy the prospect, when who should 
 come and take a seat by me but our landlord's 
 daughter, Anna Ferguson ! She told me some 
 marvellous stories about this house !" 
 
 "Did she, indeed!" exclaimed Lewis, tak 
 ing the towel from Lottie and hiding his face 
 with it, as he wiped away the water-drops 
 and if the truth must be told, the tear-drops ; 
 for Lewis, though his spirit was a brave one, 
 was touched by his sister's kindness and 
 delicacy. She saw he was weary and disap 
 pointed, and asked no questions. 
 
 " Yes, indeed, very marvellous stories. 
 But I will begin at the beginning of mine. 
 As I said, I mounted to the top of yonder 
 hill. The sun was shining with a soft kind of 
 light, not a glare, but a most becoming light, 
 just such an one as would charm a landscape- 
 painter. Just. on one side of me was a grove 
 the delicate, green leaves of which are not 
 outspread enough yet to shelter the birds 
 w^hich were singing among the budding 
 
40 GET MONEY. 
 
 branches. Before and around me was a 
 magnificent panorama. Boston looked like 
 the enchanted city of a fairy-tale, dropped on 
 the hills by a mighty magician, and crowned 
 with its graceful dome, queen of cities. The 
 harbor was glittering in sunlight, and its 
 many islands seemed to float like giant birds 
 on the calm blue water." 
 
 " Sister, you are a poetess 'poeta nascitur, 
 nonfit: " 
 
 " I am glad you do not forget your Latin," 
 said Lottie, laughing ; " I fear, however, there 
 is no truth in your quotation." 
 
 "I must give up learning and Latin for a 
 time," replied Lewis, with a half-breathed 
 sigh ; "I said only what is true. I remember 
 mother once remarked that you were like 
 Pope you * lisped in numbers, for the num 
 bers came.' ' : 
 
 " And I did not understand it then, or 
 now." 
 
 " It meant that he could not help being a 
 poet neither can you ?" 
 
 " Oh, you are partial ; I haven't told you 
 all my story yet. After enjoying the glori 
 ous prospect for a while, I was startled by the 
 rapid approach of some one, and on turning 
 my head saw a young girl near rny own age, 
 
SEEKING EMPLOYMENT. 41 
 
 who was running up the hill ; she dropped 
 down beside me, saying, 'Are you the girl 
 who lives in the Haunted House ?' " 
 
 " Haunted House !" I said, " I live in that 
 small house yonder." 
 
 " < "Well, that is the Haunted House,' she 
 replied ; and then went on to say how an old 
 miser, named Nollins, lived there many years. 
 He wore old, patched clothes, and a big white 
 hat, and blue yarn stockings, and short clothes, 
 and buckles at the knee ; a queer, old- 
 fashioned creature, whom nobody knew or 
 loved. 'Two or three times Morris and I 
 went there to carry him strawberries from our 
 garden more out of curiosity than anything 
 else. He just poked his head out the door, 
 and took our basket, thn shut the door again, 
 and after a few minutes opened it again and 
 handed out the basket, saying, " Pretty child 
 ren, good children." The last time we went 
 there, was the very day he made his will. 
 He went into Boston and had it witnessed 
 and recorded and all that, to make it a good 
 will, and left that house and all his property 
 to my papa. And the very night after, the 
 old miser was murdered !' 
 
 " Only think of that, brother !" exclaimed 
 
 Lottie. " Poor old man ! He certainly was 
 4* 
 
42 GET MONEY. 
 
 grateful for a trifling kindness, for be left this 
 house and fifty thousand dollars to Mr. Fer 
 guson. But the money could not be found." 
 
 " How was the death of the miser dis 
 covered ?" 
 
 " The milk-man, wlio carried him half a 
 pint of milk every other day, missed him one 
 morning. The miser used to poke out a 
 small tin cup, just as he did the basket to 
 Anna Ferguson, into which the man poured 
 the milk. That particular morning he knocked 
 and knocked, and no one came. He pushed 
 against the door and found it was not locked. 
 So, thinking the poor old man might be ill, he 
 went in and found Mr. Nollins was dead, and 
 had been dead for some time, in the very 
 room which is now yours, brother. Ever 
 since, the house has been haunted, says Miss 
 Ferguson. By rats, I told her. ' No, by the 
 ghost of the old miser.' Then I laughed and 
 said I was much more afraid of rats than of 
 ghosts. At which she seemed much surprised 
 and said she would not sleep a single night in 
 the old house for the fifty thousand dollars the 
 miser had left to her father. Then she jumped 
 up and ran down the hill, leaving me to medi 
 tate on this strange story. I pity the poor, 
 lonely old man, who it seems had neither 
 
SEEKING EMPLOYMENT. 43 
 
 kith nor kin to whom he could leave his 
 money." 
 
 " Have you told this strange tale to 
 Polly 3" 
 
 " JSTo, I have not. I thought she might feel 
 somewhat frightened by it when left alone ; 
 for though 1 do not believe in ghosts, it made 
 me feel unpleasantly to have our home called 
 the Haunted House. I suppose that is the 
 reason why the boys have broken the win 
 dows." 
 
 Polly now came to summon Lewis and 
 Lottie to dinner. 
 
 When they had finished their meal, which 
 Polly's nice cooking, aided by keen appetites, 
 had rendered very relishing, the brother and 
 sister went to look at the garden behind the 
 house. It was overrun with weeds and 
 thistles, having been entirely neglected for 
 several years. 
 
 "Here we can have a fine garden," said 
 Lewis. *' How well it was that I brought 
 seed and all my gardening tools. I will run 
 and get spade and rake this very minute, and 
 we can have a bed of peas planted before sun 
 down." 
 
 Notwithstanding the fatigue and disappoint 
 ment of the day, Lewis went vigorously to 
 
44: GET MONEY. 
 
 work, and while digging the bed for the peas, 
 gave his sister an amusing account of his 
 adventures in Boston. Though in the recital, 
 Lewis had made his efforts matter for sport, 
 Lottie knew how trying they must have been 
 to him, and her laughter was not very hearty. 
 She drew off his thoughts from a subject that 
 she knew must be painful, by saying, " How 
 delightful it will be to mother, to find a nice 
 garden here. I am going to have the fun of 
 dropping in the peas." 
 
 " And you shall have some flower borders, 
 Lottie." 
 
 The sun had now fallen below the horizon, 
 having made his farewell with a bright twi 
 light. The digging and planting were finished 
 and Lewis and Lottie went in to tea. 
 
CHAPTEE Y. 
 
 A MOCK SEKENADE. 
 
 THE weary brother and ' sister had retired 
 early, but very little rest had they that night. 
 The rats disturbed them less, but they had 
 other still more noisy and troublesome visi 
 tors. Stones were thrown against the house, 
 and two of them entered the room occupied 
 by Lewis. A mob of mischievous boys had 
 collected, with tin kettles, drums and horns, 
 which they employed as an accompaniment 
 to their own groaning, yelling and hooting. 
 The tenants took no notice of this outrageous 
 serenade, at least none of them appeared to 
 notice it, though they were much disturbed, 
 and were kept awake by it long after mid 
 night. 
 
 The next morning Lottie looked pale and 
 sad. 
 
 45 
 
46 GET MONEY. 
 
 " Cheer up, sister, the boys will soon be tired 
 of the fun if nobody minds them. The evil- 
 spirits happily are all outside. They will do 
 us good service by driving away the rats. 
 Polly says they went off in troops last night." 
 
 " I am glad, indeed, to learn they have 
 done us some service they took pains enough 
 for it," said Lottie. "I am sure they have 
 hooted themselves hoarse. I never in my 
 life heard noises so horrible. I am glad dear 
 mother was not here." 
 
 " So am I. Even our courageous Polly 
 was frightened." 
 
 Mr. Ferguson had heard the insulting sere 
 nade, though a quarter of a mile distant, and 
 on his way to town stopped at the gate. 
 
 Lewis was busily employed nailing over 
 the front porch a neglected honeysuckle, 
 which had been trailing on the ground. Lot 
 tie was holding up the vine for him with 
 both hands, amusing him at the same time 
 with her lively chat. 
 
 " Good morning, children ; how do you feel 
 after last night's concert ?" inquired Mr. Fer 
 guson, leaning over the gate. 
 
 "A very unharmonious concert it was, sir. 
 You have troublesome neighbors, Mr. Fergu- 
 guson. 
 
A MOCK SERENADE. 47 
 
 " Yile rascals 1 they must be frightened 
 away from these premises. I advise you to 
 burn a blue light in the front window and to 
 manufacture a ghost to represent old JSTollins, 
 and place it by the same window. The ras 
 cals would then be frightened out of their 
 wits." 
 
 " Excuse me, sir," said Lewis, stepping 
 down from the porch, over which he had now 
 fastened the honeysuckle. " Excuse me, sir ; 
 I should in that way increase the silly super 
 stition prevailing among the neighbors, that 
 this house is haunted." 
 
 " Suppose it did, if it kept the scamps away 
 from it." 
 
 " I would rather try some other means," 
 replied Lewis. 
 
 " Perhaps you think the real ghost would 
 appear, if you were to affront his ghostship by 
 getting up a fictitious one. Hey, boy, is that 
 it?" 
 
 " No, indeed, sir. I think I may have an 
 opportunity to become acquainted with the 
 boys, and then I can reason them out of 
 their foolish notions about the house." 
 
 " I fear your reasoning would be in vain ; 
 you can try it, however. Your sister is not, I 
 suppose, quite as courageous as you are." 
 
4:8 GET MONET. 
 
 " Yes she is, sir. Speak for yourself, Lottie, 
 dear." 
 
 " I am afraid of stones, sir ; especially when 
 they are thrown into my brother's windows," 
 replied Lottie, looking up at the windows of 
 her brother's room. 
 
 " I don't see any glass broken there," 
 remarked Mr. Ferguson. 
 
 "No, because brother mended it before 
 breakfast this morning." 
 
 " Is that so, boy 3" 
 
 " Yes ; I bought a few panes of glass and 
 some putty of the men who were here the 
 other day, and I have set two this morning 
 which were dashed in last night." 
 
 "You are a genuine Yankee!" said Mr. 
 Ferguson. 
 
 The brother and sister smiled significantly 
 without replying. At this moment, Polly, 
 who with her back turned towards the gate, 
 was scrubbing the porch, heard only the last 
 remark, exclaimed : 
 
 " A gemi-ine Yankee ; yes, sir-ee, if you 
 want to see a geuu-ine live Yankee here she 
 is blood and bone, skin and muscle, tooth 
 and nail, hair and gristle and proud of it, 
 too, except where there are SIGH Yankees as 
 they be in these parts." 
 
A MOCK SERENADE. 4:9 
 
 "Hush, Polly, the gentleman will think 
 you mean to insult him," said Lottie. 
 
 " I don't mean any sick a thing. He's not a 
 Yankee himself ; I know by the way he says 
 Yankee ;" and Polly, without giving a single 
 look at Mr. Ferguson, flourished her scrub 
 bing-brush with the rapidity of a circular 
 saw. 
 
 Mr. Ferguson made a ludicrous attempt at 
 laughter, which only drew his thin lips more 
 tightly over his long teeth, and then, as 
 though resuming the thread of conversation 
 which had been broken, said to Lottie : 
 
 " Then, really, you are not afraid of appari 
 tions ?" 
 
 " My mother has taught me that there is only 
 one being whom I need to fear, and if I love 
 and fear God I need not be afraid of any 
 other invisible being.'' 
 
 " "What ! not his satanic majesty, himself?" 
 lightly asked Mr. Ferguson, with another 
 fruitless attempt at a laugh. 
 
 " No, sir," replied Lottie, with earnest 
 solemnity, " not if I fear God and keep his 
 commandments." 
 
 Mr. Ferguson made no reply ; but as he 
 walked slowly towards the city he pondered 
 over the conversation which had just passed. 
 5 
 
50 GET MONET. 
 
 " ' Fear God and keep his commandments, for 
 that is the whole duty of man.' I used to 
 write that in my copy-book when I was a 
 boy." 
 
 The holy text would intrude itself again 
 and again. How seldom had it influenced 
 his conduct 1 
 
 The fresh breeze, redolent with the perfume 
 of violets, fanned his flushed face ; birds sent 
 up their morning hymn of praise to their 
 Creator ; a few light clouds floated across the 
 bright azure of heaven, softening the light on 
 meadow, rock and river. 
 
 " Fear God ;" why should I fear him ? Be 
 cause, answered Conscience ; because you 
 have not kept his commandments. 
 
CHAPTEK VL 
 
 THE SAUOY CLERK. 
 
 long after Mr. Ferguson left, Lewis 
 wended his way to Boston determined not to 
 " 'bate one jot of heart or hope," because of 
 his want of success on the preceding day. 
 
 Lottie walked half of the way with him, 
 and at parting gave him a kiss, saying, " Keep 
 up good courage, dear brother ; I know there 
 is not a better clerk in the whole city than 
 you would make. Fortune will not be so 
 blind to-day as she was yesterday." 
 
 It was such a day as seldom greets Bos- 
 tonians during the much-glorified month of 
 May ; a month which too frequently shows a 
 sour, sulky face in that region. This day, 
 it smiled like a belle at a ball, who, for the 
 nonce, had laid aside sulks and frowns. 
 
 Lottie ascended the hill commanding the 
 view of- the city and its environs. Then she 
 
 51 
 
52 GET MONEY. 
 
 seated herself on a rock, took from her pocket 
 pencil and paper, and began to write poetry. 
 Charlotte Lenning, though a very good girl, 
 was somewhat sentimental. Her sentiment 
 and romance did very little harm to any one, 
 yet, they led her to writing verses which her 
 partial brother called poetry. 
 
 Charlotte was a true lover of Nature, and, 
 as the magnificent scenery was spread oat 
 before her, though, all alone, she exulted in it, 
 rapturously. She was not at all like some 
 sentimental misses, whose only pleasure is to 
 go with a " party," and make a parade of 
 their emotions and, who, even in the sublime 
 presence of Niagara, exclaim : " How lovely !" 
 "How pretty!" "How sweet!" "Charm 
 ing !" Delightful !" 
 
 Lottie admiringly gazed at the white, fleecy 
 clouds sailing over the serene blue sky, and 
 then wrote : 
 
 "LINES TO THE CLOUDS." 
 Evanescent messengers of Heaven, 
 
 Very good ! But what was to be the next 
 line ? Seven, eleven, leaven ? 
 
 " How few words rhyme to Heaven ! what 
 a pity ! it's a fault in the English language," 
 
A SAUCY CLERK. 53 
 
 thought Lottie ; " I must take a poet's license 
 and make such words as given, striven, and 
 riven, rhyme to Heaven." 
 
 Evanescent messengers of Heaven, 
 Swiftly by the light winds driven 
 
 " Now that isn't a good line, for the clouds 
 would not be driven swiftly by light winds. 
 1 By high winds driven.' No; that would 
 not be poetical, it sounds too much in the 
 almanac style." 
 
 Gently by the breezes driven 
 
 " That is not the right measure ; the line 
 must have two more syllables." 
 
 Gently by the summer breezes driven. 
 "That will do." 
 
 Come ye from the glowing, spicy orient 
 
 " I like that, but orient will not answer be 
 cause it is a syllable too long." 
 
 Come ye from the glowing East so spicy 
 
 Here Lottie dropped her head on her lap, 
 and remained in meditation for many minutes. 
 " All the oddest words in the language come 
 5* 
 
54: GET MONEY. 
 
 into my puzzled brain. I can't think of any 
 thing rhyming to spicy, but just icy ; I must 
 change that line again." 
 
 Come ye from the eastern lands so flow'ry, 
 Making lovely spring so kindly show'ry. 
 
 After having passed more than an hour in 
 hammering out these few lines, she gave up 
 in despair, replaced the writing materials, 
 and rising with a profound sigh, said : 
 
 " Alas ! the muses frown upon me this 
 bright morning." 
 
 "When Lottie reached home she was saluted 
 by her queer domestic with a torrent of ques 
 tions. Where she had been ; why she had 
 stayed so long ; why she had idled away the 
 morning, when her brother's clothes needed 
 mending. 
 
 " You ought to have been home patching 
 your brother's old coat, to save the wear and 
 tear of the new one, while he's working in the 
 garden." 
 
 "Indeed, Polly, I was disposed to write 
 poetry this morning, and lingered longer than 
 I should have done because I could not find 
 rhymes when I had beautiful thoughts in my 
 mind." 
 
 The instant reply from Polly was : 
 
THE SAUOY CLERK. 55 
 
 " Polly Potts, 
 Kound she trots, 
 All alone, 
 Making moan. 
 Charlotte gone 
 All the morn, 
 When she could, 
 If she would, 
 Mend the stock- 
 Ings and pock- 
 Ets so worn, 
 And all torn " 
 
 " Stop, Polly, for pity's sake, stop. What a 
 torrent of rhymes," exclaimed Lottie. " How 
 can you string them together with such 
 rapidity." 
 
 " Because 'tis my natur' to. Rhymin' is 
 as easy as breathin'. But here's the coat 
 waiting for you, the elbows making a great to 
 do while you were blinkin' and thinkin' on 
 the hill yonder." 
 
 Charlotte seized the coat, retreated to the 
 little front parlor, and there applied her 
 self vigorously to patching, quite disgusted 
 with poetry, after her unsuccessful attempt, 
 and the specimen she had received from the 
 voluble Polly. 
 
 Yet she need not have been disgusted. She 
 might have learned from the two efforts the 
 
56 GET MONET. 
 
 difference between rhyming and measure, ^j 
 the spirit of poetry itself. The true essence 
 of poetry was in her own pure imaginative 
 mind, in her keen perception and love of the 
 beautiful, and her delicacy of sentiment. It 
 was the form in which poetry clothes itself, 
 which she could not yet manage. Besides, 
 the grandeur and beauty of the scenery, that 
 morning, overpowered her. She could have 
 written much better some hours after from 
 memory, than in the immediate subduing 
 presence of that magnificent landscape. True, 
 her sentiment was in danger of becoming mor 
 bid, and her romance might in time produce 
 disgust with actual life, and ooze out at her 
 fingers-ends in doggerel She needed a judi 
 cious friend who would point out these dan 
 gers and rightly direct her pliant mind. 
 Now she had only her partial brother, who 
 admired all she said and did, and fostered, 
 instead of repressing, her tenderness of feeling 
 and extreme sensibility. 
 
 Lewis, because his own mind was of a dif 
 ferent stamp, considered it quite common 
 place and inferior. He had a large share of 
 practical common sense, and a well-formed 
 habit of correct reasoning. For so young a 
 person he had a remarkably quick perception 
 
THE SAUCY CLERK. 57 
 
 of what was due to every one with whom he 
 was brought in contact, and yielded to old 
 and to young, rich and poor, what was 
 demanded by Christian charity. 
 
 Yet, he was only sixteen years of age, and 
 had his faults like other boys, though not as 
 many faults as some boys whom he encoun 
 tered that very morning. 
 
 As Lewis was passing the store in which 
 the " smart young clerk " had insulted him 
 the preceding day, that same young upstart 
 rushed out upon him, and siezing him by the 
 collar, exclaimed : 
 
 " Here's the ' wants a sittiation scrub ' who 
 stole my new pocket-handkerchiefhelp me 
 hold him !" 
 
 Several other clerks rushed out of the store. 
 In an instant Lewis had jerked himself away 
 from his assailant with such force as to send 
 the saucy clerk againt a lamp-post, which, 
 coming in contact with his nose, caused the 
 blood to flow. 
 
 " Here, you scamp ! what are you about ?" 
 roughly demanded a police officer, seizing 
 Lewis with the grip of a tiger, and giving him 
 a tremendous shaking. 
 
 A crowd quickly gathered around. There 
 stood the clerk with the blood streaming over 
 3* 
 
58 GET MCXNEY. 
 
 liis shirt bosom and stylish vest, and there 
 Lewis in the grip of the officer. 
 
 " Can anybody tell me what this covey has 
 been doing ?" said he, giving Lewis another 
 shaking. 
 
 "I can," blubbered out the clerk, with the 
 blood streaming over his mouth ; " he stole 
 my pocket-handkerchief yesterday a new, 
 silk handkerchief. "Won't somebody lend me 
 one ?" 
 
 A dozen handkerchiefs, of all sizes and 
 colors, were instantly offered to the sufferer, 
 by the crowd, who, together with the officer, 
 took the absence of the handkerchief as proof 
 positive that it had been stolen. 
 
 Just then, Mr. Seaborn, the owner of the 
 store, came upon the scene of action, and 
 demanded the cause of the crowd and the ex 
 citement. 
 
 It was given by several at once, in such in 
 coherent and contradictory terms, that he 
 could make nothing out of it. 
 
 " Why, Dick Moland, you seem to have 
 been wounded in the fray ; your waistcoat 
 has a brighter color than the original pat 
 tern," said Mr. Seaborn, laughing. 
 
 Dick was holding his nose, and could only 
 point to Lewis Lenning as the cause of it. 
 
THE SAUCY CLERK. 59 
 
 " Well, come into my counting-room with 
 the culprit, and let us find out what this affair 
 means. Let none follow but the officer and 
 the parties concerned." 
 
 "Thank you, sir," said Lewis, with his 
 usual politeness. 
 
 " Why do you thank me, boy ?" inquired 
 Mr. Seaborn, as they walked through the long 
 store, the officer still holding Lewis tightly by 
 the arm, and keeping his eye constantly upon 
 him. 
 
 " I thank you, sir, because it will give me 
 an opportunity to explain this matter as far as 
 I know anything about it. Please ask the 
 policeman not to grasp my arm so firmly. It 
 hurts me badly, and I have not the slightest 
 inclination to run away." 
 
 "Let him loose, let him loose," said Mr. 
 Seaborn. 
 
 il JSTot till he is behind that door. I've had 
 to chase too many such rascals as he," said 
 the policeman. 
 
 When they were within the counting-room, 
 the officer locked the door and then loosened 
 his grasp, though he still kept his hand on the 
 arm of his prisoner. 
 
 Mr. Seaborn seated himself in a leather 
 arm-chair, and Dick stood beside him, with a 
 
60 GET MONEY. 
 
 most lamentable countenance, though the 
 blood had ceased flowing. 
 
 " Now, Dick, tell your story first, and as 
 truly as if you were under oath, as you per 
 haps will have to be when you tell it again," 
 said Mr. Seaborn, assuming a magisterial 
 air. 
 
 " He stole my new, silk handkerchief yes 
 terday." 
 
 " How do you know he stole it ?" demanded 
 Mr. Seaborn. 
 
 "Why yesterday he came into our store 
 and set a big, coarse basket on the counter, 
 and then pretended he wanted a situation as 
 clerk in our store. I told him to be off with 
 himself, for our Mr. Seaborn did not employ 
 such country gortahs. Some rather high 
 words passed between us ; and about an hour 
 after he left, I missed my new handkerchief, 
 and have looked everywhere for it and can't 
 find it. The last time I had it, was while I 
 was talking to that fellow. Now I know why 
 he hung on so after I had told him to go. I 
 could take my oath he is the thief. This 
 morning, as soon as I saw him, I rushed out 
 upon }iim and seized him. He dashed me up 
 against the lamp-post and was about to run, 
 .when some of ,our .clerks came out, and 
 
THE 8AUOT CLEKK. 61 
 
 this police officer stepped up arid stopped 
 him." 
 
 "Now let us hear your story, boy, and 
 mind you tell the truth, the whole truth, and 
 nothing but the truth, or it will be the worse 
 for you. In the first place, what is your 
 name ?" asked the self-constituted magistrate. 
 
 " Lewis Lenning, sir." 
 
 " I'll write it down ;" and Mr. Seaborn 
 wrote the name, while the officer muttered, 
 " I'll bet that's only one of his aliases" 
 
 " Well, Lewis Lenning, go on," said Mr. 
 Seaborn, pompously, rather than severely. 
 
 With perfect self-possession, Lewis con 
 tinued : 
 
 "I came into Boston yesterday morning 
 from Roxbury, to seek a place as clerk in a 
 store or counting-house. I made my first ap 
 plication here, and was rudely repulsed by 
 that young gentleman, as he probably calls 
 himself; my coarse basket seemed particu 
 larly offensive, and he kicked it out of the 
 store. I was therefore obliged to leave with 
 out waiting to see the master, for whom I in 
 quired. I was not so rudely treated else 
 where, but was unsuccessful in finding a place. 
 This morning I came in town again for the 
 same purpose. As I was quietly passing by I 
 6 
 
62 GET MONEY. 
 
 was roughly siezed by the person whom you 
 call Dick, and accused by him of stealing. 
 Sir, I confess I was angry at such a vile accu 
 sation, and threw him off very quickly ; un 
 fortunately he fell against a lamp-post, and 
 that caused the bleeding at the nose." 
 
 " But, the handkerchief! the handkerchief! 
 what have you to say about that?" said 
 the officer; "if you took it, you had bet 
 ter confess it, and produce it on the spot, for 
 you are too likely a fellow to spend your time 
 in jail, and I rather think this may be a first 
 offence." 
 
 " I remember seeing the young gentleman 
 flourishing a white, silk handkerchief" 
 
 " And you took a fancy to it, did you ?" 
 impudently demanded Dick. 
 
 Without noticing the interruption, Lewis 
 went on, "And once he snapped it almost in 
 my face. I remember, perfectly, after he 
 had done so, his thrusting it, with a very con 
 sequential air, into his bosom ; and, if I am not 
 mistaken, it is there now." 
 
 " How is that, Dick ? Your coat on the 
 left side does look more padded than on the 
 other side," said Mr. Seaborn. 
 
 Dick thrust his hand far down into a pocket 
 on the left side, and drew it out again ; his 
 
THE SAUCY CLEKK. 63 
 
 face, which had been pale from the loss of 
 blood, becoming suddenly very red. 
 
 " Tell the truth ; what do you find there ?" 
 said Mr. Seaborn. 
 
 Dick thrust his hand again into the depth of 
 a capacious pocket, and drew out, reluctantly, 
 the identical silk handkerchief, about which 
 he had been making such a tremendous fuss. 
 "Indeed, indeed, Mr. Seaborn," said he, 
 sheepishly, " I thought, I thought that fellow 
 had stolen it. This is a new coat, and I forgot 
 it had that plaguy deep pocket in it." 
 
 The officer patted Lewis on the back, 
 saying, " I said, ^you had taken it, I knew it 
 was a first offence. I am too used to rascals 
 not to know you were telling a straight story." 
 
 " And I don't know that I ever heard a 
 better joke," said Mr. Seaborn, laughing im 
 moderately. " You well deserve the bruised 
 nose, Dick, and something worse. I don't 
 know what might have been the consequences 
 to this poor fellow if he had not had his wits 
 about him. What amends are you to make 
 to ,the lad? You ought humbly to ask his 
 pardon." 
 
 Dick sulked and said nothing. 
 
 " It's the least you can do for all the trou 
 ble you have given ; ask it immediately." 
 
64: GET MONEY. 
 
 " Beg pardon," blurted out Dick. . 
 
 "It is granted; but whether he ask my 
 pardon or not, he must feel sorry to have 
 brought such a mean accusation against any 
 one. I am sorry for the bruised nose I gave 
 him in defending myself, Lewis said." 
 
 " You did right," replied Mr. Seaborn ; 
 " the nose will in time come to its natural 
 color ; I fear the dashy waistcoat never will ; 
 and that would grieve Dick most prodigious 
 ly," remarked the facetious Mr. Seaborn. 
 
 " Why, sir, the waistcoat cost eight dol 
 lars," whined out Dick, dolorously. 
 
 The police officer now left, laughing heart!-" 
 ly as he passed through the long store, and 
 said to the clerks, who had all this time been 
 aching with intense curiosity : 
 
 " As Mr. Seaborn says, a capital joke ! 
 The fellow with the bloody nose had his hand 
 kerchief all the while in his own pocket." 
 
 At which there was a complete shout of 
 laughter. 
 
 " Dick," said Mr. Seaborn, laying a heavy 
 hand on his shoulder, "you make a sorry 
 figure enough ; go and make yourself fit to 
 take your place behind the counter ; another 
 time be careful how you treat honest people 
 who come to my store; and I advise you, 
 
THE SAUCY CLKEK. C5 
 
 Dick Moland, not to judge of man or boy 
 again by the basket he carries !" 
 
 As soon as Dick Moland had left the 
 counting room, Mr. Seaborn said to Lewis: 
 
 " Now, my lad, tell me your story briefly, 
 for 1 have taken quite a fancy to you." 
 
 Lewis related his simple story in as few 
 words as possible, to which Mr. Seaborn 
 patiently listened, and when Lewis had finish 
 ed, he remarked : 
 
 " Quite interesting, my lad ; a very good 
 story and very well told. You may go now. 
 I hope you will find a situation, for I have 
 no doubt you deserve one. Good morning." 
 
 Thus the facetious Mr. Seaborn dismissed 
 the poor boy with mere words for he was a 
 man of words and not of deeds. 
 
 As Lewis passed through the store, which 
 was now crowded with customers, he saw 
 Dick Moland behind the counter, with a 
 large, black patch on his nose. Dick was 
 measuring lace for a young lady, with the 
 most obsequious manner, saying : 
 
 "Indeed, miss, you have excellent taste, 
 this is the most beautiful lace we have in our 
 store. 'Pon me honor, it is !" 
 
 " I should never do for a dry-goods clerk," 
 thought Lewis. 
 
 6* 
 
66 GET MONEY. 
 
 If he could have read the young lady's 
 opinion of that particular clerk, it would have 
 been somewhat as follows : 
 
 " What a conceited, affected, little dandy 
 this is ! How I hate to make purchases of 
 such a silly body. I am right glad all clerks 
 are not like him." 
 
 Lewis turned from crowded Washington 
 street, and found his way among the large 
 warehouses near the docks. They looked so 
 quiet after the noise and bustle which he had 
 just left, that he thought, " This is not the 
 place for much business." In that he was 
 greatly mistaken. They were the warehouses 
 of the famous importing merchants of Bos 
 ton. 
 
 He, however, entered one of these immense 
 buildings, where he saw only a few porters 
 trundling bales to drays in the street. 
 
 As Lewis stood gazing curiously at the 
 rough men thus employed, a gentleman came 
 from a far-off inner apartment, and accosted 
 him : 
 
 " Well, my lad, are you seeking for some 
 one here ?" 
 
 " Thank you, sir," said Lewis, taking off his 
 hat, and making that ingratiating bow ; " I 
 do not know whether this is a place where I 
 
TIIL SAUCY CLERK. 67 
 
 should be likely to find what I am seeking. 
 I would like to be employed as a merchant's 
 clerk." 
 
 " A merchant's clerk ! You look young for 
 that employment," replied the gentleman, 
 giving Lewis a scrutinizing glance. 
 
 " I am too young, and not strong enough to 
 be employed as these men are ; I do not 
 know what kind of a store this is, either. 
 Could I see the owner ?" 
 
 "I am the owner of this warehouse; you 
 may come into my counting-room ; I can 
 spend a few minutes to inquire what kind of 
 a clerkship you are seeking for." So saying, 
 the stranger turned, and as Lewis followed 
 him through the long warehouse, he had time 
 to notice and admire the gentleman's tall, 
 erect person, and dignified air and carriage. 
 The merchant's countenance was grave, almost 
 stern. But when the mouth, which usually 
 expressed firmness and decision, relaxed to 
 a smile, displaying an even row of well-kept 
 teeth, the expression was remarkably mild 
 and, kindly; inspiring unbounded confidence 
 in the bosom of all but the world- worn, ren 
 dered suspicious by habitual intercourse with 
 bad men. 
 
 The iron-grey of the merchant's hair proved 
 
68 GET MONEY. 
 
 that the summer of his life was past ; his fore 
 head was ample, but rather broad than high 
 his chin as ample, and somewhat projecting, 
 completing the expression of strength and de 
 cision which marked his whole physiog 
 nomy. 
 
 Mr. Lawton, Moses Lawton, well known on 
 'change, now opened the door to a counting- 
 room, where half a dozen clerks were standing 
 at high desks, busily employed with their 
 pens. Not an eye glanced towards Mr. Law- 
 ton and Lewis as they passed ; each clerk knew 
 that in that place he must mind his own busi 
 ness. 
 
 Passing through this large counting-room, 
 Mr. Lawton opened another door, and admit 
 ted Lewis into a smaller apartment, appropri 
 ated to the merchant's own use. This room 
 was neatly furnished, with morocco-covered 
 sofa and chairs, a handsome black walnut 
 writing-desk, above which hung well-filled 
 book-shelves, and. around upon the wall, were 
 several fine prints of steamers and sailing ves 
 sels, in black and gilt frames. 
 
 Lewis stood, hat in hand, before the mer 
 chant, whose countenance had assumed its 
 usual gravity as he commenced a formal ex 
 amination of the stranger-lad : 
 
THE SAUCY CLERK. 69 
 
 " Your name, age, place of residence, and 
 qualifications for a clerkship ?" demanded he, 
 promptly. 
 
 Lewis answered the former questions clearly 
 and definitely, but when he came to the last, 
 hesitatingly said : " I confess, sir, I do not 
 know exactly what qualifications are needed 
 for a clerkship in this, or, indeed, any other 
 merchant's establishment." 
 
 " Can you write a good hand ?" 
 
 Lewis drew a letter from his pocket, ad 
 dressed to his mother, saying, 
 
 " Here is a specimen of my writing, hastily 
 penned last night, after a fatiguing day." 
 
 Mr. Lawton carefully put on his spectacles, 
 and scrutinized the address. 
 
 " I am going to make a very singular re 
 quest," said he, " one which would not be justi 
 fied, only under peculiar circumstances. This 
 letter is unsealed will you allow me to read 
 it?" 
 
 u Certainly, if you wish it though, as I 
 said before, it was written late at night, and I 
 fear, carelessly." 
 
 " Then, my lad, take a seat." 
 
 Mr. Lawton immediately read the following 
 letter : 
 
70 GET MONEY. 
 
 Mrs. Sarah Lenning care of Rev. John Scqfield, 
 Waterville. 
 
 MY DEAR AND HONORED MOTHER I informed you in my 
 last, of our safe arrival, and of our being able to procure im 
 mediately a house, which I hope in time to render com 
 fortable for you. 
 
