Some of my readers may know that the Latin School and English High School are kept in the same building. At two o'clock[6] both are dismissed. Charlie had scarcely passed the school-house when a crowd of boys issued from the school-yard, and he heard his name called from behind. Looking back he recognized a boy somewhat smaller than himself, with whom he had formed an acquaintance some time before.
"Where are you bound, Charlie?" asked Edwin Banks.
"I'm going home now."
"What luck have you had this morning?"
"Not much. I've got four papers left over, and that will take away about all my profits."
"What a pity you are poor, Charlie. I wish you could come to school with us."
"So do I, Eddie. I'd give a good deal to get an education, but I feel that I ought to help mother."
"Why won't you come some time, and see us, Charlie? Clare and myself would be very glad to see you at any time."
"I should like to go," said Charlie, "but I don't look fit."
"Oh, never mind about your clothes. I[7] like you just as well as if you were dressed in style."
"Perhaps I'll come some time," said Charlie. "I'd invite you to come and see me, but we live in a poor place."
"Just as if I should care for that. I will come whenever I get an invitation."
"Then come next Saturday afternoon. I will be waiting for you as you come out of school."
Charlie little thought where he would be when Saturday came.
Shortly after the boys separated, and Charlie's attention was arrested by the sight of an old man with a shambling gait, who was bending over and anxiously searching for something on the sidewalk. Charlie recognized him at once as "old Manson, the miser3," for this was the name by which he generally went.
Old Peter Manson was not more than fifty-five, but he looked from fifteen to twenty years older. If his body had been properly cared for, it would have been different; but, one by one, its functions had been blunted[8] and destroyed, and it had become old and out of repair. Peter's face was ploughed with wrinkles. His cheeks were thin, and the skin was yellow and hung in folds. His beard appeared to have received little or no attention for a week, at least, and was now stiff and bristling4.
The miser's dress was not very well fitted to his form. It was in the fashion of twenty years before. Grayish pantaloons, patched in divers5 places with dark cloth by an unskilful hand; a vest from which the buttons had long since departed, and which was looped together by pieces of string, but not closely enough to conceal6 a dirty and tattered7 shirt beneath; a coat in the last stages of shabbiness; while over all hung a faded blue cloak, which Peter wore in all weathers. In the sultriest days of August he might have been seen trudging8 along in this old mantle9, which did him the good service of hiding a multitude of holes and patches, while in January he went no warmer clad. There were some who wondered how he could stand the bitter cold of winter with no more adequate covering;[9] but if Peter's body was as tough as his conscience, there was no fear of his suffering.
Charlie paused a moment to see what it was that the old man was hunting for.
"Have you lost anything?" he asked.
"Yes," said Peter, in quavering accents. "See if you can't find it, that's a good boy. Your eyes are better than mine."
"What is it?"
"It is some money, and I—I'm so poor, I can't afford to lose it."
"How much was it?"
"It wasn't much, but I'm so poor I need it."
Charlie espied10 a cent, lying partially11 concealed12 by mud, just beside the curb-stone. He picked it up.
"This isn't what you lost, is it?"
"Yes," said Peter, seizing it eagerly. "You're a good boy to find it. A good boy!"
"Well," thought Charlie, wondering, as the old man hobbled off with his recovered treasure, "I'd rather be poor than care so much for money as that. People say old[10] Peter's worth his thousands. I wonder whether it is so."
Charlie little dreamed how much old Peter was likely to influence his destiny, and how, at his instigation, before a week had passed over his head, he would find himself in a very disagreeable situation.
We must follow Peter.
With his eyes fixed13 on the ground he shuffled14 along, making more rapid progress than could have been expected. Occasionally he would stoop down and pick up any little stray object which arrested his attention, even to a crooked15 pin, which he thrust into his cloak, muttering as he did so, "Save my buying any. I haven't had to buy any pins for more'n ten years, and I don't mean to buy any more while I live. Ha! ha! Folks are so extravagant16! They buy things they don't need, or that they might pick up, if they'd only take the trouble to keep their eyes open. 'Tisn't so with old Peter. He's too cunning for that. There goes a young fellow dressed up in the fashion. What he's got on must have cost nigh on to a hundred[11] dollars. What dreadful extravagance! Ha! ha! It hasn't cost old Peter twenty dollars for the last ten years. If he had spent money as some do, he might have been in the poor-house by this time. Ugh! ugh! it costs a dreadful sum to live. If we could only come into the world with natural clothes, like cats, what a deal better it would be. But it costs the most for food. Oh dear! what a dreadful appetite I've got, and I must eat. All the money spent for victuals17 seem thrown away. I've a good mind, sometimes, to go to the poor-house, where it wouldn't cost me anything. What a blessing18 it would be to eat, if you could only get food for nothing!"
