CHAPTER II. DAN AT HOME.

 While Dan was strong, sturdy, and the picture of health, his mother was evidently an invalid¹. She was pale, thin, and of delicate appearance. She was sitting in a cane²-seated rocking-chair, which Dan had bought second-hand³ on one of his flush days at a small place on the Bowery. She looked up with a glad smile when Dan entered.

 

"I am so glad to see you, my dear boy," she said.

 

"Have you been lonely, mother?" asked Dan, kissing her affectionately.

 

"Yes, Dan, it is lonely sitting here hour after hour without you, but I have my work to think of."

 

"I wish you didn't have to work, mother," said Dan. "You are not strong enough. I ought to earn enough to support us both."

 

"Don't trouble yourself about that, my dear boy. I should feel more lonely if I had nothing to do."

 

"But you work all the time. I don't like to have you do that."

 

In truth the mother was very tired, and her feeble[Pg 17] fingers were cramped⁴ with the stitch, stitch, stitch in endless repetition, but she put on a cheerful countenance⁵.

 

"Well, Dan, I'll stop now that you are at home. You want some supper."

 

"Let me get it, mother."

 

"No, Dan, it will be a relief to me to stir around a little, as I have been sitting so long."

 

"Oh, I nearly forgot, mother—here's a nice pear I bought for you."

 

"It does look nice," said Mrs. Mordaunt. "I don't feel hungry, but I can eat that. But where is yours, Dan?"

 

"Oh, I've eaten mine," answered Dan, hastily.

 

It was not true, but God will forgive such falsehoods.

 

"You'd better eat half of this."

 

"No; I'll be——flummuxed if I do," said Dan, pausing a little for an unobjectionable word.

 

Mrs. Mordaunt set the little table for two. On it she spread a neat cloth, and laid the plain supper—a plate of bread, ditto of butter, and a few slices of cold meat. Soon the tea was steeped, and mother and son sat down for the evening meal.

 

"I say, mother, this is a jolly supper," said Dan. "I get awfully⁶ hungry by supper-time."

 

[Pg 18]

 

"You are a growing boy, Dan. I am glad you have an appetite."

 

"But you eat next to nothing, mother," said Dan, uneasily.

 

"I am not a growing boy," said Mrs. Mordaunt, smiling. "I shall relish⁷ my supper to-night on account of the pear you brought me."

 

"Well, I'm glad I thought of it," said Dan, heartily⁸. "Pears ain't solid enough for me; I want something hearty⁹ to give me strength."

 

"Of course you do, Dan. You have to work hard."

 

"I work hard, mother! Why, I have the easiest time going. All I do is to walk about the streets, or stand in front of the Astor House and ask people to buy my papers. Oh, by the way, who do you think I saw to-day?"

 

"Any of our old friends?" asked Mrs. Mordaunt.

 

"Any of our old friends! I should say not," answered Dan, disdainfully. "It was Tom Carver."

 

"Was it he? He used to sit next you in school, didn't he?"

 

"Yes, for six months. Tom and I were chums."

 

"Did he say whether his family was well?"

 

"What are you thinking of, mother? Do you suppose Tom Carver would notice me, now that I am a poor newsboy?"

 

[Pg 19]

 

"Why shouldn't he?" demanded the mother, her pale face flushing. "Why shouldn't he notice my boy?"

 

"Because he doesn't choose to," answered Dan, with a short laugh. "Didn't you know it was disgraceful to be poor?"

 

"Thank Heaven, it isn't that!" ejaculated Mrs. Mordaunt.

 

"Well, it might as well be. Tom thinks me beneath his notice now. You should have seen him turn his head to the other side as he walked by, twirling his light cane."

 

"Did you speak to him, Dan?"

 

"What do you take me for, mother? Do you think I'd speak to a fellow that doesn't want to know me?"

 

"I think you are proud, my boy."

 

"Well, mother, I guess you're right. I'm too proud to force myself upon the notice of Tom Carver, or any other purse-proud sneak¹⁰."

 

Dan spoke¹¹ with a tinge¹² of bitterness, and it was evident that he felt Tom's slight more than he was willing to acknowledge.

 

"It's the way of the world, Dan," said his mother, sighing. "Not one of all my friends, or those whom I accounted such, in my prosperous days, has come to see us, or shown any interest in our fate."

 

[Pg 20]

 

"They can stay away. We can do without them," said Dan, sturdily.

 

"We must; but it would be pleasant to see some of the old faces," said his mother, plaintively¹³. "There is no one in this house that is company for me."

 

"No, mother; you are an educated and refined lady, and they are poor and ignorant."

 

"They are very good people, some of them. There is Mrs. Burke on the next floor. She was in this afternoon, and asked if she couldn't do something for me. She thought I looked poorly, she said."

 

"She's a brick, mother!"

 

"My dear Dan, you do use such extraordinary language sometimes. You didn't talk so when we lived on Madison avenue."

 

"No, mother, but I associate with a different class now. I can't help catching¹⁴ the phrases I hear all the time. But don't mind, mother; I mean no harm. I never swear—that is, almost never. I did catch myself at it the other day, when another newsboy stole half a dozen of my papers."