 Lottie and our faithful Polly have already arranged your 
 room, with the furniture saved from the wreck of our house 
 hold (as I may term it), and I hope, my dear, good mother, 
 you will not miss what has gone, very much. 
 
 Our sweet Lottie is cheerful as a bird, excepting when she 
 sighs after her absent mother ; she soothes and encourages 
 me continually. I cannot be thankful enough to our Hea 
 venly Father, for giving me such an excellent mother and 
 such a lovely sister. What would all the wealth of the 
 world be in comparison ? 
 
 I am sorry to tell you, dear mother, that I have not yet 
 found employment. A stranger in a strange city, I wan 
 dered from place to place, for many hours to-day, and every 
 situation seemed already occupied. I will not despair, but 
 put my trust in that same good Providence which has led us 
 safely through many trials, and sustained your heart when 
 almost ready to break. I have health and strength, and 
 God grant that I may devote them to your service. I can 
 never repay you for a thousandth part of what you have 
 done for me. I know I ha.ve your earnest prayers, dear 
 mother, and that thought is most consoling to your loving 
 and grateful son, 
 
 LEWIS LENNING. 
 
 P.S. Lottie sends love, and will write (D. V.) to-mor- 
 
 Mr. Lawton took off his spectacles and 
 wiped them carefully they were blurred 
 
THE SAUCY CLERK. 71 
 
 and so were his eyes. He had himself been a 
 loving and dutiful son to a widowed mother, 
 who was now in the " better land." 
 
 After a moment's pause, he returned the 
 letter, and said, in a voice tremulous with 
 emotion ; 
 
 " I thank you for the confidence you have 
 placed in me. It was a strange request to 
 make ; but I thought I could discover more 
 of character in a letter from a boy to his 
 mother, than in almost any other way. Are 
 you a good arithmetician ?" 
 
 " I was prepared in arithmetic and algebra 
 to enter college, but I do not know what you 
 would call a good arithmetician, sir. I do not 
 understand book-keeping by double entry but 
 with application could I not soon acquire it ?" 
 
 " No doubt you could. I like your mo 
 desty and frankness." 
 
 Just as Mr. Lawton uttered the last word, 
 there was a quick rap at the door opening to 
 the counting-room. 
 
 " Come in." 
 
 The door was opened by a clerk, with a pen 
 behind his ear, who thrust in his curly head, 
 and beckoned to Mr. Lawton, saying, " If you 
 please, sir, I would speak with you imme 
 diately." 
 
72 GET MONEY. 
 
 " You can come in." 
 
 " No sir, I have something private to say 
 to you." 
 
 Mr. Lawton stepped to the door, and the 
 clerk, without closing it said, " That boy is a 
 thief, I saw him in the hands of a policeman 
 this morning he stole a lot of handkerchiefs 
 from a store in Washington street. 
 
 "You saw him yourself! Are you sure!" 
 exclaimed Mr. Lawton. 
 
 " I am positive I knew him the moment 
 he came in, and have kept my eye on him 
 through this glass door, ever since he came in, 
 for fear he might take something from you, 
 sir." 
 
 "That was prudent; but keep this matter to 
 yourself ;" so saying Mr. Lawton closed the 
 door, and turning round, drew up his tall per 
 son to its utmost height, and looked at Lewis 
 with a grave countenance, in which, however, 
 pity seemed mingled with sorrow and aston 
 ishment. 
 
 Lewis rose, pale as death, and trembling 
 with intense emotion ; without waiting for a 
 word from Mr. Lawton, he exclaimed 
 
 " Oh ! sir, can you believe me capable of 
 such a crime ?" 
 
 " You heard, then, of what you are accused 
 
THE SAUCY CLERK. 73 
 
 perhaps you have been tempted beyond mea 
 sure, by poverty." 
 
 " No sir," interrupted Lewis, " never to 
 commit such an odious offence, thank God. I 
 cannot bear that you, sir, whom 1 already re 
 spect, should believe me capable of such mean 
 ness. Don't look at me, sir, as though you 
 believed it ! My character is my all ; indeed, 
 sir, my good name is all I have to depend on, 
 and I am likely to lose it through this foolish 
 blunder. Oh, my poor mother and my dear 
 Lottie ! "What would they say, to see me in 
 such a condition !" 
 
 Here the boy's feelings completely overcame 
 him, and he burst into tears. 
 
 " Whose blunder was it, my lad ?" gently 
 inquired Mr. Lawton. 
 
 Encouraged by the mildness of Mr. Law- 
 ton's manner, Lewis related as briefly as pos 
 sible, the unfortunate occurrences of the morn 
 ing, and concluded by entreating Mr. Lawton 
 to send immediately to Mr. Seaborn, to in 
 quire about the matter. 
 
 , " Dick Moland is my own nephew, a heed 
 less, silly fellow. You shall have justice. I 
 had important business to attend to this morn 
 ing, but it must wait while so important a 
 thing as reputation is at stake." 
 7 
 
74 GET MONEY. 
 
 When Mr. Lawton had written a hasty note 
 to Mr. Seaborn, and dispatched it, he handed 
 Lewis a volume of Marshall's Life of "Wash 
 ington, telling him to employ himself with 
 that, till the messenger returned with Mr. 
 Seaborn's reply. He then turned to his desk 
 and wrote. 
 
 Lewis, conscious that he should soon be re 
 lieved from the vile imputation, became inter 
 ested and absorbed in the book, till the porter 
 brought in Mr. Seaborn's letter, which ran as 
 follows : 
 
 HIGHLY RESPECTED SIR I am sorry the mistake made by 
 your nephew has come to your knowledge. You know, that 
 young gent is somewhat lofty in his- notions, and quite 
 dressy i. e. begging your pardon he likes to make a fine 
 appearance. It seems young Moland had lately purchased 
 himself one superior pocket handkerchief I alwaj'S buy 
 mine by the dozen, and I have no doubt, honored sir, that 
 you do the same, or perhaps more. I have a fine assort 
 ment on hand, and young Moland had selected the one 
 from it, and paid $1 25 for it. It seems he made a great 
 flourish with this same handkerchief before a country lad 
 who came into my store with a huge basket on his arm, and 
 said he wanted a situation as clerk in iny store. Young 
 Moland took offence at the boy and basket, and turned them 
 out. Soon after, young Moland missed the beloved hand 
 kerchief and immediately suspected (as was very natural), 
 the country lad. So the next day, that is, this present 
 morning, as country lad was passing, young Moland grabbed 
 him and accused him with theft. At which country lad 
 
THE SAUCY CLERK. 75 
 
 smashed young Moland's nose against a lamp-post, which 
 gave it a tremendous bruise, and set it a bleeding. One of 
 the police seeing the fray, came up immediately, and seized 
 country lad. A crowd gathered immediately. I came to 
 the spot in time, for with my usual coolness, (a great gift, 
 for which I trust I am duly thankful), I dispersed the crowd, 
 and took upon myself to examine into the whole matter. 
 Moland stated his case country lad his; in short to be 
 brief young Moland discovered that he had made an 
 egregious blunder, the identical handkerchief was safely 
 tucked away in his own bosom-pocket, and I hope, honored 
 sir, considering your nephew is young and flighty, and not 
 accustomed to a bosom-pocket, you will excuse him. I 
 should be sorry if any harm came to him through country 
 lad, who seemed a good sort of fellow enough, only some 
 what hasty. 
 
 Yours to command, with respect and esteem, 
 
 THEODOSIUS SEABORN. 
 
 Mr. Lawton threw the letter aside with an 
 indignant " Pshaw ! obsequious creature !" 
 Then turning to Lewis, who was again absorbed 
 in the book, he said, "Iain most happy to say, 
 I believe you to be perfectly honest. I am 
 seldom deceived in my first impressions, and 
 I read your frank countenance aright. I must 
 say, with the poet Southey, I cannot remember 
 the time when I was not a physiognomist. I 
 shall see that justice is done to you, fully. 
 You mentioned that you had begun gardening. 
 Can you employ yourself profitably for a 
 
76 GET MONEY. 
 
 few days in digging and planting your gar 
 den?" 
 
 " I can, sir ; only I ought to be looking out 
 for a permanent place." 
 
 " Leave that to me. Here are some seeds 
 I have just purchased for my own garden. 
 Take these papers, there are some flower- 
 seeds for your sister among them. You told 
 me you had paid a quarter's rent in advance. 
 I hope I trust you did not exhaust your 
 funds by so doing; if so, I will lend you" 
 
 Lewis, without giving Mr. Lawton time to 
 finish, replied, "Thank you, sir, I do not need 
 money for the present ; I am much obliged to 
 you for the seeds, and I am sure my sister will 
 be quite delighted. When may I call here 
 again ?" 
 
 " Let me see three days from this, at ten 
 o'clock in the morning. Knock at this side 
 door; it leads into an alley, which will take 
 you directly to Washington street." So say 
 ing, Mr. Lawton opened the door and pointed 
 out the way. 
 
 " I am sorry to have trespassed so long on 
 your valuable time, sir. Good morning," said 
 Lewis. 
 
 "It could not be avoided. I must make 
 up the loss out of you one of these days," 
 
THE SAUCY CLERK. 77 
 
 replied Mr. Lawton, with his peculiar smile, 
 which sent a warm glow to the heart of the 
 poor boy. There was no falsity in that smile. 
 Mr. Lawton immediately wrote and dis 
 patched two letters, one to the Eev. John 
 Scofield, the other to Mrs. Sarah Lenning. 
 
 7* 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 GARDENING. 
 
 AFTER having made a few needful pur 
 chases, Lewis hastened homeward, pondering 
 as he went on the events of the morning. 
 
 " Mr. Lawton Moses Lawton ! Can this 
 gentleman be the celebrated Boston merchant 
 who was once a poor boy, much poorer even 
 than I am now !" 
 
 Yes, Lewis, the very same. Mr. Lawton 
 made his immense fortune honestly and hon 
 orably, and now spends it with the munifi 
 cence of a prince in a fairy tale, and at the 
 same time with the good sense and discrimi 
 nation of a shrewd man of business. 
 
 Take courage, boy; he promised you no 
 thing, for he is not that weedy garden, a man 
 of words, but, emphatically, a man of deeds. 
 
 Lewis Lenning merely wanted some one to 
 put him in the way of helping himself a 
 
 T8 
 
GARDENING. 79 
 
 Hercules to tell him where to put his shoul 
 der and he would tug away at the wheel 
 right heartily. 
 
 When he reached home, Lottie had just 
 finished patching the old coat. 
 
 "Is it possible your little delicate fingers 
 have done that?" exclaimed Lewis. 
 
 " It was Polly's suggestion," replied Lottie ; 
 "she is so thrifty. She says this will save 
 your better coat when you work in the gar 
 den." 
 
 "That it will, darling ; and I will put it on 
 immediately after dinner a late dinner it is. 
 1 am sorry to have kept you waiting so long." 
 
 While they were at dinner, Lewis told Lottie 
 of his meeting with Mr. Lawton the gift of 
 the seeds, and the request to have him call 
 again after three days. He said nothing of his 
 other adventures, knowing the sensitive heart 
 of his sister would be excessively pained by 
 the recital. 
 
 "Here are mignonette the Frenchman's 
 
 O 
 
 darling and white candy-tuft one of my 
 own darlings, and bachelor's buttons, red and 
 white delightful ! and ever so many more. 
 Oh, Lewis ! how kind and thoughtful your 
 new friend must be," said Lottie, as she exa 
 mined the parcel of seeds. 
 
80 GET MONEY. 
 
 Lewis put on the patched coat and went to 
 the garden with Lottie. 
 
 " I am going to dig this large square in the 
 corner for corn. I shall have two hours still 
 before sunset to make a beginning." 
 
 " And I will go and get a book, and bring 
 out a chair, and sit and read to you while 
 you work." 
 
 "Just like you, Lottie cultivating the 
 mind and heart as well as the garden." 
 
 " I have brought one of dear mother's favo 
 rites, < Cowper's Task,' and will read to you 
 what he says about gardening," said Lottie, as 
 she came back shawled and bonneted, the 
 chair and book in her hands. 
 
 And thus the brother worked, while the sis 
 ter read and chatted till sunset. 
 
 Polly had asked to go and see the Museum 
 in Boston, which she said she had "often 
 hearn tell on." When she returned she said 
 not a word about the Museum, but much 
 about a wonderful story of the Haunted House, 
 which she had heard from one of Mr. Fergu 
 son's servants. 
 
 While setting the tea table, Polly said : " The 
 chambermaid told me how this house had 
 been haunted by spooks for years and years. 
 Sometimes the spook was a white one with 
 
GARDENING. 81 
 
 fiery eyes, and went sliding and gliding from 
 room to room; then again he appeared just 
 like the murdered miser himself, and stood at 
 the window looking at the moon ; then again, 
 it seemed to be Old Nick himself horns, 
 hoofs and all. It was always the miser, watch 
 ing over the money hid in this very house, 
 where nobody has been able to find it." 
 
 " I hope, Polly, you were not troubled by 
 this foolish story," remarked Lewis, gravely. 
 
 "No, not I; I wasn't brought up in the 
 woods to be scared at an owl nor a spook 
 either." 
 
 As they were at table, Lewis and Lottie 
 continued the conversation suggested by Pol 
 ly's story. 
 
 " I cannot conceive how a being, with the 
 soul of a man, could find his only pleasure in 
 amassing money, just for the sake of counting 
 it and gloating over it," remarked Lewis. 
 
 Lottie responded : 
 
 "The child who gathers its apron full of 
 daisies and dandelions, and rejoices over them 
 as precious treasures, has some reason for it 
 they are beautiful in themselves. But of all 
 ugly things, what is more ugly than a worn, 
 soiled bank-note, which has passed through 
 hundreds of hands." 
 
82 GET 
 
 " Yes, Lottie, dear ; yet, when you see a 
 handsome X on the bank note, it has a very 
 attractive appearance. There is a charm about 
 it which few are able to resist. I do not love 
 money for its own sake, yet I am anxious to 
 possess enough to place our mother in a neat, 
 well-furnished house with a good library 
 and to give you a piano and good masters for 
 music and modern languages." 
 
 Lottie interrupted Lewis with a merry laugh 
 " Really, brother, you have large desires ; 
 take care they don't tempt you to make mo 
 ney in some way that is not respectable." 
 
 "I don't know, sister, what you mean by 
 respectable. I hope you have not the mistaken 
 notion that a man cannot be respectable with 
 out a liberal, or rather a collegiate education, 
 such as I once expected to have." 
 
 " Oh no, brother no, indeed I only mean 
 that I trust a pressure for money would not 
 induce you to be a bar-keeper, or a clerk in a 
 grocery store, to sell c rurn, brandy, gin.' " 
 
 " Certainly not ; you know I am, from prin 
 ciple, an out-and-out temperance man. Our 
 miser, it is said, was a total abstinence man ; 
 he starved himself to death, because provisions 
 were so dear." 
 
 "And these credulous people think the 
 
GARDENING. 83 
 
 miser-able man still watches over his beloved 
 money !" 
 
 "I was just thinking, sister, that miserable 
 must have come from miser, though now it 
 has a wider meaning. Surely a miser must 
 be, in the sense in which the word is now 
 used, the most miserable of human beings. 
 His talents are truly hid in a napkin." 
 
 " Talents, brother ! a miser cannot be a man 
 of tal-ents. Only men who possess mind, ge 
 nius, beautiful spiritual gifts, are talented." 
 
 "The word talent was undoubtedly taken 
 from the ancient measure of gold or silver. 
 You know the parable of 'the ten talents.' 
 Now, all gifts which we receive from our 
 heavenly Father are called talents : genius, 
 good sense, influence, beauty, station, wealth, 
 or whatever else it may be; yet, I confess, 
 when we speak of talents, we generally mean 
 what seems to you the true meaning gifts 
 of mind." 
 
 "Ah, brother, certainly you prefer mind to 
 money genius to high station. 77 
 
 " Yes ; but mind is the stepping-stone to 
 money, and genius to high station. I trust I 
 have mind enough to make money, when I 
 have the opportunity ; and as for genius, that 
 is your gift : I have not a spark of it myself." 
 
84 GET MONEY. 
 
 " Brother, dear, you are too partial to your 
 little sister. My late attempt at poetry has 
 convinced me that, if I am ever to soar to the 
 empyrean, I am at present as unfledged as the 
 poor little robins I saw to-day in their nest." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MORRISON FERGUSON. 
 
 As Lewis was the next morning busily working 
 in his garden, he heard an unusual noise which 
 seemed to come from the road in front of the 
 house. Rake in hand, he ran out of the front 
 gate. There was Morrison Ferguson beating 
 a small boy, who defended himself, without 
 attempting to strike back again. Half a dozen 
 other boys stood around, clapping and urging 
 on the fight, as though the combatants were 
 bull-dogs. Lew T is threw down the rake, and 
 seizing Morrison by both shoulders, forcibly 
 drew him off, exclaiming, with extreme indig 
 nation, " Shame on you, coward ! to fight with 
 a boy not half as large as yourself." 
 
 "What right have you to interfere, and to 
 
 call me coward ?" fiercely demanded Morrison, 
 
 struggling to free himself. When he had 
 
 done so, placing himself at a safe distance 
 
 8 86 
 
86 GET MONEY. 
 
 from Lewis, he sliook his fist at him, saying, 
 " Call me coward again, if you dare." 
 
 " I shall, if you are so mean as to beat that 
 poor little fellow again," replied Lewis, an 
 grily. 
 
 " You will, will you, thief!" exclaimed one 
 of the lookers-on. You are the very rascal I 
 saw the other day when a policeman was 
 dragging you off to prison." 
 
 "That is a mistake," calmly replied Lewis, 
 though every nerve thrilled with indigna 
 tion. 
 
 "Thief!" exclaimed Morrison Ferguson. 
 "Thief! is this boy a thief ?" 
 
 " Yes, to be sure he is ; I saw him, I tell 
 you, with these two eyes, when the policeman 
 had nabbed him, and was taking him to 
 prison for stealing a whole lot of goods out of 
 a store in Washington street." 
 
 "A mean thief! to call me a coward! let's 
 be revenged on him, boys ; come on !" cried 
 Morrison. 
 
 "You say what is not true," said Lewis, 
 becoming more flushed and more passionate. 
 
 " Call me a liar will you ! mean thief, that 
 you are !" retorted his accuser, doubling up a 
 big fist and thrusting it within an inch of 
 Lewis' face, while all the others, excepting 
 
MOKlilSON FERGUSON. 87 
 
 the small boy who had been rescued from 
 Morrison, joined in the cry, "Thief! thief!" 
 
 " Away with you all," cried Lewis, seizing 
 the rake and flourishing the handle towards 
 them ; "I will not be insulted by yon," he 
 continued, as he gave full chase to them. 
 
 They fled before him like a flock of sheep, 
 every now and then bawling out, " Thief ! 
 thief!" 
 
 Lottie had followed her brother to the front 
 gate, and had stood by in mute astonish 
 ment. She now ran after him as fast as she 
 could, shrieking " Lewis ! Lewis ! don't strike 
 them." 
 
 Thus recalled to himself, Lewis turned back 
 and joined his sister. 
 
 " I don't wonder you are angry, brother," 
 said Lottie, soothingly, as she took his arm ; 
 " but you know you might have hurt some of 
 those cowardly creatures badly with the rake 
 handle. What did they mean by calling you 
 by that odious name ?" 
 
 " When we are in the garden I will tell you," 
 said Lewis, his voice almost stifled by anger. 
 
 By the time he reached the place where he 
 had been raking, when he heard the noise in 
 the street, his rage had somewhat cooled ; but 
 the furious way in which he seized a spade 
 
88 GET MONEY. 
 
 and continued forcing it into the tougli sod, 
 helped to work it off still more effectually ; 
 after a few minutes, he began and told Lottie 
 the whole history of his mortifying adventures 
 in the city. 
 
 Poor Lottie wept vehemently. Her be 
 loved brother ! her idol ! her hero ! to be 
 accused of this mean wickedness ! 
 
 " To be thus accused, and to be perfectly 
 innocent," sobbed out the sensitive Lottie. 
 
 " Do you not remember, sister, how it was 
 said to a good man who was condemned to 
 death by his enemies I think it was Socrates : 
 'Alas! that you should be condemned being 
 innocent.' The noble reply of the philosopher 
 was, ' "Would you have me die guilty /' And 
 a greater than Socrates was put to death with 
 out the stain of a single sin." 
 
 " It is indeed a consolation to think you are 
 perfectly innocent of this contemptible crime, 
 but please, Lewis, never tell our dear mother 
 of this vile accusation ; it would break her 
 heart," 
 
 " I can safely promise you not to speak of it 
 unless compelled by circumstances. One does 
 not willingly tell that mud has been thrown at 
 him ; but, alas ! if mud is thrown, some of it 
 will stick." 
 
CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 BURGLARS. 
 
 THE three days that were to intervene be 
 fore Lewis called again on Mr. Lawton passed 
 pleasantly and profitably, the last of the three 
 being Sunday. It was rainy, and moreover as 
 they were entire strangers in the place, Lewis 
 and Lottie spent it at home in conversation, 
 reading, meditation and devotional exercises, 
 making it indeed a " sweet day of rest," after 
 the toils and trials of the week. The night 
 which followed was dark and rainy a quiet, 
 drizzling rain ; an excellent thing, Lewis said, 
 for the garden, as he bade Lottie " good 
 night." 
 
 .AJbout midnight Lewis was awakened from 
 profound sleep by unusual noises in the house. 
 He sprang out of bed and carefully opening 
 the door of his room heard the sound of men's 
 voices, which evidently came from the kitchen. 
 8* 
 
90 GET MONET. 
 
 He dressed liimself as quickly as possible, 
 stole carefully down stairs and through the 
 entry to the kitchen door. In this door were 
 two small panes of glass, which Ijad been 
 placed there for the purpose of observation, 
 either for one who wished to watch the kitchen 
 from without, or the front door from within. 
 Lewis had now a full view of three men, who 
 from a dark lantern had lighted a candle, 
 poured the tallow on a table and stuck the 
 candle upright upon it. 
 
 " This kitchen does not look as it did six 
 months since," said a young man, dressed in a 
 blue coat with brass buttons, and checked 
 pantaloons, of a large pattern. He continued, 
 " We had a thorough search then, but did not 
 pull up the floors." 
 
 " I should think by the appearance of things 
 that people lived here," remarked another 
 young man, whose face was concealed by a 
 slouched hat, and a red woollen tippet, and his 
 person by a large, light-colored overcoat. 
 
 " Nobody would live in a haunted house," 
 timidly suggested the third, whose back was 
 turned towards Lewis, so that he could not see 
 his face, and did not particularly observe his 
 dress. 
 
 "The old fellow died and left all standing," 
 
BURGLARS. 91 
 
 said the first speaker ; " give me your hatchet, 
 Jem, I brought only a saw." 
 
 Slouched-hat produced a hatchet from un 
 der the huge overcoat, saying, " We won't 
 leave the house till we find some of old Hunk's 
 money, for everybody knows it is here, and 
 there's been as much search for it as there ever 
 was for Captain Kidd's." 
 
 . " But everybody has not the courage to 
 come after it, because the house is believed to be 
 haunted," suggested the third, in a voice scarce 
 ly audible from fear. 
 
 " Oh, you are a cowardly, superstitious fel 
 low, you ought not to have come on such an 
 expedition," exclaimed the first speaker, as he 
 proceeded in good earnest to pry up one of 
 the boards of the kitchen floor. 
 
 From this imputation of cowardice, Lewis 
 took a hint. He flew up to the attic, knocked 
 gently at Polly's door, and finding she was al 
 ready awake, said, "Hush, Polly there are 
 thieves in the house, searching for the miser's 
 money. Go, and awaken Lottie, make her 
 come up here, and lock her into your room. 
 Then make all the noise you can with the 
 old rubbish in the garret-room, while I appear 
 as a ghost, below." 
 
 Lewis then hastened to his own room 
 
92 GET MONEY. 
 
 lighted a lamp and placed it in a large tin 
 lantern, pierced all over with holes ; then he 
 threw one sheet over his shoulders placed 
 the lantern on his head, threw another sheet 
 over the lantern, holding it on firmly by the 
 sheet ; and thus equipped, a ghost from top to 
 toe a ghost more than six feet tall, with an 
 illuminated head, he carefully walked down 
 stairs. 
 
 By the time Lewis was ready, Polly had 
 awakened Lottie, who insisted on aiding her in 
 making a noise. 
 
 Polly was herself startled by the apparation 
 she encountered in the upper entry. The 
 light of the lantern gleamed mysteriously 
 through the white covering; and as Lewis 
 stalked along, he was as complete a ghost as 
 ever was manufactured for the father of Ham 
 let. 
 
 As Lewis reached the door of the kitchen, 
 a tremendous noise like the rumbling of thun 
 der and explosions of supernatural cannon, 
 sounded through the house. 
 
 The thieves, startled by the noise, looked 
 towards the door, which was slowly opened 
 by the terrible apparition. The draft of 
 air, at that instant, set fire to the upper sheet, 
 and there was a ghost with a blazing head. 
 
BUEGLAES. 93 
 
 The robbers threw down hatchet and saw, 
 and fled with precipitation, the horrible 
 noises sounding in their ears as they fled. 
 
 Lewis snatched off the sheet .and stamped 
 out the fire. He then extinguished the dark 
 lantern, and the candle the robbers had left 
 on the table. He was now in total darkness, 
 and the hideous noises were sounding through 
 the house. A moment more, and there was 
 profound silence. He began to wonder what 
 he should do if the burglars should recov 
 er from their fright and return. He groped 
 his way through the dark hall, over a mass of 
 rubbish, and ascended the staircase, to see 
 what had become of Lottie and her faithful 
 aid, who had succeeded so admirably in 
 making supernatural noises by thumping 
 stove-pipes, and rolling brass kettles down 
 stairs. 
 
 As he reached the second flight of stairs 
 leading to the garret, the door suddenly 
 opened, and there was the miser himself, with 
 an old japanned candlestick* and lighted candle 
 in' one hand, and a stout walking-stick in the 
 other arrayed in the old drab coat, brown 
 shorts, and blue yarn stockings a frightful 
 red wig was surmounted by a steeple-crowned 
 felt hat; a checked handkerchief tied about 
 
94 GET MONEY. 
 
 the chin, concealed the lower part of the face 
 the only part which did appear being white 
 as flour. 
 
 Lewis, for a single moment, was almost as 
 much startled at this new apparition as the 
 thieves had been at the ghost. A low, pecu 
 liar, gurgling laugh from the seeming miser, 
 betrayed Polly Potts. 
 
 Not to he outdone by Lewis in driving away 
 housebreakers, Polly had thus arrayed herself; 
 if need be, to come forward to his assistance. 
 Just as Lewis recovered from his surprise 
 they heard the gate of the front yard shut. 
 After the first alarm was over, the burglar 
 with the blue coat and brass buttons declared 
 that the ghost was nothing but a humbug, 
 and he would not lose his dark-lantern, saw, 
 and hatchet for all the ghosts in the uni 
 verse. He would go back for them. The 
 others, afraid to be left without their leader, 
 followed. They had forced open a window- 
 shutter in the kitchen, and entered through 
 the window they made their exit in the same 
 manner. Lewis had closed the window, but 
 the shutter was still open. Polly dauntlessly 
 walked down stairs, and on hearing a noise at 
 the window, walked up to it, held the light 
 to the faces which appeared there, and shook 
 
BUKGLAES. 95 
 
 the stout stick at the housebreakers. They 
 disappeared in an instant. 
 
 Lewis and Lottie peered through the half- 
 open door into the kitchen, when they heard the 
 scampering of retreating feet, and the slam of 
 the gate, and burst into uncontrollable laughter 
 at the droll appearance of Polly Potts. 
 
 She placed her small light on the table, 
 nailed down the board which had been loosen 
 ed, and then saying, " You can go to bed, 
 children. I shall sit up the rest of the night," 
 deliberately took a seat and her knitting. 
 
 " No, indeed, Polly ; I shall stay with you," 
 said Lewis. 
 
 " So shall I," added Lottie, giggling, as she 
 surveyed the droll figure before -her, who sat 
 there, grave as an owl, knitting a blue yarn 
 stocking. 
 
 " Well, if you say so, so be it ; then I will 
 light a fire, and we will have a cup of coffee, 
 for after this fright and plight, we need some 
 thing comforting and relishing." 
 
 " Coffee ! we don't indulge in such a lux 
 ury,'" cried Lewis. 
 
 "Yes, we do to-night," continued Polly, as 
 she lighted the fuel, which was all prepared 
 for the morning. " Miss Lottie, please set the 
 table. Oh ! the rascals have greased my beau- 
 
96 GET MONEY. 
 
 tiful pine-table. It was white last night as the 
 sifted, drifted snow." 
 
 " Your small cherry-table will answer," said 
 Lottie, as she spread a clean cloth over the 
 smaller table. " It's quite large enough for 
 three coffee-cups." 
 
 " And a plate of ginger-cakes, and some 
 nice cheese," said Polly, as she placed them 
 on the table. " You see now," she continued, 
 " how well it was that I didn't go to that 
 Museum. I saved my twenty-five cents ad 
 mittance, because I didn't want to gape and 
 gaze at such ridiculous things as they had, 
 pictured out by the door, on a sheet of paper 
 twice as large as that table-cloth. No, says 
 I, you don't catch me with such traps; and so 
 I spent my twenty-five cents for something 
 that yon'll find by and by, when it's boiled, 
 isn't a humbug." 
 
 When the coffee was made, Lewis placed three 
 chairs by the table, saying the gentleman of 
 the house should sit at the head of his own 
 table. 
 
 Polly, without a word of remonstrance, took 
 the offered seat, poured out coffee, saying, 
 very seriously, " ' For one night only,' as it 
 said on one of them big sheets of paper ' for 
 one night only ' Polly Potts plays the Miser. 
 
BURGLARS. 97 
 
 This awful year, good coffee's dear ; this cost 
 a shillin', and yet I'm willin' you should drink 
 to-night after this drefful fright, and eat as 
 much as you please, of ginger-cookies and 
 cheese." 
 
 As she handed the cakes to Lottie, Polly's 
 gravity failed ; she burst into a long, gurgling 
 laugh. 
 
 " What is the matter now ?" inquired Lottie. 
 
 " Why, Miss Lottie, the fright, to-night, has 
 turned you black, instead of white. Look, 
 Mr. Lewis, isn't she black as the chimbly- 
 back?" 
 
 "True, Lottie, you look like a chimney 
 sweep." 
 
 " Very likely, for in thumping the stove 
 pipe in your room, it fell, and a cloud of soot 
 came out, which almost stifled me. I shall 
 let my face alone till morning, for I shall not 
 have the courage to go to my own room till 
 broad daylight." 
 
 " You ought to have seen your brother as 
 he appeared to me, and them abominable bur 
 glars. Why, he was a real Jack-o'-lantern. I 
 shall dream of it for years to come." 
 
 " I wish the night were safely over," said 
 Lottie, after they had finished the relishing, 
 comforting meal. 
 
 9 
 
98 GET MONEY. 
 
 "Go to sleep, Lottie. Here, lean on my 
 shoulder," said Lewis. 
 
 The brother and sister were soon quietly 
 asleep. Polly, taking her knitting, sat up by 
 the fireside and clattered her needles till the 
 east was glowing with rosy light. She then 
 replaced the miser's clothes in the garret, 
 gathered up the brass kettles and boxes which 
 had performed their part in the orchestra, and 
 carried them up to the receptacle of old E"ol- 
 lins's goods and chattels. 
 
 Lewis and Lottie slept till Polly had gotten 
 breakfast almost ready, and then she awak 
 ened them, saying, "I will give you time to 
 wash hands and faces, before I have breakfast 
 on the table. It is nearly eight o'clock." 
 
 After breakfast, Lewis went back to his 
 room, intending to carry the stove-pipe and 
 stove to the garret. Out of one of the stove 
 pipes, which Lottie had vigorously belabored 
 with a pair of tongs, a pocket-book had fallen 
 an old brown leather pocket-book. 
 
 Lewis untied the faded red tape which 
 bound it, and behold ! it was filled with bank 
 notes ; the very uppermost was a $1,000 one 
 thousand dollars ! 
 
 The stove was a rusty cast-iron affair, of the 
 kind called coffee-pot stores. Lewis put the 
 
BUEGLABS. 99 
 
 pocket-book into his pocket, and thought he 
 would carry stove and pipe to the garret. 
 He found the stove, though small, quite too 
 heavy for him ; and taking off the lid, re 
 moved some of the anthracite coal with which 
 it was nearly full no, indeed, it was not full 
 of coal, for having removed two or three lay 
 ers of it, coins, large and small, of gold and 
 silver, began to gleam between the interstices. 
 The stove was half filled with money ! Re 
 placing the coal which he had taken out, 
 Lewis hastened down stairs and out of the 
 house, without mentioning his discovery. 
 Lottie, at her brother's entreaty, had gone to 
 take a nap, and Polly was, what she called 
 " tidying up," in the kitchen. 
 
 The morning was clear and beautiful. But 
 Lewis took no notice of the sparkling rain 
 drops which glittered on each tender leaf and 
 opening flower, as he hastened to see Mr. 
 Ferguson. 
 
 That gentleman was just leaving his house 
 with Anna and Morrison, who were, as usual, 
 going to school in Boston. 
 
 " Good morning, sir ; I wish to have a few 
 moments' private conversation with you," said 
 Lewis, hurriedly. 
 
100 GET MONEY. 
 
 "No need of privacy," replied Mr. Fer 
 guson gravely. " I suppose you have come 
 to apologize for your impertinence to my son 
 and for meddling with what don't concern 
 
 you." 
 
 " Good !" exclaimed Morrison, nudging his 
 sister with his elbow. 
 
 " I have not come for that purpose I owe 
 him no apology," quickly replied Lewis. 
 
 " He does, he does ! he called me a coward, 
 when he is himself a thief," exclaimed Mor 
 rison. 
 
 " How is this, young rascal ? Don't try to 
 impose on me with your soft manners and 
 cringing bows." 
 
 " I scorn the base accusation," replied Lewis, 
 indignantly. " Give me an opportunity, and 
 I will prove to you that I am honest. I am 
 in haste, having an appointment with Mr. 
 Moses Lawton at ten o'clock precisely." 
 
