"Yes, you know I am to stay here two years, and I might as well be comfortable."

 

"It's ever so much better than my room—twice as big, to begin with. Then, my carpet looks as if it had come down through several generations. I'll bet the old lady had it when she was first married. As for a mirror, I've got a seven-by-nine looking-glass that I have to look into twice before I can see my whole face. As for the bedstead, it creaks so when I jump into it that I expect every night it'll[Pg 10] fall to pieces like the 'one hoss shay,' and spill me on the floor. Now your room is splendidly furnished."

 

"Yes, it is now, but father furnished it at his own expense. He said he was willing to lay out a little money to make me comfortable."

 

"That's more than my father said. He told me it wouldn't do me any harm to rough it."

 

"I don't know but he is right," said Walter. "Of course I don't object to the new carpet and furniture,"—and he looked with pleasure at the handsome carpet with its bright tints¹, the black walnut² bookcase with its glass doors, and the tasteful chamber³ furniture,—"but I shouldn't consider it any hardship if I had to rough it, as you call it."

 

"Wouldn't you? Then I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll change rooms. You can go round and board at Mrs. Glenn's, and I'll come here. What do you say?"

 

"I am not sure how my father would look on that arrangement," said Walter, smiling.

 

"I thought you'd find some way out," said Lemuel.[Pg 11] "For my part, I don't believe you'd fancy roughing it any better than I."

 

"I don't know," said Walter; "I've sometimes thought I shouldn't be very sorry to be a poor boy, and have to work my own way."

 

"That's very well to say, considering you are the son of a rich man."

 

"So are you."

 

"Yes, but I don't get the benefit of it, and you do. What would you do now if you were a poor boy?"

 

"I can't say, of course, now, but I would go to work at something. I am sure I could earn my own living."

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