"Here am I," he said to himself, "eighteen years old, and father treats me like a boy of ten. I'm most a man, and all he gives me for pocket-money is twenty-five cents a week. There's Dick Storrs, whose father isn't a quarter as rich as mine, gets a dollar a week. He's only sixteen, too."
One important difference between himself and Dick Storrs did not occur to Joshua. Dick worked in a shoe-shop, and it was out of his own wages that his father allowed him a dollar a week. Joshua earned nothing at all.
"It's mean!" reflected Joshua. "There aint a boy of my age in Stapleton that's so meanly treated,[Pg 128] and yet my father's the richest man in town. I wish I knew what to do to get a little money."
At this moment he saw Sam Crawford approaching him. Sam was perhaps a year younger than Joshua. He had formerly2 lived in the village, but was now in a situation in New York, and was only in Stapleton for a few days.
"How are you, Joshua?" said Sam.
"Well enough," said Joshua. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going round to the ice-cream saloon. Won't you come with me?"
"Yes, if you'll treat. I haven't got any money."
"You ought to have. The old man's got plenty."
"That's so. But he's getting meaner every day. What do you think he allows me for spending money?"
"I don't know. A dollar a week?"
"A dollar! I should think myself lucky if I got anywhere near that. What do you say to twenty-five cents?"
"You don't mean to say that's all he gives you?"
[Pg 129]
"Yes, I do."
"Why, I can't get along on ten times that. Why don't you ask for more?"
"I have, fifty times; but that's all the good it does."
"If my father treated me like that, I'd cut his acquaintance."
"I don't know as that would do me any good," said Joshua, rather sensibly. "I wish I knew of any way of getting some money."
"You might hire out to saw wood for the neighbors," said Sam.
"Of course I meant that in joke; but you might get a place, and earn some money."
This suggestion, however, did not suit Joshua, for it carried with it the idea of work, and he was as lazy as he was selfish; which is saying as much as can well be said on that point.
"The old man ought to give me enough to spend, without work," he said. "He don't spend more than a third of his income."
[Pg 130]
"He's saving it up for you."
"I'm not likely to get it for a good many years," said Joshua, who actually seemed to be angry with his father for living so long. However, though it is doubtful whether Joshua would have been a dutiful or affectionate son under any circumstances, it must be admitted that Mr. Drummond had done very little to inspire filial affection.
"No," answered Joshua.
"There's a fellow I know in New York that drew a prize of a thousand dollars, and how much do you think he paid for a ticket?"
"I don't know."
"Five dollars. How's that for high?"
"How long ago is that?" asked Joshua, becoming interested.
"Only two months ago."
"Do you know him?"
"Yes, I know him as well as I know you. He is clerk in a store just opposite ours. When he got[Pg 131] the money he gave half a dozen of us a big dinner at Delmonico's. We had a jolly time."
"Do you know the name of it?"
"No, but I'll tell you what I'll do. The fellow I was speaking of gets lottery papers regularly. I'll ask him for one, and send it to you as soon as I get back to the city."
"I wish you would," said Joshua. "Wouldn't it be splendid if I could draw a prize of a thousand dollars?"
"I'll bet it would. It would make you independent of the old man. You wouldn't care much for his twenty-five cents a week then?"
"No, I'd tell him he might keep it till he got rich enough to afford me more."
"He'd open his eyes a little at that, I reckon."
"I guess he would. When are you going back to the city?"
"The last of this month. My time will be up then."
[Pg 132]
"You won't forget to send me the paper?"
"No, I'll remember it. Come in and have an ice-cream. You can return the compliment when you've drawn7 a prize."
"All right! Is a thousand dollars the highest prize?"
"No, there are some of two, three, and five thousand. Then there are five-hundred-dollar prizes, and so along to five dollars. Five hundred wouldn't be so bad, eh?"
"No, I should feel satisfied with that. I would come up to New York, and spend a week."
"If you do, just step in upon me, and I'll show you round. I know the ropes."
"I wish I could," said Joshua, enviously8. "This is an awfully stupid place. I tried to get leave to go to the city last fall, but the old man wouldn't let me. He wasn't willing to spend the money."
I hope none of my readers will so admire the character of Joshua Drummond as to imitate him in the disrespectful manner in which he speaks of his father. Yet I am aware that many boys and young men, who are not without respect and affection for[Pg 133] their parents, have fallen into the very discreditable way of referring to them as "the old man" or "the old woman." They may be sure that such a habit will prejudice against them all persons of right feeling.