 " Run along Anna and Morrison ; I will 
 hear what the fellow has to say for himself," 
 responded Mr. Ferguson, reluctantly. 
 
 Morrison whispered in his father's ear, loud 
 enough for the words to tingle in the ear of 
 another unwilling listener, " Take good care of 
 your pocket-handkerchief, papa," and then the 
 
BTJKGLAES. 101 
 
 impertinent boy ran forward, accompanied by 
 his sister, now and then turning and making 
 contemptuous faces at the unfortunate Lewis. 
 
 Mr. Ferguson and Lewis followed slowly 
 after them, and when they were quite out of 
 hearing, Lewis gave an account of the events 
 of the preceding night. 
 
 " A very likely story," interrupted Mr. 
 Ferguson, when Lewis came to the ghost 
 scene. " You, venture to frighten three men 
 away ! it's quite equal to FalstafFs seven men 
 in buckram. You must think, boy, I am a 
 weak man to be so easily imposed upon. I 
 don't believe your ghost story." 
 
 " Sir, robbers are proverbially cowards ; one 
 of these I knew from what I heard him say 
 was very timid. You had yourself suggested 
 the ghost as a means of frightening boys. I 
 tried the experiment on men, and it suc 
 ceeded. Allow me to go on." 
 
 When Lewis described the appearance of 
 Polly Potts in the miser's dress, Mr. Ferguson 
 forgot his sternness and his suspicions, and 
 laughed heartily. 
 
 They had now gone by the Haunted House, 
 
 and were crossing a field inclosed by a thin 
 
 board fence, and Lewis continued : " While 
 
 my sister was thumping the stove pipe in my 
 
 9* 
 
102 GET MONET. 
 
 room, it fell ; and this morning I discovered 
 that a pocket-book had fallen out. Finding 
 it contained money to a large amount, and 
 having before heard that ISTollins left his 
 property to you" 
 
 " A pocket-book ! money ? What did you 
 do with it ?" exclaimed Mr. Ferguson, stand 
 ing still, and fiercely facing the boy. 
 
 "Here it is," said Lewis quietly, handing 
 him the pocket-book. " I saw it contained a 
 thousand-dollar bill, and looked no further. 
 The slip of paper is pinned around the bills 
 just as they were found." 
 
 " So it seems, and the pin stuck through 
 and through, so rusty I can scarcely pull it 
 out. This is wonderful. It seems from tho 
 old fellow's own writing on the slip of paper, 
 that here are fifty thousand dollars, exactly 
 the sum he left rne in his will. I can count 
 the bills as I go along." 
 
 They walked onward. Lewis continued : 
 " In attempting to move the stove, I found it 
 was very heavy, and discovered that it con 
 tained solid money. I replaced the coal in 
 the stove, and left it for your examination." 
 
 " Is it safe there ?" eagerly demanded Mr. 
 Ferguson. 
 
 " Perfectly so ; nobody would suspect mo- 
 
BTTBGLABS. 103 
 
 ney to be in a coal stove. I must now hasten 
 on to keep my appointment with Mr. Lawton, 
 and I wish Mr. Ferguson, you would inquire 
 of him with regard to my character." 
 
 " Mr. Lawton, Mr. Moses Lawton ! I do 
 not doubt you are as honest a boy as ever 
 lived," replied Mr. Ferguson, patting Lewis 
 familiarly on the back. 
 
 " I prefer you should make the inquiry, if 
 you please," was the grave reply. 
 
 " Well, well, perhaps I will. You may go 
 on. Stop a moment ; do not mention the find 
 ing of the money to any person. I will give 
 you the rent of the house for the rest of the 
 year, and here are five dollars for you." 
 
 " I cannot take the money ; I have only 
 done my duty. Good morning, sir." And 
 Lewis hastened away as rapidly as he could 
 walk, soon leaving Mr. Ferguson far behind. 
 
CHAPTEK X. 
 
 THE BOSTON MERCHANT. 
 
 MR. FERGUSON pursued his way slowly over 
 the long Neck which joins Koxbury to Bos 
 ton, where there were, then, but a few scat 
 tered houses. He took out the leather pocket- 
 book, and examined it : he counted the bank 
 notes fifty thousand dollars exactly in notes 
 of different denominations, none less than $100. 
 In a side opening of the old pocket-book he 
 found a slip of paper on which was written 
 " Stove Bank ;" and then, " 157 eagles, 231 
 half-eagles," and so on, with various dates, un 
 til the last, which was the very day before his 
 death, and to that date was placed the sum of 
 18} cents ; the last entry the poor old man had 
 ever made. 
 
 " Now, I shall count all those coins in the 
 Stove Bank, and find out if that Lewis Len- 
 ning has cheated me. A mighty easy thing 
 
 104 
 
THE BOSTON MERCHANT. 105 
 
 it would be to take a few handfuls. All, 
 that's the reason the young scamp wouldn't 
 take the five dollars I offered him." 
 
 While these thoughts were passing through 
 his mind, Mr. Ferguson held the pocket-book 
 in his right hand, with his eyes fixed on the 
 memorandum, which he held in the left. 
 
 Suddenly, the pocket-book was snatched out 
 of his hand, and a man rushed by him, swift 
 as the wind. 
 
 For a few seconds, Mr. Ferguson was as 
 motionless as the stone pavement upon which 
 he was standing ; recovering from the shock, 
 which had been like an electric one, he began 
 crying " Stop thief," with all his might. But 
 no one was w r ithin hearing, and the robber 
 had disappeared. Mr. Ferguson ran as ra 
 pidly as possible, and soon met a man who 
 was coming from Boston, who inquired what 
 was the matter; for some reason, best known 
 to himself, Mr. Ferguson replied, " Oh, nothing 
 at all ; only I am in a hurry to get in town." 
 
 Again suspicion of Lewis crossed his mind. 
 Perhaps, after all, he was connected with a 
 gang of robbers, who had discovered' this 
 money, and were afraid to use it, for fear of 
 being detected, and afterwards had resolved 
 to have it. 
 
106 GET MONEY. 
 
 It was an absurd suspicion. It proved how 
 difficult it was for a man who had himself 
 swerved from the straight path of uprightness 
 into the crooked ways of the world, to believe 
 in the unsullied integrity of Lewis Lenning. 
 Fully possessed with this unjust suspicion, 
 Mr. Ferguson hastened immediately to Mr. 
 Lawton's, hardly expecting, however, either 
 to find Lewis Lenning there, or to learn of his 
 whereabouts, from that gentleman. But there, 
 indeed, he found Lewis, quietly seated, in 
 conversation with Mr. Lawton himself. 
 
 As if not altogether pleased with the inter 
 ruption, Mr. Lawton received Mr. Ferguson 
 coolly, saying in a formal manner, as though 
 every word had been cut from a dry stick, 
 with a sharp knife ; 
 
 " Your business, sir, if you please ; I am at 
 present particularly engaged with this young 
 gentleman." 
 
 "It. is of that young gentleman, as you 
 choose to call him, I wish to speak. He has 
 taken the liberty to refer me to* you for his 
 character, which, I am sprry to say, is some 
 what suspicious," said Mr. Ferguson. 
 
 " Well, there you have it in black and 
 white," replied Mr. Lawton, curtly, at the 
 same time pointing to a chair, and handing 
 
THE BOSTON MERCHANT 107 
 
 Mr. Ferguson an open letter, of which he was 
 to read only the second page. 
 
 Mr. Ferguson seated himself, and read the 
 page specially pointed out to him ; but we 
 give here the whole letter. 
 
 Watermlle, May 18, . 
 
 MY DEAR FKIEND AND CLASSMATE : It was a great pleasure 
 to me to put my eyes once more upon your well-known hand 
 writing. From various quarters I have learnt, from time to 
 time, that God had filled your garners to overflowing, and that 
 the bountiful overflow goes out in refreshing rills to gladden 
 many hearts and homes. The $200, which you please to 
 say is for books for my library, is gratefully acknowledged, 
 the remaining $50, I will use according to your directions. 
 True, I did receive the excellent Mrs. Lenning into my 
 crowded house ; but it was only an act of common hospitality 
 to a respected neighbor, who had just then no home. She can 
 stay with us till her young son has provided a comfortable 
 home for her. I assure you, my dear sir, it is no burden, 
 for her presence in our house is " a burning and shining 
 light," cheering and encouraging to all who dwell within. 
 
 You inquire, my dear friend, about that son (our Lewis, 
 as we call him), with apparent interest. I am truly glad 
 that a kind Providence has brought him to your notice. 
 
 Lewis has been religiously brought up from his very 
 cradle, by a mother who belongs to the same category as 
 Lois and Eunice, Timothy's honored relations, and from 
 childhood to the present hour, has been the most consci 
 entious boy I have ever known. Religion with him is an 
 active, all-pervading principle, governing his whole life and 
 conduct. Of course, he has bis own faults and sins to bat 
 tle with ; but who has not ? and is subject to temptation, 
 
108 GET MONEY. 
 
 like every other human being. I do not mean to say our 
 dear boy is perfect ; but I know he has learned to " fear 
 God and keep his commandments," and I would stake my 
 life upon his honesty. In whatever situation you may place 
 him, I am sure he will prove woi^thy of your confidence. 
 
 I fitted him for college, and he might have entered last 
 fall, but the circumstances of the family are such as to ren 
 der it necessary for him to do something for their support. 
 He has a sweet, delicate sister, no better calculated to meet 
 the rough encounter of poverty, than a canary bird would be 
 to meet one of our January snow storms, on the top of 
 yonder old elm tree. 
 
 I thank you for the kindness shown to my son Thomas 
 and daughter Idelette. They accept your kind invitation, 
 and will be at the station-house at the time you appoint 
 (Providence permitting). 
 
 Very respectfully and gratefully your friend, 
 
 JOHN SCOFIELD. 
 
 " Glad to hear so good an account of the 
 lad," exclaimed Mr. Ferguson. " I have 
 proof of his honesty. I suppose he has told 
 you how bravely he defended my house last 
 night, when it was entered by burglars." 
 
 Mr. Lawton's grave face relaxed for a mo 
 ment into the semblance of a smile, and then 
 he said sternly, " It is astonishing, sir, that 
 you should have allowed this young lad to 
 take possession of a house which has been in 
 fested by these burglars for a long time past, in 
 search of the miser's money, and thus expose 
 him and his sister and servant to danger." 
 
THE BOSTON MERCHANT. 109 
 
 " I thought the housebreaking scamps had 
 given up the pursuit long ago. I am going to 
 offer a reward of a thousand dollars for their 
 detection. I shall set all the police officers on 
 the look out for the rascals." 
 
 " Indeed, that is a large reward, especially 
 as they found nothing," remarked Mr. Lawton. 
 
 Mr. Ferguson cast an inquiring look to 
 wards Lewis. It was answered in such a way 
 as to convince Mr. Ferguson that he had not 
 mentioned finding the money, and he con 
 tinued, " I will not have my premises inyaded 
 with impunity ; the thousand dollars reward 
 shall be posted up all over the city in two 
 hours from this time. I must go to attend to 
 it immediately." 
 
 " Please, Mr. Lawton, inform Mr. Ferguson 
 of the mistake of the clerk; you understand' 
 me, sir," said Lewis, entreatingly. 
 
 " Yes, yes there was a false accusation 
 made against Lewis Lenning by a certain per 
 son, which was proven to be a most egregi 
 ous blander on his part. Lewis Lenning was 
 no ' more guilty of what he was accused 
 than you yourself. Good .morning, sir," re 
 plied Mr. Lawton, with unusual rapidity of 
 speech. 
 
 " I see you have taken him under your 
 10 
 
110 GET MONET. 
 
 special protection," Mr. Ferguson remarked, 
 with a low bow. 
 
 " Not my protection, I have taken him into 
 my own counting-room, as a confidential 
 clerk." 
 
 This was the first intimation Lewis had re 
 ceived of Mr. Lawton's intention, and his eyes 
 sparkled with joy as he heard it. Mr. Fergu 
 son grasped his hand, saying, " Come and see 
 us, my lad ; happy to have you for a neighbor 
 and friend. Good morning, gentlemen." 
 
 " Thank you, sir," cooly replied Lewis. 
 
 No sooner was Mr. Ferguson out of sight, 
 than Mr. Lawton shook his head, saying, " I 
 can't fathom that man. Something lies be 
 yond what he says; always an arrierepensee. 
 A thousand dollars for the detection of the 
 burglars of the Haunted House ! It is a 
 large sum !" 
 
 " What is Mr. Ferguson's business ?" in 
 quired Lewis. 
 
 " Shaving notes, it is called ; that is, accom 
 modating people with money at immense dis 
 counts. He has grown rich in this way. 
 Many of our brokers are honest men ; this 
 one has not the highest reputation among 
 them." 
 
 " Would it be safe to bring my dear mother 
 
THE BOSTON MERCHANT. Ill 
 
 to the Haunted House?" anxiously asked 
 Lewis. 
 
 " I think it would ; no attempts will be made 
 upon it while such a reward is offered. Your 
 good mother will perhaps arrive this very 
 day." 
 
 " To-day!" exclaimed the boy; "to-day!" 
 
 " I wrote to her myself to come, if Mr. Sco- 
 h'eld would allow his son and daughter to 
 accompany her. My carriage is to be at the 
 station, at two o'clock, to meet them. You can 
 go in it, and if you find the party there, drop 
 Scofield and his sister at my door, and take 
 your mother home." 
 
 Poor Lewis could hardly open his lips to 
 thank Mr. Lawton. In making the attempt, 
 great tears rolled over his cheeks, of which, 
 of course, boy-like, he was heartily ashamed. 
 
 The tears, however, did not disgrace him. 
 At least so thought Mr. Lawton ; for he said, 
 cheerily, " Well, my boy, when will you begin 
 your new duties as my confidential clerk?" 
 
 " Thank you, sir ; now." 
 
 " What ! when you are expecting your mo 
 ther in two hours' time ?" 
 
 "I have nothing special to do for those two 
 hours, sir." 
 
 " That is well said. I like promptness. I 
 
112 GET MONEY. 
 
 have not yet told you that I shall give you a 
 salary far beyond what is usually given to 
 clerks of your age. Here are letters to copy. 
 I am going out for an hour and a half. If any 
 any one inquires for me, say I shall be here 
 at half-past one o'clock ; I like to be exact." 
 
 Great was the surprise of the clerks in the 
 adjoining counting-room, to see, through the 
 glass door, the stranger-lad at the writing- 
 desk of Mr. Lawton ; left there alone ! For 
 the clerk had not kept the secret to himself, 
 in compliance with Mr. Lawton's request, but 
 had told it in confidence to his fellow-clerks, 
 till the whole bevy buzzed with it, like a hor 
 net's nest. 
 
CHAPTEE XL 
 
 A SURPRISE. 
 
 MR. LAWTON returned precisely at the ap 
 pointed time. After examining and approv 
 ing of the letters Lewis had copied during his 
 absence, Mr. Lawton told him the carriage was 
 at the door, and he might now go for his mother. 
 
 It would be difficult to analyze the feelings 
 of the boy, as the carriage rolled on with a 
 stately grace much resembling the movement 
 of its owner. The prevailing emotion, how 
 ever, was, thankfulness to God ; the next, gra 
 titude -towards the noble benefactor who had 
 been thus providentially raised up in a time 
 of direst need. 
 
 But all other emotions in the bosom of 
 Lewis were soon lost, for a time, in one; 
 namely, joy, at the sight of his beloved mo 
 ther. He rushed into one of the cars, and 
 then another, before he found her. His atten- 
 10* us 
 
114 GET MONEY. 
 
 tion was called to her by the exclamation, 
 "My boy, my dear Lewis!" He lifted the 
 little woman in his arms, and the exclamation 
 " My mother ! my mother !" thrilled through 
 many filial hearts. Triumphantly he bore her 
 to the carriage, as though she were an infant. 
 
 Then he remembered her companions, and, 
 on turning, found they had followed him, and 
 were smiling in sympathy with him. He 
 knew the brother and sister well. Idelette 
 had been one of his schoolmates at Mr. Sco- 
 field's ; indeed, there had been quite a rivalry 
 in scholarship between them. 
 
 Lewis handed the young lady into the car 
 riage, while her brother went to look for the 
 luggage. 
 
 When they were all seated in the carriage, 
 Lewis could not for a time utter a syllable ; 
 he could only take one of his mother's poor 
 lame hands, and then the other, and gently 
 lift them to his lips. Oh, the unspeakable 
 tenderness and affection in that half-breathed 
 "mother! mother!" which then came from 
 his over-full heart ! 
 
 After Scon' eld and his sister had alighted 
 at the beautiful mansion of Mr. Lawton, in 
 
 street, Lewis requested the coachman to 
 
 drive directly to Roxbury. 
 
A SUKPBISE. 115 
 
 As the carriage was winding its way 
 through crowded Washington street, Lewis 
 recognized the police officer who had held 
 him so closely in his firm grasp. The officer, 
 walking leisurely along by himself, saw Lewis 
 at the same moment, took off his hat, and 
 smiling, made a most respectful bow. 
 
 In consequence of the number of vehicles, 
 of all descriptions, which obstructed the street, 
 the carriage, a few moments after, was en 
 tirely stopped. 
 
 " Mother, mother, don't be alarmed ! I must 
 leave you. As soon as this press is over, the 
 coachman will take you home. I will give 
 him the necessary directions." So saying, 
 Lewis jumped out of the carriage, gave the 
 directions, promptly and clearly, and then 
 walked rapidly towards the policeman, whom 
 he met immediately. 
 
 " Come with me this instant. I have just 
 seen one of the burglars for whom a reward 
 of $1,000 is offered," said Lewis. 
 
 " Are you sure ? I am on the look-out for 
 those very fellows," exclaimed the officer. 
 
 " One of them is now on the other side of 
 the street. I knew him the moment I saw 
 the blue coat and plaid pantaloons. There 
 he is now," whispered Lewis. 
 
116 GET MONEY. 
 
 " He does make his way along like a guilty 
 fellow. See how rapidly he glides past one, 
 and then another, and yet carefully, as if he 
 would on no account hit anybody's elbows, to 
 attract attention. "We will turn and keep up 
 with him, till I get a chance to nab him," said 
 the officer, with the keen relish of a genuine 
 man-hunter. 
 
 The person thus watched was a well-dressed 
 young man, tall and thin, apparently not more 
 than nineteen or twenty years old. He was the 
 very one of the three burglars who mentioned 
 having been at the Haunted House six months 
 before. He had not gone far, when he turned 
 suddenly and ran up the steps of a Bank. 
 
 The officer and Lewis crossed the street. 
 There they stopped. 
 
 " Wait a minute, till we see what he is 
 going to do," said the officer. Having waited 
 that brief time, " Come now, he's safe," said 
 the officer, and entering the Bank, followed by 
 Lewis, he closed the door, turned the ponder 
 ous key, took it out, and put it in his pocket. 
 
 " Twenty-five twenties in gold, you said you 
 wanted for this five hundred dollar note, and 
 one hundred in tens for this one thousand," 
 remarked the bank-teller. " Our cashier says 
 they are our own good notes, and only wonders 
 
A SURPKISE. 
 
 where they have been kept for these dozen 
 years or more." So saying, the teller counted 
 out the gold on the counter. 
 
 Just as the young man was about to take 
 it up, the officer laid his hand on his shoulder, 
 and arrested him for highway robbery. 
 
 " JSTot for robbery," whispered Lewis ear 
 nestly, " for burglary." 
 
 " I know what I am about," replied the of 
 ficer. " I am under the necessity of search 
 ing you for the rest of the money," he con 
 tinued, " I have a search warrant." 
 
 The guilty creature stood petrified for a 
 moment ; then, with a tremendous oath, ex 
 claimed, " I am ruined, body and soul," and 
 threw the old leather pocket-book, containing 
 the remainder of the money, on the counter. 
 Lewis was overcome with horror, not un- 
 mingled with pity. 
 
 The cashier of the Bank now came forward 
 to inquire what was going on, saying, " This 
 must be some mistake ; this young man is 
 Mr. Shanby, head clerk of Minkin, Man 
 tua' & Co. These are good notes, though of 
 ancient date. I suppose you are taking him 
 up for passing counterfeit money." 
 
 a 'JSTo, indeed, for highway robbery and bur 
 glary too. We'll attend to one first, though 
 
118 GET MONET. 
 
 Please, Mr. Cashier, seal up all the money that 
 was in that pocket-book, and keep it till asked 
 for. There ought to be fifty thousand dollars." 
 
 " Fifty thousand ! Wait till I have counted 
 it," said the cashier. 
 
 "All right, with the notes just changed 
 fifty thousand exactly, but not all notes of 
 this bank," was the cashier's remark, after 
 counting the money. 
 
 The pocket-book was sealed, and the officer, 
 after summoning another officer to his assist 
 ance, departed with Mr. Shanby, and -they 
 soon had him safely lodged in the city gaol. 
 
 Lewis wended his way homeward in a sor 
 rowful mood. Never had his pity been more 
 deeply excited than for the wretched young 
 man. Tftily, the love of money is the root 
 of all evil. Fervently he prayed to be kept 
 from temptation. 
 
 It was} of course, a mystery to Lewis how the 
 pocket-book had come into^ the possession of 
 Mr. Shanby. Mr. Ferguson, with his usual cun 
 ning, had offered the reward for the burglars, 
 and had only revealed his loss of money, by 
 highway robbery, to three police officers, who 
 were all on the look-out for the robber. Mr. 
 Ferguson had concluded that he was not one 
 of the burglars. He did not wish the robber 
 
A SURPRISE. 119 
 
 to be alarmed by an advertisement of the rob- 
 b ry and the large reward, lest he should de 
 stroy the bank notes. He cared nothing about 
 the apprehension of the housebreakers ; indeed, 
 he hoped they would not be detected, as in 
 that case he must pay the thousand dollars. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE STOVE BANK. 
 
 MR. FERGUSON, after having seen the hand 
 bills, offering the reward, flaring in immense 
 letters, on walls and posts, hastened with all 
 speed back to the Haunted House. In ima 
 gination, he saw the " Stove Bank" robbed of 
 its precious contents ; he tightly grasped the 
 miser's memorandum, as he drove over the 
 Neck, though there was no one in the omnibus 
 but a small girl and himself. 
 
 Entering the Haunted House without knock 
 ing, he stealthily ascended to the room oc 
 cupied by Lewis. On opening the miser's 
 " bank " that is, taking off the cover of the 
 coffee-pot stove there was the money in plain 
 sight eagles, half-eagles, dollars, and smaller 
 silver coins all mixed together : fascinating 
 objects! Idols of gold, and idols of silver! 
 heartily worshipped by the usurer ! 
 
 Mr. Ferguson took from his pocket a strong 
 
THE STOVE BANK. 121 
 
 canvas bag, and, stooping over the stove, 
 reached in his hand, when a tremendous blow 
 was dealt upon his back by the redoubtable 
 Polly Potts. 
 
 Polly was sweeping in the adjoining room, 
 and hearing a noise at the stove, cam^ wo 
 man's weapon in hand, and immediately made 
 a personal application of it. " Whack upon 
 your back!" she cried, as she administered 
 the second blow. " You come in broad day 
 light this time, Mr. Kobber !" 
 
 Mr. Ferguson sprang up, faced his assail 
 ant, and defended himself with an old pair of 
 bellows which he snatched from beside the 
 fire-place, crying, "I am no robber; this is 
 my house." 
 
 " Yes, you are a robber," continued Polly, 
 still flourishing the broomstick more effect 
 ively than Don Quixote did his good sword, 
 when he attacked the windmills. 
 
 " Stop, woman, let me take breath !" ex 
 claimed the supposed robber, using the bellows 
 as a shield. 
 
 "Yes, put the bellows-nozzle in your mouth, 
 and help yourself to breath, and then walk 
 straight out of the house," said Polly. 
 
 "I tell you, vixen, I am Mr. Ferguson." 
 
 " Ferguson or Murgisoii makes no differ- 
 11 
 
122 GET MONEY. 
 
 ence to me, so long as you are after what don't 
 belong to you." 
 
 Mr. Ferguson now threw down the bellows, 
 and attempted to seize the broomstick. It 
 was wielded so adroitly, that he only got 
 blows in the attempt, at which he yelled like 
 a hyena. 
 
 " You may go, if you will pick up the bel 
 lows, put the nozzle in your mouth, and walk 
 or run down stairs," cried Polly. 
 
 Mr. Ferguson took up the bellows, held 
 them at arm's length, and made a desperate 
 plunge at Polly. She sprang aside, and he 
 fell full length upon the floor into the entry. 
 Polly was about to take advantage of the po 
 sition of her fallen Toe, when Lottie, who had 
 been in the garden, came to the rescue. 
 
 Lottie, hearing the noise, had timidly crept 
 to the top of the stairs, and was now peeping 
 cautiously into the entry. 
 
 "Stop! stop! Polly! it's Mr. Ferguson," 
 she cried. 
 
 "What right has he here, in our house, 
 taking money ?" said the enraged Polly, flour 
 ishing the broom. 
 
 By this time the discomfited gentleman was 
 upon his feet, exclaiming, " Money ! How did 
 you know there was money in the stove?" 
 
THE STOVE BANK. 123 
 
 " I found it there this morning. I was tak 
 ing out the coal to make the stove lighter, be 
 cause I wanted to carry it up garret, when I 
 spied the money ; so I carried away the coal, 
 and left the money for Mr. Lewis Lenning. 
 What right have you to take it away?" 
 
 " I'll settle that with somebody besides you. 
 Woman, you ought to be hanged for beating 
 me ; I shan't get over your tremendous blows 
 for a whole month," growled out the broker. 
 
 " Polly thought you were a robber," gently 
 urged Lottie. 
 
 " Sartain I did ;" and she muttered to her 
 self, as Mr. Ferguson returned to the stove 
 and began filling the bag, " I think little bet 
 ter of you now." 
 
 "How much have you taken from this 
 stove, jade?" demanded he. 
 
 " Not so much as I wish I had," sulkily re 
 plied Polly. 
 
 " You might as well tell me, for I have a 
 memorandum of every piece there was here, 
 and I shall know just how much you have 
 taken," fiercely demanded Mr. Ferguson. 
 
 " Takin ! Not a red cent ! I have been 
 taught by my good mistress Lenning to fear 
 God and keep his commandments." 
 
124 GET MONEY. 
 
 " Fear God and keep his commandments 1" 
 muttered Mr. Ferguson to himself. 
 
 " Yes ; and I have no idee of serving the 
 devil, or fearing him either. You needn't 
 grasp the bag so tight ; the devil doesn't show 
 himself, though I shouldn't wonder if he was 
 very near." 
 
 Mr. Ferguson started and looked around. 
 
 Polly chuckled, grinned, and wicked at 
 Lottie, who in vain shook her head at her ex 
 cited domestic, who continued 
 
 " If the devil isn't here, to sweep the money 
 out of your hands with a whisk of his tail, I 
 shouldn't wonder if the old miser himself 
 should snatch it from you." 
 
 Mr. Ferguson, like most irreligious men, 
 was superstitious ; he shuddered at the thought 
 of the pocket-book so suddenly snatched from 
 his hand, and almost dropped the bag. 
 
 Just at this moment a carriage stopped at 
 the door. Polly ran to the window, exclaim 
 ing, "Her! her! her!" and rattled down stairs 
 as swiftly as the brass kettle went the night 
 before. 
 
 " "Who can it be ?" thought Lottie, as she 
 followed less rapidly. " My own blessed mo 
 ther !" she exclaimed. 
 
THE STOVE BANK. 125 
 
 Polly had already taken the delicate little 
 lady in her arms, and was bringing her in, 
 saying, " Did you drop right down from the 
 sky in that carriage ?" 
 
 Polly placed Mrs. Lenning in the easy chair 
 in the room prepared for her. Lottie fell on 
 her knees, and burying her face in her mo 
 ther's lap. wept convulsively, for joy. 
 
 Mr. Ferguson departed, looking very Judas- 
 like, with the bag of money in his hand. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE USURER'S GENEROSITY. 
 
 As soon as Mr. Shandy was safely lodged 
 in prison, the police-officer who had arrest 
 ed him, drove out to Mr. Ferguson's to inform 
 that " honorable " gentleman that the rob 
 ber was taken, and his money all safe. He 
 could hardly believe it possible, that such 
 " good luck," as he termed it, could come to 
 him. 
 
 " The reward for the detection of the burglar 
 belongs to a nice young lad, named Lewis 
 Lenning; as brave and as honest a boy as 
 ever lived," said the policeman, who then told 
 the particulars of the arrest. 
 
 " You think there is no mistake about this 
 robber's being one of the burglars?" demanded 
 Mr. Ferguson. 
 
 " Certainly, no mistake. Why, sir, you see 
 as how the lad Lenning had not heard of the 
 
 126 
 
THE USURER'S GENEROSITY. 127 
 
 robbery ; but he knew Shanby to be one of 
 the burglars the moment he set eyes on him. 
 Besides, Shanby confessed, as we went along, 
 the way he knew you had the money." 
 
 " How was that ?" eagerly asked Mr. Fer 
 guson. 
 
 "Last night, after the fellows had been 
 frightened away from the house the first time, 
 they took a good swig of brandy from a bottle 
 Shanby carried in his pocket, to keep their 
 spirits up by pouring spirits down. It seems 
 Shanby afterwards couldn't walk quite so 
 fast as the others, so they turned him in to 
 pasture for the night, where Mr. Shanby lay 
 on the wet grass, behind a fence, till morning. 
 As you passed the spot where the burglar lay 
 on his comfortable bed, he heard your talk 
 with Lenning about the fifty thousand. So, 
 after you had walked on awhile, he followed : 
 it seems you sent the young folks ahead ; and, 
 when Shanby saw you all alone, with that 
 beautiful fifty thousand in your hand, the devil 
 whispered in his ear ; You can have all that 
 money with just one snatch, and sail for Europe 
 in the steamer to-day.' Ah, sir, he listened 
 to the black tempter, and there he is, not in a 
 crimson-curtained cabin, but in a cobweb- 
 curtained cell." 
 
128 GET MONEY. 
 
 " And you have' come for your reward, I 
 suppose," grumbled Mr. Ferguson. 
 
 " I suppose I have, sir. Here's the promise 
 in your own writing, with your signature, in 
 nice plain letters. Five hundred dollars to 
 me if I take the robber and the money. The 
 robber's in gaol, and the money is safe in the 
 bank." 
 
 " I will pay you when I can get command of 
 the money," hesitatingly replied the broker. 
 
 " I will take your note for it now, and give 
 up this paper," said the policeman, decidedly. 
 
 " A note for sixty days," suggested Mr. F. 
 
 " No, Sir-e-e ; payable at sight. And you 
 owe Lenning one thousand dollars, for detecting 
 the burglar," exultingly added the policeman. 
 
 " I don't owe him a brass farthing, unless 
 he discovers all the burglars ; mind you, the 
 reward was not for one but for all" 
 
 " I never should have discovered the robber 
 but for Lenning. Shanby would have had his 
 money changed, and been off to Europe. His 
 trunk was packed ; in one hour he would have 
 been off. Nobody would have suspected him 
 the respectable clerk of Minkin, Mantua & 
 Co." 
 
 How Avarice grows with the meat it feeds 
 on I Mr. Fergvcon had counted the coins 
 
THE USURER'S GENEROSITY. 129 
 
 from the Stove Bank, and compared the 
 amount with the miser's memorandum. - It 
 was all correct, not a single " fourpence- 
 ha'penny ." missing. Three thousand, four hun 
 dred and sixty-two dollars and seventy-five 
 cents ! Yet he grudged the promised reward 
 to the honest boy, through whose means alone 
 he had obtained that sum and the fifty thou 
 sand besides. Oh, the meanness of a money- 
 loving man ! Well may he be called miser 
 able ! 
 
 " You arrested the fellow for highway rob 
 bery," said Mr. Ferguson ; " he will be tried for 
 that ; should the other burglars be discovered, 
 they will have to be tried ; when they are con 
 victed it will be time enough to pay the reward ; 
 not before. Here is my note, payable when I 
 receive the money you have lodged in the 
 Bank." 
 
 The officer deliberately placed the note in 
 a well-worn wallet, saying, "How can you 
 prove that money to be yours ?" 
 
 " Ko trouble about that ; the will of old 
 Nollins is on record he left it to me. 
 
 " Who found it ?" tartly asked the policeman. 
 
 " Lewis Leaning." 
 
 " Well, sir, I must say you are awfully grasp 
 ing. I am used to crimes of all sorts ; you 
 
132 -GET MONEY. 
 
 " No, mother ; by rats and robbers," an 
 swered Lewis. 
 
 " Robbers ! Surely we have nothing here 
 to tempt robbers." 
 
 "I have done dinner, and you have just 
 begun. Lewis ; so let me tell the story of the 
 Haunted House," said Lottie, eagerly. 
 
 " Go on," replied Lewis, smiling at his 
 sister's desire to show her facility in narra 
 tion. 
 
 Lottie went on. without interruption, until 
 she came to the point where Lewis went to 
 the glass door and saw three men there. 
 
 " Three ! oh, my son, what could you do 
 then," exclaimed the mother, becoming even 
 more pale than usual. 
 
 " You shall hear, mother," continued Lottie. 
 "You know the house was believed to be 
 haunted by the ghost of old Nollins, and in 
 such an extreme case it was certainly right to 
 take advantage of this superstition." 
 
 Lottie then continued the relation to the 
 time when the robbers scampered off at the 
 sight of Nollins himself. 
 
 " And now, mother, having finished my 
 dinner, I will roll your easy chair back to 
 your own room, and then will finish the sad 
 story," said Lewis. " Come, Lottie, you too 
 
PHINEAS SIIANBY. 133 
 
 have much to hear that will grieve and aston 
 ish you." 
 
 Lewis then recounted the events that had 
 transpired since he left his mother in the car 
 riage. 
 
 " A young man ! A respectable young 
 man! Oh, Lewis, my son, what a fearful 
 morning ! Did you learn if the poor, mis 
 guided creature has a mother?" exclaimed 
 Mrs. Lenning. 
 
 " I did not. I have learned no particulars 
 of the robbery ; but if you wish to know 
 more about it, I can ask Mr. Ferguson. Are 
 you afraid to stay in the Haunted House, 
 mother ?" 
 
