A HUMBLE POSITION.
JOSHUA realized with anguish the desperate situation to which he was
reduced. The money he had taken from his father, and which at the time
he considered a small fortune, had all melted away, and nothing remained
to him save a portion of his last week’s wages. He had fallen into the
hands of the Philistines, and been fleeced by abler and more experienced
rogues than himself.
What should he do? He had not money enough to go back to New York, even
if he had wished it. He must stay in Chicago, and find something to do,
if possible. But suppose he should fail? This possibility--probability,
I might rather say--suggested itself to the unhappy Joshua, and he
shuddered at the fate which might befall him. He could remain a week at
his boarding place before board would be demanded, and he decided to do
so, though he was not quite sure whether he might not be arrested if he
failed at the end of that to pay his board bill.
“But I may get a place before that time,” he thought.
At any rate, there seemed nothing else to do. So, prudently omitting to
say anything about the critical state of his finances, he continued to
retain his room, mentioning to Mrs. Foster that Mr. Remington had been
called away on business for a few days. Not wishing to have it known
that he had lost his place, he absented himself during the usual
business hours, spending his time in wandering about the city in search
of a situation.
It so happened, however, that there was a lull in business, and there
was even less chance for him than usual. Everywhere he received the same
answer. No help was wanted. In one or two cases, where he saw upon a
window, “Boy Wanted,” he found himself too late.
On Saturday morning he was wandering about listlessly, dreading the bill
which his landlady would render at night, when he chanced to step into a
bowling-alley.
“Where’s the boy to set up the pins?” asked a young man, who had entered
just before with a friend.
“He’s sick,” said the proprietor. “I must get another in his place.”
“Get one in a hurry, then, for my friend and I want a game.”
Joshua heard what was said, and it gave him an idea.
“I’ll set up the pins,” he said.
“Go ahead, then, Johnny.”
Joshua walked down to the end of the alley, and set to work. There was
no difficulty about it, of course, and he performed the work
satisfactorily. The young men played two games, occupying about half an
hour. When it was over they paid for the games, and calling Joshua, gave
him twenty cents.
As they went out others came in.
“Look here, boy,” said the proprietor of the establishment, “if you
choose to stay here and set up pins, you can do it.”
“I’d like to do it,” said Joshua.
The position was not a very dignified one, but it was better than
starving, and Joshua had been afraid that such a fate was in store for
him.
“I don’t pay no wages,” said the man; “but the gentlemen that play will
mostly give you something.”
“All right,” said Joshua.
So he remained through the day. By that time he had picked up
seventy-five cents. Had all paid him, he would have had more; but some
neglected it, and he was not allowed to ask anything. He came back in
the evening, as desired, and picked up fifty cents more.
“At this rate I can make a living,” he thought, with a feeling of
relief. “But I wouldn’t have Sam know what I was doing for anything.”
He had enough to settle his board bill and about a dollar over. So he
paid it without explaining anything of his change of circumstances.
“When do you expect Mr. Remington back?” asked the landlady.
“I don’t know,” said Joshua.
“You are working for him, I believe?”
“Yes; but I have been offered another situation, and I think I shall
take it.”
During the next week, Joshua made seven dollars at his new business, and
was able to pay his board bill. He was heartily tired of the
bowling-alley, where he received treatment which he considered
derogatory to one of his age, the son of a rich man; but it was of no
use to say anything. He could not afford to lose this place, the only
plank that lay between him and starvation. So he bore in silence all the
curses he received from the proprietor of the place, when, as was
frequently the case, that gentleman was excited by liquor, and kept
steadily at work. Indeed, humble as was Joshua’s present position, there
is at least this to be said, that for the first time in his life he was
earning his living by honest labor.
When he paid his second bill, Mrs. Foster asked him again when Mr.
Remington would return.
“I don’t know, ma’am,” he said; “I’ve left his store.”
“What for?”
“He cheated me out of my money,” answered Joshua, truly, “and I don’t
think he means to come back at all.”
“But I can’t afford to let you have this room alone for five dollars a
week.”
“I can’t pay any more.”
“There is a gentleman going to give up the hall bedroom on the third
floor; you can have that for five dollars.”
“I will take it, then, for I can’t pay any more.”
So Joshua made the change. About this time he received a letter from
Sam, asking him if he had heard of any good opening in Chicago for him.
Joshua wrote back that business was very dull at present, but when he
heard of anything he would write.
“I am getting on pretty well,” he wrote; “but there are some things
about my situation I don’t like; I find it very expensive living here,
and I don’t save up any money. I shall change my business as soon as I
can.”
But about the nature of the business in which he was engaged, Joshua
wrote nothing. Had Sam known his true position, he would have been
spared the jealousy he felt of his friend’s supposed success, and cured
of any desire to try his luck in Chicago.
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