CHAPTER III.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 174, 16 October 1886, Page 7 (Supplement)

CHAPTER 111.

LOUIS FINDS PROFITABLE EMPLOYMENT. Early the next morning — long before the Bun had risen — Louis Dunbar was awake. Very quietly he stole out of bed, his face "very grave and thoughtful, and resolute, and hastily dressing himself, slipped noiselessly down to the kitchen, where, after procuring himself a piece of bread and meat from a closet, he softly let himself out of the house. Ho turned his steps towards the outskirts the city" and walking on, and on, was five miles from the busy town when the docks upon its many steeples struck the hour of six. Louis eeomed to have some definite plan in view, for he kept* straight upon the highway until he came to a large "farta- house — -a thrifty "looking place, white-Ooated, greenblinded, with great, beautiful elms drooping gracefully all about the smoothly shaven •' lawn. Going round to the back door, the boy , unhesitatingly approached it, and rapped, "though somewhat timidly, upon it. It was opened almost immediately by a buxom, msy-cheeked gh-1, who regarded him with something of astonishment in her t bright black eyes. * (Does Mr Brown live here ?" Louis asked, ~ respectfully. ' " Yes.'^the girl answered, still eying him curiouply. •* He hires boy 8 to pick strawberries, don't " Yea ; lots of them " '• Would ho give me a job ?" " I don't know ; you can ask him,' the girl replied, in a kind tone. " Mr Brown !" she called, looking into the kitchen, " here's a boy to see you ; he wants a job." Then she went back to her work, leaving Louis standing alone upon the broad stone step outside. ~ The farmer soon made his appearance, ' however, and, doffing his tattered hat, Louis asked him if he would hire him to pick berries. " Who are you ?" the man asked, bluntly, and studying him attentively with his keen «yes. " My name'B Louis Dunbar." " Where do you come from ?" "Boston. I live with Mrs Jones; but she's poor, and — and I want to do something to help her— and myself, too." The farmer regarded him curiously. " How did you get here so early this morning ?" Mr Brown inquirod. " Walked. I got up before four o'clock." " Had any breakfast?" "Yes, sir." But the boy hung hia head and blushed now, ashamed fco own how simple and in sufficient hia breakfast had really been while the fumes of fragrant coffee, fried* potatoes, and other appetising odours from* the kitchen made his heart and stomach yearn as only a hungry boy's can. "So you want to pick strawberries for a living, do you?" eaid Farmer Brown, musingly. " Ever tried it ?" "No, air." " How much do you expect to get a bor ?" " I don't know, sir. I didn't know how you paid." " J give two cents a box." " Well, even if I couldn't pick more'n a dozen boxes, it would help a little.' Louis returned earnestly. The farmer emiled. "I guess I shall give you a job,' he remarked]; " but if you have walked five miles, you'll need something to stay your stomach till dinner time. Come in and have a bite." "I'm afraid I shall not earn enough for that, and," began Louis, doubtfully, "I'm not very hungry." But he shot a hungry and expressive glance toward the direction whence thoae tempting odours came. "Nonsense, boy," good-naturedly retorted the farmer. " Here, Sarah," turning to the girl within, " take this child to the men's table ; and make him eat a good hearty breakfast, then send him into the strawberry-field *ith John, and tell him to set him at work." He laid hia hand kindly on the boy's shoulder as he spoke, and gently forced him into the clean, roomy kitchen, toward the table already laid for the morning meal. Louis Dunbar had never had such a breakfast before. There was a good, juicy steak with some of .those fragrant fried potatoes, hot biscuits, light as a feather, a glass of delicious milk, and a generous diah of red, luscious etrawberries. Truly timea were looking up for the poor little street Arab, that he should have two such red-letter days in succession. Before .he had finished eating, the girl who had answered his knock at the door came and laid a partly worn broad-brimmed straw hat down beside him " You can't pisk berries all day in the broiling sun with this thing," ehe said taking up the wreck that he had worn, " so you are to wear thie," Louis thanked her, and wondered if all country folks were as kind-hearted and generous as these people. Breakfast over, he followed John to the berry field, where he found a company of boys and girls of all ages, busy at work, and where great, red, fragrant berries lay gleaming beneath their rich.fgreen leaves, waiting, most temptingly, for nimble fingers to gather them. Louis was provided with some boxes, allotted some rows to pick, and then benfc himself to his task with a will which betrayed that he really meant business. So diligently did he work that by-noon he had nlled twenty boxes. "Pretty well done for the first trial," eaid Farmer Brown, coming around just as the horn at his house was blowing for dinner, to see how his new hand was getting on; "and," he added, "your basket looks full as well aa those of the old pickers. But if is dinner time now. Come." He turned away without saying more,, and Louis,, feeling as if his assertion and invitation had been a command, followed him to the hnuae, where he found a dinner as bountiful and appetising as the breakfast had been, awaiting him. l He harried through it, and then back to the field to work again, ana when «{x o'clock came he had added twenty-fiye boxes to the twenty of the morning. ' lj ; Forty-five boxes, at ttfo centaV box. made ninety cents BJxcepting the gold dollar,! which little Margaret Hough ton had given