 " Not at all, now that the object for which 
 it was 'haunted is removed. It was very cruel 
 in your landlord to expose you, my children, 
 to imminent danger, for the paltry sum of 
 forty dollars. He must be a man in whom I 
 should place no confidence. God be thanked 
 that you have passed through great peril 
 without injury." 
 
 . * * * # * 
 
 Well might kind Mrs. Lenning pity the 
 widowed mother of Phineas Shanby. That 
 wretched, wicked young man had become ad 
 dicted to gambling, and was deeply in debt. 
 12 
 
134. GET MONEY. 
 
 He heard of the treasure said to be concealed 
 in the Haunted House, and the first time 
 went alone to seek it. At the last attempt, 
 he had persuaded two other merchants' clerks 
 to accompany him. 
 
 He was found guilty of highway robbery 
 by the grand jury immediately called, and 
 remanded to prison, there to await his trial 
 before the Supreme Court ; no one could be 
 found to give bail for him. 
 
CHAPTER XY. 
 
 THE CONFIDENTIAL CLERK. 
 
 THE next morning Lewis prepared to leave 
 home at an early hour, to commence regu 
 larly his business as confidential clerk, or 
 more properly, as private secretary to Mr. 
 Lawton. 
 
 Who, in these days of obedient mothers, 
 would have believed that the feeble invalid 
 Mrs. Lenning, could uphold her authority, 
 and render it supreme over a bright boy aged 
 sixteen? Yet such was the fact. She gov 
 erned through love and respect. Her tender 
 affection and judicious kindness bound her 
 children closely to her during childhood, and 
 now they were held there as closely as ever 
 by unbounded respect. Like the paper kite 
 which is held tightly by the line, till, float 
 ing upon the air, it seems to have attained 
 perfect freedom, Lewis and Lottie did not feel 
 
 185 
 
136 GET MONET. 
 
 the line, which, however, was never dropped 
 from the guiding hand. They did not feel 
 it, because it was never jerked. "When re 
 straint was needed, the means used were so 
 gentle, and yet so sure, as to cause no irrita 
 tion. 
 
 " Good morning, dear mother. How de 
 lightful it is to leave you here with Lottie," 
 said Lewis, hat in hand, ready for departure. 
 
 There sat the small lady in her easy chair, 
 her bright hazel eyes sparkling through her 
 tears. " God bless you, Lewis, my son, and 
 shield you from the fearful temptations of a 
 great city. Ever remember that money is a 
 means to an end. It has no value in itself. 
 Never degrade yourself to the worship of a 
 golden calf; the world has gone frantic in 
 that imbecile worship." 
 
 " Dear mother, we are in no danger at pre 
 sent of falling into that idolatry," replied 
 Lewis, somewhat sadly. 
 
 " Ah, Lewis, my son, you may be mistaken. 
 The poor Israelite who had not even a pair 
 of earrings to contribute to the making of the 
 golden calf, may have worshipped it as fer 
 vently as he who gave a talent of gold. We 
 must be ever on our guard, lest we fall into 
 temptation unawares. Good morning." 
 
THE CONFIDENTIAL CLEKK. 137 
 
 Lewis kissed the pale forehead of his 
 mother tenderly, and was off without another 
 word. 
 
 When Lewis entered Mr. Lawton's count 
 ing-room, he found " the master" already there, 
 and Dick Moland standing beside him, looking 
 very sheepishly, or rather, mnlishly ; for his 
 countenance expressed the obstinacy charac 
 teristic of that long-eared animal. 
 
 " Good morning, Lenning ; how is your 
 good mother to-day?" was the polite salutation 
 of Mr. Lawton. 
 
 "As well as usual, thank you, sir. She 
 bore the journey better than could have been 
 expected." 
 
 " I am glad to hear it. Here is my nephew, 
 Dick Moland. I sent for him in order to 
 have him make humble acknowledgments to 
 you before all my clerks. In spite of my 
 commands to the contrary, his false accusa 
 tion against you has been bruited about, and 
 I insist on Dick's making amends as far as 
 possible." 
 
 "Oh! spare me, uncle, this disgrace; let 
 him tell the story as he pleases," entreated 
 Dick. 
 
 " Disgrace ! you talk of disgrace, when you 
 did not hesitate on a mere supposition to ruin 
 12* 
 
138 GET MONET. 
 
 the reputation of as honest a boy as ever 
 lived. Come, make your confession." 
 
 " I cannot I will not," was the impudent 
 reply. 
 
 " You will not ! Dare you say that to me ?" 
 exclaimed Mr. Lawton, taking Dick by the 
 shoulder. 
 
 " Spare him," pleaded Lewis. 
 
 "No; you shall have ample justice," re 
 plied Mr. Lawton, leading Dick to the count 
 ing-room door. 
 
 " My mother says I can live down calum 
 ny," remarked Lewis, looking compassionately 
 
 at Dick. 
 
 " True, in time you can ; but for all that, 
 Dick shall now confess his gross mistake." 
 So saying, Mr. Lawton, still holding Dick by 
 the shoulder, opened the door and led him in 
 to the middle of the adjoining room. 
 
 The half dozen clerks turned from their 
 desks, and stared in stupid amazement. Lewis 
 had remained in the inner room. 
 
 " Come forward, Lenning," said Mr. Law- 
 ton. " Now, Dick, confess fully your false 
 accusation against my confidential clerk, Lewis 
 Lenning." 
 
 " Why, I only said I thought he had taken 
 my new silk handkerchief, when I had it in 
 
THE CONFIDENTIAL CLEKK. 139 
 
 my own pocket," said Dick, hanging his 
 head, and dropping his under lip like a silly 
 school-boy suffering the punishment of wear 
 ing a fool's cap. 
 
 The laugh that burst forth from all sides 
 fairly tingled in the ears of the dandy clerk. 
 
 " You see, young men, what a serious and 
 lasting injury this false accusation might have 
 been to an honest lad ; in the end, his life 
 would have proved it false, for a good mother 
 has taught him that the man or the boy who 
 fears God and keeps his commandments, can 
 live down calumny. Having had the most 
 abundant testimony to the uncommon worth of 
 character of Lewis Leuning, I have taken'him 
 into my counting-room, and now have the plea 
 sure of introducing him to your acquaintance." 
 
 Mr. Lawton then named each of the clerks 
 in turn, as they stood at their desks, to Lewis, 
 who bore this formal introduction with modest 
 self-possession. Mr. Lawton then returned 
 with the two boys to his own counting-room. 
 
 " I suppose you have heard, Mr. Lawton, of 
 the apprehension of the highway robber, who 
 seized the pocket-book from Mr. Ferguson," 
 said Lewis. 
 
 " Yes ; I saw an account of it in this morn 
 ing's paper." 
 
140 GET MONET. 
 
 " Uncle Lawton, I think I believe I must 
 go now," stammered out Dick Moland, turn 
 ing deathly pale. 
 
 " Why, what's the matter. Are you faint ? 
 Here, take a glass of water," said Mr. Lawton. 
 
 Lewis now took from his pocket the half- 
 burnt envelope to a letter. A part of the ad 
 dress remained. 
 
 " ARD MOLAND, 
 
 " Washington Street, 
 " Boston? 
 
 "This must belong to you," said Lewis. 
 Dick Moland grew livid with terror, and shook 
 from head to foot. 
 
 " What's the matter, now 1" demanded Mr. 
 Lawton. 
 
 " I found this envelope in the kitchen yes 
 terday morning ; a candle had probably been 
 lighted with it the night before. One of the 
 young men must have dropped it," said Lewis. 
 
 Mr. Lawton took the envelope, and examin 
 ed it closely ; and then, in a deep, hollow voice, 
 exclaimed, " It is my own handwriting. Boy ! 
 how came your envelope in such a place ?" 
 
 " I don't know," replied Dick, in that tone 
 that trembling tone, which Lewis too well 
 remembered to have heard before. 
 
THE CONFIDENTIAL CLEKK. 
 
 " "Were you ever in the Haunted House, as 
 it is called ?" 
 
 " Never 1" 
 
 " That does not sound like truth. One of 
 the young men who broke into the house has 
 been taken up for highway robbery. There 
 is a droll account of their being frightened 
 away by a brave boy, whose name was not 
 mentioned. Phineas Shanby is the one who 
 was apprehended, and he will undoubtedly 
 betray his accomplices. Moreover, there is a 
 reward of a thousand dollars offered for their 
 detection, and the other two will not escape." 
 
 " Phineas Shanby did not steal anything," 
 muttered the terrified boy to himself. 
 
 " Richard Moland ! you are one of the bur 
 glars for whom the reward was offered," ex 
 claimed Mr. Lawton, fixing his eyes on the 
 trembling culprit. 
 
 " Oh, uncle, uncle ! have pity on me. Where 
 shall I hide myself," cried the terrified clerk. 
 
 " Then you confess the crime, wretched boy ?" 
 
 The boy hid his face, and groaned aloud. 
 
 There was a pause of some moments. Then 
 the unfortunate Dick said, " Shanby told us 
 no one lived in the miser's house, and that 
 everybody went there to search for money. I 
 did not know it was a crime." 
 
142 GET MONEY. 
 
 " ISTo one has seen this envelope, excepting 
 ourselves," said Lewis, as he tore the proof 
 of Dick's guilt into small pieces. "I was 
 going to ask Mr. Lawton's advice about it this 
 morning. The companion who tempted you 
 to this unfortunate affair may not betray you." 
 
 "But the reward 'A thousand dollars!' 
 It is not possible that you will not betray me," 
 said Dick, staring wildly at Lewis. 
 
 " I will not betray you," was the instant 
 reply. 
 
 " Justice demands that he should be punish 
 ed," sternly remarked Mr. Lawton. 
 
 " Oh, spare him, Mr. Lawton ; spare him. 
 He thought it was an empty house, and was 
 led into error by one older in years and crime 
 than himself," earnestly pleaded Lewis Len- 
 ning. 
 
 " Wicked boy ! "What will be your misera 
 ble end ? It is not for me to spare you ; the 
 law will have its victims," was Mr. Lawton's 
 uncompromising reply. 
 
 " Let me get out of the way let me go to 
 sea anywhere. I never, never will do wrong 
 again," pleaded the unhappy boy. 
 
 ** Oh, sir, consider that he was tempted by 
 a plausible villain, older than himself," added 
 Lewis. 
 
THE CONFIDENTIAL CLEKK. 14:3 
 
 Mr. Lawton sat down by his desk, leaned 
 his head on his hands for two or three minutes, 
 and then lifting it up, with a countenance 
 " more in sorrow than in anger" said, " Poor 
 creature ! you must go to sea. I can devise 
 no other way of escape ; and, as I believe 
 you were foolishly led astray, I must assist you. 
 There is a whaling vessel to sail from New 
 Bedford to-morrow. She is ready, excepting 
 a few more sailors are wanting. I will send 
 you to the captain for a cabin-boy. 
 
 The next thing to deciding, with Mr. Law- 
 ton, was to act. He immediately wrote a let 
 ter to Captain Tarbox, and then another to Mr. 
 Seaborn. 
 
 " Dick, good-bye that means, you know, 
 ' God be with you 1' Take this letter to your 
 captain," said Mr. Lawton. 
 
 What ! am I to go right off. Oh ! I am 
 afraid of the sea," woefully cried Dick. 
 
 " You have reason to be more afraid of a pri 
 son. There's no other escape. The train leaves 
 in ten minutes. All you need for an outfit 
 will -be provided by the captain. Have you 
 money to pay your passage on the rail-road?" 
 
 " I have not a cent of money with me." 
 
 "Well, here's a ticket; you won't need 
 money." 
 
14:4 GET MONEY. 
 
 " No money ! no money 1" dolefully ex 
 claimed the boy. 
 
 " No ; what need will you have for money 
 among the whales ? Captain Tarbox will pro 
 vide you with everything necessary. Hurry, 
 or you will be left." 
 
 u Good-bye," said Lewis, grasping the hand 
 of the miserable boy, and at the same time 
 leaving in his hand a silver dollar. It was 
 all the money that Lewis had in his pocket. 
 
 For the first time tears of real penitence 
 started to the eyes of the wretched Dick ; and, 
 with a murmured " Thank you," he left the 
 counting-room. Soon he was on the rail-road 
 speeding away to New Bedford. 
 
 Mr. Lawton had observed the generous act 
 of Lewis Lenning. He laid his hand lovingly 
 on the shoulder of the noble boy, saying, 
 " You have learned to act in the spirit of the 
 petition ' Forgive us our trespasses as we for 
 give those who trespass against us.' " 
 
CHAPTER XYI. 
 
 IDELETTE SCOFIELD. 
 
 MR. LAWTON explained to Lewis the details 
 of the new employment to which he was now 
 to devote himself. He must be punctually in 
 the counting-room at eight o'clock in the 
 morning, and remain there, with the exception 
 of half an hour for luncheon or dinner, until 
 four in the afternoon in winter, and five in 
 summer. 
 
 " You perceive, my young friend," said 
 Mr. Lawton, " that you will not be occupied 
 as many hours a day, in my counting-room, as 
 clerks usually are in mercantile houses. The 
 rest of the time will be at your own disposal. 
 Do you understand French and Spanish ?" 
 
 Lewis replied that he did not. but that he 
 could acquire those languages, if Mr. Lawton 
 thought it would be for his advantage. 
 
 " It will be both for your advantage aad my 
 13 145 
 
144 GET MONEY. 
 
 " No money ! no money !" dolefully ex 
 claimed the boy. 
 
 " No ; what need will you have for money 
 among the whales ? Captain Tarbox will pro 
 vide you with everything necessary. Hurry, 
 or you will be left." 
 
 u Good-bye," said Lewis, grasping the hand 
 of the miserable boy, and at the same time 
 leaving in his hand a silver dollar. It was 
 all the money that Lewis had in his pocket. 
 
 For the first time tears of real penitence 
 started to the eyes of the wretched Dick ; and, 
 with a murmured " Thank you," he left the 
 counting-room. Soon he was on the rail-road 
 speeding away to New Bedford. 
 
 Mr. Lawton had observed the generous act 
 of Lewis Lenning. He laid his hand lovingly 
 on the shoulder of the noble boy, saying, 
 " You have learned to act in the spirit of the 
 petition * Forgive us our trespasses as we for 
 give those who trespass against us.' " 
 
CHAPTER XYI. 
 
 IDELETTE SCOFIELD. 
 
 ME. LAWTON explained to Lewis the details 
 of tlie new employment to which he was now 
 to devote himself. He must be punctually in 
 the counting-room at eight o'clock in the 
 morning, and remain there, with the exception 
 of half an hour for luncheon or dinner, until 
 four in the afternoon in winter, and five in 
 summer. 
 
 "You perceive, my young friend," said 
 Mr. Lawton, " that you will not be occupied 
 as many hours a day, in my counting-room, as 
 clerks usually are in mercantile houses. The 
 rest of the time will be at your own disposal. 
 Do you understand French and Spanish ?" 
 
 Lewis replied that he did not. but that he 
 could acquire those languages, if Mr. Lawton 
 thought it would be for his advantage. 
 
 " It will be both for your advantage and my 
 13 145 
 
14:6 GET MONEY. 
 
 own ; for in time you might write my letters 
 to foreign correspondents, and your salary 
 would then be larger. I shall allow you two 
 hundred and fifty dollars for the first year, 
 and that is much more than I have ever given 
 to a clerk of your age for a year's service. 
 Will you be satisfied with it ? Of course you 
 will have a fair opportunity to acquire a 
 knowledge of our mercantile business." 
 
 Lewis remembered the half dollar a week 
 he had been offered as errand-boy, and the 
 still less encouraging offer to serve the first 
 year for nothing , in a dry goods store, and 
 readily accepted this more eligible proposal. 
 In the performance of the tasks appointed by 
 Mr. Lawton, the remainder of the day passed 
 quietly and pleasantly with Lewis, excepting 
 when a thought of the poor tempted and fallen 
 young men now and then glanced through his 
 pitying mind. 
 
 On his return home, Lewis was joined by 
 Mr. Ferguson, who abruptly addressed him : 
 
 "I understand Mr. Lawton has taken you 
 into his counting-room as a clerk. So I sup 
 pose you are now provided for, especially as 
 you have no house-rent to pay for the coming 
 year." 
 
 " I do not know what the expense of living 
 
IDELETTE SCOFTELD. 147 
 
 will be in this part of the country, but 1 think, 
 with rigid economy, we may possibly get 
 along," replied Lewis. 
 
 " Of course, you do not expect the reward 
 offered for the detection of the housebreakers, 
 as you pointed out only one of them, and he 
 was not arrested for that crime," suggested 
 Mr. Ferguson. 
 
 u I expect no reward from you, sir." 
 
 " "Well, then, you will have more than you 
 expect. Here is a whole eagle for you ten 
 dollars." 
 
 "No, sir; keep your money, I have not 
 earned it. I accept the offer of the rent, know 
 ing that we are protecting the property, and 
 shall be obliged to put some improvements 
 upon it." 
 
 Mr. Ferguson quietly slipped the eagle into 
 his pocket, and remarked, " You are a singu 
 lar boy, very singular. I will give you the 
 lease of the house for one year, in manner and 
 form, for the ten dollars you have already 
 paid. Have you any idea who the other fel 
 lows 'were who broke in with Shanby ? That 
 villain obstinately refuses to give them up to 
 justice. It seems there is 'honor among 
 thieves.' " 
 
148 GET MONET. 
 
 "The others were not thieves," replied 
 Lewis, evading the question. 
 
 " Fortunately, they were not, so their dis 
 covery is of no consequence," quickly retorted 
 the broker; "I will let the other scamps 
 escape and have ordered the handbills to be 
 taken down, and the police to give up the 
 search. The robber will have a nice time for 
 reflection in prison." 
 
 " How and where did the robbery take 
 place ?" asked Lewis. 
 
 Mr. Ferguson related the circumstances, as 
 they walked along, and when they came near 
 the spot where it had occurred, he pointed it 
 out to Lewis. " It makes me nervous to think 
 of it," said Mr. Ferguson, with a shudder. 
 " I will take the omnibus, for I am not sure it 
 is safe for me to pass over this lonely Neck 
 with money about me." 
 
 Mr. Ferguson hailed the omnibus, and left 
 Lewis to pursue his way homeward alone. 
 
 The boy was not conscious of having done 
 anything remarkable, in refusing a reward for 
 a service which had given him inexpressible 
 pain. He had not done it for the sake of his 
 grasping landlord, but because justice and his 
 own safety demanded it. 
 
IDELETTE SCOFIELD. 
 
 The goodness of Lewis Lenning was so true 
 and inbred as to have become a part of his 
 very nature ; that is, long use had rendered it 
 second nature or, as it is more scripturally 
 termed, a new nature had been implanted 
 in his heart. 
 
 When Louis reached home, Mr. Lawton's 
 carriage was standing before the Haunted 
 House, where it had been for the last half 
 hour. 
 
 Ernest Scofield and his sister Idelette had 
 come to inquire after Mrs. Lenning, and were 
 now, with Lottie, in the good lady's room. 
 
 Lewis, conscious of having been quite neg 
 lectful the preceding day of his mother's 
 travelling companions, now hastened to make 
 his humble apology. Pardon was readily 
 granted. 
 
 Idelette Scofield, a dark -haired, bright-eyed 
 girl, just the age of Lewis, was as full of fun 
 as a child four years old. It would seem as 
 though the stately gravity of her reverend 
 father had only served to stimulate the mirth- 
 fulness of the daughter. 
 
 " I have scarcely seen you, Miss Idelette, 
 since I left school ; what have you been doing 
 all this while ?" inquired Lewis. 
 
 " Making sport of stupid scholars, such as 
 13* 
 
150 GET MONEY. 
 
 you were, Mister Lewis, and misbehaving 
 generally." 
 
 " Was my Lewis then so stupid a scholar ?" 
 asked Mrs. Lenning. 
 
 " Indeed he was. "Whenever I proposed any 
 mischief, such as tying the tail of a kite to 
 my father's wig for a queue, or putting a 
 cream cake in Mat Dawson's hat, so that 
 when Mat put it on, his forehead might have 
 the benefit of a little cold cream, Lewis 
 would stare at me as stupidly as I did at his 
 algebraic problems on the black board." 
 
 " ISTo doubt, I was then, as now, a very 
 stupid fellow. Your compositions, Miss Ide- 
 lette were always numbered higher than 
 mine," replied Lewis. 
 
 " Partiality, partiality. Papa is so grave, 
 that any thing odd which makes him laugh he 
 considers smart. And you, Lottie, do you 
 still continue loyal to those grim-visaged old 
 maids the Muses ? I remember you walked 
 like Johnny Look-in-the-air, with eyes and 
 thoughts far above this mundane sphere, so 
 that poor earthly 1 couldn't get even a con 
 descending glance from you." 
 
 " Please, Miss Idelette, don't make sport of 
 me," said Charlotte, deprecatingly, the color 
 flushing her fair face so readily, that Ide- 
 
EDELETTE SCOFIELD. 151 
 
 lette whispered, " My dear, the fire in your 
 cheeks will scorch your blue eyes," and then 
 she continued aloud : 
 
 " Forgive me, Lottie ; you are too sweet 
 and amiable to deserve teasing from a good- 
 for-naught like me. Mr. Lewis needn't speak 
 of my compositions ; Lottie wrote the very 
 best number one in our school, didn't she, 
 Ernest ?" appealing to her brother, who was 
 rejoicing in the dignity of a sophomore in 
 college. 
 
 " Miss Lenning was very young when I 
 left school ; but I remember perfectly her taste 
 was classical, and she did not in vain woo the 
 Muses,'' replied the young student. 
 
 Lottie's color did not lessen at this formal 
 speech. Ernest Scofield was just at the age 
 when the attempt to make pretty speeches to 
 young girls is usually a complete failure. At 
 school, the oldest boy, and the teacher's son, 
 he was looked up to as an oracle. 
 
 Idelette hastened to relieve Lottie from em 
 barrassment. " To-morrow we are going to 
 an drtist's studio in Boston, where we expect 
 to be charmed with some beautiful statuary. 
 Mr. Lawton told me to invite you, Lottie, to 
 join us. We will come for you, if you say so, 
 at twelve o'clock." 
 
152 GET MONEY. 
 
 " Thank yon, I should be pleased to go with 
 you." 
 
 " Mr. Lewis is to join us at the studio; that 
 is, if Mr. Lawton can persuade him to leave 
 his beloved writing-desk for a single hour." 
 
 " He will have no difficulty when such in 
 ducements are offered," said Lewis, bowing 
 with mock gallantry. 
 
 "I suppose Lottie and I must twist that 
 speech into a compliment ; as hard a twist 
 and as unsatisfactory as I used to make, when 
 I put my straight black hair in papers to 
 make it curl like Lottie's soft flaxen ringlets. 
 Will you be ready at twelve o'clock to-mor 
 row?" 
 
 " What do you say, mother, can you spare 
 me?" asked Lottie. 
 
 " Certainly, and be very happy to have you 
 enjoy the pleasure. Polly will take good 
 care of me." 
 
 " It is arranged then. Do you know, Mrs. 
 Lenning, that my top-knots have had to come 
 down wonderfully since I have been in the 
 proud city," said Idelette, with a comical 
 grimace and a toss of the head. 
 
 " So soon, Miss Idelette !" 
 
 " Yes, indeed. Why, at Waterville every 
 body treated the minister's daughter with 
 
IDELETTE SCOFIELD. 153 
 
 superlative respect ; even the grey -haired 
 gentlemen of the old school, touched their 
 hats to me in Sir Charles Grandison style. I 
 fondly thought Miss Idelette Scofield was an 
 important somebody. In Boston, T am just 
 nobody. People shove by me in the street, 
 and elbow me almost into the gutters, crush 
 ing my sleeve stiffeners, and disregarding 
 even my new fashionable bonnet and conse 
 quential airs. It is only when lifted up above 
 foot passengers, by Mr. Law ton's carriage, 
 tli at I am deemed worthy of the slightest 
 notice. Now, do you know, I am so proud I 
 can't endure to owe my consequence entirely 
 to a rich man's equipage ?" 
 
 " Many persons owe their consequence to 
 externals as foreign to themselves as a bor 
 rowed equipage. You must consider, Miss 
 Idelette, you are a stranger in the city," sug 
 gested Mrs. Lenning. 
 
 " It is forced on me at every turn. I had 
 supposed that I should be recognized as a 
 well-bred young lady anywhere ; yet, here the 
 very clerks behind the counters despise my 
 rusticity. They tell me what is fashionable 
 and what is pretty with such impertinent airs, 
 that I am ready to ask, do you know who 
 you are talking to ? I am the Reverend John 
 
154: GET MONEY. 
 
 Scofield's daughter, of Waterville, and have 
 been tutored in Latin and Greek, besides a 
 dozen ologies, not excepting theology, and 
 I look down on your city ignorance with su 
 perlative contempt." 
 
 " You cannot be in earnest, sister," re 
 marked young Mr. Scofield. 
 
 "Not more than half you are always ear 
 nest." 
 
 " A very poor pun, yet it haunts me like 
 the Eumenides. I shall apply to the Legisla 
 ture to change my name," remarked Ernest 
 Scofield. 
 
 "Come, brother, I have perpetrated non 
 sense enough for one visit. We must leave 
 now," said Idelette, starting up and tossing her 
 pretty head, on which was jauntily perched 
 the large fashionable bonnet, burdened with 
 full-blown roses. 
 
 As they passed out to the carriage, through 
 the front yard, they met Polly Potts, who, 
 holding up both hands, exclaimed, " Highty- 
 tighty! if this isn't our country friend, Miss 
 Idy ! How you loom up and bloom up be 
 fore my astonished eyes !" 
 
 " How d'ye do, Polly ?" said Idelette, shak 
 ing hands cordially with the faithful domestic, 
 without the slightest shadow of the conse- 
 
IDELETTE SCOFIELD. 155 
 
 quential air she had attributed to herself. 
 "I am glad a person living in sight of the 
 big city approves of my fashionable bon 
 net." 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE SCULPTOR'S STUDIO. 
 
 THE next day, at the appointed hour, the 
 four young people met at the sculptor's studio. 
 Ernest Scofield was learned and classical on 
 the occasion. He quoted Homer and Yirgil, 
 ^Eschylus and Euripides, Horace and Ovid, 
 and talked of the patronizing Pericles and the 
 perfect Phidias ; of Callicrates and Lysippus. 
 Preferred the Yenus de Medici to the Yenus 
 of the Capitol, and wondered why Wisdom 
 should be represented by a woman. Idelette, 
 as usual, was full of mischief. Aware of the 
 ridiculous pedantry of her sophomorean bro 
 ther, she exclaimed, " Have pity on us, Ernest ! 
 Why, you hurl down the whole hierarchy of 
 Olympus on our devoted heads." Then turn 
 ing to Lewis, she remarked, " What a mighty 
 misfortune has befallen you, Mr. Lewis Len- 
 jiing! what a descent from the company of 
 
 156 
 
157 
 
 those puissant 'personages, with whom you 
 revelled in nectar and ambrosia, to the 
 counting-room of a Boston merchant 1" 
 " You know, in these degenerate days," 
 
 <: 'Lord Stafford mines for coal and salt, 
 The Duke of Norfolk deals in malt, 
 The Douglas iix red herrings ;' 
 
 and your quondam fellow-student is but too 
 happy, with the prospect of dealing in wool 
 sacks and cotton-bales," replied Lewis; "I 
 was just thinking somebody must be rich, to 
 purchase the exquisite works of art. This 
 reminds me of what my mother once said : 
 Money is only a means to an end. That end 
 may be a noble one, or the most ignoble pos 
 sible ; for instance, when the master passion 
 becomes either avarice or sensuality. While 
 gaining wealth, a man may cultivate taste for 
 art, and then he will know how to enjoy his 
 wealth, and benefit others. Don't I talk now 
 like my good mother ?" said Lewis, with the 
 consciousness that he had been somewhat 
 prosy. 
 
 "What you say is very true," responded 
 the artist ; " several of our Boston merchants 
 are men of liberal education and cultivated 
 H 
 
158 GET MONEY. 
 
 taste. They are our best patrons. In no city 
 in the world are the merchants superior to 
 them. The palmy days of Art in Italy were 
 during the time when the merchant princes 
 flourished." 
 
 " Ah !" exclaimed Ernest Scofield, with a 
 contemptuous sneer, " I suspect your Boston 
 merchants buy a statue as they would iron, by 
 weight." 
 
 "Excuse me, sir, you are quite mistaken. 
 I repeat it, give me a Boston merchant for 
 a patron! They are appreciative connois 
 seurs. A taste for Art does not depend on the 
 ability to calculate an eclipse, or a familiar 
 acquaintance with the dead languages. That 
 young girl's quiet admiration of my works, 
 and the casts from chefs-d'ceuvre, has grati 
 fied me exceedingly. I have been studying 
 her expressive countenance lighted up with 
 the enthusiasm of genius, and am convinced 
 she has a poetical temperament, and uncom 
 mon love of the Beautiful." 
 
 The artist thus directed their attention to 
 Charlotte Lenning, who, meanwhile, was 
 standing in rapt attention before a statue of 
 Nidia, the blind girl of Pompeii. She did 
 not hear the artist's remark, but the whisper 
 of Ernest Scofield, " poeta nascitur non 
 
159 
 
 fit" came with a sound which tingled in the 
 ears of the absorbed, admiring Lottie. How 
 ever, by an effort of self-control, she retained 
 her position, without appearing to notice the 
 remark. 
 
 " I have been admiring some statues, copies 
 from the antique, at Mr. Lawton's," said Ide- 
 lette. " I do hope our American artists will 
 have independence enough to depart from 
 Greek models, and give us human nature as 
 it is now-a-days. I am tired of those straight- 
 nosed gods and goddesses. A nose less celes 
 tial, and yet more celestial in its tendency, 
 like my own, for example, which Ernest calls 
 pugnacious, would, I suppose, shock a sculp 
 tor ; yet, I have been told it is not altogether 
 disagreeable to painters, who seek for expres 
 sion as well as beauty." 
 
 " There is that in the serene repose of Gre 
 cian statues which we cannot find in our 
 e very-day life," replied the artist. " Besides, 
 we have so long been accustomed to what are 
 termed classical features, where beauty of 
 countenance is sought in sculpture, that we 
 fear to depart from the established standard." 
 
 " I am a foolish girl, and have no right to 
 criticise," said Idelette ; " but it does seem to 
 me that an architect might as well copy the 
 
160 GET MONEY. 
 
 Grecian orders in every building, barn or 
 barracks, as a sculptor copy Grecian features 
 for a Peri, or a Pocahontas." 
 
 Attracted by this discussion, Lottie had 
 drawn near to the rest of the party, and now 
 timidly inquired, " Is there not ii* Christianity 
 a higher attribute than the serene repose of 
 the gods of paganism ?" 
 
 " There is ; we have a more noble ideal 
 than they possibly could have had," replied 
 the artist. 
 
 "And will not our artists aspire after what 
 is not only superlatively beautiful, but su 
 premely good ?" modestly suggested Lottie. 
 
 " Miss Lenning, you are now quite w nu- 
 bibus" said Mr. Ernest Scofield. 
 
 " Yes, Lottie, it is time for us to leave these 
 elevated regions, or we shall lose you entirely. 
 I think I already detect incipient wings be 
 neath your muslin cape," said Idelette, mer 
 rily. 
 
 After thanking the artist for his polite 
 attentions, the young people left, and were 
 soon on their way to the beautiful cemetery 
 of Mount Auburn. That day was one to be 
 marked with a white stone by them, so rich 
 was it in enjoyment and good resolutions. 
 Lewis had hitherto considered his being a 
 
THE SCULPTOR'S STUDIO. 161 
 
 merchant one of those providential dispensa 
 tions to which he ought to yield without a 
 murmur. Believing a collegiate education 
 the only liberal one, it had cost him many a 
 pang to relinquish it. By becoming a mer 
 chant, he could sooner support his mother and 
 sister, yet he had never till this day been able 
 to look upon the change in his prospects with 
 complacency. The three learned professions 
 his imagination had encircled with a halo of 
 glory. Looking down the vista of years, Lewis 
 had seen himself invested with the dignity of 
 a judge of the Supreme Court; when in a 
 more serious mood, the eloquent doctor of 
 divinity, holding thousands entranced by his 
 thrilling eloquence, was a still more glorious 
 vision. On this day, h became more than 
 reconciled to his new avocation. 
 
 Even at Mount Auburn, where splendid 
 monuments perpetuate the memory of the 
 learned and the great, there were others tes 
 tifying to the goodness which enabled the ' de 
 parted to " answer life's great end." 
 
 Lewis would pursue the career of a mer 
 chant honorably and nobly, and in acquiring 
 wealth, would neither starve his mind nor his 
 soul. 
 
 The gaiety of Idelette Scofield was subdued 
 14* 
 
162 GET MONET. 
 
 while she wandered with Lewis among the 
 quiet graves where "the rose blooms above 
 the mould," and her thoughts reverted rever 
 entially to the solemn lessons she had so often 
 heard, inattentively, from the lips of her 
 pious father. 
 
 Lottie Lenning's heart was ever in tune to 
 respond to the poetical, the beautiful, and the 
 religious, and now thrilled with these emo 
 tions as the ^Eolian harp vibrates to the soft 
 breath of summer winds. Ernest Scofield's 
 pedantry was silenced. Drawn irresistibly 
 into sympathy with his companions, he be 
 came unaffected, thoughtful, and true to his 
 better self. 
 
 The country through which they passed, on 
 their way home, was like one continuous land 
 scape-garden. The little party, subdued to 
 silence, passed on in pensive enjoyment of the 
 scenery. Never, in after life, did they forget 
 that day of rational recreation, or those good 
 resolutions suggested at Mount Auburn. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 OOUKAGE AND BRAVADO. 
 
 LEWIS now entered heartily into his new 
 mode of life. With the advice of his mother 
 he methodized his time and his employments. 
 He rose at half-past four in the morning, at 
 live went to the garden, and worked there for 
 an hour and a half, breakfasted at half-past 
 six, then read and attended morning worship 
 with his mother and Lottie until half-past 
 seven, at which time he started for the city, 
 and with rapid walking, was in his place at 
 the counting-roorn at precisely eight o'clock. 
 
 A few mornings subsequent to the visit to 
 Mount Auburn, Lottie accompanied Lewis a 
 part- of the way to town. They had not 
 walked far before they were joined by Anna 
 Ferguson and her brother. 
 
