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Jed, The Poorhouse Boy

Creator: Horatio Alger (author)
Date: 1899
Publisher: The John Winston Company. Philadelphia
Source: Available at selected libraries
Figures From This Artifact: Figure 2

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2515  

"But your situation ."

2516  

"I haven't any."

2517  

"Perhaps you will meet another boy from the country."

2518  

"I treated you awful mean -- I know I did," burst out Graham, "and I've been very sorry for it. I've often wished that I had left you five dollars."

2519  

"Well, that would have helped me. But don't you think it would have been better to have left me the whole?"

2520  

"Yes, it would; but I am very unlucky."

2521  

"I am afraid you don't deserve good luck. Isn't there anything you can do?"

2522  

"Yes."

2523  

"Can't you find another broker to take you in his office?"

2524  

"I never was in a broker's office," confessed Graham.

2525  

"What was your business, then? I suppose you had some way of making a living?"

2526  

"I am a barber by trade, but I got tired of the confinement, and so I thought I'd become a sport. I started out with a hundred dollars which it took me a year to save up, and I got rid of it in two weeks. Then I fell in with you."

2527  

"And with my thirty-five dollars."

2528  

"Yes."

2529  

"The best thing you can do is to go back to your business."

2530  

"I would if I could."

2531  

"Why can't you?"

2532  

"Because my razors are in hock."

2533  

It is the custom of journeymen barbers to supply their own razors and a pair of shears for hair-cutting.

2534  

"I suppose that means in pawn?"

2535  

"Yes."

2536  

"When can you get a place if you get your razors back?"

2537  

"I can go to work to-morrow."

2538  

"What sum will get them out?"

2539  

"Four dollars and a half."

2540  

"Where are they?"

2541  

"In a pawnshop on the Bowery."

2542  

"Come with me and I will get them out for you if you will promise to go to work."

2543  

"I will," answered Graham earnestly. "I'll give you my word I will."

2544  

"Come back on the next boat, then, and I will go with you to the pawnshop."

2545  

"It will take up your time. You don't mean to give me in charge when we reach New York?" said Graham apprehensively.

2546  

"No; I am willing to give you a fresh chance. I hope you will improve it."

2547  

Jed took out his watch to note the time.

2548  

"Is that watch yours? It's a beauty," said Graham.

2549  

"Yes; it came from Tiffany's."

2550  

"Did you have it when I met you?"

2551  

"No; if I had, that would have gone the same way as the money."

2552  

"You must be awfully lucky!"

2553  

"I suppose I have been. At any rate I have been honest"

2554  

"Honesty seems to pay. I must try it."

2555  

"I advise you to," said Jed, smiling.

2556  

When Jed parted from Graham it occurred to him that he would call on Mrs. Gately. She had provided him with a breakfast when he needed one, and seemed kindly disposed towards him.

2557  

When he rang the bell of the small house on Twenty-Seventh Street, Mrs. Gately herself came to the door.

2558  

"Did you wish to see me, sir?"

2559  

"You don't remember me, Mrs. Gately?"

2560  

The old lady peered through her glasses.

2561  

"Why bless me!" she said, "if it isn't the young man from the country. But you're dressed so fine I hardly knew you. I hope you're prosperin'."

2562  

"Yes, thank you, Mrs. Gately. I have been quite lucky, but I was pretty low in spirits as well as in pockets when I left you."

2563  

"Why, you're lookin' fine. Won't you stay for supper? Luella Dickinson will be home soon -- she that tends at Macy's. I've often spoken to her about you. Luella's very romantic."

2564  

"I am not, Mrs. Gately, and I'm afraid I can't stop. I must be on board my yacht in an hour."

2565  

"Your yacht! Bless me, you don't mean to say you've got a yacht?"

2566  

"Well, it belongs to a friend, but we enjoy it together."

2567  

"Have you seen the bad young man who robbed you?"

2568  

"Yes; I saw him this afternoon."

2569  

"You don't say! Did you have him arrested?"

2570  

"No; I helped him get some things out of pawn."

2571  

"That's a real Christian act, but I don't think I'd have done it. You deserve to prosper. I wish you could stay and meet Luella."

2572  

"Some other time, Mrs. Gately."

2573  

At supper the landlady told Miss Dickinson of Jed's call. Luella expressed great regret that she had not seen him.

2574  

"I should fall in love with Mr. Gilman, I know I would," she said. "Why didn't you ask him to call at Macy's?"

2575  

"I will when I see him again."

2576  

CHAPTER XXXII.
At Bar Harbor

2577  

ABOUT eleven o'clock one forenoon the yacht Juno came to anchor in the harbor of Mount Desert.

2578  

Jed gazed admiringly at the rugged shores, the picturesque village, the background of hills, the smaller islands surrounding the main island, like the satellites of a larger planet.

2579  

"It is beautiful!" he said. "I never dreamed of such a place."

2580  

"Yes," said Roper, "it is by far the most attractive island on the American coast I think we shall find it pleasant to stay here for a time."

2581  

"I shall enjoy it at any rate," said Jed, "Where shall we stay?"

2582  

"I generally go to the Newport. It is one of the smaller hotels, but its location is excellent, being very near the water. Besides, I am expecting my aunt, Mrs. Frost, to arrive in a few days. She always goes to the Newport, and has the same room every year. There is the hotel yonder."

2583  

Mr. Roper pointed out a pleasant but unpretentious hostelry on the left of the pier.

2584  

"The large house farther up the hill is Rodick's," he said. "Rodick is an old name at Mount Desert, and the island just across from the wharf, separated by a bar, was once called Rodick's island."

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