him th<r previous. d*y,~ LcSOfj -DOttbaY had never before had so much money at one. time. When he'Went'up to' tfe'e 'shan't^, * where the baskets' wefe'dollebtecPand ,#aoked into orates, to receive M' m^W'from^Farmer Brown, and the sum #as /counted out 'to ! him, he flushed a ' vivid 'criinßon, aiid di-ow back," ' ' _•' ' \- " ' " Please, sir, it does'not airbelongtb' me," he said. "I^ve had my breakfast and dinner 1 youknow." * ' "Yes, and you're going to have" some supper too, my lad," returned the man good-naturedly. " Take the money, 1 child, you've earned it fast enough j that'fivemile walk was worth something, and you have' done your work well besides. 'What do you say to staying through the Beason with me ?" ' ' The man had watched the boy closely' all day He liked his looks and quiet ways, and felt much interest in him. " ' ; '• " May I?" cried Louis,' eagerly. lf ' How long will it be?" • ' ' "Four or five weeks. You could earn considerable in that time, at the rate you have worked to-day." " But I should have to go home to-night and tell Aunt Mary about it. She would worry if 1 should stay away without letting her know where I was. I could come out early to-morrow morning again, though. " Very well ; we are going to send a team in Jo-night with a load of berries, so you caiTride if you likel" The' boy, of course, was glad that he had not those five long miles to walk again, for his leg's and back ached with their unaccustomed labour that day^ and his face shone with delight as he pocketed his ninety cents, at the prospect of earning as much, if not more, every day for the next four or five weeks. ' i After supper he followed the men into the great barn, and made himself so useful there about the chores, while the market waggon was being loaded, that he won their good will at the very outset. Then the ride back into the oity in the cool of the evening was delicious ; but the best of all was tellkig kind Mrs Jonea of his day's experience, and then putting the money that he had earned into the hard, red hand that had dono so much for him for so many years. The woman almost cried over the boy's energy and thoughtfulness. "No, no, Louie; I can't take it. To think you should have walked five miles and then worked al) day !" Bhe said, brokenly. " But I've lived on you long enough, Aunt Mary. Vm going to do something for myself now," Louis said, gravely. "Bless the boy! Well, I'll take the money, but I don't begrudge what I've done for you. You can go to Mr Brown, if you like ; I don't dotfbt you'll fare far better than here, though I shall miss you, Louis," and she covertly brushed a regretful tear from her cheek as she gave her sanction to his project. So, the next morning early, Louis trudged back to the farm, and felt himself almost a man to be " hirod for the season " and to be able to support himself. During the next five weeks he averaged fifty boxes a day, while every day, before breakfast and after supper, he made himself so useful about the farm that everybody pronounced him "a capital little fellow, ho smart and helpful." Three mornings of the week he helped Sarah to churn, besides performing many other little services, which, of course, recommended him to her favour at once. Theo he rinßed all the milk-cans, helped to feed the horses and pigs, and drove the cows home from pasture every evening. All this was a perfect delight to the poor child, who had been chut in the great gloomy city all his life, and h6 just revelled in the country air and living. But the last of the strawberries were sent to market one morning, and when evening came Farmer Brown called Louis to him and put twenty-five dollars into his plump brown hands, saying : "There, my boy, that is what you have earned, taking out the shoes and jacket I bought for you ; and, I must say, if you belonged'to me I should be proud of you. You have worked like a little beaver." Twenty-five dollars in new, crisp greenbacks ! , Louis Dunbar looked dazed as he slowly counted it over. He could not realise that he had earned it all. It seemed like a fortune to him " But — I've lived here all the time-; part of it ought to go for that," he said at last, when he could find the use of his tongue. "No, no," my lad; you've earned your board besides, for you have always helped to pack the boxes in the crates, to say nothing of all the chorea you've done. And now, if you are agreeable, I'J like to make another bargain with you," concluded the the farmer, in a business-like tone. The boy's eye? sparkled as he looked up eagerly into his kind employer's face. The word " bargain " had a most musical sound to his young ears. " You see," pursued Mr Brownf, " the raspberry season follows the strawberries ; then come blueberries, huckleberries, and blackberries. Well, I raise all kinds for the market, and it will take through August to get done with them all. You are about ! the nimblest urchin with your fingers that ! I ever saw, and if you want to stay with me I'll give you three dollars a week and your board, for what you can do from six o'clock in the morning till six at night, with an hour's nooning out, of course. Then, if you want to work for yourself, I'll give you all you can pick over and above that time, and you may sell them on your own account. How is it?