 Morrison addressed Lewis in a surly, dis 
 agreeable manner, " Father told me to make 
 
 168 
 
164 GET MONET. 
 
 an apology to you for calling you hard names. 
 I think if I do, you ought to do the same to 
 me." 
 
 "I am not aware of having called you by 
 any name which you did not deserve," replied 
 Lewis, gravely. 
 
 " You called me ' coward,' you know you 
 did," sulkily replied Morrison. 
 
 " The means you took to prove you were 
 not a coward were not the right ones," re 
 torted Lewis. 
 
 " I gave the boy a good thrashing ; what 
 would you do, Mr. Wiseacre?" saucily de 
 manded Morrison. 
 
 " Whenever an occasion offered which de 
 manded courage, I would try to come up to 
 it," was the reply. 
 
 " Just as you did when you played the 
 ghost," said Anna Ferguson. "I am sure 
 nobody will ever call Lewis Lennirig a cow 
 ard after that. Papa said it was one of the 
 bravest things he ever heard of. Why, Mor 
 ris dare not set his foot within the Haunted 
 House, even in broad daylight." 
 
 " Hold your saucy tongue, miss ; I don't 
 choose to go there. You ran, yourself, the 
 moment you came in sight of it." 
 
 " I used to, but not since somebody lived 
 
COUBAGE AND BRAVADO. 165 
 
 there. I shall prove I am not afraid to go in 
 that house, for papa says I may go there as 
 often as I please. May I come, Miss Len- 
 ning ?" asked Anna. 
 
 "Of course, if you please," said Lottie. 
 
 " I don't think they are suitable company 
 for us ; you know we are very rich now," 
 whispered Morrison in his sister's ear, but not 
 too softly to be heard by Lewis and Lottie. 
 
 " Sister, this is as far as you were to go this 
 morning. Good bye," said Lewis, hurrying 
 forward as rapidly as possible. 
 
 " Oh, you are obliged to drudge all day in 
 a dirty counting-room. Thank my stars, 
 when I have done with school I shall have 
 nothing to do but to enjoy myself," said Mor 
 rison. 
 
 " Good morning, brother ; good morning, 
 Mr. and Miss Ferguson," said Lottie, as she 
 parted from the others, and turned her face 
 homeward. 
 
 The civil manner in which Lottie took 
 leave of the unwelcome companions, was ac 
 companied with a slight tone of contempt in 
 her sweet voice, which sounded like a dis 
 cord in music, and jarred on the ear of Mor 
 rison Ferguson. Anna did not perceive it, 
 and as they walked on together she said 
 
166 GET MONEY. 
 
 to her brother, " Don't you think that Len- 
 ning girl is very pretty ?" 
 
 " I neither know nor care I don't notice 
 such scrubs." 
 
 " Scrubs ! Why, Morris ! Papa says the 
 brother and sister are both so well-bred that 
 he wishes we were like them. He says the rich 
 Mr. Lawton takes a great deal of notice of 
 them, and he wishes us to treat them very 
 politely." 
 
 "I'll bet you he don't mean you should 
 lower yourself by visiting at the Haunted 
 House," scornfully cried Morris, snapping his 
 fingers in his sister's face. 
 
 " You are grandly mistaken, Morris ; he said 
 I might go there just as often as I please, and 
 I may invite them to come to Rosehill." 
 
 " Then he has some other reason for it be 
 sides their being well-bred. I think I am cute 
 enough to know what it is. Now, don't you 
 tell anybody : father isn't going to give the 
 reward he offered on the handbills, and he 
 wants us to make friends with these Len- 
 nings, so that they needn't say anything about 
 it. I know the old gov., cunning as he thinks 
 himself. I hate that Lewis Lenning ; he tries 
 to overtop me, but he can't do it; and I 
 won't be civil to him merely because he found 
 
COURAGE AND BKAVADO. 167 
 
 the money, and gave it all up. I don't, for 
 my part, see why he was such a fool as not to 
 keep some of it to himself. If he had known 
 father as well as we do, he would have grabbed 
 a few handfuls." 
 
 Anna's only reply was a sorrowful shake 
 of the head. 
 
 Woe to the parent of whom a child speaks 
 with a sneer ! Woe to the child who speaks 
 contemptuously of a parent ! 
 
 * -x- -x- * * 
 
 As Mr. Lawton and Lewis were together in 
 the small counting-room that morning, the 
 former said, " Lay aside your pen, Lenning, 
 and take a seat here by me on the sofa ; I 
 have something to say to you." 
 
 Lewis did as he was requested. Mr. Law- 
 ton continued : " I am called a notional man ; 
 perhaps I am so. One of my notions is, that 
 I can judge of a person's character at first 
 sight. My long intercourse with the world 
 may have given me this clear insight, or else 
 I possess it as a natural gift. The human 
 countenance is to me a true index to the hu 
 man being. Reverently speaking, I be 
 lieve the Creator designed the material sub 
 stance with which man is invested, to be the 
 outward and visible sign of the inward and 
 
168 GET MONEY. 
 
 spiritual being. The moment I looked at you, 
 Lenning, I said to myself * There is honesty.' 
 Retain that open, truthful countenance, that 
 respectful but fearless manner of looking 
 directly in the eyes of the person to whom 
 you are speaking, and I shall feel sure that 
 you retain the same character which you now 
 possess. Faults and vices c crop out ' on the 
 face ; bad passions stamp bad lines about the 
 mouth. Keep a strict watch over yourself, 
 my boy ; it is fearful to think of the tempta 
 tions to which you will be exposed in this 
 large city. God help you to resist them all. 
 
 " I would not advise you, at present, to make 
 many acquaintances among your fellow- clerks. 
 In my sanctum you are shut out from them, 
 yet there are many ways in which you will 
 come in contact with them, especially at your 
 dinner hour. You may, perhaps, from the 
 superior position you enjoy, excite envy and 
 jealousy. You will, therefore, be careful to 
 treat every one with great civility. I. am very 
 careful in selecting my young men, yet there 
 may be some among them unworthy of con 
 fidence. I have suspicions of only one at pre 
 sent, and they are not confirmed by positive 
 knowledge. 1 am very far from wishing you 
 to act as a spy ; I know you would detest so 
 
COURAGE AND BRAVADO. 169 
 
 mean an office. It is only to put you on your 
 guard, that I name to you, in confidence, 
 Josiali James Nooden, as one whom you 
 will do well to avoid. He has been in my 
 counting-room for two years past. With very 
 good features, he has a sinister expression. 
 Of late he is sleepy every morning, and has 
 red eyes. When I address him, he looks 
 down. I am sure he is not where he should be 
 at night. Be careful how you pass your eve 
 nings, Lenning; home is the best place for 
 you. Josiah James Nooden is the tall young 
 man yonder, dressed in black. Be on your 
 guard, if he makes any advances to you. He 
 has much influence in the counting-room." 
 
 " Thank you, sir," said Lewis, looking at the 
 young man through the glass-door. The eager, 
 intense glance seemed to penetrate to the brain 
 of the suspected clerk like an electric flash, for 
 at that instant his eyes were turned to Lewis, 
 and then dropped, and a bright flush of red 
 spread over his pale face. 
 
 Mr. Lawton continued. "You have the 
 material for a first rate merchant, Lenning; 
 educate yourself to be A, No. 1. You have 
 
 in this city a noble example in our Mr. P . 
 
 Let it stimulate you to a noble emulation. 
 
 But it is not alone as a merchant that you are 
 
 15 
 
170 GET MONEY. 
 
 to be educated, but as a man. Let your first 
 care be to fill out, to the full measure, the capa 
 city God has given you as an immortal being. 
 Then, as a mortal being, you are to 'have a 
 vocation on earth, and to make that vocation 
 honorable in the eyes of your fellow-men. 
 
 " The studies to which you are more espe 
 cially to devote yourself, at present, are, 
 French and Spanish, physical and civil geo 
 graphy, political economy, the history of com 
 merce and navigation, and the lives of eminent 
 merchants. You will not, of course, neglect 
 other reading, which our excellent Mercantile 
 Library affords, to refine and elevate your 
 mind, and thus increase your resources for 
 happiness in the domestic circle. It is con 
 temptible for a merchant to be a man of one 
 idea money-making." 
 
 " I am very grateful to you, Mr. Lawton, 
 for your kind interest, and hope I shall not 
 disappoint your expectations. But, sir, I am 
 young, and ignorant with regard to business 
 matters. I beg you will allow me to come to 
 you for advice, which I am sure I shall fre 
 quently need." 
 
 " Come to me, my lad, whenever you need 
 advice; I shall give it, to the best of my 
 ability. After this, however, no more prosing 
 
COURAGE AND BRAVADO. 171 
 
 from the k old gent,' as I have heard myself 
 called," said Mr. Lawton, with one of his pe 
 culiarly genial smiles lighting up his usually 
 inflexible countenance. 
 
 " Here are a few leading rules, which you 
 may put by, to look over now and then. I 
 wrote them many years ago for myself, and I 
 think it was by following them out, that I be 
 came a successful merchant (the blessing of 
 God always understood)." 
 
 So saying, Mr. Lawton handed Lewis a slip 
 of paper, on which was written as follows : 
 
 TEN RULES FOR A YOUNG MERCHANT. 
 
 1. "To thine own self be true, and then 
 thou canst not be false to any man." SHAKS. 
 
 2. Be very choice of words. Business let 
 ters should be brief. Say just what needs to 
 be said, clearly and to the point, and no more. 
 The same with business conversation. "A man 
 of many words shall not prosper." A man of 
 few words is not in as much danger of being 
 misunderstood as a free, voluble talker. Be 
 sides, an attentive listener is like a looker-on 
 at a game ; he discovers all the weak points 
 in the game. 
 
 3. Bying and selling is a game of skill 
 but let it be a fair, open game ; take no dis- 
 
172 GET MONEY. 
 
 honest or dishonorable advantages over your 
 adversary. 
 
 4. Never speculate in any of the necessaries 
 of life, such as flour, potatoes, corn, meat, 
 etc., thus raising the price and keeping out of 
 the market provisions on which the poor 
 mainly depend for subsistence. 
 
 5. Give to every one whom you employ 
 " full measure, shaken down," for the service 
 rendered. 
 
 6. Be courteous to high and low, rich and 
 poor. 
 
 7. Be as punctual as the sun, and consider 
 time as precious as breath. 
 
 8. Choose your friends for their worth of 
 character, rather than for the length of their 
 purses. 
 
 9. Keep your heart sound and warm. Let 
 not the love of money plant a root of bitter 
 ness in its very core, which will spread cor 
 ruption through the whole being. 
 
 10. Remember in whose just balance all 
 your deeds are weighed, and be prepared to 
 give up, at any moment, your final account to 
 the Great Auditor. 
 
OHAPTEE XIX. 
 
 THE HANDSOME YOUNG MAN. 
 
 JOSIAH JAMES WOODEN was a handsome 
 young man a very handsome young man 
 everybody said so ; but nobody was more 
 fully convinced of the fact than Josiah James 
 himself. The large sums he spent in the deco 
 ration of his fine person were but too well 
 known to his tailor. Nooden kept no account 
 of the tricopherous and macassar (which 
 increased the purple lustre of his hair, whis 
 kers, and moustache), though the druggist 
 did, and now and then sent in a large bill. 
 A glover might have set up shop in a small 
 way, with the gloves of silk, and of white 
 and yellow kid, which Mr. Nooden threw 
 asjde in a single year Paris gloves, which 
 Nooden boasted he never wore but once. His 
 bootmaker was almost as great a sufferer as 
 himself; with the maker money was tight, 
 with the customer boots. The diamond 
 
 15* 173 
 
174: GET MONEY. 
 
 breast-pin on the fine shirt-bosom of Mr. 
 den, and the seal-ring on his small finger 
 caused many a pang of envy as they sparkled 
 before the eyes of his fellow-clerks. 
 
 Mr. Nooden had a smooth, glib tongue, 
 which he used for his own advantage in va 
 rious ways. 
 
 As Lewis was walking rapidly through 
 Washington street, on his way homeward, he 
 was accosted by some one, who laid a hand 
 on his shoulder, saying, " Don't be in haste, 
 Mister Lenning." 
 
 It was Josiah James Nooden. Lewis slack 
 ened his pace, and that fashionable gentleman 
 condescended to say, " I have been wishing 
 to cultivate your acquaintance ever since our 
 introduction. I will walk with you, if you 
 please." 
 
 Had it not been for the caution given by 
 Mr. Lawton, Lewis might have felt flattered 
 by the compliment. Boys are too apt to 
 consider the company of gentlemen older 
 than themselves very desirable. 
 
 The natural politeness of Lewis led him 
 to reply, " Thank you, sir, I am going out of 
 town ; do you go the same way ?" 
 
 " In what part of the city do you reside ?" 
 inquired Nooden. 
 
THE HANDSOME TOTING MA 1ST- 175 
 
 " I do not live in the city," modestly re 
 plied Lewis. 
 
 " Indeed, then I fear you lose a great deal 
 of pleasure," said Wooden, giving a twist to 
 his dark moustache. 
 
 " I like the country," remarked Lewis, 
 growing more bold. 
 
 " That is merely a matter of habit. Were 
 you once to enjoy life in town, you would 
 never again bury yourself in the country. It 
 would be death to me. Every young man 
 who has been brought up in the country 
 needs to rub off the rusticity which he there 
 contracts. Excuse me, Mr. Lenning, your 
 uncommonly good manners show that you 
 have been accustomed to the best society a 
 country village affords. For this reason I 
 have sought your acquaintance ; but you 
 must be aware that a village circle is very 
 different - from the elite of the Athens of 
 America. Do you ever go to the theatre or 
 the opera?" 
 
 " Never." 
 
 " You have never seen that star of the first 
 magnitude. Miss K ?" 
 
 "Never." 
 
 "Nor ever heard the incomparable, the 
 divine Sign or a 
 
176 GET MONEY. 
 
 " Never." 
 
 Mr. Nooden now entered into a glowing 
 description of these celebrities. He was bland, 
 affable, and amusing. Lewis, being forewarned 
 and forearmed as in panoply of steel, by the 
 cautions of Mr. Lawton, the arrows of tempt 
 ation glanced off, without inflicting the slight 
 est wound. 
 
 Mr. Nooden accompanied Lewis across the 
 Neck, and to the corner where he usually met 
 his sister. As he was about to turn the cor 
 ner, he saw Lottie running down the hill, sun- 
 bonnet in hand, whirling it about, as a signal 
 to her brother. She stopped short, on seeing 
 that Lewis was not alone. Mr. Nooden did 
 not observe Lottie's approach, and, when he 
 reached the corner, right glad was Lewis to 
 hear him say, " Good evening," and to see 
 him rapidly walking towards town. 
 
 " Who is that elegant gentleman ?" eagerly 
 inquired Lottie. 
 
 " One of Mr. Lawton's clerks. How is mo 
 ther to-day ?" was the quick reply. 
 
 " Better than usual ; she actually walked to 
 the front gate. What is that gentleman's 
 name?" 
 
 "Nooden. I hope mother will not try her 
 strength rashly." 
 
THE HANDSOME YOUNG MAN. 177 
 
 " She is not apt to do anything rashly. Sho 
 went out to see my precious little plants. 
 The seeds Mr. Lawton gave me are all coming 
 up. Our front-yard, in time, will look very 
 prettily. Lewis, dear, I am afraid you do not 
 sufficiently admire the beautiful. I should be 
 sorry to see my own, my only brother, a dry, 
 hard, matter-of-fact man a walking page of 
 Colburn's Arithmetic." 
 
 " It is you, Lottie, who are hard, now," re 
 plied Lewis, gravely. 
 
 "Indeed, brother, you already begin to 
 show the effect of this new mode of life. Posi 
 tively, your lips this moment are as tightly 
 pressed together as Mr. Ferguson's," said 
 Lottie, peering into his face inquisitively. 
 
 " I had to keep them closely shut, to avoid 
 talking to that consummate fop, Nooden." 
 
 " You are severe, too. I saw only a very 
 handsome young man, with dark hair and 
 eyes. I took him for a foreigner." 
 
 " No doubt, Lottie, your brilliant imagina 
 tion converted the clerk, Josiah James Noo- 
 den, into a second Thaddeus of Warsaw, or 
 the veritable Prince de Joinville. I was glad 
 to be freed from his undesirable companion 
 ship." 
 
 " You say he is one of your fellow-clerks ; 
 
ITS GET MONEY. 
 
 do you know anything against him?" asked 
 the sister. 
 
 " I know he assailed me with temptations 
 such as the Arch-enemy himself might have 
 chosen," said, Lewis, with a contracted 
 brow. 
 
 " And you, like the Seraph Abdiel, unshaken, 
 unseduced, but not < unterrified,' turned your 
 back on him with scorn ;' " jestingly added 
 Lottie. 
 
 " Sister, don't speak so lightly of this mat 
 ter; my acquaintance with that handsome 
 young man involves consequences which you 
 are too young and too innocent to fear or to 
 understand." 
 
 "I know you, brother, to be armed so 
 strong in honesty as not to fear the attacks of 
 a host of handsome young men. But now the 
 enemy has retreated, you need not keep up 
 this defiant air." 
 
 " When we feel ourselves weak, Lottie, 
 then are we strong, because we are on our 
 guard, and ask for help from above. Is mo 
 ther ready for our French lesson ?" 
 
 " Yes ; books all open on the table, waiting 
 for you not to lose a moment. It is well, bro 
 ther, for you to have your walk to and from 
 town, and your work in the garden, or you 
 
THE HANDSOME YOUNG MAN. 179 
 
 could not bear such constant mental applica 
 tion," kindly and soothingly remarked the 
 amiable Lottie. 
 
 " I am heartily glad we do not live in the 
 city," said Lewis, his defiant air giving place 
 to a joyous one, as he opened the gate at the 
 Haunted House. 
 
 Mrs. Lenning had been a good French 
 scholar in her school days, and was now re 
 viving her knowledge of the language, and 
 giving daily lessons to Lewis and Lottie. In 
 the pleasant task now before him, Lewis soon 
 forgot his late annoyance. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 TEMPTATION. 
 
 JOSIAH JAMES NOODEN was not a man to be 
 easily repulsed. A few days after, he again 
 joined Lewis, on his homeward way. 
 
 " Here's a ticket for the Opera, Lenning ; I 
 took the liberty to secure it for you, when I 
 purchased my own, this morning. Do me the 
 favor to accept it," said he. 
 
 " Thank you, I cannot go to the Opera to 
 night," was the decided reply. 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " My mother and sister expect me home at 
 the usual time." 
 
 "You are too old to be tied to your mo 
 ther's apron-string. There is no harm in going 
 to the Opera ; and if it is too late to go home 
 afterwards, you can pass the remainder of the 
 night at my rooms. Come, we will take an 
 oyster supper first at Panotti's," said the 
 tempter, with his most fascinating manner. 
 
 180 
 
TEMPTATION. 181 
 
 "Indeed, you must excuse me; I cannot 
 go," firmly replied the tempted. 
 
 " I don't believe a young man of your good 
 sense can be so puritanical as to think there 
 is any harm in the Opera," continued E"ooden, 
 taking Lenning by the arm in the most fami 
 liar manner. 
 
 "I am so puritanical, if so you choose to 
 call it, as to avoid forming a taste for expen 
 sive amusements," was the steady, sensible 
 reply. 
 
 "But they will cost you nothing; here is 
 the ticket," said Nooden, thrusting it into 
 Lewis's hand. 
 
 " It is not merely going once to the Opera," 
 replied Lewis, forcing back the ticket, " but 
 the danger of becoming too fond of amuse 
 ments, that would neither agree with my 
 means nor my principles." 
 
 "Ha! ha! ha! You talk like an old fogy 
 of sixty. As to forming a taste for music, you 
 have it already. I heard you whistling an air 
 from 'La Sonnambula,' as I joined you just 
 now." 
 
 " I did not know that it was opera music. 
 I heard the air played by a band in the street, 
 and was trying to recollect it.' 
 
 " You had it perfectly, Lenning. It would 
 16 
 
182 GET MONEY. 
 
 be a sin and a shame not to cultivate so fine 
 an ear for music." 
 
 Again Nooden offered the ticket, and 
 again Lewis rejected it, saying, " Do not urge 
 it upon me ; it is utterly impossible for me to 
 accept it." 
 
 ISTooden put the ticket in his pocket, and 
 abruptly asked, " "What has become of Dick 
 Moland ?" 
 
 Lewis was puzzled to answer this unex 
 pected question. After a moment's silence 
 he replied, " Perhaps his uncle, Mr. Lawton, 
 could tell you." 
 
 " I should not like to ask the old gent the 
 question, as I suspect his hopeful nephew was 
 sent away in disgrace. You evaded the 
 question," persisted Wooden. 
 
 "I did." 
 
 " Then you know where he is." 
 
 Lewis answered cautiously, "I have not 
 seen him for several weeks past ; the last 
 time we met I was in Mr. Lawton's counting- 
 room." 
 
 " There is a mystery about this sudden dis 
 appearance ; and I am sure you could solve 
 it if you would," said Nooden. 
 
 Lewis was silent. 
 
 " You are very close ; I suspect your lips 
 
TEMPTATION. 183 
 
 have been sealed with gold. ISTothing but a 
 diamond would unseal them. Let me try 
 the experiment. Here is a small diamond 
 pin which I wore when I was your age ; 
 come, tell me where Dick Moland is, and 
 wear the pin for my sake," and Nooden took 
 from his vest pocket a sparkling diamond pin 
 in plain setting, and offered it with a winning 
 smile. 
 
 " I never received a bribe in my life, and 
 never will," replied Lewis, indignantly. 
 
 " Only one just a small douceur. A nice 
 snug berth as Mr. Lawton's private secre 
 tary," remarked E"ooden, the smile which had 
 been a moment before on his lips suddenly 
 changing to a sarcastic grin. 
 
 Though smarting under the unjust accusa 
 tion, the young clerk was silent. Nooden 
 then turned back towards the city, and Lewis 
 hurried homeward, agitated and alarmed by 
 these repeated attacks from so dangerous a 
 foe. 
 
 Lewis expected to be summoned as a wit 
 ness at the trial of Phineas Shanby. For 
 some reasons, best known to Mr. Ferguson, 
 Shanby was only tried for highway robbery. 
 The evidence against him was so clear that he 
 
184: GET MONEY. 
 
 was pronounced guilty, and sentenced to ten 
 years' imprisonment in the State Prison. 
 
 Ten years out of the life of a young man ! 
 Ten years among vile, debased wretches ! 
 Ten years from twenty to thirty the best 
 part of a man's life for self improvement, and 
 for forming social and domestic ties ! Ten 
 years cut off from usefulness, sympathy, and 
 all " the sweet charities of life !" 
 
 To this terrible situation had the miserable 
 Shanby been reduced by his inordinate love 
 of money. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 NEWS FROM A WHALEE. 
 
 THE very next morning after Nooden's 
 second attack on Lewis, Mr. Lawton handed 
 him the following letter from Richard Mo- 
 land : 
 
 To Mr. Lewis Lenning, Boston, Mass. 
 
 Atlantic Ocean, 
 
 Mr DEAR FRIEND, for so I must call you, though we were 
 not much acquainted before I left home. I am no scholar, as 
 you are, and it is not an easy thing for me to write a letter ; 
 and, besides, I don't know when it will be sent, because 
 here I am in the midst of the ocean, no land in sight, and 
 no vessel either ; but our captain says we may speak a 
 homeward bound vessel and send this letter home. Home ! 
 oh, 'what a beautiful word that is ! The other night I was 
 on deck ; I had almost got over the dreadful sea-sickness 
 I had had all the while for ten days, and was feeling a great 
 deal better ; well, as I was saying, I lay on the deck look 
 ing up at the bright stars, when one of our sailors struck 
 up "Home, sweet home." I thought my heart would 
 16* 186 
 
186 GET MONET. 
 
 break ; I rolled over and over on the deck, and cried like a 
 baby. Yes, I did ; I couldn't help it. 
 
 But now I must tell you how kind our captain has been 
 to me. You know I went out for cabin-boy, to wait on 
 table, wash dishes, and other dirty work ; but our captain 
 took pity on me, and all through your means. 
 
 My uncle's letter, when he sent me off, was a short one, 
 just telling Captain Tarbox I was going to sea with him as 
 cabin-boy, and he must provide me with a good outfit and 
 see that I had plenty of books, and that the ship's library 
 was well provided for a long voyage with bibles and other 
 good books. Our captain, though he had but a short time 
 for it, did the thing up genteelly. So there was I, stripped 
 of the fine clothes I was so proud of, and rigged out in 
 sailor-fashion, red flannel shirt, tarpaulin hat, and pants 
 without suspenders. A droll figure I should have cut in 
 Washington street. I had no need of money, as uncle 
 Lawton said, for I was sent right aboard ship, and after 
 wards not allowed to go on shore. We were waiting in the 
 harbor for something, I don't know what, unless it was be 
 cause it was Friday, and sailors don't sail on that unlucky 
 day if they can help it. So I sat on deck and thought over 
 all I had done to you, and then I took out the dollar you 
 gave me, and wondered how you could be so kind. I don't 
 know what made me feel so, but my heart seemed to melt 
 right down. While I was thinking it all over, I drilled a 
 hole in the dollar, and putting my watch chain through it, 
 hung it around my neck, and then put away my watch in 
 my chest. Well, the very first time I waited on table, the 
 silver dollar slipped into sight through my flannel shirt- 
 bosom. Our captain saw it, and laughing, said, " What ! 
 do you love money so well that you string it round your 
 neck like an Indian ?" 
 
 That hurt me cruelly. Captain saw it did, for I couldn't 
 keep the tears out of my eyes. After dinner, when there 
 
NEWS FROM A WHALER. 187 
 
 was no one else in the cabin, he asked me what was the 
 matter, and I up and told him the whole story as well as 
 my blubbering would let me ; and when I came to that part 
 where I told him how kind you were to me after all the 
 harm I had done you, captain cried too, and said that you 
 must be a true Christian, for no person could forgive 
 another who had done him harm, and turn about and do 
 that one good, before the other had even been sorry for the 
 wrong, unless there was something in him besides human 
 nature. Of course I had to tell him how I had been 
 brought up, and never had been used to hard work, and 
 captain took pity on me and said I should be his clerk, and 
 there was another fellow on board who would be cabin-boy. 
 And when I thought this all over, I determined to read my 
 Bible and be a Christian too. I now ask your forgiveness, 
 and I am more sorry for the harm I did you than I can 
 tell. But I know you forgave me even before I asked it, 
 and I hope One above will forgive me too. You would be 
 shocked to hear what I do from day to day, horrid oaths 
 and curses. Oh, Lenning, it may be three years before I 
 reach home ! What an awful long time ! I am thankful 
 that I hav.e so little to do with the sailors. The captain 
 keeps me in the cabin ; I read to him when it is calm and 
 quiet, and am trying to improve myself. Seeing I was 
 reading the Bible, captain said I might read it to him some 
 times. We had heard it read in church, but neither of us 
 knew much about it. We like the New Testament best. 
 Our captain is a rough sailor, but he has a great big 
 heart. 
 
 Give my love to Uncle Lawton, and tell him the best 
 thing he could have done for me was to send me to sea. I 
 had such a silly love of dress, and such a craving for 
 money, that I don't know what would have been the end 
 of me if I had gone on the gallows I expect. Tell uncle 
 how sorry I am that I wronged you. I shall wear your 
 
188 GET MONEY. 
 
 dollar all the time I am at sea, and shall keep it always, 
 like the sailor I read about the other day in a piece of 
 poetry : 
 
 *' For though he often lacked a dinner, plain and hearty, 
 He never changed the coin and gift of Bonaparte." 
 
 Yours always, 
 
 RICHARD MOLAND. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE DOUBLE BIRTH-DAY. 
 
 IT was now the latter part of the peerless 
 month of June. The vicinity of Boston, that 
 Eden of the North, was arrayed in all the 
 loveliness which early summer bestows with a 
 lavish hand, to atone for the laggard spring. 
 Lottie was in ecstasies with " the beautiful," 
 and would have written poetry from " morn 
 till dewy eve," had she not been restrained 
 by her watchful and judicious mother. Lot 
 tie's mind and heart, however, were full of 
 " unwritten poetry " a rich fountain of joy 
 to the happy possessor. 
 
 It was the seventeenth birth-day of Lewis, 
 and the fifteenth of Lottie. They had ever 
 the pleasure of a mutual celebration. 
 
 To increase the pleasure of the little family 
 circle on this occasion, Mrs. Lenning's health 
 was greatly improved. Relief from pecuniary 
 
 189 
 
190 GET MONEY. 
 
 trouble, and an entire change of air, had 
 effected this beneficial change in the good 
 little lady's health. 
 
 " You must hasten home as rapidly as pos 
 sible this afternoon, Lewis ; you know we are 
 to have a birth-day celebration," said Mrs. 
 Lenning, as Lewis was about to leave for the 
 city in the morning. 
 
 " Shall I ask Mr. Lawton to let me leave 
 an hour earlier than usual ?" 
 
 " No, no, Lewis, my son ; I never wish you 
 to neglect duty for pleasure. Here is a trifle 
 I can spare for such an occasion ; buy Miss 
 Barrett's Poems for Lottie ; I wish her to 
 know what genuine modern poetry is she 
 will find nothing in these days equal to the 
 best efforts of Shakspeare, Milton, and my 
 lesser favorites, Thomson and Cowper : but I 
 consider Miss Barrett the first of lady-poets, 
 and Lottie has taste and sentiment enough to 
 enjoy her poetry. I cannot think of any plea 
 sure I could give you, Lewis, greater than to 
 bring your sister so choice a present, and none 
 that she would more highly prize." 
 
 " Excepting, of course, the Maiden's Grotto, 
 which I have fitted up for her in the garden, 
 for this very celebration !" 
 
 "Ah, Lewis! that reminds me of Miss Bar- 
 
THE DOUBLE BERTH-DAY. 1.91 
 
 rett's 'Lost Bower;' long may it be before 
 our darling Lottie shall say with Elizabeth, 
 
 ' I have lost oh ! many a pleasure 
 Many a hope and many a power 
 Studious health and merry leisure - 
 The first dew on the first flower!' " 
 
 "I join you most heartily in this birth-day 
 wish, dear mother," responded Lewis; u one 
 great charm of our Lottie is, her perfect sim 
 plicity ; she is not in the least missish ; she is 
 as earnest, unconscious, and child-like now, as 
 she was when we used to build tents in the 
 garden with bean-poles, and fit them up with 
 broken crockery. I only hope we may enjoy 
 the Maiden's Grotto as well as we did those 
 same rough tents. It is just half-past eight, 
 mother; good morning." 
 
 Lewis had discovered, at the lower part of 
 the garden, the ruins of a summer-house. 
 With much labor, and the aid of a few boards, 
 he had set it up anew. "With a great deal of 
 coaxing, he had induced a vine of Maiden's 
 Bower, which, from long familiarity with the 
 ground, had almost forgotten its climbing pro 
 pensities, to cover the rude structure with 
 leaves and flowers. 
 
 Polly had assisted Lewis in this labor of 
 
192 GET MONEY. 
 
 love, and, for her own amusement, had paved 
 the grotto with smooth white pebbles, and 
 then had placed in the centre a circle of conch- 
 shells, which displayed their delicate pink 
 shading as a pretty contrast. 
 
 These conch-shells had been given to Polly 
 by a sailor-lover of lang syne, and had been car 
 ried about for many a year in an old hair trunk. 
 Nothing short of the celebration of the " chil 
 dren's" birth-day would have drawn forth 
 these precious relics (as precious as the dried 
 rose-bud in the gilded, illustrated album of a 
 young lady), which Polly loaned for the occa 
 sion. 
 
 As Polly arranged them in the grotto, she 
 soliloquized : " I suppose Thomas has been 
 down in the deep, where these pretty critters 
 sleep, for many and many a year, or has forgot 
 his sorrowful dear." 
 
 Mrs. Lenning, willing to minister to Lottie's 
 love of the beautiful, had twined a wreath of 
 evergreens and roses, which Polly festooned 
 about the entrance of the grotto. 
 
 Lottie, meantime, had been detained in the 
 house, that she might have the pleasure of a 
 surprise. She, too, had been planning a sur 
 prise for her brother. She was anxious to 
 prove to him that she could be practical as 
 
THE DOUBLE BIRTH-DAT. 193 
 
 well as poetical. Lewis took a hasty lunch 
 every day in town, excepting Sunday ; on that 
 day no dinner was cooked at the Haunted 
 House so that Lewis lunched every day. 
 
 Lottie had sent to the Rev. John Scofield 
 four pieces of poetry, to be inserted in a mag 
 azine to which he was a contributor. She 
 modestly submitted them to the reverend gen 
 tleman, to be revised and corrected. In re 
 turn, he sent her praise, and encouragement in 
 the form of four dollars. 
 
 This was a profound secret between Mrs. 
 Lenning and Lottie. 
 
 A dinner was to be given to Lewis ; and 
 intense was the delight of Lottie when she 
 saw the grotto, for here would they dine the 
 practical and the poetical could be united. 
 
 Provoked and perplexed was Lewis Len 
 ning, when, as he was hurrying home, he was 
 joined by Josiah James Nooden. Lewis 
 walked as rapidly as possible. It was of no 
 avail ; Nooden's legs were longer, and his 
 determination strong not to be outwalked, 
 nor to be outwitted. 
 
 " You seem to avoid me, Lenning ?" said 
 the unwelcome intruder. " Why is it ; when 
 I am so desirous to cultivate your agreeable 
 17 
 
194 GET MONEY. 
 
 acquaintance? "Who has been so inhuman 
 as to prejudice you against me?" 
 
 " Excuse me, Mr. Wooden. I am in great 
 haste. I have a pressing engagement at home, 
 to-day." 
 
 "You do not answer my question. Who 
 has prejudiced you against me?" somewhat 
 fiercely demanded Nooden. 
 
 " I do not allow myself to be prejudiced," 
 was the brief reply. 
 
 "Then who has attempted it?" still more 
 fiercely asked the persecutor. 
 
 " Indeed, sir, you are very suspicious. Ex 
 cuse me, I am in a tremendous hurry ;" and 
 as Lewis said this, he started on a full run. 
 