 

"Don't forget that you are a gentleman, Dan."

 

"I won't if I can help it, mother, though I don't believe anybody else would suspect it. I must take good care not to look into the looking-glass, or I might be under the impression that I was a street-boy instead of a gentleman."

 

[Pg 21]

 

"Clothes don't make the gentleman, Dan. I want you to behave and feel like a gentleman, even if your clothes are poor and patched."

 

"I understand you, mother, and I shall try to follow your advice. I have never done any mean thing yet that I can remember, and I don't intend to."

 

"I am sure of that, my dear boy."

 

"Don't be too sure of anything, mother. I have plenty of bad examples before me."

 

"But you won't be guided by them?"

 

"I'll try not."

 

"Did you succeed well in your sales to-day, Dan?"

 

"Pretty well. I made ninety-six cents."

 

"I wish I could earn as much," said Mrs. Mordaunt, sighing. "I can only earn twenty cents a day."

 

"You earn as much as I do, mother, but you don't get it. You see, there's a difference in earning and being paid. Old Gripp is a mean skinflint. I should like to force one of his twenty-cent vests down his miserly throat."

 

"Don't use such violent language, Dan. Perhaps he pays me all he can afford."

 

"Perhaps he does, but I wouldn't bet high on it. He is making a fortune out of those who sew for him.[Pg 22] There are some men that have no conscience. I hope some time you will be free from him."

 

"I hope so, too, Dan, but I am thankful to earn something. I don't want all the burden of our maintenance to fall on you."

 

"Don't call it a burden, mother. There's nothing I enjoy so much as working for you. Why, it's fun!"

 

"It can't be fun on rainy, disagreeable days, Dan."

 

"It wouldn't be fun for you, mother, but you're not a boy."

 

"I am so sorry that you can't keep on with your education, Dan. You were getting on so well at school."

 

It was a thought that had often come to Dan, but he wouldn't own it, for he did not wish to add to his mother's sadness.

 

"Oh, well, mother," he said, "something may turn up for us, so we won't look down in the mouth."

 

"I have got my bundled work ready, Dan, if you can carry it round to Mr. Gripp's to-night."

 

"Yes, mother, I'll carry it. How many vests are there?"

 

"There are six. That amounts to a dollar and twenty cents. I hope he'll pay you to-night, for our rent comes due to-morrow."

 

"So it does!" ejaculated Dan, seriously. "I never[Pg 23] thought of it. Shall we have enough to pay it? You've got my money, you know."

 

"We shall be a dollar short."

 

"Even if old Gripp pays for the vests?"

 

"Yes."

 

Dan whistled—a whistle of dismay and anxiety, for he well knew that the landlord was a hard man.

1 invalid   

n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的

参考例句：

• He will visit an invalid.他将要去看望一个病人。
• A passport that is out of date is invalid.护照过期是无效的。

2 cane   

n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的

参考例句：

• This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
• English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。

3 second-hand   

adj.用过的，旧的，二手的

参考例句：

• I got this book by chance at a second-hand bookshop.我赶巧在一家旧书店里买到这本书。
• They will put all these second-hand goods up for sale.他们将把这些旧货全部公开出售。

4 cramped   

a.狭窄的

参考例句：

• The house was terribly small and cramped, but the agent described it as a bijou residence. 房子十分狭小拥挤，但经纪人却把它说成是小巧别致的住宅。
• working in cramped conditions 在拥挤的环境里工作

5 countenance   

n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同

参考例句：

• At the sight of this photograph he changed his countenance.他一看见这张照片脸色就变了。
• I made a fierce countenance as if I would eat him alive.我脸色恶狠狠地，仿佛要把他活生生地吞下去。

6 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

7 relish   

n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味

参考例句：

• I have no relish for pop music.我对流行音乐不感兴趣。
• I relish the challenge of doing jobs that others turn down.我喜欢挑战别人拒绝做的工作。

8 heartily   

adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很

参考例句：

• He ate heartily and went out to look for his horse.他痛快地吃了一顿，就出去找他的马。
• The host seized my hand and shook it heartily.主人抓住我的手，热情地和我握手。

9 hearty   

adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的

参考例句：

• After work they made a hearty meal in the worker's canteen.工作完了，他们在工人食堂饱餐了一顿。
• We accorded him a hearty welcome.我们给他热忱的欢迎。

10 sneak   

vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行

参考例句：

• He raised his spear and sneak forward.他提起长矛悄悄地前进。
• I saw him sneak away from us.我看见他悄悄地从我们身边走开。

11 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

12 tinge   

vt.(较淡)着色于，染色；使带有…气息；n.淡淡色彩，些微的气息

参考例句：

• The maple leaves are tinge with autumn red.枫叶染上了秋天的红色。
• There was a tinge of sadness in her voice.她声音中流露出一丝忧伤。

13 plaintively   

adv.悲哀地，哀怨地

参考例句：

• The last note of the song rang out plaintively. 歌曲最后道出了离别的哀怨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Birds cry plaintively before they die, men speak kindly in the presence of death. 鸟之将死，其鸣也哀；人之将死，其言也善。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

14 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。