All He Knew

cessities of his family. He had been working day after day in the shop of his acquaintance the

ponsible, particularly as the return of the head of the family had reminded every one, from the mother down

ad not yet got his growth, was protruding physically from the ends of his shirts and trousers, and assured his father that he never again could get into his last winter's jacket without subjecting himself to a series o

elf about me any more about sh

Then he dropped them with a sort of shiver, for they were of a well-remembe

m, Billy?" the fath

k at his elder brother,-a wink which was re

he father, very sharply and sternly, for he reme

ther put on a hang-dog look and sauntered out of the room and

himself, "I'll tell you how it was, dad. Down at Price's store there's a lo

r carelessly; "I've s

rly in the mornin's. An' I didn't want to bother you, knowin' that you hadn't any money to spare, 'cause the mother told me 'bout that too, an' cried about it. Well, it blowed like ev'ryth

keepin's," sa

oes, my boy," sa

me? Have I got to have cold feet s

n wad of green paper, looked at it, and finally said, "No, I s'po

f one of the village stores, received

nt o' your store this afternoon durin' the hard blow, an', as they ju

season, and, as they heard Sam's remark, one of them uttered a long combination of word and whistle that sounded ve

to make fun of somebody else. But, Mr. Price, wha

oking at shoes of the same quality which were lying in a box behind the counter, he actually mis

inclinations had been cultivated during the two years he was in State prison. They understood, those evening loafers, that prisons were nominally for the purpose of reforming criminals, but they had known a great many criminals themselves, and their astonish

g for repairs. As nearly as he could discover by a close questioning of the proprietor of the establishment, the entire receipts did not exceed two dollars per day, and the owner had so few responsibilities and so much surplus that he would be quite glad if

am looked up at him and saw Reynolds Bartram. He offered a short, spasmodic, disjointed prayer to heaven, for he remembered what the judge's wife had said, and he

struck the sole more rapidly and vigorously than before,-"well, Sam, I understand that you have been turning things upside down, and i

tram," said the ex-convict, continuing

doing. I wish to make you a proposition: I will pay you cash for two or three hours' tim

instant his attention to the wo

ou'd better go to Deacon Quickset, or the minister of some one of the churches hereabouts. I can't explain anythin', I don't know anythin' but what I feel myself, an' the more I feel it the more I don't know how to

nevertheless, it is a lawyer's business to

soft leather, thin soles, good cut; do you s

e found out that m

ut I want to ask you some questions; tell me what you can as yo

, but I say it myself that I'm a different man. That's all I can say, Mr. Bartram; an', as I said before,

ust as squarely as I could go to any man in the world about anything else that he understood, to ask you plainly what you know about this new life that you are said to be leading now. Tell it to me, out and out. Don't be afraid to

and said, "Mr. Bartram

questions of this kind, when there are plenty of other people I could go to and get the information I want, and perhaps a good deal more? No, sir;

y but once, you know, an' then I don't think they had very much respect for

ubject a few nights ago. That's more than I have been able to find anybody do in this town in a long time. I don't mind saying to you that, according to what the people who are the most

'. I hadn't ever been an honest man in my life. The only reason I hadn't been in jail all my life was that I hadn't been caught. At last I was caught, an' I was sent up, an' I don't mind sayin' that I think my sentence was mighty light, considerin' all the heavy mischief that I'd done durin' my life. While I was in jail I was talked to by a man that us

said th

I went away. That is, I'm always tired an' always poor an' always wishin' I didn't have to do any work. But when there comes a time when I get a chance to do somethin' wrong an' make somethin' by it, I don't do it, although there

thing; that is, so far as religion goes. You are simply trying to live rig

never done nothin' wrong that you know of,-I s'pose that don't seem much to you; but I tell you, Mr. Bartram, it's a complete upset to my old life, an' it's such a big one that I've not been able to get any further since, an' I don't mind talkin' honestly to any f

re first a young man, ten years older than I. You have been told frequently what else you ought to do; and what I

an' has had somethin' put into him to make him feel like turnin' round an' livin' right, the change that's gone

said th

made out of soft leather an' with

ke them any w

d the door with a crash that caused the