 "This is fine exercise," said the persistent 
 Mr. Nooden, as he ran side by side with 
 Lewis. 
 
 When they reached the corner where Lottie 
 usually met her brother, Lewis stopped. "In 
 deed, Mr. Nooden, I must bid you good after 
 noon." 
 
 Not in the least daunted or discouraged, 
 Nooden replied, "I hear you live in a haunted 
 house, and I have a curiosity to see it. I will 
 go home with you." 
 
 Lewis hurried on without another word, till 
 
THE DOUBLE BIKTH-DAY. 195 
 
 they came to the gate, then he stopped out 
 side, saying, " this is my home, a humble 
 one, as you perceive ; no longer haunted, since 
 the money for which it was haunted has been 
 all removed." 
 
 " Indeed ! How was that ? I saw some 
 thing about it in the papers at the time, but 
 never heard the particulars." As ISTooden 
 said this, he opened 'the gate, nodded gra 
 ciously to Lewis to enter, and then followed 
 him to the door. The disconcerted Lewis 
 was obliged to ask the obtrusive guest to walk 
 in to the dining-room. No one was there. 
 Lewis hastened to his mother's room. That 
 was deserted. He went to the kitchen. As 
 soon as he opened the door, Polly, who was 
 busy with the dinner, exclaimed, " Not here 
 not here. Go to the grotto." 
 
 Polly was not usually so brief. 
 
 Lewis ran down to the foot of the garden, 
 and there, sure enough, were his mother and 
 sister seated at a table, already spread for 
 dinner. 
 
 -""Will you dine with me to-day?" said 
 Lottie, j umping up to meet her brother. 
 
 u How provoking !" exclaimed Lewis, an 
 grily ; " that abominable Nooden followed me 
 home, and is now in the dining-room." 
 
196 GET MONEY. 
 
 " You look heated and irritated. "Who has 
 disturbed your usual serenity 1" inquired Mrs. 
 Lenning. 
 
 "One of his fellow-clerks, against whom 
 Lewis has conceited a strange prejudice one 
 of the handsomest men I ever saw," quickly 
 replied Lottie. 
 
 "Then we must invite him to dinner," said 
 Mrs. Lenning. 
 
 " How intolerably provoking ?" muttered 
 Lewis. 
 
 " Hush ! hush !" exclaimed Lottie, for at 
 that moment she saw the uninvited guest 
 coming down the garden- walk to the grotto. 
 
 Lewis turned and stood dumb with astonish 
 ment at the fellow's impertinent intrusion. 
 Nooden, in the most nonchalant manner, bowed 
 to the ladies, saying, " As Lenning seems too 
 much embarrassed to introduce me to his 
 mother and sister, I must name myself Mr. 
 Nooden, at your service, ladies." 
 
 His assurance was not "modest" assurance; 
 but his manner was civil, and Mrs. Lenning 
 politely invited him to take a seat at table. 
 
 It so happened that Polly had arranged the 
 table for four persons, saying she liked to have 
 things "fair and square." Perhaps Polly 
 remembered the absent parent, and knew it 
 
THE DOUBLE BIRTH-DAT. 197 
 
 would be understood as a delicate compliment 
 to him. At all events, there was a seat for 
 Mr. Nooden, and he took it with great com 
 placency. 
 
 " Sit down, Lewis, my son ; it is not usual 
 to be seated at table before dinner is served, 
 but we are dining in an extraordinary way 
 to-day ; it is my children's birthday, sir," 
 said Mrs. Lenning addressing Nooden in her 
 own pleasant, polite manner. 
 
 Lewis looked as though he could bite "a 
 ten-penny nail," or anything else that came 
 in his way, and saying, " I must first go and 
 cool myself," hastily left the grotto. 
 
 As soon as Lewis was out of hearing, Woo 
 den, who had laid aside hat and gloves, and 
 seated himself at table, with an air of extreme 
 complacency, addressed Lottie : 
 
 " Please tell me, Miss Lenning, why this is 
 called the Haunted House." 
 
 Lottie briefly told the story of the miser, 
 and concluded by saying, "It has been haunted 
 by the worst kind of spirits robbers." 
 ' " Robbers ! By Jupiter ! I hope you have 
 suffered no such molestation." 
 
 The answer which Lottie was about to give 
 was interrupted by the return of Lewis, fol 
 lowed by Polly, who placed on the table a 
 17* 
 
198 GET MONEY. 
 
 fine quarter of larnb, arid then returned for a 
 boiled chicken, and then for green peas and 
 other vegetables. A good cook was Polly, 
 and a relishing dinner it was, in spite of the 
 bitter sauce of an unwelcome guest. The 
 guest, however, did his part valiantly as a 
 trencherman, besides carving, with many su 
 perfluous flourishes, and urging the ladies to 
 have their plates replenished, in the most 
 officious manner, as though he, Josiah James 
 ISTooden, were master of the feast. He was 
 chief spokesman, too ; for Lewis was silent, 
 and, for the first time in his life, sullen. Mrs. 
 Lenning, who eminently possessed that " cha 
 rity which thinketh no evil," was a polite, 
 attentive listener. Lottie, the fervent lover 
 of beauty, could not help admiring the hand 
 some Mr. Wooden. 
 
 There was a narrow wooden seat on one side 
 of the summer-house. On it was now lying 
 the very hatchet left by the burglars ! It had 
 been used by Polly, that morning, in fasten 
 ing up the wreath of evergreens and roses. 
 The eyes of ISTooden rested on the hatchet sev 
 eral times during dinner. When the dessert 
 of delicious strawberries and cream had been 
 keenly enjoyed by the obtrusive Nooden, he 
 started up, and seizing the hatchet, exclaimed, 
 
THE DOUBLE BIETH-DAY. 199 
 
 " By Mars ! I had a hatchet precisely like this 
 two years ago. It has been missing all that 
 time." 
 
 " It was left by one of the robbers," said 
 Lottie. 
 
 "By one of the robbers!" exclaimed 
 Nooden. " The villain stole it from me. I 
 suppose, Lenning, you have noticed the ini 
 tials, burnt in upon the handle, J. J. N." 
 
 " Never," replied Lewis (much to the sur 
 prise of Nooden) ; " the hatchet was put away 
 with the saw and lantern, the morning after 
 the house was entered, and I have never seen 
 it since, till this moment." 
 
 Polly, who was engaged in removing the 
 dishes from the table, broke in with the re 
 mark, " I brought down the hatchet, and can 
 bring the gentleman the saw and lantern, if 
 they, too, belong to him." 
 
 " Woman, what do you mean ?" demanded 
 Nooden, fiercely. 
 
 " Only, if the rogues used your hatchet, 1 
 didn't know but they might have used your 
 other weapons" replied Polly, with the utmost 
 coolness, staring at the stranger. 
 
 "Your servant is very impertinent," said 
 Nooden, as Polly walked away. 
 
 " She does not intend to be so, I am sure," 
 
200 GET MONEY. 
 
 said Mrs. Lenning ; u she is out-spoken, but 
 always intends to be civil." 
 
 " I will reclaim this waif, if you have no 
 objection. If I can discover who stole it from 
 me, it will be a clue to the detection of the 
 housebreakers." So saying, Nooden placed 
 the hatchet inside his coat, and buttoned the 
 coat tightly over it. 
 
 " I remember, now, the man who handed 
 out the hatchet was named Jem, and wore a 
 large light overcoat and a slouched hat," said 
 Lewis, who had been recalling the scene in 
 the kitchen the night of the burglary. 
 
 " Didn't you see his face ?" asked Wooden, 
 looking steadily at Lewis. 
 
 " I did not ; it was quite concealed by the 
 hat, and a handkerchief tied over the chin and 
 mouth," replied Lewis, coolly returning the 
 steady gaze of JSTooden. 
 
 " Mr. Ferguson offered a large reward for the 
 detection of the burglars ; not one of them has 
 yet been discovered," continued Nooden. " I 
 have my suspicion, and may be lucky enough 
 to obtain the thousand dollars, for I have seen 
 the fellow about lately, who, I think, stole 
 this hatchet. He belongs to a desperate gang 
 of thieves and housebreakers." 
 
 Lewis still kept his eye steadily fixed on 
 
THE DOUBLE BIRTH-DAT. 201 
 
 Kooden, who met the intense gaze without 
 flinching, and thus dispelled a suspicion which 
 had arisen in the mind of Lewis. 
 
 Soon after, Wooden took leave, saying, " I 
 thank you, ladies, for this charming rural en 
 tertainment. I never ruralized more delight 
 fully in my life. In return, I must beg the 
 pleasure of being your cicerone to some of the 
 lions of our far-famed city." 
 
 " Thank you, sir," said Mrs. Lenning, " I 
 never go to the city ; but Charlotte and her 
 brother may accept your polite invitation." 
 
 Lewis could scarcely restrain a growl of dis 
 pleasure at Nooden's unparalleled assurance. 
 
 " One rose, as a souvenir of this delightful 
 day," said Wooden, taking a rose from a bou 
 quet on the table. 
 
 " Oh ! take the whole, if you please," said 
 Lottie. 
 
 Nooden went off with the bouquet in his 
 hand, casting a triumphant glance at the an 
 gry Lewis. 
 
 "Isn't he the handsomest man you. ever 
 saw, mother," eagerly asked Lottie. 
 
 " !N"o, my daughter ; there is a want of that 
 spiritual beauty in his countenance, which I 
 have seen in some otherwise quite plain faces. 
 This young man has handsome features, but, 
 
202 GET MONEY. 
 
 as he left us, I fancied I saw something almost 
 diabolical in his expression. It made me shud 
 der, as though I had suddenly seen a beautiful 
 venomous serpent." 
 
 " And such, I have no doubt, he is," quickly 
 replied Lewis ; " but do not let us allow that 
 obtrusive fellow to destroy all our pleasure 
 to-day. How kind it was in you, mother, to 
 provide this entertainment." 
 
 " It was Lottie's fete. She wished to show 
 you that poetry does not soar so far above 
 sublunary things as you suppose. I will spare 
 her modesty, and leave the explanation for 
 another time," playfully replied Mrs. Lenning. 
 
 " Here, sister, mine," said Lewis, " are two 
 volumes of Elizabeth Barrett Barrett's poems, 
 mother's * gift ; and here is a volume of Fos 
 ter's Essays, from me." 
 
 " Oh ! you would foster Decision of Charac 
 ter in Lottie. Excuse the wretched pun," 
 said Mrs. Lenning ; " your sister would in 
 crease your poetical taste and good sense at 
 the same time, and gives you this copy of 
 Shakspeare's plays, in one volume. . And here 
 is Polly's gift a purse for you, Lewis, which 
 she has knitted ; it looks more like a cabbage- 
 net than a purse, it is so immensely large ; yet 
 it shows her bountiful kindness." 
 
THE DOUBLE BIKTH-DAY. 203 
 
 "It is prophetic, I trust, that I shall get 
 money enough to fill it," remarked Lewis, as 
 he put his whole hand into the capacious 
 green silk purse. 
 
 The sun was now sinking below the horizon, 
 and after singing together the Evening Hymn, 
 the family adjourned to the house, and passed 
 a pleasant evening in reading Miss Barrett's 
 poems 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 HANDWRITING. 
 
 ONE morning, soon after the birth-day, 
 Lewis was alone in the counting-room, Mr. 
 Lawton having gone on an excursion to Na- 
 hant. 
 
 Busily occupied in copying letters which 
 had been left as his task for the day, Lewis 
 was not a little provoked to be interrupted by 
 his tormentor, Josiah James Nooden. 
 
 " How dy'e do, Lenning ? haven't seen you 
 to say a word since our charming rural fete. 
 How is that pretty sister of yours ?" 
 
 " I am particularly engaged," said Lewis. 
 
 " Yes ; I see you are copying some of the 
 old gent's prosy letters ; dull work it must 
 be." 
 
 Lewis was standing by a high desk which 
 had been placed there expressly for his 
 use. Kooden looked over his shoulder and 
 
HANDWRITING. 205 
 
 exclaimed, " By Jupiter ! you write a capital 
 band, so much like the old gent's, that he 
 w^ould not himself know the difference." 
 
 This was a weak point with Lewis. He 
 \va.s proud of his clear, handsome writing. 
 While copying the letters of Mr. Lawton in a 
 letter-book, he had unconsciously imitated the 
 writing, and was pleased with the resem 
 blance. 
 
 " ~No wonder Mr. Lawton keeps you busy 
 in this way ; there's not a clerk in the house 
 who writes as well as you do. Just let me see 
 your signature? Here is a bit of paper," said 
 Kooden, "just write your own name." 
 
 Lewis wrote his name with apparent plea 
 sure. 
 
 " I shall keep your autograph," said Woo 
 den, tearing off a slip of the paper. "Now 
 write Moses Lawton I wish to see how very 
 much your writing resembles his." 
 
 Lewis swallowed the sweet bait of flattery, 
 and w r rote the name of the merchant, as re 
 quested, adding his own peculiar flourish be 
 neath it. 
 
 Nooden said, "It does not resemble Mr. 
 Lawton's signature as much as I thought it 
 did," and crumpled up the paper in his hand. 
 
 He then wrote his own name in a cramped, 
 18 
 
206 GET MONET. 
 
 almost illegible hand, and said, " there is my 
 autograph, take it, in exchange for your own. 
 I would give a thousand dollars to write as 
 well as you do. How long will the old gent 
 be out of town ?" 
 
 " He is expected home next week," replied 
 Lewis. 
 
 "I shall be off to-morrow. I have leave 
 of absence for a month. Good-bye, Lenning. 
 Make my compliments to your mother and 
 sister. I am sorry I cannot call on them be 
 fore ,1 leave town." 
 
 * # * * * # # 
 
 Anna Ferguson became a frequent visitor 
 at the Haunted House for so we must still 
 call it ; a difficult matter it is to get rid of 
 a bad name. The influence exerted on the 
 young girl, who was a year younger than 
 Lottie, was so perceptible, that Mr. Ferguson 
 begged Mrs. Lenning to give Anna instruction 
 with her daughter, offering the same sum, one 
 hundred and fifty dollars a year, which he 
 had been giving in Boston. Mrs. Lenning 
 gladly consented, for this arrangement not 
 only added materially to their limited income, 
 but also afforded Lottie a pleasant companion 
 in some of her studies. 
 
 This was one of the wisest things Mr. Fer- 
 
HANDWRITING. 207 
 
 guson ever did in his life. His motives for it 
 were hidden in the depths of his own world- 
 worn heart ; whatever they were, Anna richly 
 reaped the benefit. She saw less of her bro 
 ther, with whom she had previously walked 
 daily to and from town, and became more 
 and more removed from his influence as she 
 imbibed right principles from Mrs. Lenning, 
 and became devotedly attached to Lottie. 
 
 July and August passed away, September 
 came and Nooden had not returned. Many 
 inquiries were made for the absent clerk, by 
 tailors, boot-makers, shop-keepers, etc., who 
 presented their bills in vain to Mr. Lawton, 
 who had paid ISTooden in full, at the end of 
 the last quarter. 
 
 When all expectation of his return was 
 given up, Mr. Lawton remarked, "I am glad 
 I have been saved the trouble of dismiss 
 ing the fellow. Lenning, I think you might 
 take his place ; your salary for the next quar 
 ter, beginning in November, would then be 
 larger." 
 
 " Thank you, sir ; if you think I am capable 
 of filling the place, I should be glad to do so ; 
 and yet, sir, I should be sorry to leave my 
 desk in your office." 
 
 " You will learn more of business than to 
 
208 GET MONEY. 
 
 be employed as you now are. By tlie way, 
 there is some mistake in my bank account. 
 Here are some checks, run them over and 
 see what they amount to, while I examine 
 the margin of my check-book, where the 
 amount of every check I have given is set 
 down." 
 
 "The checks amount to fifteen thousand 
 three hundred and forty-five dollars and fifty 
 cents," said Lewis. 
 
 "And I have only given checks for fifteen 
 thousand and forty-five dollars, fifty cents, 
 as the margin shows." 
 
 " Have you given none but printed checks, 
 sir?" 
 
 " Not one." 
 
 " Then, here is the mistake ; a written 
 check for three hundred dollars," said Lewis. 
 
 "I never gave that check. It is not my 
 signature. It is a forgery." 
 
 Lewis trembled from head to foot, and grew 
 pale as death. 
 
 Mr. Lawton looked sternly at him, and 
 said, " Lewis Lenning, that is your own flourish 
 beneath the signature." 
 
 "It is," replied Lewis, almost suffocated 
 with the violence of his emotions. 
 
 " Have I been deceived in you ? It can- 
 
HANDWRITING. 209 
 
 not be ! Tell me how this happened," sternly 
 demanded Mr. Lawton. 
 
 "Through my own vanity and folly." 
 Lewis then related to Mr. Lawton his inter 
 view with Nooden, and how he had, at Noo- 
 den's request, written the name of Moses 
 Lawton and added his own peculiar flourish. 
 
 The note was dated three days in advance 
 of the time when Lewis remembered to have 
 written the name, the very day Mr. Lawton 
 left for Nahant. 
 
 u I will go immediately to the bank and in 
 quire who presented the check," said Mr. 
 Lawton. 
 
 Mr. Lawton soon returned. 
 
 " It is well for you, Lenning, that your 
 character sustains you under these trying cir 
 cumstances. Nooden presented the check ; 
 the teller examined it suspiciously, as I am 
 accustomed always to send printed checks ; 
 but Nooden told him I was going out of town 
 in haste, and had stepped into a restaurant 
 and written the check, just as I was about 
 leaving for Nahant. JSTooden added, he was 
 himself going out of town immediately, and 
 needed the money. Knowing him to be 
 one of my clerks, the story being plausible 
 and the sum not large, it was paid to him, 
 18* 
 
210 GET MONET. 
 
 and the villain left the same day. The teller 
 remembered the circumstances perfectly." 
 
 " Can you ever trust me after this ?" said 
 Lewis, while the expression of intense agony 
 on his countenance was enough to touch a 
 harder heart than that of Mr. Lawton. 
 
 " I can trust you, Lenning ; but let it be a 
 warning to you henceforth not to tamper 
 with other persons' names. Never leave your 
 own name scribbled on blank paper ; it may 
 be used for a bad purpose. I am sure, if you 
 had intended to counterfeit my signature, you 
 would never have placed your own peculiar 
 flourish under it." 
 
 " But, sir, you have lost three hundred 
 dollars through my means. I will work for 
 you till it is paid, if my life is spared. Take 
 a portion of my salary from year to year, till 
 it is all paid." 
 
 "No,- Lenning; I have lost it only indi 
 rectly through your means, and cannot ac 
 cept your honest offer. The villain has es 
 caped. I ought not to have retained him in 
 my counting-room after I had lost confidence 
 in him." 
 
 Mr. Lawton now went to Nooden's desk 
 with Lewis ; it was locked, and the keys 
 of the other desks in the counting-room 
 
HANDWRITING. 211 
 
 would not fit the lock. Mr. Lawton ordered 
 it to be broken open. There was the hatchet 
 with the initials J. J. !N". ; there was the veri 
 table slouched hat and the large Madras 
 handkerchief. Among the papers left, which 
 consisted mostly of unpaid bills, were several 
 slips of paper on which were written precisely 
 the same words, letter for letter and figure for 
 figure, as were on the forged check. Evi 
 dently Nooden had been practising on these 
 before he succeeded to his satisfaction in mak 
 ing out the check. 
 
 " I have something of importance to say to 
 you," said Lewis, in a whisper to Mr. Law- 
 ton. 
 
 When they were together in the inner 
 counting-room, Lewis begged Mr. Lawton, as 
 a special favor, to go home with him to Kox- 
 bury and take the contents of Nooden's desk 
 with him. 
 
 Mr. Lawton's carriage was at the door, and 
 without further questioning he consented to 
 the singular request. Mr. Lawton had never 
 seen Mrs. Lenning and her daughter, and 
 could not conjecture the object of his expe 
 dition. 
 
 "When they arrived at the Haunted House, 
 Lewis knocked at the door, and then showed 
 
212 GET MONEY. 
 
 Mr. Lawton to the dining-room. Mrs. Len- 
 niog was engaged in her own room with 
 Lottie and Anna Ferguson. 
 
 Polly appeared from the kitchen. Lewis, 
 in the presence of Mr. Lawton, said, " Polly, 
 please bring in the things you will find on 
 the front seat of that carriage." 
 
 Polly did as she was requested ; and as she 
 laid them on the table, exclaimed, " I declare 
 if here isn't the burglar's hatchet come back 
 again. I knew that mighty pretty man wasn't 
 what he ought to be. And the very old hat 
 and bright handkerchief he wore that night ! 
 I saw them as plain as I do this very minute, 
 when I held up the light at the window. I 
 thought I knew his sneaking black eyes the 
 other day, though they didn't look as wild as 
 they did that night." 
 
 " How, and when was that ?" asked Mr. 
 Lawton. 
 
 Polly told the story in her own amusing 
 way, but very clearly and satisfactorily ; and 
 ended by saying, " Hearts may be stout, and 
 villains may flout, but murder will out." 
 
 Not a doubt was left on Mr. Lawton's mind 
 that the owner of the hatchet and the bur 
 glar called Jem were one and the same person, 
 namely Josiah James Nooden. 
 
HANDWRITING. 213 
 
 " To his other crimes," said Mr. Lawton, 
 "he has now, in effect, added that of forgery. 
 I have no doubt, my poor boy, the villain in 
 tended to fix this crime upon you. God be 
 thanked, you have escaped his vile machina 
 tions. You see what it is to have a character 
 above suspicion. It was a bright thought of 
 yours to bring me here to gain the unsolicited 
 testimony of your queer domestic. It will 
 be prudent not to mention the forged check 
 at present, to any one. We will wait till we 
 hear something of the absconding Kooden's 
 whereabouts, and then have him apprehended 
 for burglary. I will take back with me the 
 burglar's regimentals, and keep them till they 
 are needed on his trial." 
 
 Mr. Lawton now requested an introduction 
 to Mrs. Lenning and Charlotte. The inter 
 view was mutually pleasing. 
 
 Mr. Lawton spoke in terms of warm com 
 mendation of the conduct of Lewis, and 
 highly approved of his residing out of the 
 city. 
 
 On their return to the counting-room, va 
 rious were the surmises of the clerks when 
 they saw Lewis taking possession of Nooden's 
 desk ; but no one ventured to ask any ques 
 tions about it. 
 
214: GET MONEY. 
 
 Nooden was not to receive the punishment 
 of his crimes which the law of the land would 
 have awarded ; he was suddenly summoned 
 to a higher tribunal. 
 
 A paragraph in a Southern newspaper stated 
 that a young man from the North, who called 
 himself AUGUSTUS LENNING, but whose real 
 name, from papers found about his person, 
 was Josiah James Nooden, was stabbed in an 
 affray at a coffee-house in New Orleans, and 
 died instantly. 
 
CHAPTER XXIY. 
 
 A HASTY EJECTMENT. 
 
 WHEN will you be ready for college ?" asked 
 Mr. Ferguson of his hopeful son, as they 
 were one day walking into town together. 
 
 " College ! I don't intend to go to college," 
 was the unexpected reply. 
 
 " Not intend to go to college ! what do you 
 mean to do for a living ?" asked Mr. Ferguson. 
 
 " For a living ! Now, father, you are jok 
 ing. I can afford to be a gentleman." 
 
 " I expect you to be a gentleman, of course; 
 and that is one reason why you must go to 
 college. After you are graduated, I intend 
 to have you study law," said Mr. Ferguson, 
 assuming an authoritative manner. 
 
 " Study, I hate study. As for being pre 
 pared for college, I am not now, and never 
 shall be," replied the younger Ferguson. 
 
 " Yes, you shall. I shall see Mr. Marshall, 
 
 215 
 
216 GET MONEY. 
 
 and tell him he must prepare to enter you 
 next year," continued the father, in a very 
 decided tone. 
 
 " How ridiculous it would be to enter 
 Freshman ; I should be an old fogy in col 
 lege before I got my sheep-skin." 
 
 " You've got sheep-skin already, over your 
 sheep's brains," exclaimed Mr. Ferguson, 
 angrily. 
 
 " I suppose I inherited them," was the 
 saucy reply. 
 
 " None of your impudence to me ; do you 
 know who you are talking to ?" 
 
 " Yes, the governor." 
 
 " Saucebox ! If I wiere not in the street I 
 would lay my ratan over your shoulders. 
 You wouldn't dare to talk to me in this man 
 ner if we were within doors." 
 
 Morris drew up his slender figure to its full 
 height five feet eleven and cast a look of 
 sovereign contempt at his father, which 
 plainly implied, "Talk to me of a ratan! 
 You wouldn't dare to touch me with it." 
 
 " Come now, Morris, be rational," con 
 tinued the father, soothingly ; " you really 
 ought to go to college. It would be disgrace 
 ful for a rich man, as you will be, not to have 
 been through college." 
 
A HASTY EJECTMENT. 217 
 
 " Disgrace or no disgrace, I shall not go to 
 college," muttered this specimen of the species 
 "Young America." 
 
 Mr. Ferguson either did not hear this last 
 remark, or else he chose to ignore it ; for he 
 continued, " I am going to Mr. Marshall to 
 tell him you must be prepared to enter Har 
 vard as soon as possible." 
 
 " Mr. Marshall will be in school by this 
 time," said Morrison. 
 
 " Never mind that ; I will see him at any 
 rate." 
 
 They were now near Mr. Marshall's school. 
 Morrison started off on a full run, and passed 
 by the door, his father calling after him in 
 vain. 
 
 It wanted a few minutes of the hour for 
 commencing school. Mr. Ferguson demanded 
 an interview with the master. 
 
 Mr. Ferguson inquired when his son would 
 be fit to enter college. 
 
 " I know nothing of Morrison Ferguson at pre 
 sent, not having seen him for six weeks past." 
 
 -" "Not seen him ! He has been in town 
 regularly to school," replied the amazed 
 father. 
 
 " Not to school. He took away all his 
 books, saying you were dissatisfied and he 
 19 
 
218 GET MONEY. 
 
 should not finish the term. I only waited for 
 the end of the term to send in my bill," said 
 Mr. Marshall, coolly. 
 
 " Why did you not inform me of this, Mr. 
 Marshall ? it was your duty, sir." 
 
 Mr. Marshall replied gravely, "I sent his 
 school reports to you every week, and besides 
 have written several notes to inform you of his 
 misconduct, which you never answered. It was 
 only to-day that one of my scholars bought a 
 Latin Dictionary, with Morrison's name in it, 
 at a second-hand book-store. I supposed he 
 had given up his studies." 
 
 Mr. Ferguson was about to say, he had 
 never received the notes, but checking him 
 self, bade Mr. Marshall a hasty good morning. 
 
 Having important business matters claiming 
 immediate attention, the broker hastened to 
 his office, and was soon immersed in the 
 money-making pursuit, to which he was de 
 voted body and soul, entirely forgetful, for 
 many hours, of his son's delinquency. 
 
 On his way home, after the business of the 
 day was over, Mr. Ferguson pondered over 
 his son's misconduct, and determined to ques 
 tion Morrison closely with regard to the dis 
 posal he had made of his time and his ill-gotten 
 money. Morris had returned home before 
 
A HASTY EJECTMENT. 219 
 
 his father. When Mr. Ferguson entered the 
 parlor, the unabashed boy was amusing him 
 self with feeding a tame squirrel, whose tin- 
 house, with its tread-mill, he had brought into 
 that handsome apartment, and the nuts with 
 which he was regaling his pet, were scattered 
 over the rich carpet. 
 
 Mr. Ferguson's anger was aroused by the 
 self-complacent air of the truant, and his friv 
 olous amusement. 
 
 "You contemptible loafer," he exclaimed, 
 " is this what you have been purchasing from 
 the sale of your school-books ?" and giving the 
 tin house a violent kick, he sent it across the 
 room. "Tell me what else you have been 
 doing with your time and money?" he con 
 tinued, in a voice hoarse with violent passion. 
 
 Morrison was sulky and made no answer. 
 
 " Go back to school, and ask Mr. Marshall's 
 pardon, and if he will receive you, go on 
 with your studies." 
 
 Still no answer. 
 
 " Tell me, will you go back to school ?" 
 aga'in demanded the father. 
 
 " No," growled out Morris. 
 
 Mr. Ferguson, in a rage, seized Morris by 
 the arm, and the ratan with which he had 
 threatened the boy in the morning, being in 
 
220 GET MONET. 
 
 his other hand, he gave the culprit a severe 
 flogging, which was returned by Morrison 
 with repeated blows on his father's face and 
 breast. 
 
 " Xow, you may go, and take care of your 
 self. I have done with you go, and begin 
 life as I did, without a dollar." 
 
 Saying this, Mr. Ferguson led his son by 
 force to the front door, shoved him out, and 
 closed it upon him. 
 
 The boy had no mother to plead for him. 
 
CHAPTER XXY. 
 
 A PLEASANT VACATION. 
 
 MOKE than a year had passed since the Len- 
 ning family had lived at the Haunted House. 
 
 It was now the beginning of July, and the 
 Rev. John Scofield had invited them to come 
 and pass that month in his house, at Water- 
 ville. 
 
 Lewis had been so constantly and so dili 
 gently occupied, that Mr. Lawton cheerfully 
 gave him a month's vacation. Not that work 
 was toilsome drudgery to Lewis Lenning. Far 
 from it ; he found pleasure in his work. Every 
 day, during spring, summer, and autumn, he 
 had something to do in his garden ; and amply 
 did' that garden repay him for the labor. It 
 contributed largely to the supply of the table ; 
 its neatness and freshness of verdure gave a 
 cheerful air to the house, but more than all, 
 
 the exercise of gardening was exceedingly 
 19* 221 
 
222 GET MONEY. 
 
 beneficial to Lewis. He was now tall, well 
 formed, and vigorous in body and mind. 
 
 In the counting-room, or with Mr. Lawton, 
 each day furnished some new subject of in 
 terest. The zeal and enthusiasm with which 
 the clerk entered into the business of his em 
 ployer afforded mutual satisfaction. It was 
 in the nature of Lewis to do everything heart 
 ily. Well was it for him that in the position 
 in which Providence had placed him, he 
 could do all required of him, without stretch 
 ing an enlightened conscience. 
 
 Lewis had not, during the year, neglected 
 his studies. He had acquired a good know 
 ledge of French and Spanish, and had read 
 much, and profitably. The responsibility de 
 volving on him as, in one sense, the head of 
 the family, had matured his character, and 
 given him that true manliness which is seldom 
 found in a boy of eighteen. Lewis was not 
 the fast boy not the precocious boy, but 
 the modest, unassuming, manly boy, who felt 
 himself to be the protector of his mother and 
 sister. 
 
 It was a great pleasure to the whole family, 
 Polly Potts included, to pay the visit at Wa- 
 terville. They there met with a most cordial 
 welcome. Idelette Scofield was as bright and 
 
A PLEASANT VACATION, 223 
 
 as lively as ever. Mr. Ernest Scofield had 
 emerged from the chrysalis state of a Sopho 
 more, and was about to expand the soaring 
 wings of a Senior. He had become more 
 learned, and, of course, less pedantic more 
 wise, and, of course, more modest. 
 
 During the visit, however, Mrs. Lenning 
 met with an irreparable loss. 
 
 Polly, who was passing her time in the 
 country with one of her ancient cronies, came 
 one day to Mrs. Lenning with a half-rueful, 
 half-comical countenance, and stood silent 
 before her mistress, untying and tying her 
 bonnet-strings, and pulling off and on her 
 white cotton gloves with sudden jerks. 
 
 " What is the matter, Polly ?" inquired 
 Mrs. Lenning. 
 
 " Why, Miss Lenning, I am going to do a 
 very foolish thing," said Polly, with a half- 
 suppressed giggle. 
 
 " It is strange that you should do it, know 
 ing it to be foolish. What is it?" asked Mrs. 
 Lenning, in an encouraging tone. 
 
 '"I am going to leave you not going back 
 with you," answered Polly, with another giggle. 
 
 " That is very foolish. I am sorry to hear 
 it. What can we do without you ?" asked the 
 mistress. 
 
224 GET MONET. 
 
 " I don't know ; it worries me dreffutty to 
 think of it. I'm in a flurry and a worry all 
 the time ; but Tom says it must be, and so 
 you see I must yield to the powers that be." 
 
 " Is Tom your brother ?" 
 
 " Oh, no !" exclaimed Polly, spreading her 
 ample hands over her red face, and giggling 
 behind them. " Oh, no ! Tom is my old sailor 
 ly*?/', come back from furren parts, as true 
 as steel ; and he says I promised once to 
 marry him, and he holds me to my promise. 
 You see, inarm, ' the patient waiter is no loser.' 
 I've waited twenty years for Tom, and in all 
 that time, even when I thought him down in 
 the deep, in his last sleep, among the conch- 
 shells, I never stopped caring for him, above 
 all others." 
 
 " "When are you to be married, Polly ?" 
 
 " Day after to-morrow, marm. That is, if 
 if" 
 
 "So soon! Well, Polly," kindly replied 
 Mrs. Lenning, " you have been a faithful friend 
 to me and mine. I grieve to part with you ; 
 and yet, if it is for your happiness, I must sub 
 mit to the loss of your valuable services." 
 
 " That's the only drop of wormwood in the 
 full tumbler of my joy," said Polly, wiping 
 her moistened eyes with the white gloves. 
 
A PLEASANT VACATION. 225 
 
 " Don't allow that to embitter your cup of 
 happiness, my good Polly. Is there anything 
 I can do for you ?" 
 
 " Yes, marm. Tom is rather bashful, and 
 seeing he was never married before, don't like 
 to ask the minister. If you would just ask 
 Mr. Scofield to do the job for us, here's the 
 money a five dollar piece to pay for it. Tom 
 said it was too little to pay for a wife, when 
 she was worth more than all the world to 
 him ; but he has met with misfortunes in his 
 day, and is not as well to do as might be," 
 said Polly, taking the money out of one of her 
 white gloves. 
 
 "It is a very handsome marriage fee. It 
 will be time to give the minister the money 
 after the marriage. Where is it to take 
 place ?" 
 
