BEN GIBSON.
But it was not so much the storm or the cold weather that Mark cared
for. He had become used to these, so far as one can become used to
what is very disagreeable. If after a hard day's work he had had a
good home to come back to, or a kind and sympathizing friend, he
would have had that thought to cheer him up. But Mother Watson cared
nothing for him, except for the money he brought her, and Mark found it
impossible either to cherish love or respect for the coarse woman whom
he generally found more or less affected by whiskey.
[Illustration: DICK AS A PHILANTHROPIST.]
Cold and hungry as he had been oftentimes, he had always shrunk from
begging. It seemed to lower him in his own thoughts to ask charity of
others. Mother Watson had suggested it to him once or twice, but had
never actually commanded it before. Now he was required to bring home
twenty-five cents. He knew very well what would be the result if he
failed to do this. Mother Watson would apply the leather strap with
merciless fury, and he knew that his strength was as nothing compared
to hers. So, for the first time in his life, he felt that he must make
up his mind to beg.
He retraced his steps to the head of Frankfort Street, and walked
slowly down Nassau Street. The rain was falling, as I have said, and
those who could remained under shelter. Besides, business hours were
over. The thousands who during the day made the lower part of the city
a busy hive had gone to their homes in the upper portion of the island,
or across the river to Brooklyn or the towns on the Jersey shore. So,
however willing he might be to beg, there did not seem to be much
chance at present.
The rain increased, and Mark in his thin clothes was soon drenched to
the skin. He felt damp, cold, and uncomfortable. But there was no rest
for him. The only home he had was shut to him, unless he should bring
home twenty-five cents, and of this there seemed very little prospect.
At the corner of Fulton Street he fell in with a boy of twelve, short
and sturdy in frame, dressed in a coat whose tails nearly reached the
sidewalk. Though scarcely in the fashion, it was warmer than Mark's,
and the proprietor troubled himself very little about the looks.
This boy, whom Mark recognized as Ben Gibson, had a clay pipe in his
mouth, which he seemed to be smoking with evident enjoyment.
"Where you goin'?" he asked, halting in front of Mark.
"I don't know," said Mark.
"Don't know!" repeated Ben, taking his pipe from his mouth, and
spitting. "Where's your matches?"
"I left them at home."
"Then what'd did you come out for in this storm?"
"The woman I live with won't let me come home till I've brought her
twenty-five cents."
"How'd you expect to get it?"
"She wants me to beg."
"That's a good way," said Ben, approvingly; "when you get hold of a
soft chap, or a lady, them's the ones to shell out."
"I don't like it," said Mark. "I don't want people to think me a
beggar."
"What's the odds?" said Ben, philosophically. "You're just the chap to
make a good beggar."
"What do you mean by that, Ben?" said Mark, who was far from
considering this much of a compliment.
"Why you're a thin, pale little chap, that people will pity easy. Now I
aint the right cut for a beggar. I tried it once, but it was no go."
"Why not?" asked Mark, who began to be interested in spite of himself.
"You see," said Ben, again puffing out a volume of smoke, "I look too
tough, as if I could take care of myself. People don't pity me. I
tried it one night when I was hard up. I hadn't got but six cents, and
I wanted to go to the Old Bowery bad. So I went up to a gent as was
comin' up Wall Street from the Ferry, and said, 'Won't you give a poor
boy a few pennies to save him from starvin'?'"
"'So you're almost starvin', are you, my lad?'" says he.
"'Yes, sir,' says I, as faint as I could.
"'Well, starvin' seems to agree with you,' says he, laughin'. 'You're
the healthiest-lookin' beggar I've seen in a good while.'
"I tried it again on another gent, and he told me he guessed I was
lazy; that a good stout boy like me ought to work. So I didn't make
much beggin', and had to give up goin' to the Old Bowery that night,
which I was precious sorry for, for there was a great benefit that
evenin'. Been there often?"
"No, I never went."
"Never went to the Old Bowery!" ejaculated Ben, whistling in his
amazement. "Where were you raised, I'd like to know? I should think you
was a country greeny, I should."
"I never had a chance," said Mark, who began to feel a little ashamed
of the confession.
"Won't your old woman let you go?"
"I never have any money to go."
"If I was flush I'd take you myself. It's only fifteen cents," said
Ben. "But I haven't got money enough only for one ticket. I'm goin'
to-night."
"Are you?" asked Mark, a little enviously.