It is very clear that Peter would have been far better off, as far as the comforts of life are concerned, in the city almshouse; but there were some little obstacles in the way of his entering. For instance, it would scarcely have been allowed a public pensioner19 to go round quarterly to collect his rents,—a thing which Peter would hardly have relinquished20.
Reflections upon the cost of living brought to Peter's recollection that he had nothing at[12] home for supper. He accordingly stepped into a baker21's shop close at hand.
"Have you got any bread cheap?" he inquired of the baker.
"We intend to sell at moderate prices."
"What do you ask for those loaves?" said the old man, looking wistfully at some fresh loaves piled upon the counter, which had been but a short time out of the oven.
"Five cents apiece," said the baker. "I'll warrant you will find them good. They are made of the best of flour."
"Isn't five cents rather dear?" queried22 Peter, his natural appetite struggling with his avarice23.
"Dear!" retorted the baker, opening his eyes in astonishment24; "why, my good sir, at what price do you expect to buy bread?"
"I've no doubt they're very good," said Peter, hastily; "but have you any stale loaves? I guess they'll be better for me."
"Yes," said the baker, "I believe I have, but they're not as good as the fresh bread."
"How do you sell your stale loaves?" inquired[13] Peter, fumbling25 in his pocket for some change.
"I sell them for about half price—three cents apiece."
"You may give me one, then; I guess it'll be better for me."
Even Peter was a little ashamed to acknowledge that it was the price alone which influenced his choice.
The baker observed that, notwithstanding his decision, he continued to look wistfully towards the fresh bread. Never having seen old Peter before, he was unacquainted with his character, and judging from his dilapidated appearance that he might be prevented, by actual poverty, from buying the fresh bread, exclaimed with a sudden impulse: "You seem to be poor. If you only want one loaf, I will for this once give you a fresh loaf for three cents—the same price I ask for the stale bread."
"Will you?"
Old Peter's eyes sparkled with eagerness as he said this.
"Poor man!" thought the baker with mistaken[14] compassion26; "he must indeed be needy27, to be so pleased."
"Yes," he continued, "you shall have a loaf this once for three cents. Shall I put it in a paper for you?"
Peter nodded.
Meanwhile he was busy fumbling in his pockets for the coins requisite28 to purchase the loaf. He drew out three battered29 cents, and deposited them with reluctant hand on the counter. He gazed at them wistfully while the baker carelessly swept them with his hand into the till behind the counter; and then with a sigh of resignation, at parting with the coins, seized the loaf and shambled out into the street.
He put the bundle under his arm, and hastened up the street, his mouth watering in anticipation30 of the feast which awaited him. Do not laugh, reader,—little as you may regard a fresh loaf of bread, it was indeed a treat to Peter, who was accustomed, from motives31 of economy, to regale32 himself upon stale bread.
The baker was congratulating himself upon[15] having done a charitable action, when Peter came back in haste, pale with affright.
"I—I—," he stammered33, "must have dropped some money. You haven't picked up any, have you?"
"Not I!" said the baker, carelessly. "If you dropped it here you will find it somewhere on the floor. Stay, I will assist you."
Peter seemed rather disconcerted than otherwise by this offer of assistance, but could not reasonably interpose any objection.
After a very brief search Peter and the baker simultaneously34 discovered the missing coin. The former pounced35 upon it, but not before the latter had recognized it as a gold piece.
"Ho, ho!" thought he, in surprise, "my charity is not so well bestowed36 as I thought. Do you have many such coins?" he asked, meaningly.
"I?" said Peter, hastily, "Oh no! I am very poor. This is all I have, and I expect it will be gone soon,—it costs so much to live!"
"It'll never cost you much," thought the baker, watching the shabby figure of the miser as he receded37 from the shop.
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1
manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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miser
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| n.守财奴，吝啬鬼 (adj.miserly) | |
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bristling
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| a.竖立的 | |
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divers
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| adj.不同的；种种的 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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tattered
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| adj.破旧的，衣衫破的 | |
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8
trudging
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| vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的现在分词形式） | |
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mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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10
espied
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| v.看到( espy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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13
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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14
shuffled
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| v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼 | |
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15
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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16
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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17
victuals
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| n.食物；食品 | |
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18
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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19
pensioner
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| n.领养老金的人 | |
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20
relinquished
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| 交出，让给( relinquish的过去式和过去分词 )； 放弃 | |
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baker
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| n.面包师 | |
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22
queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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23
avarice
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| n.贪婪；贪心 | |
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24
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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25
fumbling
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| n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理 | |
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26
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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needy
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| adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的 | |
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28
requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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29
battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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30
anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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31
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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32
regale
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| v.取悦，款待 | |
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33
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34
simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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35
pounced
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| v.突然袭击( pounce的过去式和过去分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击） | |
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36
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37
receded
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的过去式和过去分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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