 " In the church, if Mr. Scofield is willing ; 
 but I don't want the young people to go, for 
 though it's a very serious matter to us, I'm 
 afraid they'd see it in a funny kind of a light, 
 I being well on towards forty-five, and Tom 
 being rather weather-beaten. You know, Miss 
 Idy does like to laugh and skit at folks, and 
 I'm afraid it would hurt Tom's tender feel- 
 ings." 
 
 " They shall not trouble you, Polly. I hope 
 
226 GET MONEY. 
 
 you have no objections to my being present 
 on the occasion," suggested Mrs. Lenning. 
 
 "Thank you, Miss Lenning; it's just the 
 brightest, politest thing you could do. I didn't 
 dare to ask such a great honor. I must go now." 
 
 " Take this five-dollar piece to buy you a 
 wedding-bonnet," said Mrs. Lenning, endea 
 voring to place the money in Polly's hand, as 
 she cordially grasped it. 
 
 "Not a red cent of it!" said Polly, let 
 ting the gold piece drop upon the floor. " I 
 know you can't afford it, now I shan't be 
 there. Likely as not you'll get somebody in 
 your kitchen who will make you feel that a 
 * lavish waste makes a woeful want.' Good 
 bye, and say good-bye for me to Mr. Lewis 
 and Miss Lottie. They will have the blessing 
 from above, that always falls on dutiful chil 
 dren like dew on the posies." 
 
 The young people, when informed of this 
 affair, were exceedingly amused ; but, far 
 from making it a mere matter of sport, they 
 immediately went to work and provided Polly 
 with a silk of silver-grey, a white bonnet, 
 and, indeed, a complete bridal suit. They 
 sent the parcel, the morning before the mar 
 riage, " to Miss Polly Potts," with the follow 
 ing note, written by Idelette : 
 
A PLEASANT VACATION. 227 
 
 A sailor wandered far and wide, 
 
 O'er land and stormy sea, 
 And then came home to claim his bride 
 
 A happy man was he. 
 
 For Polly, constant as the sun, 
 
 Had kept within her heart 
 The image of the absent one 
 
 A sailor, young and smart. 
 
 What though the storms of twenty years 
 
 Have dim'd his eye of blue, 
 And with the brown, white hair appears 
 
 Her loving heart is true. 
 
 May he who claims the waiting hand, 
 
 By kindest deeds repay 
 The love, long absence could withstand, 
 
 And ne'er will know decay ! 
 
 It would be difficult to say which gave 
 Polly the most pleasure, the first silk gown 
 she had ever worn, or the verses which min 
 istered to the sentimental in her character, 
 which, though its manifestations were occa 
 sionally ludicrous, really beautified, the hum 
 ble life of the faithful domestic. 
 
 After a delightful month in the country, 
 during which the friendship of the two fami 
 lies had been more firmly cemented, the Len- 
 nings returned to their home. In place of the 
 invaluable Polly, they took with them one of 
 
228 GET MONEY. 
 
 her nieces, a smart little girl of fourteen, whom 
 Polly said was "of the very best Yankee 
 blood pious people from generation to gen 
 eration ; for," continued Polly, " when I went 
 to school, I read in my reading-book what 
 one of them Popes said : 
 
 * Not all the blood of all the Howards 
 Can ennoble fools, or sots, or cowards.' " 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 A LONG SEA VOYAGE. 
 
 ANOTHER year passed on quietly at the 
 Haunted House. Anna Ferguson had con 
 tinued her education to this time entirely 
 with Mrs. Lenning, excepting receiving mu 
 sical lessons from a master, whose instruc 
 tion Lottie shared with her, at the special re 
 quest of Mr. Ferguson. 
 
 Anna could scarcely have escaped the bene 
 ficial influence of good examples, even had 
 she hardened herself against them. Quite the 
 contrary ; her young heart was pliant as wax 
 to the signet ; from month to month there 
 was the onward and upward progress, which 
 amply rewarded her devoted teacher, and 
 gained the warm affection of her associate pupil. 
 
 Sad was the day to all when Mr. Ferguson 
 announced to them that he was going to take 
 Anna to Europe, and should leave in the next 
 steamer. 
 
 20 
 
230 GET MONEY. 
 
 Nothing had been heard of Morris Fer 
 guson since his banishment from home, ex 
 cepting that he had gone to sea. Mrs. Len- 
 ning conjectured that the father's heart, 
 though hardened by a long course of success 
 ful usury, still yearned after his only son, and 
 that he was either anxious to banish him en 
 tirely from mind, by visiting new scenes, or 
 to find the wanderer and restore him to his 
 rightful place in heart and home. 
 
 Lewis, in his twentieth year, was six feet 
 tall, with the same frank, honest countenance 
 which had at first won the confidence of Mr. 
 Lawton, that firm believer in physiognomy. 
 His salary had been raised, but still continued 
 to be only five hundred dollars per annum. 
 
 Mr. Lawton was quite taken by surprise 
 when Lewis said to him one day, " I have bad 
 an offer to go to Calcutta, as a kind of super 
 cargo. Mr. Gramper offers me fifteen hun 
 dred dollars a year, for two years, one thou 
 sand to be paid in advance. He is going to 
 retire from business, and wishes to have his 
 affairs in India all settled up. I am allowed 
 to have a venture myself, in addition." 
 
 " So then, you are willing to leave my em 
 ploy ?" said Mr. Lawton, very gravely. 
 
 "No, sir; I have been very happy with 
 
A LONG SEA VOYAGE. 231 
 
 you, and am most grateful for your kindness ; 
 but I must be doing something for myself. 
 Two years' experience will enlarge my know 
 ledge of business, and of the world ; and on 
 my return, I hope to find a place with you, 
 sir, if I am worthy of it ; or, perhaps, I may 
 be able to set up business for myself." 
 
 " Lenning, you have withstood temptation 
 when assailed by it in various forms, and 
 through God's good grace, have come off vic 
 torious. Now the temptation presents itself, 
 not iii the odious form of actual sin ; but still, 
 it seems to me, it comes from no good source. 
 Remember the snare ' which is set for him 
 who ' hasteth to be rich.' You may plead 
 my example ; but I assure you, my progress, 
 for many years, was a slow one. I labored 
 and waited patiently for the harvest." 
 
 " But, sir, I have a mother and sister for 
 whom I must provide," urged Lewis. 
 
 " And what do they say to this plan ?" 
 
 " I have not yet mentioned it to them. My 
 object was to know first if you could spare me." 
 
 u Certainly, if it is for your good. I have 
 already given you a higher salary than is 
 customary, and cannot now raise it without 
 giving dissatisfaction to the rest of my clerks, 
 lam sorry to part with you, Lenning; but 
 
232 GET MONEY. 
 
 since you think the change so greatly for 
 your advantage, accept Mr. Gramper's of 
 fer." 
 
 " Mr. Lawton, I have struggled along for 
 three years, and have kept out of debt; my 
 mother has recovered her health ; my sister 
 is old enough to be her companion and friend. 
 With the thousand dollars I am to be paid in 
 advance, they can be made comfortable at a 
 genteel boarding-house in the city, during my 
 absence ; I think I can show them how greatly 
 it will be for their advantage." 
 
 " I have no more to say, Lenning. Your 
 motives seem to be very fair ; I advise you, 
 however, to examine them more closely, and 
 if you find underlying these seemingly good 
 motives, others less pure and noble, give this 
 matter a second thought, and ask for divine 
 direction." 
 
 ***** 
 
 " Lewis, my son, Mr. Lawton is right. He 
 who hasteth to be rich, often hasteth to de 
 struction. I would rather live on the merest 
 pittance, than to have you exposed to the 
 temptations and dangers you must encounter." 
 So said Mrs. Lenning, when Lewis told her of 
 his intention to go to Calcutta. 
 
 " But, mother," said Lewis, " some one must 
 
A LONG SEA VOYAGE. 233 
 
 meet these dangers; why should it not be 
 your son, who has health, courage enough to 
 undertake the voyage, and a sufficient incen 
 tive?" 
 
 " If the incentive be to place your mother 
 and sister in a higher social position, it is a 
 wrong one. The time will come, if God so 
 wills it, that we shall take the place in society 
 for which we are prepared," said Mrs. Len- 
 ning. 
 
 " But, my dear mother, our sweet, talented 
 Lottie is fitted to be 'an ornament to society, 
 and it is a ' shame that she should c waste 
 her sweetness on the desert air,' " retorted 
 Lewis. 
 
 " She is not ambitious to shine in society. 
 Her intellectual resources are for her own 
 enjoyment and for mine, and so are her 
 accomplishments," said the mother, gravely. 
 u Should these accomplishments ever bo 
 needed for her support, she would be ready 
 to employ them in that way. Even now she 
 would do so, rather than have you venture 
 your life on what seems so desperate an un 
 dertaking." 
 
 " I would not have Lottie use her accom 
 plishments as a means of livelihood, on any 
 account," said Lewis, somewhat too proudly. 
 20* 
 
234 GET MONET. 
 
 " It is decided ; I must go this one voyage, 
 mother ; after that I shall hope to be with you." 
 
 " It is the first time in your life, my son, 
 that you have taken an important step with 
 out my approbation. I hope you will not 
 have cause to repent it ; yet I fear you will." 
 
 "I think I am old enough to have some 
 choice about the matter," replied Lewis, biting 
 his lips, as though restive under restraint. 
 
 " I yield, with sorrowful misgivings," said 
 the mother. 
 
 Lewis quickly replied, " I will secure lodg 
 ings for you in the city." 
 
 " !N"o, Lewis, I shall remain where we are. 
 I have no desire to live in town," said Mrs. 
 Lenning, with tearful eyes, and a voice half 
 choked with emotion. 
 
 " You would have many more advantages 
 in town nearness to church, libraries, lec 
 tures, artists' studios, and many other sources 
 of improvement for Lottie," suggested Lewis. 
 
 " It is my wish to remain where I am," was 
 the decided reply. 
 
 " Of course, mother, you must do as you 
 please ; but, indeed, I shall not feel as easy 
 about you as I should, if you were in a 
 boarding-house in the city." 
 
 " Give yourself no uneasiness about us. If 
 
A LONG SEA VOYAGE. 235 
 
 you have made up jour mind to go, you will 
 have sources of anxiety and discomfort enough, 
 without troubling yourself about us. How 
 soon do you expect to sail ?" 
 
 " In two weeks from this time." 
 
 A deep sigh from Mrs. Lenning was the 
 only response. 
 
CHAPTER XXYll. 
 
 DANDY DAN. 
 
 THE ship Ceylon. Captain Sparks, was a 
 fine staunch East Indiaman, bound for Cal 
 cutta. On her quarter-deck Lewis Lenning 
 watched the receding shores of his native 
 land, and as they disappeared, he felt almost 
 like a soul shut out from Heaven. 
 
 His intense home-sickness yielded to sea 
 sickness, which continued week after week, 
 until the robust Lewis was reduced, like the 
 German boy who would not eat his soup, 
 nearly to an anatomical specimen. 
 
 As soon as the sea-sickness abated, the 
 agonizing home-sickness returned. The long 
 siege, from two such enemies, had completely 
 broken down the unfortunate Lewis, who had 
 never before known a day's illness. Languid 
 and nervous, unfit for physical or mental 
 exertion, he lay in his berth, day after day, 
 
 236 
 
DANDY DAN. 237 
 
 lamenting the rash step he had taken, longing 
 for the soothing sympathy and sweet society 
 of his mother and sister. 
 
 In the cabin, beside Lewis, there was no 
 body but the captain, and the first and second 
 mates. Captain Sparks was a hard-featured, 
 weather-bronzed sailor, who had risen from 
 before the mast, and now " dressed in a little 
 brief authority," was glad to pay off all the 
 stripes he had received while a subordinate. 
 The sound of the lash often reached the ears 
 of Lewis, as the " cat " was administered to 
 the bare backs of the sailors. 
 
 The captain was not absolutely rude towards 
 the supercargo ; he treated him as though he 
 were a sick kitten. The evident contempt, 
 mingled with his pity, was by no means 
 agreeable to our young gentleman, who prided 
 himself on his manliness. 
 
 Lewis heard Captain Sparks muttering one 
 day to the first mate, as he rolled an immense 
 quid of tobacco in his huge mouth, "I told 
 Mr. Gramper just how it would be, if he sent 
 this fresh-water counter-jumper on the voyage. 
 The boy had better have stayed at home with 
 his mammy." 
 
 In addition to the habitual roughness of the 
 captain, a free use of brandy and other incen- 
 
238 GET MONEY. 
 
 tives to evil, often rendered him irritable and 
 cruel. The two mates were ever ready to 
 partake with the captain in his liberal pota 
 tions. In vain did they urge J^ewis to join 
 them, by telling him he would never be well 
 and hearty again without some stimulus to 
 strengthen him. Their revels were exceed 
 ingly disgusting to him, and his persistent 
 refusals to join them were a tacit reproof, till 
 at last he seemed to them a spy, and, of course, 
 an enemy. 
 
 The sailors, too, regarded the supercargo 
 as a kind of nondescript land-lubber ; his 
 advances towards them, made with the kindest 
 intention, were bluntly repulsed, with a single 
 exception. An old, grizzly-bearded seaman, 
 whenever he passed Lewis on deck, touched 
 his tarpaulin, and gave him a pleasant smile, 
 but avoided all conversation. Not so with 
 one of the younger sailors, who never came 
 near the supercargo without a glance of fierce 
 defiance. Lewis was at a loss to know how 
 he had given offence to the young sailor, who 
 was evidently ill-disposed towards him, and 
 evinced it by mean and mischievous tricks, 
 played off by himself and the other sailors on 
 the unfortunate Lewis. 
 
 The countenance of this young sailor seemed 
 
DANDY DAN. 239 
 
 familiar, yet Lewis could not remember where 
 he had seen it before. That countenance was 
 fearful, so marred was it by bad passions and 
 by habitual intemperance. Night and day 
 this half-familiar, hateful countenance, haunted 
 Lewis like an evil genius. The vague recol 
 lection he could not bring out clearly ; the 
 mysterious telegraph, which connects the past 
 with the present, had not yet received the elec 
 tric touch of association. 
 
 Lewis inquired of the second mate about 
 the young sailor, and was gruffly told that he 
 was known as Dandy Dan ; by no other name 
 had he been called on board the Ceylon. 
 
 One day, when the Ceylon had been out to 
 sea about three months, Dandy Dan was 
 found asleep, during his watch, and so much 
 intoxicated that it was difficult to arouse him. 
 The captain, as if to make up by severity to 
 others for his own misdemeanors, punished 
 drunkenness in the sailors " with a vengeance." 
 He ordered fifty lashes to be given to Dandy 
 Dan, as soon as he came out of his drunken 
 fit. ' From this time the young sailor was more 
 sulky than ever, and manifested his spite 
 against the captain and the unoffending super 
 cargo in every possible way. 
 
 The captain accused the second mate of 
 
24:0 GET MONEY. 
 
 furnishing grog to Dandy Dan by stealth, and 
 a sharp quarrel ensued between them, which 
 rendered the cabin a small Pandemonium. 
 
 Shut out from all intercourse with his fel 
 low-men, the mind of Lewis Lenning turned 
 to its own resources. He pondered much on 
 human life, and especially his own life, and 
 for what purpose it was given. As the best, 
 and only sure philosophy to solve this mys 
 tery, he resorted to his mother's parting gift 
 the Bible. He did not learn from that book 
 the world's dread lesson namely 
 
 "Nothing comes amiss, so money comes 
 withal." 
 
 No, the question was forced home to him, 
 " What shall it profit a man, though he should 
 gain the whole world and lose his own soul ? 1? 
 
 Could it be that in the pursuit of gain, he 
 was running that fearful risk ! 
 
 The sun was just setting one evening, as 
 Lewis lay upon the deck, with his Bible 
 spread before him. A glorious flood of golden 
 light illumined the western sky, and was re 
 flected on the wide waters. As the sky grew 
 pale and grey, Lewis turned and watched the 
 stars as they came timidly forth to gem the 
 magnificent canopy, which seemed to him the 
 tabernacle of the Almighty. 
 
DANDY DAft. 241 
 
 As he thus lay, lost in wonder and adora 
 tion, the grey-bearded sailor came near him, 
 apparently to handle some cordage. The 
 sailor stooped and whispered in his ear, ''Mas 
 ter Lenning, your life is in danger. Don't 
 stir, but listen. I am Tom Brown, your friend, 
 'cause I married your Polly Potts, my old 
 woman." 
 
 Lewis grasped the tarry hand of the sailor, 
 who continued, " Don't move, or somebody '11 
 see us. There's an awful mutjny aboard ship. 
 I've watched for you for two days, to tell you, 
 and this is the first chance I've got. It's my 
 watch now. Dandy Dan has made every 
 sailor aboard but me sign a paper in blood. 
 They are going to put you, and captain, and 
 first mate out of the way, and turn pirates. 
 There's two carronades on deck, muskets and 
 cutlasses in the cabin, and a double supply of 
 powder in the run. They can't get along 
 very well without me, for I know more about 
 these seas than any man aboard. I must save 
 you, poor young Master Lenning, but I don't 
 know how it is to be done." 
 
 " "Who is Dandy Dan ?" eagerly inquired 
 Lewis. 
 
 At this moment the second mate appeared 
 on deck. 
 
 21 
 
242 GET MONEY. 
 
 " What are you doing here, old fellow ?" he 
 fiercely demanded. 
 
 Tom muttered something about " handling a 
 line," touched his tarpaulin respectfully, and 
 left. 
 
 "You seem to have a dull time aboard, 
 Mr. Lenning ; pray, what book were you read 
 ing just now? I was watching you as you 
 lay there with it before you," said the second 
 mate. 
 
 " The Bible," was the reply. 
 
 " I heard of such a book when I was a boy ; 
 it's a queer, old-fashioned ' thing ; I wonder 
 how you can find amusement in it," said the 
 second mate, with a vain attempt at a 
 laugh. 
 
 "I find something better than amusement; 
 I find the only light which can guide me 
 through the dark valley of the shadow of 
 death." 
 
 Lewis, as he said this, started to his feet, 
 clasped the Bible to his bosom, and fixed his 
 eyes steadily on the second mate, who cast a 
 furtive glance around, and then in a low, half- 
 stifled voice, continued; "You might 'need 
 such a guide right quick, if I hadn't made up 
 my mind to save you. Swear to me you will 
 not reveal what I am about to tell you." 
 
DANDY DAN. 243 
 
 "I cannot swear; my word is sufficient," 
 said Lewis. 
 
 " "We've no time to parley," quickly replied 
 the second mate. " As you lay there an hour 
 ago, you looked like a young brother of mine 
 just as he was dying with consumption. My 
 good mother said he was going straight to 
 Heaven, and the light of glory was already 
 on his face. I saw the same light on yours 
 just now; you shan't go yet, if I can help 
 it. Captain and first mate have had a carouse, 
 and are fast asleep in the cabin ; they won't 
 wake again." 
 
 "Never!" exclaimed Lewis. 
 
 " Never in this world ; perhaps they will in 
 a hotter place," muttered the mate. 
 
 " Spare them ! oh, for mercy's sake, spare 
 them ! Don't cut them off in the midst of 
 their sins," pleaded Lewis. 
 
 " It's not for me to spare them. I run the 
 risk of my own life to spare yours. Tom 
 Brown has been faithful and kind to me he 
 will be so to you. I have got everything 
 ready for you to go with him in that small 
 boat. You must be off instantly. Tom 
 wouldn't sign Dandy Dan's paper, and it 
 might be dangerous for him to stay aboard, 
 Hurry below for some of your clothing, you 
 
244 GET MONEY. 
 
 must be off in ten minutes. I will prepare 
 Tom for his part. I've sent all hands below 
 to mess, and given them a double ration of 
 grog. An awful night is before us ! Dandy 
 Dan and I will be the only sober men on 
 board." 
 
 At that awful moment the truth flashed 
 into the mind of Lewis Lenning, and he ex 
 claimed, " Morrison Ferguson !" 
 
 " Who told you that ? Your life would not 
 be worth a straw if Dandy Dan heard it. 
 Hurry, or you'll be too late. There, I hear 
 the roar of the crew." 
 
 So saying, the second mate seized Lewis 
 by the arm, and hastened with him to the 
 cabin. There were the captain and mate 
 sound asleep by the table, which was covered 
 with bottles and glasses. The second mate 
 hastened to give directions to Tom. A box 
 containing specie, the special charge of Lewis, 
 had been screwed down at the foot of his 
 berth, for safe-keeping. It was now gone. 
 As he was searching for it, the second mate 
 returned. 
 
 " You needn't hunt for your money, that 
 was the great temptation to Dandy Dan." 
 
 So saying the mate shouldered a small trunk 
 containing clothing and papers, and hurried 
 
DANDY DAN. 245 
 
 with it on deck, imploring Lewis to follow. 
 The boat on the larboard quarter was uncov 
 ered, ready for lowering away. The mate 
 threw the trunk in, where he had already 
 placed a bag of biscuit, a keg of water and 
 some salt junk. 
 
 " Hurry, hurry ! the crew will be upon 
 us," cried Tom. 
 
 The boat was lowered, and cut adrift in an 
 instant. Just as it touched the water, by the 
 dim light, Lewis saw the bloated face of Fer 
 guson looking over the quarter-rail, and a 
 pistol shot fired by him, struck the brim of 
 Tom's tarpaulin. 
 
 In a moment more the boat was tossing in 
 the foaming wake of the great ship. Soon 
 the black hulk and huge sails disappeared in 
 the distance ; and as the " deep below " mir 
 rored the " deep above," the frail little boat 
 seemed suspended in infinite space, with no 
 light but " the pale light of stars," no guide 
 but the Almighty, who " holdeth the waters 
 in the hollow of his hand." 
 
 21* 
 
CHAPTEK XXVIII. 
 
 A WANDERER'S RETURN. 
 
 LONELY and sad were Mrs. Lenning and 
 Charlotte, after the departure of Lewis. It 
 was some time before they could arouse them 
 selves from the lethargic state which follows 
 extreme sorrow. The loss of Lewis seemed 
 to them so needless ; they were so happy as a 
 family ; all their wants were supplied ; they 
 were not ambitious ; they had learned St. 
 Paul's wholesome lesson, "to be content." 
 It was variety enough for them to have Lewis 
 return from town every day with some maga 
 zine or book for the evening-reading, and to 
 have him with them at home and at church 
 on Sunday. Lewis had Lottie for a compa 
 nion in all his studies. He was steady, indus 
 trious, and happy, till the glittering bait was 
 placed before him which drew him from 
 home. 
 
 246 
 
Alas ! for our country, this restless ques 
 tioning, " Who will show us any good ?" this 
 insane craving for wealth which breaks up 
 our pleasant country homes, and sends our 
 young men to the " ends of the earth," or en 
 gulfs them in the Maelstrom of city life ! Is 
 there no voice of warning loud and strong 
 enough to reach the young, fresh, compara 
 tively innocent, thousands of boys, who are 
 still sheltered beneath the parental roof, in the 
 blessed country the quiet, health-promoting, 
 peace-promoting country ? 
 
 " God made the country, and man made the town." 
 
 Lottie's happiness being so closely inter 
 woven with that of her brother, the severing 
 from him was like tearing away a limb. Her 
 sensibility, ever acute, now threatened to ren 
 der her quite miserable. She was prevented 
 from falling into morbid melancholy by an 
 imperative call to active exertion for the good 
 of others. 
 
 One cool evening in autumn, as Mrs. Len- 
 ning and Lottie were sitting by the fire in the 
 dining-room, they were startled by a loud 
 knock at the front door. The small servant, 
 Betsey, had been sent early to bed. Lottie went 
 
248 GET MONEY. 
 
 to the door with a lamp in her hand. It 
 shone on the ghastly face of a miserable look 
 ing man, whose dark eyes glared upon her 
 from under shaggy eyebrows, as though he 
 had come with no good intent. For a mo 
 ment neither spoke ; then said the stranger, 
 in a hoarse voice, " Mrs. Lenning lives here." 
 
 " She does ; do you wish to see her ?" tim 
 idly asked Lottie. 
 
 Without replying, the man stepped in, and 
 when Lottie turned and walked rapidly to the 
 dining-room, he followed. 
 
 A start, and faint scream from Mrs. Len 
 ning, and the exclamation from the stranger, 
 " Maria, my blessed wife, how changed !" re 
 vealed to Lottie that the man was her father. 
 
 Mrs. Lenning was too much overcome to 
 rise, and covered her face with her hands. 
 Mr. Lenning approached her, and laying his 
 bony hand on t her shoulder, exclaimed, "So, 
 you have not forgiven me !" 
 
 " Oh yes, Harry, you are entirely forgiven." 
 
 " I have come here to die," said he, in a 
 hollow voice. 
 
 " To die !" exclaimed Mrs. Lenning, fixing 
 her eyes wildly on the pale emaciated face 
 before her. 
 
 Lottie placed a chair by the fire, and took 
 
EETUKN. 24:9 
 
 from her father's hand his hat and a small 
 "bundle. Without speaking to her, he drew 
 the chair close to Mrs. Lenning, and whis 
 pered in her ear, 
 
 " That must be my Lottie. Does she know 
 all?" 
 
 " She does not," was the whispered reply. 
 
 " Lottie, my own Lottie, you do not remem 
 ber }^our father," said Mr. Lenning, extending 
 his hand to Lottie. 
 
 The natural kindliness of her feelings and 
 her filial affection were instantly aroused. 
 Lottie threw her arms around her father's 
 neck, kissed him, and burst into tears. His 
 heart, which had been like polar ice for many 
 winters, melted under this genial influence. 
 The poor wanderer held her to his breast and 
 sobbed aloud. 
 
 Mrs. Lenning, now recovered from the para 
 lyzing emotion which the sudden appearance 
 of her long-lost husband had induced, kindly 
 suggested that he needed refreshment and 
 rest. Lottie immediately hastened to prepare 
 coffee and a comfortable supper. 
 
 Mr. Lenning had been absent from his 
 family seven long years, without a word to 
 inform them whether he were yet in the land 
 of the living. He had fled from justice, hav- 
 
250 GET MONEY. 
 
 ing been a defaulter to a large amount to the 
 bank of which he was cashier. After wan 
 dering over Europe and some parts of Asia, 
 and suffering from extreme poverty, he had 
 begged a passage to the United States, and 
 had come home, as he said, to die. He still 
 feared detection and arrest, and had stealthily 
 travelled on foot and at night, first to Water- 
 ville, where he learned of the removal of his 
 fanrily, and thence to their present home. 
 
 The next day Mr. Lenning was very ill, but 
 he could not be induced to call in a physician. 
 His disease had been accelerated by fatigue 
 and nervous agitation. It was evident that 
 no earthly power could arrest his progress to 
 the grave. 
 
 " Oh! if I could but have seen my son, I 
 should be more willing to die," was his con 
 stant exclamation. 
 
 "What will you do without Lewis, when 
 the dreadful hour comes?" was the question 
 often asked by him, with intense interest. 
 
 An unspeakable consolation was granted to 
 Mrs. Lenning her husband became a sincere, 
 humble penitent. Again and again he listened 
 with fervent interest to the parable of the Pro 
 digal Son, and responded to the confession, " I 
 have sinned against heaven and before Thee." 
 
251 
 
 " Tell Lewis," said he, " the world is a hard 
 master. I am so bruised and scarred, so 
 blackened and deformed in mind and soul 
 by long service to this master, that I shrink 
 from the purity of Heaven. Even with the 
 faint hope of forgiveness, which gleams across 
 my darkened soul, mingles the bitterest re 
 morse for the past." 
 
 At times, almost despairing of mercy, the 
 sweet voice of Lottie, as she sang some holy 
 hymn, would soothe his troubled spirit. As 
 she smoothed his pillow, or held the cup of 
 water to his fevered lips, her face was to him 
 " as the face of an angel." 
 
 Worn out with constant care and watching, 
 Mrs. Lenning sent to "Waterville for her faith 
 ful Polly, who immediately hastened to the 
 relief of her beloved mistress. 
 
 For a whole month after her arrival, the 
 suffering, sorrowing man hovered between life 
 and death, and then gently passed away. 
 His last words were, " My son ! my son ! 
 
 Tell him to take warning by" his voice 
 
 failed him for a second; he then added, "No 
 man can serve two masters ; tell him * serve 
 God.' " 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 A NOBLE FRIEND. 
 
 LEWIS LENNING had been absent from home 
 nearly a year before his mother received any 
 tidings from him ; she then had the following 
 
 LETTER. 
 
 Hoogly River, . 
 
 MY BELOVED MOTHER, If the good Providence of God, 
 which has hitherto watched over me, should bring me safely 
 to you again, my joy will be great beyond expression. Oh, 
 how could I have been so foolish, so wicked as to leave you ! 
 Forgive me, my precious mother, my darling sister! 
 
 I have much to tell you of my perils by sea, but will at 
 present only say, there was a mutiny on board the Ceylon, 
 when we were within about a week's sail of Calcutta. I was 
 set adrift at night, in a small boat on the wide ocean, hun 
 dreds of miles from land. My only companion was Tom 
 Brown, Polly's husband, a capital fellow; well might Ide- 
 lette say : 
 
 'What, though the storms of twenty years 
 
 Have dimm'd his eye of blue, 
 And with the brown, white hair appears 
 His loving heart is true,' 
 
<v NOBLE FRIKND. 253 
 
 for a nobler, truer heart never beat beneath a sailor's 
 jacket. You know Polly's fear of ridicule was such that 
 i was not allowed to be present at the marriage, and it 
 so happened, that I had never seen Tom till I met him on 
 board ship, and did not know him till that very night, that 
 awful nUht, when we escaped from the Ceylon. 
 
 When we had drifted so far from the ship, that, in the 
 darkness, she was no longer visible when everything 
 around us was silent and solemn as the grave I heard a 
 low, chuckling laugh from my companion. Verily, thought 
 I, Tom has gone mad. I could scarcely command myself 
 to ask the reason for this awesome, insane laughter. 
 
 " I'm thinking," said Tom, with another chuckling, " I'm 
 thinking how cutely I've fooled Dandy Dan out of your 
 money." 
 
 "How's that, Tom?" 
 
 " Why, you see, you hadn't left the cabin more than half 
 an hour this afternoon (this afternoon ! it seemed to me a 
 week ago), when Dandy Dan told me he would spare my 
 life, if I would take care of a strong box containing money, 
 which had been in your berth ; he had unscrewed it, and 
 wanted me to hide it for a while from every one on board, 
 and as the safest place to put it in my own chest. I did so, 
 because I hoped then, to keep it for you somehow. When 
 I went below to snatch up a bundle for myself, you see, I 
 just wrapped a pea-jacket and flannel shirt around the box, 
 and there it is, safe and sound." 
 
 " Alas! what good will it do us, Tom ?" I replied,*with a 
 deep groan. 
 
 "It does me good, at this minute, to think that rascal, 
 Dandy Dan, hasn't got it." 
 
 " He promised to spare your life, and yet you have ven 
 tured it here in this poor little boat, for my sake," I cried, 
 wondering at the sailor's devotion. 
 
 "Sure I have, and why not, Master Lenning? Wasn't 
 22 
 
254 GET MONEY. 
 
 your good marm and your pretty sister kind to my Polly ! 
 Besides, I would rather be here with you than' board ship, 
 among those blood-thirsty villains. Oh, there'll be fighting 
 there after they've got rid of the captain and first mate ! 
 Come, cheer up, Master Leaning. We've got a compass, 
 grub enough to last a week or so, two pair of oars, a 
 bit of canvas, and a smooth sea. I know our latitude 
 and longitude, and with the help of sun and stars can 
 keep it, till we reach Calcutta. I'm an old salt, and have 
 been seven voyages to Calcutta before. I've been in 
 a worse fix than this hundreds of times. Come, cheer 
 up, you'll see your marm yet, and I shall see my old 
 woman." 
 
 The thought of you, my dear blessed mother, and my 
 sweet sister, whom I had forsaken, overwhelmed me. 
 Agonizing tears, such as were never forced from my eyes 
 before, testified to the intense bitterness of self-reproach. 
 
 But it is useless for me to dwell on the anxiety which 
 your forlorn wanderer suffered during that long, long week 
 which passed away while we were floating on the ocean, 
 without sight of a single vessel. The sea nearly all that 
 time was perfectly calm. I passed much of my time in 
 reading my Bible, prayer, and self-examination, mingled, 
 alas! with self-accusation. Feeling deeply that I could not 
 atone for the past, I at length committed myself trustfully 
 to the Almighty Saviour. 
 
 Thus, my mind, though like the ocean around me, occa 
 sionally agitated on the surface, was tranquil in its innermost 
 depths. Tranquil, even through a night of fearful storm 
 which at length came upon us, accompanied by tremendous 
 thunder and the most vivid lightning. Up and down our 
 little boat was tossed on the waves, like a floating cork. As 
 the mighty waves dashed over the sides of our frail boat, 
 and kept us bailing, I proposed to lighten it by throw 
 ing over the strong box. To this Tom would not con- 
 
A NOBLE FEIEND. 255 
 
 sent, saying we were in a tight little craft which could ride 
 out a worse gale yet. 
 
 When morning dawned, the sky was clear, and a large 
 ship was in sight. Evidently, she had suffered from the 
 storm, for even at that distance Tom could discern broken 
 spars. Although the waves were still running high, Tom 
 raised our sail, and the wind proving fair, in a few hours 
 we were within hailing distance. Great was our joy to find 
 we had attracted notice ; the ship hove-to, and gave us an 
 opportunity to approach. No one but a sailor of Tom's 
 experience, could have so deftly brought the boat along 
 side the ship None but seamen bent on doing their duty 
 could have brought us so safely on board. Our boat and 
 all its contents were saved. 
 
 The ship proved to be the Thames of London, an English 
 East Indiaman, Captain Thornton, master, bound for Cal 
 cutta, and now within two days' sail of that port. 
 
 We were kindly treated, though at first I was sent to mess 
 among the sailors. Tom found among them two or three old 
 messmates with whom he had weathered many a storm, ana 
 who now cordially welcomed him. 
 
 Captain Thornton's wife and daughter were on board the 
 Thames. As they were going on deck, the day after my 
 sudden arrival, they saw me standing near the companion- 
 way. I had dressed myself neatly, and, of course, did not 
 look like a common sailor. They requested Captain Thornton 
 to call me, to give an account of the shipicreck, for such the 
 captain supposed it to have been. He had been much occu 
 pied since the storm, and had only given orders that the 
 shipwrecked sailors should be well treated. They were 
 all shocked to hear of the mutiny on board the Ceylon. 
 
