Read Ebook: Up the ladder; by Leslie Madeline Hyde John N Illustrator

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Ebook has 794 lines and 39653 words, and 16 pages

"You are just in time," she said; "dinner is all ready."

"And I'm ready for it," was the hearty reply. "I've been walking all the morning, and I expect at last I've found just about the right thing for me to do. Ho! those birds look as if they would relish finely!"

Harrison then repeated the story of the dyspeptic gentleman, at which his father laughed and said, "It's an ill wind that blows no one good. Now I'm perfectly willing he should order dinners and pay for them; we'll find good appetites for them, wont we, Bub?"

"I suppose," remarked Mrs. Danforth, "that he is one of those who will not work, and therefore, though he has an abundance, cannot eat."

"Waiter said he looked awful sickly," added Harrison.

"I expect I've engaged myself in a first-rate situation," resumed Mr. Danforth, laying down the bones of a chicken he had been sucking.

"What is it?" eagerly inquired his wife.

"Why, it's a kind of an overseer-general in an oyster saloon."

"I had rather you would shovel coal," exclaimed Mrs. Danforth, in a tone of great disappointment.

"What in the name of nature can you have to say against an oyster-saloon? It would bring me into company and constant intercourse with some of the first gentlemen of the city."

"That is just what I feared. I am afraid of the temptation for you, my dear husband."

"What, after I've pledged myself to you to let alone all kinds of intoxicating drinks?" The man colored and looked somewhat annoyed; and his wife, noticing that Harrison was listening eagerly, added suddenly, "When you are rested, my dear, I wish you would carry home this vest to the tailor's and bring me some more work."

"I'm rested now, mother, so I'll be off;" and taking the bundle he ran down the stairs, whistling merrily at his favorite tune.

When he was gone Mrs. Danforth kindly remonstrated with her husband, urging the inexpediency of placing himself in the way of temptation, when work could surely be obtained elsewhere. He argued that here he could be treated as a gentleman, that he could have better wages, and altogether it was a fine opportunity. At any rate he had gone too far to recede.

His wife sighed heavily, but ceased to urge him further.

"The man was very much taken with my appearance," resumed Mr. Danforth, feeling that he had gained his point. "I'm to know whether he accepts my terms before night. So keep up good courage. I shall be able to support you like a lady yet--who knows?" and he turned to leave the house.

"I'm quite contented in the lot Providence has assigned me," remarked the woman, gazing into her husband's handsome but irresolute countenance. "Ah!" said she, when he had disappeared, "'beauty is vain.' I fear his good looks and his gentlemanly appearance will be the cause of his ruin."

At night Mr. Danforth came home in grand spirits, and announced that he had been engaged at a good salary, and was to commence his labors in the morning. His wife bravely repressed a sigh, tried to smile, and to feel hopeful. Presently Harrison came home in a pleasant state of excitement. He was just about to narrate his afternoon's success to his mother, when he noticed that his father was present, and, with a prudence which had been dearly bought by past experience, waited until he should find her alone.

"I think," remarked Mr. Danforth in a self complacent tone, as they sat around the neatly arranged board, "that when I am fairly established in my new situation I shall take you there, Harrison, as waiter. You would do the work charmingly, and be quite an ornament to the place."

"Oh, no!" exclaimed the mother earnestly, "I can never give my consent."

"I had much rather go to school," responded the boy; "I have so little time now to learn."

"If God prospers us, I mean to have you go next fall and winter," said his mother. "Now that you," turning to her husband, "are to have such great wages, you will be able to get him a good suit of clothes."

"I don't calculate on being able to do much in that way at present," replied the father in some confusion. "It'll cost me a good deal for my own dress; and then, it's better for the boy to depend on himself. He might learn to be idle you know, and that's against your principles, wife. Besides, Bub, you can read and write now, and keep accounts nigh about as well as I can."

"You're not going out again, I hope," said Mrs. Danforth, anxiously, as he arose and took his hat.