— do you want to stay ?" "Yes, sir," promptly responded Louis, while his heart bounded with delight at those words, "pick and sell on your own account." That seemed like doing real business for himself, and he resolved to do his level best. During the next three weeks he was as busy as a bee. Up with the lark, helping the girls about the house, and the men at the barn with a good nature and earnestness that won every heart ; then, aftor breakfast, doing his best at the berries until noon. After eating his dinner, he would throw himself down in the shade of some tree and catch a short nap ; then up and at his berries again until six. After supper he would pick like a spirit for himself as long as he could see, then creep into his bed, tired through and through, but feeling like a young prince, with his capital slowly but surely growing under his efforts. He managed to gather from three to five boxes daily for himself, and for these he realised from ten to fifteen cents per box, according to the fruit— raspberries and blackberries bringing more thaa other kinds. Besides all this, he grew in favour constantly with 'good, .Farmer Brown and his wife, who helped him to make respectable clothing, and took pains to teach him many things of which poor. Mary Jones knew nothing, and, had •no time to teach if she had. , At the end, of August Louis had more than fifty dollars laid by in Mr Brown's keeping j but j* portion of this helhad re-, solved to give to the woman who had been 80 kind to him,, to 'make,, if possible, her burdens a litilejighter.- „ '" WU*i are you going to 4o ,wifh your-, self thi? tallandwinter ?' r Mr Brown aske* n^onejday whon^hey^wero/paqking the; ,Im£ et the blackberries oftfo^o i#y.t» u • c

lv '\ fte Lo\iir replied thoughtfully : •« I had thought? . of stocking a nut and fruit stand somewhere in the'city and- trying, to, mAke a Jifctle money. ,fchat Aunt Mary and did n6&irfs." n , ' ' "A but 1 arid "frift a&p'd f ,!~hum!!' said Farmer Brown gravely., '\, "I know two or three fellows who get their living that) way, '^aid Louie, flushing, fcr he saw that his employer did not approve of the plan. •'How bld^re theyY', ' "Well, I su'ppase they tire older than I am," he admitted; looking still more confused, \ , ' " Don't you ' like it out here on the farm?" ' ' "Tes, sir, I like it very much. You have b9en very good to me, sir, and 1 thank you," fche boy, said, heartily. " The farmer smiled, " pleased by his apjpreciative answer. He was' becoming very fond of the' manly little^ fellow. • "If you were my" boy," f he 1 said, "I should" tell you I think' you are not old enough to go into the city and, aefc up for yourself. You would be 'sure tobe.impo^ed upon and — well, there are a, go,o'd many reasons why I, dont approve of It. ' Suppose you stay with pie for a '.while' longer? there are the grapes coming pa, and ( it |a almost as much work" to gather, ' ih'em for the market as }t t was the strawberries. After that will' come the, pears, apples, and other harvesting, whioh will'keep us busy until into November. Then I shall send off t the naostof my men ; but' lam .going to need a boy to do chores about the house and barn,' and you could' go to school through the wintor if you choee. , I will keep at the same price I have boen paying you through the harvesting, then I will give y;ou a dollap a week and let you go to 6chool during the winter ; a boy like you ought t?o be learning as well as earning something.'' Louis did not make any reply for several minutes ; but at last he said : " I'd like it through the harvesting, eir, but I d like to be earning more through the winter if I could, I— l want to get rich, Bir." . [ , The confession wall made with a conscious blush, however, as if somehow he felt it was not the .worthiest ambition in the world. " Yea, I see you are very eager to, make money," his employer returned, looking very grave ; "but aimply to get rich is not the most desirable thing in life, and a rich man cannot thoroughly enjoy wealth unless his mind ia cultivated and he learns how to use it rightly. ' You need wisdom, my boy —you should first get a good practical education, and that will keep you greatly in obtaining just what you desire. Did you ever go to' school ?" " Not very much, sir. I've had bo take care of the children a good deal while Aunt Mary washed and ironed." "Do you like to study?" " I'm afraid I don't, sir, very well," Louis humbly confessed. " I infer you havn'i^bad taste enough of it to make you like it, ' Observed the farmer, adding : " We've got a first-class graded school down at the village, and it will do you good to go there. I reckon yqu'd better stay with me this winter." "I guess you are right, sir," Louis returned, after a little reflection. " I will ; and I think you are very good to take so much interest in me." " That chap will make a smart man if he's only le.i right," soliloquised the farmer, well pleased with the result of the converpation ; "'twould be a pity to have him go baok to the city, and into the kind of life he led before coming here. 1 11 do what I can for him."