 " That must have been the very ship that blew up in our 
 sight, four days ago," said the captain. 
 
 "Blew up !" I exclaimed ; " how was that, sir?" 
 
 " Four days ago we came in sight of a large ship, with all 
 
256 GET MONEY. 
 
 sails set, steering soutL-sou' east. We run up our flag, but 
 no colors were shown in return. We were not within hail 
 ing distance, but as we came nearer, we were sure, from the 
 build, that the ship must be an American. Again we sig 
 naled to have her show her colors. A small black flag was 
 then run up to mast-head, having something white, like a 
 human skull, upon it. 'A pirate! a pirate !' was the cry, 
 and as quickly as possible we sent a shot at her. It was 
 immediately returned from a carronade on deck. We were 
 too far off to be reached by their awkward firing. All at 
 once, as our eyes were fixed on the piratical craft, there was 
 a sudden burst of smoke and fire, followed by a tremendous 
 explosion. The ship had blown up. The scattered rem 
 nants floated on the waves. I ordered a boat to be man" 
 ned, and sent it off, but nothing was picked up but the stern 
 of the pirate's long-boat, on which was, ' Ceylon of Boston.' 
 Every soul on board perished." 
 
 This, then, was the dreadful end of Morrison Ferguson, and 
 all those wicked wretches, his accomplices in crime ! 
 
 " It must have been the unfortunate Ceylon," said I, 
 struck with horror at the final catastrophe 
 
 Tom, when he heard the Ceylon had been blown up, said 
 there were fifty kegs of powder among the cargo, and the 
 wretches must have set it on fire, when they broke bulk 
 after New England rum. 
 
 "Have you letters to any one in Calcutta?" inquired Mrs. 
 Thornton, with the thoughtful kindness of a lady. 
 
 I immediately produced the letters which I had placed in 
 my pocket for the very purpose of showing them to the cap 
 tain, when opportunity occurred. One letter was to the 
 United States Consul ; the others to leading merchants in 
 Calcutta. Our excellent Mr. Lawton had given me one to 
 an English merchant. I had placed it with the others, with 
 out reading it. As it was a letter of introduction, and of 
 course unsealed, Captain Thornton asked permission to read 
 
A NOBLE FEIEND. 257 
 
 it, saying he was well acquainted with the gentleman to 
 whom it was addressed. Notwithstanding my having left 
 Mr. Lawton so unreasonably, he mentioned me very kindly 
 in his letter, and particularly commended me to the English 
 merchant's polite attentions, as a young gentleman wishing 
 to see the country, and learn something of its peculiar insti 
 tutions. 
 
 The information contained in Mr. Lawton's letter, with 
 regard to myself, was very satisfactory to Captain Thornton. 
 He invited me to take a vacant state-room, and to come to 
 his table. 
 
 You know, dear mother, my salary was paid in advance. 
 I received two thousand dollars of it in goods for this mar 
 ket, as a venture, from which I expected to realize more than 
 double the sum. It has all gone to the winds and waves. 
 
 I have just been on deck. We are now in sight of Cal 
 cutta, which presents an imposing appearance, extending as 
 it docs for more than three miles along the east bank of the 
 Hoogley River. We have just passed Fort William, an 
 immense citadel, from which there must be a commanding 
 view of the adjacent country. This fortification was com 
 menced by Lord Clive, almost a century ago, when the Eng 
 lish were compelled to defend their then small possessions 
 in the East. How mightily have they since increased ! As 
 we stood on deck, I shuddered with horror, while Captain 
 Thornton spoke of the sufferings of those Englishmen who 
 were thrown into the "Black Hole," by the Soubah, Souraja 
 Doulah. Out of one hundred and forty-six who were thrust 
 at night into a dungeon, eighteen feet square, only twenty- 
 three came out alive the next morning ! 
 
 We are now passing the beautiful plain between Fort 
 WilliUm and the city. This is the "Boston Common" of 
 Calcutta, where the people come to enjoy the morning air, 
 or to take a drive in the evening. 
 
 I came down to the cabin to finish my letter, because 
 
258 GET MONET. 
 
 Captain Thornton said I might have an opportunity to send 
 it immediately on our arrival. I have this moment learned 
 that a ship, bound for New York, is dropping down the 
 river, and our mail for the United States must be closed in 
 a few minutes. I have only time to add, my beloved mo 
 ther, my darling sister, God bless you! Devotedly your 
 son. Yes, dearest ones, think kindly and forgivingly of 
 your erring, but grateful and loving Lewis. 
 
 P. S. Tom Brown begs (as he is no writer) that you will 
 let his Polly know that he is " alive and well, and loves her 
 always. " 
 
 P. S. 2d. Remember me kindly to the Scofields. 
 
 The mingled feelings of joy and sorrow 
 which agitated the bosoms of the mother and 
 sister, on the reception of this letter, were 
 shared by the sailor's wife, who, since the 
 death of Mr. Lenning, had remained at the 
 Haunted House. 
 
CHAPTEK XXX. 
 
 ANNA FEKGTJSON and Charlotte Lenning had 
 kept up a frequent correspondence, since the 
 departure of the former for Europe, and it had 
 been a mutual source of pleasure. The cur 
 rent of their lives, however, ran in very differ 
 ent channels. 
 
 Anna had < been hurried by her restless fa 
 ther from place to place, for several months, 
 until at length he settled himself in Paris 
 with her, seeking in the giddy whirl of that 
 gay city for the excitement which should 
 induce, not happiness, but forgetfulness of the 
 past. Anna's beauty and accomplishments 
 had won many admirers, but not one true 
 friend. 
 
 Lottie's days were calm and rational. She 
 Badly missed her brother, whose sympathy 
 
260 GET MONEY. 
 
 and cheerful companionship she had dearly 
 loved, yet she had become submissive, and 
 her soul was filled with that peace which 
 passeth all understanding. 
 
 The clouds that flush the morning sky, 
 The wind that woos the branches high, 
 The leaves that whisper in reply ; 
 
 The heart of every living thing, 
 
 The flowers that gem the breast of spring, 
 
 The russet birds that soar and sing ; 
 
 The summer's sigh, the winter's roar, 
 The beat of-billows on the shore, 
 Making deep music evermore; 
 
 all these were "fountains of ecstasy" to her 
 gifted mind, and ministered to her loving 
 heart. 
 
 The very day after the reception of the 
 letter from Lewis, Mrs. Lenning received the 
 following letter from Anna Ferguson. As her 
 last letter was written at Paris, the surprise 
 was great on perceiving that it was from Ger 
 many. 
 
 LETTER. 
 
 Baden JBaden, 
 
 MY DEAREST FRIEND, I have hardly strength to hold my 
 
 pen, yet I must nerve myself to the effort. My poor father 
 
 is no more. 
 
 You have heard of this horrid place as the resort of gam- 
 
THE GAMBLER'S DEATH-BED. 261 
 
 biers from all parts of the world. My father came here 
 with me two months since. He had become very melan 
 choly, and rushed into any excitement for forgetfulness. 
 He tried the gaming table at first for amusement, but soon 
 gambling grew to an all-absorbing passion. He met with 
 great losses, and became desperate. Last Wednesday night 
 he was more than usually unsuccessful at the faro table. 
 A dispute arose between him and one of those shocking, 
 professed gamblers. A challenge followed. They met, 
 and my father was brought to our rooms mortally wounded. 
 Oh, my dear Mrs. Lenning, he was shot through the side, 
 and survived only one day. He had his reason clearly, and 
 made his will. He told me he had only money enough left 
 with his banker to take me home. I must, he said, go 
 directly to you, and tell you the Haunted House was yours 
 if you would take charge of his poor orphan daughter. 
 
 An English lawyer wrote his will and had it properly 
 witnessed. As soon as it was finished, my poor father was 
 not able to say another word. Oh, my dear, dear Mrs. 
 Lenning, such a look as he gave me so hopeless, so des 
 pairing when he could no longer speak. I shall never 
 forget that last look. And will you take to your heart your 
 poor orphan friend ? Oh, how I long to be with you and 
 my dear Lottie ! 
 
 I shall return very soon to the United States; alas! I 
 have no longer a home of my own there, for where is my 
 poor brother? I shall return (D. Y.) with an American 
 family who have been kind to me in my desolate con 
 dition. 
 
 With love to Lottie and yourself, my dear Mrs. Lenning, 
 Your friend, and pupil, 
 
 ANNA FERGUSON. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 A CHANGE IN CHARACTER. 
 
 " MOTHER, dear, you can't guess who preach 
 ed at our church to-day !" exclaimed Lottie, as 
 she hastily entered her mother's room. 
 
 " Then I shall not try ; I never attempt the 
 impossible," replied Mrs. Lenning to Lottie, 
 who seemed wonderfully excited by the topic 
 which she thus abruptly broached. 
 
 "It was Ernest Sconeld," she continued, 
 with assumed calmness. 
 
 " Ernest Sconeld ! I did not know he was 
 a clergyman." 
 
 " Yes, he is now the Reverend Ernest Sco 
 neld, and he preached an eloquent sermon, 
 without a particle of the pedantry to which he 
 was formerly addicted. His manner was na 
 tural, simple, and sincere," added Lottie. 
 
 " I am exceedingly glad to hear it. Good, 
 faithful Mr. Sconeld will now be rewarded for 
 
A CHANGE IN CHABACTEE. 263 
 
 years of self-denial and persevering efforts to 
 educate his children. With his small salary, 
 it has been a difficult task. He knows the 
 trials of ministerial life, and yet prefers to see 
 his son in the ministry, to having him ex 
 posed to the temptations of other professions. 
 Indeed, it has been his first wish and fervent 
 prayer for many years." 
 
 "Young Mr. Scofield is already settled in 
 one of the towns in this vicinity," remarked 
 Lottie. 
 
 "Indeed! How did you learn that?" 
 
 " He told me himself, as he w r alked home 
 with me from church. He said he should 
 come and see you this evening, and I invited 
 him to tea. Don't you think it would be bet 
 ter for him to pass the evening with you, 
 mother, than to stay at the hotel?" eagerly 
 inquired Lottie. 
 
 " Certainly. But why does he stay at the 
 hotel?" 
 
 "Because our pastor is absent with his 
 family." 
 
 " But why have we lost sight of the Sco- 
 fields for so long a time ?" asked Mrs. Len- 
 ning. 
 
 " Mr. Ernest Scofield has been studying for 
 his profession at a distant seminary ; his father 
 
264: GET MONEY. 
 
 has removed to the West ; and Idelette is soon 
 to be married to a young physician of Illi 
 nois." 
 
 " Married ! Idelette to be married ! What 
 a surprise that will be to some one who is 
 dear to us." 
 
 " I don't understand you, mother." 
 
 " Never mind. You had better go- and 
 take off your bonnet, and then give Betsey 
 orders for tea. I am sorry this old enemy, 
 rheumatism, prevented me from going to 
 church to-day." 
 
 At tea-time the reverend gentleman made 
 his appearance. 
 
 At a glance, Mrs. Lenning saw that Ernest 
 Scofield had entirely laid aside the affectation 
 which distinguished him as a Sophomore, and 
 was now as dignified and simple in manner 
 as he was truthful in character. His slender, 
 but well-formed person, had contracted a 
 slight stoop, from close application to stduy, 
 and a too sedentary life. His countenance 
 had not the slightest llur of sanctimonious 
 ness, nor his language the' slightest tinge of 
 cant. Looks and words with him did not 
 " conceal thought ;" they were a faithful index 
 to the soul of the man. 
 
 He was cheerful, arid even playful, for he 
 
A CHANGE IN CHARACTER. 265 
 
 possessed that humor which is " the bloom 
 and effluence of a noble nature." Although 
 a practical, hard-working Christian, he did 
 not think it necessary to suppress this good 
 gift. Indeed, it was a rose-bud, watered by 
 the dews of divine grace, shedding fragrance 
 over many a daily toilsome task, and many a 
 daily sacrifice. 
 
 The Reverend Ernest Scofield left Mrs. Len- 
 ning's at a reasonably late hour on Sunday 
 evening. Lottie ingenuously remarked to her 
 mother, "This has been the most delightful 
 and improving evening that I ever spent in 
 my life." 
 
 From this time the visits of Ernest Scofield 
 were frequently repeated, and they did not 
 grow less interesting to Lottie by repetition. 
 
 23 
 
CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 CALCUTTA. 
 
 MBS. LENNING wrote to Lewis by the first 
 vessel which sailed for Calcutta, after his 
 own departure. That was before the return 
 of his father. In answer to her cheerful epis 
 tle, he wrote as follows : 
 
 Calcutta, . 
 
 Your letter and Lottie's, were received last evening, my 
 dear mother, and proved the most healing cordial to my 
 sad heart ! You were for a long time spared from the 
 knowledge of my distress. I am thankful for that, and for 
 many other mercies. "Was it not a beautiful thought in 
 Tom to save the strong box? I was thus able to settle all 
 Mr. Gramper's affairs, to the entire satisfaction of his credit 
 ors. Besides the specie in the box, I had bills of exchange 
 in my trunk. My employer lost nothing, but I lost all, 
 excepting the small sum of money in my purse, not quite 
 twenty dollars. When I had attended to Mr. Gramper's 
 business, I began to think of looking out for myself. 
 
 Tom lost everything but the clothing he had on, and the 
 two articles he had wrapped about the box. So fearful of 
 discovery and detention had he been, that he only snatched 
 
CALCUTTA. 267 
 
 those articles from his chest. Of course I had to provide 
 him with a suitable outfit for this climate, and for a gentle 
 man's servant ! for Tom was enacting the valet de chambre 
 for the nonce, while I was enacting "The Poor Gentleman." 
 
 I delivered my letters of introduction on my arrival, and 
 was received with extreme politeness, invited to dine, to 
 drive, and I am sorry to say, to drink ; the last of which I 
 of course declined. The merchants here live luxuriously 
 their motto seems to be " a short life and a merry one." 
 Many fall victims very early to the climate and high living. 
 
 Calcutta is a very remarkable city, striking in appearance, 
 and of much interest on account of the strange mingling of 
 Christianity, Paganism, and Mohammedanism European 
 civilization and Asiatic degradation. 
 
 Some of the public edifices are magnificent; built in 
 various styles, borrowed from Greek, Roman, and Gothic 
 architecture, strangely contrasting with the native structures. 
 
 It appeared like the wildest dream of my boyhood, when 
 I actually saw Brahmins, and the dark natives of other 
 castes, Indian temples, palm trees, and the famous banyan. 
 I am constantly reminded of Mrs. Sherwood's stories, which 
 you may remember my devouring in childhood with exqui 
 site relish. The "bearers' ; in the streets, holding immense 
 umbrellas over the heads of their little masters, bring back 
 to me vividly "Little Henry," and each black nurse is the 
 very image of "Lucy's Dhaye." It is amusing to see these 
 umbrella-bearers sheltering three or four small boys at the 
 same time, with an immense parasol made of palm-leaves. 
 The sun's rays here are so personal in their applications, it 
 is dangerous to expose one's self without shelter. Every 
 body in this respect is like Paul Pry, excepting they never 
 carry the umbrella under the arm. 
 
 It is amusing to see the variety of vehicles, from the splen 
 did English coach and four, down to the palanquin and the 
 funny little cart drawn by the most diminutive of horses. 
 
'268 GET MONET. 
 
 By the recommendation of Mr. Meade, the English mer 
 chant, to whom I handed Mr. Lawton's kind letter, I took 
 lodgings at the London Hotel very expensive lodgings 
 and how was I to pay for them? I have your habitual hor 
 ror of being in debt, and, dear mother, this was the first 
 time I ever found myself in that detestable predicament. 
 I felt as though I couldn't look an honest man in the face. 
 
 Tom soon found work for himself, and the noble fellow 
 brought me every day his earnings, which, of course, I put 
 by for him. 
 
 It was quite annoying to be treated by men of wealth 
 and high standing, like a gentleman of elegant leisure. It 
 was, as Tom would say, "sailing under false colors." 
 
 In Calcutta the private mansions of the wealthy are 
 truly palatial far more magnificent than any in Beacon 
 street. 
 
 Mr. Meade's, where I have dined several times, is a superb 
 structure. It stands in the midst of a garden of the "most 
 luxuriant beauty ; with trees which a Druid would worship, 
 and flowers which would set dear Lottie poetizing, in spite 
 of herself. 
 
 The house is only two stories, with a wide verandah 
 around it, but very spacious, and the apartments are too 
 lofty for one to care to stretch the neck to know whether 
 they have a gilded or frescoed ceiling. The furniture, 
 though tasteful, is of the lightest kind, and the spacious 
 apartments are not crowded, a free circulation of air being 
 essential in this hot, enervating climate. John Bull here 
 becomes a complete Sybarite. 
 
 So, dear mother, after your penniless wanderer had 
 played the gentleman, willy nilly, for more than a fortnight, 
 he started one morning, with a big umbrella over his head, 
 fresh in appearance, so fresh as to be at once recognized 
 as a new comer, the complexion of the residents being not 
 unlike some of Lottie's marigolds. So here I was, to begin 
 
CALCUTTA. 269 
 
 again ! to start fresh. Ho\v vividly it brought to mind 
 my first Boston search after " a situation!" 
 
 Here I was, alone in the world again thrown on my own 
 resources, thousands of miles from home. Home! that 
 word was the charm which nerved me "screwed my cour 
 age to the sticking point " mother and Lottie, my war. 
 cry. 
 
 The report that I had saved the money committed to my 
 charge by Mr. Gramper, and paid all his debts, in spite of 
 mutiny, shipwreck, and landsharks spread among the mer 
 chants. Is it so astonishing to find an honest man, without 
 the help of Diogenes's lantern ? 
 
 My very first application was successful, and here I am, 
 installed in the counting-house of Meade & Brothers, one 
 of the best houses in Calcutta. Dear mother, I owe iny 
 highest recommendation to you : yes, you, my beloved 
 mother, who taught me to " fear God, and keep his Com 
 mandments." For your sake, and in answer to your prayers, 
 a kind Providence watches over your absent son. I have 
 engaged to remain only one year with Mr. Meade, and then 
 I hope to return home, never, never again to leave my 
 native land. 
 
 Please, present my grateful acknowledgments to Mr. 
 Lawton. Say to my darling Lottie, I shall write to her by 
 the very next opportunity. My own blessed mother, love, 
 and pray for your only son 
 
 LEWIS. 
 
 13* 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 ONE pleasant day in early spring, a car 
 riage drove up to Mrs. Lenning's door, loaded 
 with luggage. 
 
 A young lady in deep mourning stepped 
 out. It was Anna Ferguson, alone. 
 
 "No welcome could be warmer than the one 
 she received from Mrs. Lenning and Lottie. 
 In a few days she was comfortably settled, in 
 the room formerly occupied by Lewis. Mrs. 
 Lenning had fitted it up at Anna's request, 
 with the furniture which had been in her own 
 room at her former home. This was all she 
 retained from that now deserted mansion. 
 
 Anna's first night at the Haunted House 
 was sleepless. She could not entirely over 
 come the superstition which had been so 
 deeply rooted in early life. Although she had 
 passed so many days under that roof, she 
 
 270 
 
A FRIEND'S RETURN. 
 
 never before had been there in the darkness 
 and silence of night. Moreover, her father 
 had related to her a remarkable dream of his 
 own, that now oame vividly before her troubled 
 mind. Mr. Ferguson, as it frequently hap 
 pens with persons who are not religious, was 
 superstitious. Not long before his death, he 
 related to Anna his singular dream. He said, 
 the night after the discovery of the miser's 
 money, after he had counted it over a second 
 time, and found it all there, according to the 
 memorandum, he placed the gold and silver 
 in his safe, took out the key, and slept with it 
 under his pillow. He could not have been 
 long asleep before he dreamed old Nollins 
 himself stood by the bedside, and looking at 
 him with a horrible countenance, said : "Don't 
 touch a fourpence of the money Lewis Len- 
 ning found in Stove Bank ! It is the lad's ; 
 every dollar of it. Didn't the will say fifty 
 thousand dollars and the house I lived in, 
 should be yours ? Pretty good pay for a few 
 strawberries! Be content with that, for the 
 rest of the money, as my will says, goes to the 
 finder. Look out now, or you'll come to the 
 same place of torment where I am." Mr. Fergu 
 son said he awoke with a cold perspiration on his 
 forehead, and trembling in every limb. It was 
 
272 GET MONEY. 
 
 some time before lie could sleep again ; when 
 he did, the same fearful dream was repeated. 
 " When I awoke," said Mr. Ferguson, " I 
 made a solemn vow that I would never touch 
 that gold and silver in mj safe, if I found my 
 fifty thousand. I have kept that vow the 
 money belongs to Lewis Lenning. I gave the 
 Lennings the rent of the house too, because I 
 was afraid I might be haunted by that dread 
 ful dream. I wouldn't suffer again as I 
 did that awful night, for all the miser's 
 money." 
 
 It was perfectly natural, after the exciting 
 day Mr. Ferguson had passed, that his dreams 
 should be disturbed and reflect what had 
 been lately in his mind, but his superstitious 
 feelings led him to consider them supernatural. 
 
 True to his wily character, to the last, Mr. 
 Ferguson, in his will, left " the money in his 
 safe" (where, by the way, it had remained 
 ever since it was first deposited), to Lewis 
 Lenning, without the slightest mention that 
 he was the rightful owner.. The Haunted 
 House he left to Mrs. Lenning, on the condi 
 tion that Anna should have her home there, as 
 long as she pleased. 
 
 And now, in this new home, Anna's restless 
 night might have been anticipated. 
 
273 
 
 The next morning, Mrs. Lenning had the 
 painful task of communicating to Anna the 
 loss of her brother. It was done as gently 
 and tenderly as possible, and with the allevi 
 ating sympathy of the kindest of motherly 
 hearts. 
 
 The quiet, peaceful life at the Lennings was 
 only relieved by the frequent visits of Ernest 
 Scofield, and the occasional letters of Lewis. 
 His last letter was to Lottie, and a very sad 
 one it was, for he had just heard of the death 
 of his father, and lamented bitterly his absence 
 at the time of that melancholy event. 
 
 The will of Mr. Ferguson was placed im 
 mediately in the hands of a lawyer, and went 
 through the necessary forms. After Mr. Fer 
 guson's debts were paid, and the beautiful 
 "Rosebank sold, only a few thousands remained 
 for Anna. But her wishes had become moder 
 ate, and her mode of life such as required no 
 great expenditure. From the time of her ar 
 rival, she had not even opened the trunks 
 which contained a splendid wardrobe, includ 
 ing the dresses in which she had appeared at 
 half the courts in Europe. 
 
 Her agitated mind required perfect rest, 
 and her affections worthy objects to fix upon. 
 These she found in her present situation. 
 
274 GET MONEY. 
 
 Soon her elastic mind resumed its usual free 
 dom, and her disposition every day became 
 more amiable and affectionate. 
 
 When Ernest Scofield requested that the 
 consummation of his engagement to Lottie 
 might not be delayed, Mrs. Lenning the more 
 readily consented, because Anna was to re 
 main with her. Yet, it was a severe trial to 
 both the mother and sister, to have their be 
 loved Lewis absent on this occasion. 
 
 5f * # * -X- -X- 
 
 Idelette Scofield arrived with her brother 
 at Mrs. Lenning's. It was her wish to be mar 
 ried by her father, and to have, on that occa 
 sion, a double wedding. So Idelette passed a 
 few days with her friends, before the mar 
 riage. The physician from Illinois had stolen 
 a march on the absent supercargo. Poor 
 Lewis! One object of that long voyage, per 
 haps the leading one, was, that he might be 
 in a situation to offer himself to Idelette Sco 
 field, on his return. 
 
 "The best laid schemes of mice and men 
 Aft gang aglae." 
 
 So said the poet Burns. Polly quite astonished 
 Idelette, by saying, to the same effect, " You've 
 spoiled the best plan, of the very best man, 
 
A FRIEND'S RETURN. 275 
 
 excepting my sailor, by marrying this fel 
 low." 
 
 " What is it, Polly, that you are grumbling 
 about ?" said Idelette, as she was before the 
 glass, arranging her wedding bonnet, with its 
 huge wreath of orange buds and flowers, a 
 few hours before the marriage. 
 
 "I say, what I shouldn't say, about him 
 that's far away, which you ought to have mar 
 ried to-day," remarked Polly, smoothing down 
 her grey silk dress, which had not been shaken 
 out of its folds, until this time, since Polly's 
 own marriage. 
 
 "Polly, you are quite enigmatical," said 
 Idelette. 
 
 "Well, I am," retorted Polly, " if that means 
 that I can see farther into a mill-stone than 
 some other folks. On the whole, Miss Idy, I 
 think it's as well that you went to Illinois ; 
 it's better for you to roll the doctor's pills, and 
 help to cure his patients' ills, than to live in 
 the city, where there would have been no end 
 to the top-knots and furbelows, flounces and 
 bonnet-bows, that would have had to come 
 out of somebody 's green silk purse" 
 
 Idelette was too much occupied with her 
 wedding toilet, to pay much attention to what 
 
2<6 GET MONEY. 
 
 she chose to consider Polly's unmeaning non 
 sense. 
 
 The Kev. John Scofield, D.D., performed 
 the marriage ceremony, by which his son be 
 came the husband of Charlotte Lenning, and 
 his daughter the wife of Dr. Arran. 
 
 There was a crowd of witnesses to the mar 
 riage, for it was celebrated in the church of 
 the Rev. Ernest Scofield, who had already 
 become a much-loved pastor to a numerous 
 congregation. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 PARTNERSHIP. 
 
 IT was one of the most enchanting days of 
 that enchanting season which, for no conceiv 
 able reason, is called Indian Summer. 
 
 Anna sat by an open window, one after 
 noon, reading aloud to Mrs. Lenning. A 
 dark-haired stranger, with a superfluous quan 
 tity of whiskers and beard, opened the gate 
 and stepped hastily up the yard, rushed into 
 the house, snatched up small Mrs. Lenning, 
 and kissed her again and again ; then putting 
 her down, was about to throw his arms around 
 Lottie, when he was arrested by the grave 
 countenance of an apparent stranger. 
 
 Mrs. Lenuing had sunk back in her chair, 
 and covering her face, could only exclaim, 
 " Lewis, my son 1 thank God ! thank God I" 
 
 The first words spoken by Lewis were, 
 "Where's Lottie?" 
 
 24 2 " 
 
278 GET MONEY. 
 
 " Gone to her own home," said Mrs. Len- 
 ning. 
 
 Lewis, startled and alarmed, cried, "What 
 home, mother ?" 
 
 " Ernest Scofield's and her own. Then you 
 have not received our last letters, and, of 
 course, did not know of Lottie's marriage." 
 
 " No, indeed ! You astonish me." 
 
 "And this is Miss Ferguson, who lias now 
 her home with me." 
 
 "Miss Ferguson! Anna Ferguson!" ex 
 claimed Louis, without advancing another 
 step towards the lovely girl, who still sat, 
 book in hand, by the window. 
 
 Lewis seated himself by his mother, and 
 taking one of her hands, said, " So then you 
 had to spare our dear Lottie. It was rather 
 cruel in Ernest to take her away during my 
 absence." 
 
 " So it seemed ; but as Idelette's marriage 
 was to take place, and she wished her brother's 
 to be at the same time as her own, I consented 
 to it, though grieved not to have you with 
 us." 
 
 " Idelette's marriage !" gasped out Lewis. 
 
 Anna Ferguson rose and left the room. 
 
 A long, confidential conversation follow 
 ed, which lasted till the shades of eve- 
 
PARTNERSHIP. 279 
 
 ning were falling on the many-hued land 
 scape. 
 
 x- * #- '.$ * * 
 
 Lewis Lenning called on Mr. Lawton, not 
 only to see him, but to hand him a letter from 
 Meade & Brothers. 
 
 " Well, Lewis, you are satisfied with the 
 opportunity you have had for seeing the 
 world. Do you think you could he contented 
 to remain quietly at home after this?" was 
 Mr. Lawton's calm inquiry. 
 
 " Perfectly so. I never wish to roam far 
 ther from Boston, than the Man of Koss did 
 from his home," said Lewis, shaking his head, 
 with a grave, subdued expression of counte 
 nance. 
 
 " And the experience of life you have had 
 was it worth the trouble?" asked Mr. Lawton. 
 
 "No, sir ; it was dear-bought experience. I 
 have lost everything, and must begin again." 
 
 " No, Lewis, you have not lost everything ; 
 on the contrary, you retain what is more 
 valuable than much fine gold your charac 
 ter, moral courage, industry, and stainless 
 integrity. Mr. Meade tells me you have 
 given him entire satisfaction, and he would 
 gladly have retained you in Calcutta, had the 
 climate not proved so injurious to your health, 
 
280 GET MONEY. 
 
 It seems you lost several months' time, when 
 ill with fever." 
 
 " I did, sir ; and never expected to recover 
 from that illness." 
 
 " What are you now intending to do with 
 yourself?" abruptly inquired Mr. Lawton. 
 
 "I wish to ask for your advice. I am en 
 tirely at a loss. The late Mr. Ferguson left 
 me, by will, the money, in coin, which I found 
 in the stove, at the Haunted House. I have 
 some scruples about taking it, as the property 
 which Miss Ferguson inherits is the mere 
 wreck of a large fortune." 
 
 " The money is yours ; take it without scru 
 ple. By the way, there's a young gentleman 
 in the counting-room who would like to see 
 yon." Mr. Lawton rose, opened the door of 
 the counting-room, and called, "Dick, come 
 here." 
 
 A tall, spruce, well-dressed young man 
 came forward, and in a moment Lewis recog 
 nized Richard Moland, who grasped his hand, 
 exclaiming, " Lenning ! can it be ? You are 
 the best friend I ever had in the world, but 
 my uncle. I shall have a long story to tell 
 you one of these days." 
 
 " You shall have a chance, Dick. Go back, 
 now, to your desk," said Mr. Lawton. 
 
PAR TNERSHIP. 281 
 
 "You see," continued he, "I have taken 
 Dick into my counting-room. That whaling 
 voyage was a capital thing for him. He is 
 now as steady a clerk as you will find in Bos 
 ton. Rather too fond of dress ; still, that's in 
 the grain ; but yet he is a faithful, serviceable 
 clerk. I have a plan to propose to you. I 
 am getting old, and wish to retire somewhat 
 from active business. I am thinking of tak 
 ing a junior partner. Let me see: how 
 would you like the firm of Lawton & Len- 
 ning?" 
 
 " That would be too great an honor for me," 
 modestly replied Lewis. 
 
 "Not at all. I should like it, if you have 
 no objections. Lawton & Lenning ! It runs 
 smoothly. I like it better than Lawton & 
 Co. It would make your name known as a 
 partner in the house. I trust I can arrange 
 the terms to your satisfaction. If you think, 
 however, you can make more advantageous 
 arrangements for yourself, you are perfectly 
 at liberty to do so." 
 
 " I am too grateful for words, Mr. Lawton. 
 I should have been happy to go back into 
 your counting-room again as clerk. I have 
 no longer any rabid desire for wealth. A 
 moderate competence would satisfy me, and 
 24* 
 
282 GET MONEY. 
 
 to any terms you propose I shall most gladly 
 accede." 
 
 " Well, I have drawn up the proposal in 
 manner and form ; take it home, and consult 
 your good mother. A young man should 
 never be ashamed to take the advice of a sen 
 sible, judicious woman." 
 
 " If I had only followed my mother's advice, 
 I should not have suffered the disappoint 
 ments and troubles which have darkened two 
 of the most important years of my life," said 
 Lewis, sadly. 
 
 " Well, my young friend, do not waste the 
 strength you need for present duty in remorse 
 for the past. Your errors were mostly errors 
 of judgment. You were, besides, a little im 
 patient of control, and in too great haste to be 
 rich. Be thankful that you were not hurried 
 into crimes which would have led to your 
 utter ruin ; crimes which have brought some 
 whom we have known, to a fearful end, to 
 wretchedness in this life, and a terrible look 
 ing for of judgment in the world to come. By 
 others' faults wise men correct their own,' is 
 an old adage. We may do the same by our 
 own faults of yesterday ; or, as some poet has 
 said, 
 
PARTNERSHIP. 283 
 
 ' So let us live, 
 
 That from the Past we may receive 
 Light for the Nowi* " 
 
 " Thank you, Mr. Lawton ; I think I shall 
 keep the rod in terrorem with which I have 
 lately been beaten, as my good mother used 
 to keep the birch rod hung up in the nursery. 
 I trust I shall thus avoid the faults for which 
 I have lately been flogged by that stern mas 
 ter, Experience," replied Lewis. 
 
 The proposals made by Mr. Lawton were 
 perfectly satisfactory to Mrs. Lenning and 
 Lewis. The new co-partnership of Lawton 
 & Lenning was soon announced in the pa 
 pers. 
 
 Lewis asked, as a special favor, that the 
 faithful Tom Brown, who had returned from 
 Calcutta with him, might be employed as a 
 porter in the warehouse of Lawton & Len 
 ning. This request was readily granted, and 
 Tom, who had been hard-working and thrifty 
 in Calcutta, was able to provide a comfortable 
 home for Polly and himself. 
 
 In time, Lewis made such additions to the 
 Haunted House as to render it a convenient 
 and pleasant habitation. 
 
 Some romantic misses may scout at a second 
 attachment. Nevertheless, our friend Lewis 
 
284: GET MONEY. 
 
 Lenning, who had had a decided " fancy " for 
 Idelette Scofield, did gradually slide into a 
 strong rational attachment for Anna Fergu 
 son ; and, moreover, it met with the entire 
 approbation of his respected mother and his 
 future bride. 
 
 "Now joy to him, who o'er his task 
 
 Remembers toil is nature's plan ; 
 Who, working, thinks and never sinks 
 His independence as a man. 
 
 " Who only asks for humblest wealth, 
 Enough for competence and health ; 
 And leisure, when his work is done, 
 
 To read his book by chimney nook, 
 Or stroll at setting of the sun ; 
 
 Or toils, as every man should toil, 
 For fair reward, erect and free : 
 
 These are the men the best of men 
 These are the men we wean to be" 
 
 THE END.