"I told Mr. Lamson I'd be down there, and kinder get used to things to be ready for tomorrow, that's all. I'll be back again in an hour or so."

"There's wood to cut," she urged, "and it will be very lonely without you."

"Harrison will cut some till I come."

"I'll clear away the tea things, mother, and then read to you," cried the boy, in a cheerful tone, as he saw how difficult it was for her to keep from shedding tears. "And I haven't told you yet what a fine chance I had this afternoon. A gentleman at the tailor's shop asked me to go 'way up town for him to carry a note. He paid me well, too; but the best of it was, that the lady to whom I carried it gave me a book and an omnibus ticket, so I rode all the way back. But I forgot to tell you that the tailor would have some work ready this evening: perhaps I had better run and get it now."

THE NEW BONNET.

"He that loveth pleasure, shall be a poor man."

"MAMMA," asked Ella Haven, after breakfast the next morning, "will you please let me work. I want to help Bridget make the beds, or do something."

"Nonsense, child! play with your baby-house, and make the beds in that if you please." Turning to her husband, she asked, with a laugh, "What idea do you suppose the child has now?"

"Do please let me, mamma! The boy down stairs told me his sister worked, and that the Bible says we all must work. So I do want to."

"That is good preaching," remarked Mr. Haven. "Who is the boy, Ella?"

The child told all she knew of her young friend, and that he would not talk to her until she had obtained her mother's permission. "I've seen him about here, and sent him errands more than once," said the gentleman. "He is a sturdy little fellow, and will make something yet."

In the mean time, Harrison was at his place in the back-court, evidently anticipating with much pleasure another visit from his young friend. Nor was he disappointed. Just as he had comfortably arranged his baskets, a happy laugh announced her approach.

"How do you do this morning?" she asked, with the familiarity of an old acquaintance. Then, without waiting for an answer, she continued, "have you bought the bonnet yet?"

"Oh, no! I haven't half money enough! though I earned a great deal yesterday. I want to get a real nice one; but I don't know how much it will cost."

Ella ran to her mother's room out of breath with excitement. "How much does a bonnet cost, mamma; a straw one, with a pretty ribbon on it? Harrison is going to buy one for his mother, and we don't know how much it costs."

"We, indeed," repeated the lady with an arch glance at her husband, who was just leaving the room, "a bonnet costs anywhere from two to twenty dollars."

The child tripped back again to carry the important information.

Harrison laughed merrily at the idea of his mother in a twenty-dollar bonnet. "When I think I have enough," he said, "I shall go into a store and ask the price of such an one as I want."

"Do you work every day?" inquired Ella. "Every day but the Sabbath. I go to church then, and to Sabbath school. Perhaps I shall go to day-school next winter. If I do, I mean to study real hard."

"Who will buy your bread then?"

"Father and mother; and I shall work too when I'm out of school. I had six houses last winter where I shovelled the snow from the steps and sidewalks. I earned a new pair of shoes and a coat. Mother says, after all, the habit of diligence is worth more to me than what I earn."

"I wish I could work," exclaimed the child; "but there is nothing for me to do. Sometimes I get papa's slippers for him. I mean to do it every day. Oh! I forgot to tell you my brother is coming home to-day! He's been away at boarding school. When you come to-morrow I'll take him down here to see you. I'm so glad he's coming home. His name is Alfred,--for papa."

Harrison did not feel the same interest in the brother as he had in the sister. Though about his own age Alfred looked much older, and, though handsome, yet had an unpleasant expression upon his countenance. To please Ella he went down to be introduced to Harrison, anticipating, as he told his mother, some capital fun.

"This is my brother," said Ella, holding his hand fondly. "I told him you wanted to see him."

Alfred drew up his form; but Harrison only glanced at him with a smile.

"He can whistle beautifully," rejoined Ella, glancing in her brother's face. "I've heard him a good many times."

"He shells peas well, I see," said Alfred; "I suppose he has a great deal of practice."

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