“There is no need for you to beg. I’ll bring you some money tonight.”
Paul looked very much annoyed.
“If you don’t stop begging, grandfather,” he said, “I won’t come home at all. I’ll go and sleep at the Newsboys’ Lodge3.”
The old man looked frightened. Paul turned in every week two dollars and a half of his wages, and old Jerry had no wish to lose so considerable a sum.
“I’ll go—I’ll go right away,” he said, hastily.
“Be sure you do. If you don’t I shall hear of it, and you won’t see me any more.”
Just then a policeman of the Broadway squad4, whose business it was to pilot passengers across through the maze5 of vehicles, took the old man in tow, and led him carefully across the great thoroughfare.
“So that is your grandfather,” he said.
“I call him so,” answered Paul, slowly.
“You call him so!” repeated his companion, puzzled. “Isn’t he really your grandfather?”
[12]
“No, sir; but as I have lived with him ever since I was very small, I have got into the habit of calling him so.”
“When did your father die?”
“When I was about six years old. He only left a hundred dollars or so, which Jerry took charge of, and took me to live with him. We were living in the same tenement7 house, and that’s how it came about.”
“Is he so very poor?”
“I used to think so,” answered Paul, “till one day I found out that he got a monthly pension from some quarter in the city. I don’t know how much it is, but I know he has money deposited in the Bowery Savings8 Bank.”
“How did you find that out, Number 91?”
“I was walking along the Bowery one day on an errand, when, as I was passing the bank, I saw grandfather going up the steps. That made me curious, and I beckoned9 to a friend of mine, Johnny Woods, and asked him to go in and see what the old man’s business appeared to be. I met Johnny that evening and he told me that he saw grandfather write out a deposit check and pay in money. I couldn’t find out how much it was, but Johnny said there were several bills in the sum.”
“Yes, sir, that’s about what it comes to.”
“In what way does he live?”
“We have a poor, miserable11 room in a tenement on Pearl Street that costs us four dollars a month. Grandfather is always groaning13 about having to pay so much.”
“I suppose he doesn’t live very luxuriously14?”
“Dry bread, and sometimes a little cheese, is what he lives on. Sometimes Mrs. O’Connor, an Irish[13] washerwoman, living in the room below, brings up a plate of meat out of charity.”
“But how can you look so well and strong on such fare?” asked the old farmer, gazing not unadmiringly at the red cheeks and healthy complexion17 of the young telegraph boy.
“I don’t take my meals with grandfather. He wanted me to hand in all my money, and share his meals, but I told him I should die in a week if I had to live like him, so he agreed to let me pay him two dollars and a half a week, and use the rest for myself. I generally eat at some restaurant on the Bowery.”
“But that must cost you more than a dollar and a half a week.”
“So it does, sir, but I get a dollar or two extra on fees from parties that employ me.”
“Even then, at the prices I paid at the New England Hotel, I shouldn’t think you could buy three meals a day.”
“What do you take me for, Mr. Meacham—a Vanderbilt or an Astor?” asked Paul, smiling. “I might as well go to Delmonico’s or the Fifth Avenue Hotel as to the New England House.”
“Where do you eat, then?”
“Generally at the Jim Fisk restaurant on Chatham Street.”
“Is that a cheap restaurant?”
“I can get a good breakfast there for eight cents, and a good dinner for eleven.”
Mr. Meacham looked surprised.
“What on earth can you get for those prices?” he asked.
“I can get a cup of coffee, eggs, fish balls, or mutton stew18, with bread and butter, for eight cents,”[14] said Paul. “The coffee costs three cents, the other five. Then, for dinner, all kinds of meat cost eight cents a plate, and bread and butter thrown in.”
“That’s cheap enough certainly. Is it good?”
“Great Scott!” ejaculated the farmer. “I never dreamed of how people live here in this great city.”
“You see we can’t all of us eat at Delmonico’s.”
“Did your grandfather ever eat at your restaurant?”
“Once I invited him, and told him I would pay the bill. He ate a square meal, meat, coffee, and pie, costing sixteen cents. He seemed to relish20 it very much, but when we were going away he groaned21 over my extravagance, and predicted that I would die in the poorhouse. I’ve never succeeded in getting him there since.”
“Well, well,” said the farmer, “of all the fools on the footstool, I believe the biggest is the man who deprives himself of vittles to save up money for somebody else to spend. I’m too selfish, for my part.”