Joshua and Sam went into the ice-cream saloon, which was kept, during the summer only, in a small candy store, by a maiden9 lady who eked10 out a scanty11 income by such limited patronage12 as the village could afford. Joshua plied13 his companion with further questions, to all of which he readily replied, though it is doubtful whether all the answers were quite correct. But Sam, having been in the city a few months, wished to be thought to have a very extensive acquaintance with it, and was unwilling14 to admit ignorance on any point.
Early the next week Sam returned to his duties in the city, and Joshua awaited impatiently the promised lottery papers.
Sam did not forget his promise. On the third day after his departure a paper came to the village post-office, directed.
[Pg 134]
Joshua Drummond, Esq., Stapleton
This was promptly15 taken from the office by Joshua, who had called on an average twice a day for this very paper. It proved to be printed on yellow paper, and fairly bristled16 with figures, indicating the large sums which were weekly distributed all over the country by the benevolent17 managers of the lottery. Here was a scheme in which the principal prize was but a thousand dollars. However, the tickets were but a dollar each, and a thousand dollars for one was certainly a handsome return for a small outlay18. There were others, however, in which the principal prize was five thousand dollars, and the tickets were, in due proportion, five dollars each.
Joshua went off to a somewhat secluded19 place, for he did not wish to be interrupted, and eagerly read the paper through from beginning to end. Certainly the representations made were of a very seductive character. One might suppose, from reading the paragraphs sandwiching the several schemes, that the[Pg 135] chances were strongly in favor of every holder20 of a ticket drawing a prize, though a little calculation would have shown that the chances of drawing even the smallest prize were scarcely more than one in a hundred. Here, for instance, is one of the paragraphs:—
"A mechanic in a country town in New York State met with an accident which confined him to his home for three months. He had a large family of children, and had never been able to lay up any money. The consequence was, that the family was reduced to great distress21, and he saw no resource except to try to borrow a little money, which would create a debt that he might be years in paying off. But fortunately, only a week before the accident, his wife had seen one of our advertisements. She had five dollars by her, which she had intended to appropriate to the purchase of a new dress. Instead of doing this, a happy impulse led her to send for one of our tickets. She concealed22 this from her husband, however, thinking that he would blame her. What was her joy, when they were reduced to their last dollar, to receive from us intelligence that[Pg 136] she had drawn a prize of two thousand dollars! The joy of the poor family can better be imagined than described. They were enabled at once to purchase the house in which they lived, and thus to lay the foundation of permanent prosperity. Thus, as in numberless other cases, have we been the means of bringing joy to lucky households."
Now, this story was probably manufactured out of whole cloth. At any rate, even if true, for every such fortunate household there were a hundred to which the lottery had carried disappointment and privation. But of course the lottery managers could not be expected to allude23 to these, nor did Joshua, as he greedily read such paragraphs, consider them. On the contrary, his imagination and cupidity24 were both excited, and he was foolish enough to suppose that his chances of success in case he invested would be very good indeed.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
moodily
|
|
| adv.喜怒无常地；情绪多变地；心情不稳地；易生气地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
formerly
|
|
| adv.从前，以前 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
haughtily
|
|
| adv. 傲慢地, 高傲地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
lottery
|
|
| n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
awfully
|
|
| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
lotteries
|
|
| n.抽彩给奖法( lottery的名词复数 )；碰运气的事；彩票；彩券 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
enviously
|
|
| adv.满怀嫉妒地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
maiden
|
|
| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
eked
|
|
| v.（靠节省用量）使…的供应持久( eke的过去式和过去分词 )；节约使用；竭力维持生计；勉强度日 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
scanty
|
|
| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
patronage
|
|
| n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
plied
|
|
| v.使用（工具）( ply的过去式和过去分词 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
unwilling
|
|
| adj.不情愿的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
promptly
|
|
| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
bristled
|
|
| adj. 直立的，多刺毛的 动词bristle的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
benevolent
|
|
| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
outlay
|
|
| n.费用，经费，支出；v.花费 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
secluded
|
|
| adj.与世隔绝的；隐退的；偏僻的v.使隔开，使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
holder
|
|
| n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
distress
|
|
| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
concealed
|
|
| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
allude
|
|
| v.提及，暗指 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
cupidity
|
|
| n.贪心，贪财 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |