CHAPTER XXXV DICK HAMLIN

 Mr. Hamlin stopped his horse a quarter of a mile from the village in front of a plain farmhouse¹.

 

An intelligent-looking boy, of perhaps fifteen, coarsely but neatly² dressed, approached and greeted his father, not without a glance of surprise and curiosity at Frank.

 

"You may unharness the horses, Dick," said Mr. Hamlin. "When you come back, I will introduce you to a boy friend who will stay with us a while."

 

Dick obeyed, and Frank followed his host into the house.

 

Here he was introduced to Mrs. Hamlin, a motherly-looking woman, and Annie and Grace, younger sisters of Dick.

 

"I am glad to see you," said Mrs. Hamlin, to our hero, after a brief explanation from her husband. "We will try to make you comfortable."

 

"Thank you!" said Frank. "I am sure I shall feel at home."

 

The house was better furnished than might have been anticipated. When Mr. Hamlin left Chicago, he had some money saved up, and he furnished his house in a comfortable manner.

 

It was not, however, the furniture that attracted Frank's attention so much as the books, papers and pictures that gave the rooms a homelike appearance.

 

"I shall be much better off here than I would have been at the tavern," he thought. "This seems like home."

 

"I see," said Mr. Hamlin, "that you are surprised to see so many books and pictures. I admit that my house does not look like the house of a poor man, who has to struggle for the mere³ necessaries of life. But books and periodicals we have always classed among the necessities, and I am sure we would all rather limit ourselves to dry bread for two out of the three meals than to give up this food for the mind."

 

"I think you are a very sensible man, Mr. Hamlin," said Frank. "I couldn't get along without something to read."

 

"Not in this out-of-the-way place, at any rate," said Mr. Hamlin. "Nothing can be more dismal⁴ than the homes of some of my neighbors, who spend as much, or more, than I do every year. Yet, they consider me extravagant⁵ because I buy books and subscribe⁶ for periodicals."

 

By this time, Dick came in from the barn.

 

"Dick," said his father, "this is Frank Courtney, who comes from Chicago on a business errand. He is a traveling merchant—"

 

"In other words, a peddler," said Frank, with a smile, "ready to give the good people in Jackson a chance to buy stationery⁷ at reasonable prices."

 

"He will board with us while he is canvassing⁸ the neighborhood, and I expect you and he will become great friends."

 

"I think we shall," said Frank.

 

Dick was a little shy, but a few minutes set him quite at ease with his new acquaintance.

 

After supper, Frank said:

 

"Dick, if you are at leisure, I wish you would take a walk about the village with me. I want to see how it looks."

 

"All right," said Dick.

 

When the two left the house, the country boy began to ask questions.

 

"How do you like your business?" he asked.

 

"Not very well," answered Frank. "I do not think I shall stay in it very long."

 

"Do you sell enough to make your expenses?" asked Dick.

 

"No; but I am not wholly dependent on my sales. I have a little income—a hundred dollars a year—paid me by my stepfather."

 

"I wish I had as much. It seems a good deal to me."

 

"It doesn't go very far. What are you intending to be, Dick?"

 

"I suppose I shall have to be a farmer, though I don't like it."

 

"What would you like to be?"

 

"I should like to get an education," said Dick, his eyes lighting⁹ up. "I should like to study Latin and Greek, and go to college. Then I could be a teacher or a lawyer. But there is no chance of that," he added, his voice falling.

 

"Don't be too sure of that, Dick," said Frank Frank, hopefully. "Something may turn up in your favor."

 

"Nothing ever does turn up in Jackson," said the boy, in a tone of discouragement. "Father is a poor man, and has hard work to get along. He can give me no help."

 

"Isn't the farm productive?"

 

"There is no trouble about that, but he has to pay too high a rent. It's all the fault of Fairfield."

 

"The agent?"

 

"Yes."

 

"Your father was telling me about him. Now, if your father were in his place, I suppose he could give you the advantages you wish."