“There isn’t a day that grandfather doesn’t groan12 over my foolish extravagance,” continued Paul. “Sometimes it makes me laugh, but oftener it makes me ashamed.”
“You don’t feel much attachment22 to him, then?”
“No, sir; perhaps I ought, as he has been my guardian23 so long, but you saw him yourself, sir—a poor, shabby, dirty old man! How can I feel attached to him?”
“I confess it must be hard.”
“You don’t think me much to blame, do you?”
“I don’t think you to blame at all. Affection must be natural, and there seems to be no ground for it in this case. But isn’t that the ferry?”
[15]
“Yes, sir.”
They crossed the street and entered the ticket office of the Cortlandt Street Ferry. Paul set down the valise, while Mr. Meacham secured a ticket.
“Now, Number 91,” said the old man, “how much do I owe you?”
Paul stated the sum, and Mr. Meacham put it in his hand.
“Stop a minute; here is something for yourself,” said his companion, taking out a silver dollar from his purse.
“Are you surprised to get so much?” asked the old man with a smile.
“Yes, sir; I—” and he hesitated.
“You thought me a poor man, perhaps a mean man?”
“No, sir, not that; but I thought you not rich.”
“Don’t always judge by the clothes a man wears, Number 91. I own a large farm, and fifty thousand dollars in railroad stocks. That is rich for the country.”
“I don’t often get so much as this, sir.”
“I suppose not. But I have got a good deal of information out of you. I have heard much that surprised me, that I couldn’t have learned in any other way. So you are welcome to the dollar, and I think I have got my money’s worth.”
“I am very much obliged to you, sir.”
“That’s all right. Now, Number 91—by the way, what is your real name?”
“Paul Parton, sir.”
“Then, Paul, if you ever come my way, I should like to have you spend a week or a month on my[16] farm, as a visitor. I live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, about a couple of miles from the city, and I’ll promise to give you enough to eat at less than you have to pay at the Jim Fisk restaurant.”
Paul thanked him with a smile, and turned to leave the ferry.
In the waiting room was a tall, bearded man, who looked something like a miner, as indeed he was, just returned from a long sojourn26 in California.
“Excuse me, boy,” he said, advancing towards our hero. “Do you mind telling me your name?”
“My name is Paul Parton,” answered the telegraph boy, with a glance of surprise.
“Were you ever in California?”
“Not that I know of, sir.”
“It’s strange!” said the miner, reflectively.
“What is strange, sir?”
“You are the living image of a man I used to know a dozen or fourteen years since in California. Were you born in New York?”
“I think so, sir—I don’t know.”
“Is your father living?”
“No, sir; I live with an old man who is not related to me.”
“Was your father ever in California?”
“He may have been, sir; but I was so young when he died that I don’t know much about his history.”
“What is that number on your cap?”
“I am Number 91, and work for the District Telegraph Company.”
“Number 91? Well, my boy, I hope you’ll excuse the liberty I took in addressing you. The California miners are rather unceremonious. I suppose you think it strange?”
“No, sir, not at all,” returned Paul, politely. “I am glad to have made your acquaintance.”
[17]
As he left the ferry, and lost sight of his questioner, he regretted that he had not at least inquired his name.
“He may have known my father,” thought Paul, “and I should be glad to meet some of his friends. I don’t think old Jerry knows much about him. I am getting tired of living with the old man, and should like to meet some relative or friend of whom I need not be ashamed.”
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1
whined
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| v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 )；哀诉，诉怨 | |
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2
dime
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| n.（指美国、加拿大的钱币）一角 | |
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3
lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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4
squad
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| n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
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5
maze
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| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
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6
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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7
tenement
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| n.公寓；房屋 | |
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8
savings
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| n.存款，储蓄 | |
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9
beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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10
miser
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| n.守财奴，吝啬鬼 (adj.miserly) | |
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11
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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12
groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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13
groaning
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| adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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14
luxuriously
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| adv.奢侈地，豪华地 | |
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15
mortification
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| n.耻辱，屈辱 | |
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16
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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17
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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18
stew
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| n.炖汤，焖，烦恼；v.炖汤，焖，忧虑 | |
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19
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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20
relish
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| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
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21
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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22
attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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23
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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24
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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25
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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sojourn
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| v./n.旅居，寄居；逗留 | |
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