A Son of the City

mily were as yet not awake, so he stretched lazily and recalled, incident by incident, that blissful afternoon with Louise. How pretty she had looked when she

said, plainly as if spoken, "John Fletcher, you're a failure. Two dollars was your goal for

ernoon, so he begged a nickel from his father for peanuts and rushed in to his mirror to see if his face needed washing. There was the four-footed cari

. Why hadn't he purchased instead a mail-

ce, for the first time, the problem of earning a steady weekly

utes. How was a boy to earn money? What were the channels of revenue by which the "Jefferson Toughs," Shultz and

s would come from that source. The allowance from his father would bring the amount up to, say, seventy-five cents. Could he hope for

tops, marbles, "Run, sheep, run," or even snow fights! The thousand dollars which meant a home was to be ea

in line for the afternoon, he fingered a dime in his pocket repeatedly, for the coin represent

John-

ot greatly enthusia

e going. It'll be the biggest game, next Saturday, and, Ji

just such opportunities, last year? Hadn't Bill and he discovered a hole in the fence and laid plans to see one of the early games by its aid? And hadn't an unfeel

said he

hy

work-sel

his ears. John scuffed the schoo

y, "I've got to have a thousand d

at

mar

ated scornfully. "Aw, come on,

ot to act like a man now. I haven't

-struck tones, as his chum turned and wal

e new vocation. Never had Silvey's eyes held su

een in the days when the park museum was glorified as an exposition building. Since then, a long succession of tenants had scented the dark, badly lighted corridors with a variety of garlicky odors, and the rentals had been lowered until only the m

arn the hour of arrival for the newspaper wagon, and whatever other information on news vending

ther bloo

as a token of peace. "W

n's" looked at him suspiciously

s. What do

but one motive for engaging in the pape

he sudden desire for money, but not this boy. The love affair would be all over

plausibility to the winds. "Came home last night, crying like everything. The

ere comrades in misfortune, and as such J

erously. "Stay here with me and I'll tell him you're a n

's wo

u can sel

as

had better learn the vicissitudes of the business through bi

of the old apartments. The boys crowded up to the wagon step. Shultz surrend

kid,

s his

oh

t, John,

t to make deliveries to established customers, while John dashed exultantly over to the

of locomotive smoke arose as the engine got under way again. Then came the pound, pound, pound of a multitude of fee

a-

his voice, anyway? There was nothing to be ashamed of in selling papers. The policeman wouldn't arrest him. Ag

r across the macadam. The lamplighter, speeding from post to post on a bicycle, paused long enough to leave a flickering beacon on the corner, then sped away with his long torch over one shoulder. Trains came and went. Business men in well-tailored, immaculate s

overstock! Not only had the prospective profits vanished, but a deficiency impended

for the excitement of the new occupation had prevented such amusement earlier in the a

mall boy was legging it westward as fast as he could go. Past the school, past the row of dilapidated houses which lay beyond, past the plank-walle

om work. Frank Smith, bookkeeper in a wholesale house, would be still on his way home, and this difference between the expensive fifteen-minute train service

olent before he sauntered down the gas l

Side murder! Extry pa-a-a-per here.

numerous windows as their ow

ig South Side murder

t against the unkempt front lawn of a two-st

All about th

him a penny. The boy l

are a

er's marked

ng a huge stock transfer, "to chase all over and miss supper, just to ma

capitulated and went back into t

o be feared. Selling extras which were not extras to people who thought they were

Side family murdered! Extry pap

ll to the grewsome lure. At last but one newsp

the nickel into his pocket, gave over the last of the troublesome sheets, and started for home. Again came the whistle. He made a t

row's capital-wasn't bad. Surely the other dollar and a half could be saved by t

nced along the gusty, wind-swept street, and went in to sit by the parlor grate for a few moments. Hardly had she opened her ma

shrilled in her acrid tones

and drew up a companion chair befo

er hands a moment before the dancing flames

ad to sell papers because your husband had had trouble with his employer and had lost his position." She would have added fur

bor from across the way, "that I hoped things were not as

youngster's mother, now that

aughter. "I'll have to interview that son of mine when he g

t with him than he had any right to expect. She was stil

e next afternoon. Since then, thanks to persistent effort, the list had steadily grown until he was able to double his first day's order without danger of financial loss. The errands for th

t first, the thought that he was falling below the two dollar limit troubled him sorely until he remembered th

ans as they walked to school, one bleak, overcast noon. Needless to say, Bill did not meet the wager. He

en, or to take her on Sunday expeditions to the park. On one of the strolls, she told of furthe

e. Nondelivery of the papers spelled fai

all, couldn't a girl understand? How was the thousand dollars which was

oisy, grimy streets and passage, in them was both tedious and difficult for a small boy. Weary after the morning of trampin

walls of a room. In the center, a shiny mahogany bed stood, with a dres

nt. She obeyed indulgently, as his eyes becam

Reduced to three hundred

rs which would break the first time a small boy plumped down on them! Then came

t least be four hundred and fifty dollars. The parlor should cost even more, for chairs, a sofa, and a reading table were to be placed in it. As for the dining-room, he shrank from a consideration of that expense! And there were dishes and books and silverware!

t to be given at a quarter of two. Her desk was backed against the wall, and the cornstalks used by the drawing class as models for their efforts, were grouped against it to form a background for the

y child was there, for they were too

irl whose pink dress clashed violently with her red hair and freckle

ain of co

grain o

ourth-grade music book and settled back expec

room's eager gaze. A scurry of gray calico came from the coat closet which served as the green room for the amateur actors. A boy, muffled mysteriously i

Sid and

high, paper cuffs hiding his coat sleeves well up to his elbows, and a queerly shaped, high-buckled hat which threatened to slide down over his ears at any moment. Louise, in a Priscilla gra

beloved, waving his arms back and forth in fervid, pump-handle motions which Louise seemed to mind not a bit. Hang

throw an icy feeling into the pit of his stomach. What right

, and blissfully conscious of four long holidays, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, in which he could sleep as late as he wanted-besides, he could see a little more of Louise. He didn'

pie which waited on the bottom shelf, and then back to the kitchen where he pestered his mother with innumerable questions until she drove him out in

n-pound turkey," sa

s heel. "You ought to see ours. Twenty pounds, and my, such a big fellow

gger'n ours, but it won't taste as good, for my ma (he'd forgotten his assertion rega

quire about dinner. He was most starved to death. Wouldn't mother hurry it up? Mother

g impartiality. He turned to an inner page and found a huge advertisement staring him in the face. At the top, floated a streamer with the legend, "You furnish the girl, we furnish the house!" Further down the page were f

ther from the dining-

detail of the evenly browned national bird, the long, slender stalks of celery in the dainty china dish, t

e plumped into his seat. "Hurry up,

key and its accessories, there still ran the exultant echo o

become a real Tha