 

"Oh, yes! There would be no trouble then. I am sure he would make a better and more popular agent than Mr. Fairfield; but there is no use thinking about that."

 

"I expected myself to go to college," said Frank. "In fact, I have studied Latin and Greek, and in less than a year I could be ready to enter."

 

"Why don't you?" asked Dick.

 

"You forget that I am a poor peddler."

 

"Then how were you able to get so good an education?" asked Dick, in surprise.

 

"Because I was once better off than I am now. The fact is, Dick," he added, "I have seen better days. But when I was reduced to poverty, I gave up hopes of college education and became what I am."

 

"Wasn't it hard?"

 

"Not so much as you might suppose. My home was not happy. I have a stepfather and stepbrother, neither of whom I like. In fact, there is no love lost between us. I was not obliged to leave home, but under the circumstances I preferred to."

 

"Where are your stepfather and your stepbrother now?"

 

"They are traveling in Europe."

 

"While you are working hard for a living! That does not seem to be just."

 

"We must make the best of circumstances, Dick. Whose is that large house on the left?"

 

"That belongs to Mr. Fairfield.

 

"He seems to live nicely."

 

"Yes, he has improved and enlarged the house a good deal since he moved into it—at Mrs. Percival's expense, I suppose."

 

"He seems to have pretty much his own way here," said Frank.

 

"Yes. Mr. Percival never comes to Jackson, and I suppose he believes all that the agent tells him."

 

"He may get found out some time."

 

"I wish he might. It would be a great blessing¹⁰ to Jackson if he were removed and a good man were put in his place."

 

"That may happen some day."

 

"Not very likely, I am afraid."

 

At this moment Mr. Fairfield himself came out of his front gate.

 

"Hello, Hamlin!" he said, roughly, to Dick. "Is your father at home?"

 

"Yes, sir."

 

"I have something to say to him. I think I will call round."

 

"You will find him at home, sir."

 

"Dick," said Frank, when the agent had passed on, "do you mind going back? What you tell me makes me rather curious about Mr. Fairfield. At your house I may get a chance to see something of him."

 

"Let us go back, then," said Dick; "but I don't think, Frank, that you will care much about keeping up the acquaintance."

 

"Perhaps not; but I shall gratify my curiosity."

 

The two boys turned and followed the agent closely. They reached the house about five minutes after Mr. Fairfield.

1 farmhouse   

n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房）

参考例句：

• We fell for the farmhouse as soon as we saw it.我们对那所农舍一见倾心。
• We put up for the night at a farmhouse.我们在一间农舍投宿了一夜。

2 neatly   

adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地

参考例句：

• Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
• The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。

3 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

4 dismal   

adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的

参考例句：

• That is a rather dismal melody.那是一支相当忧郁的歌曲。
• My prospects of returning to a suitable job are dismal.我重新找到一个合适的工作岗位的希望很渺茫。

5 extravagant   

adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的

参考例句：

• They tried to please him with fulsome compliments and extravagant gifts.他们想用溢美之词和奢华的礼品来取悦他。
• He is extravagant in behaviour.他行为放肆。

6 subscribe   

vi.(to)订阅，订购；同意；vt.捐助，赞助

参考例句：

• I heartily subscribe to that sentiment.我十分赞同那个观点。
• The magazine is trying to get more readers to subscribe.该杂志正大力发展新订户。

7 stationery   

n.文具；(配套的)信笺信封

参考例句：

• She works in the stationery department of a big store.她在一家大商店的文具部工作。
• There was something very comfortable in having plenty of stationery.文具一多，心里自会觉得踏实。

8 canvassing   

v.（在政治方面）游说( canvass的现在分词 )；调查（如选举前选民的）意见；为讨论而提出（意见等）；详细检查

参考例句：

• He spent the whole month canvassing for votes. 他花了整整一个月四处游说拉选票。
• I'm canvassing for the Conservative Party. 我在为保守党拉选票。 来自辞典例句

9 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

10 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。