"Yes, it's a good way to pass a rainy evenin'. You've got a warm room
to be in, let alone the play, which is splendid. Now, if you could only
beg fifteen cents from some charitable cove, you might go along of me."
"If I get any money I've got to carry it home."
"Suppose you don't, will the old woman cut up rough?"
"She'll beat me with a strap," said Mark, shuddering.
"What makes you let her do it?" demanded Ben, rather disdainfully.
"I can't help it."
"She wouldn't beat me," said Ben, decidedly.
"What would you do?" asked Mark, with interest.
"What would I do?" retorted Ben. "I'd kick, and bite, and give her one
for herself between the eyes. That's what I'd do. She'd find me a hard
case, I reckon."
"It wouldn't be any use for me to try that," said Mark. "She's too
strong."
"It don't take much to handle you," said Ben, taking a critical survey
of the physical points of Mark. "You're most light enough to blow away."
"I'm only ten years old," said Mark, apologetically. "I shall be bigger
some time."
"Maybe," said Ben, dubiously; "but you don't look as if you'd ever be
tough like me."
"There," he added, after a pause, "I've smoked all my 'baccy. I wish
I'd got some more."
"Do you like to smoke?" asked Mark.
"It warms a feller up," said Ben. "It's jest the thing for a cold, wet
day like this. Didn't you ever try it?"
"No."
"If I'd got some 'baccy here, I'd give you a whiff; but I think it
would make you sick the first time."
"I don't think I should like it," said Mark, who had never felt any
desire to smoke, though he knew plenty of boys who indulged in the
habit.
"That's because you don't know nothin' about it," remarked Ben. "I
didn't like it at first till I got learned."
"Do you smoke often?"
"Every day after I get through blackin' boots; that is, when I aint
hard up, and can't raise the stamps to pay for the 'baccy. But I guess
I'll be goin' up to the Old Bowery. It's most time for the doors to
open. Where you goin'?"
"I don't know where to go," said Mark, helplessly.
"I'll tell you where you'd better go. You won' find nobody round here.
Besides it aint comfortable lettin' the rain fall on you and wet you
through." (While this conversation was going on, the boys had sheltered
themselves in a doorway.) "Just you go down to Fulton Market. There
you'll be out of the wet, and you'll see plenty of people passin'
through when the boats come in. Maybe some of 'em will give you
somethin'. Then ag'in, there's the boats. Some nights I sleep aboard
the boats."
"You do? Will they let you?"
"They don't notice. I just pay my two cents, and go aboard, and snuggle
up in a corner and go to sleep. So I ride to Brooklyn and back all
night. That's cheaper'n the Newsboys' Lodgin' House, for it only costs
two cents. One night a gentleman came to me, and woke me up, and said,
'We've got to Brooklyn, my lad. If you don't get up they'll carry you
back again.'
"I jumped up and told him I was much obliged, as I didn't know what my
family would say if I didn't get home by eleven o'clock. Then, just
as soon as his back was turned, I sat down again and went to sleep.
It aint so bad sleepin' aboard the boat, 'specially in a cold night.
They keep the cabin warm, and though the seat isn't partic'larly soft
its better'n bein' out in the street. If you don't get your twenty-five
cents, and are afraid of a lickin', you'd better sleep aboard the boat."
"Perhaps I will," said Mark, to whom the idea was not unwelcome, for
it would at all events save him for that night from the beating which
would be his portion if he came home without the required sum.
"Well, good-night," said Ben; "I'll be goin' along."
"Good-night, Ben," said Mark, "I guess I'll go to Fulton Market."
Accordingly Mark turned down Fulton Street, while Ben steered in the
direction of Chatham Street, through which it was necessary to pass in
order to reach the theatre, which is situated on the Bowery, not far
from its junction with Chatham Street.
Ben Gibson is a type of a numerous class of improvident boys, who live
on from day to day, careless of appearances, spending their evenings
where they can, at the theatre when their means admit, and sometimes
at gambling saloons. Not naturally bad, they drift into bad habits from
the force of outward circumstances. They early learn to smoke or chew,
finding in tobacco some comfort during the cold and wet days, either
ignorant of or indifferent to the harm which the insidious weed will do
to their constitutions. So their growth is checked, or their blood is
impoverished, as is shown by their pale faces.
As for Ben, he was gifted with a sturdy frame and an excellent
constitution, and appeared as yet to exhibit none of the baneful
effects of this habit. But no growing boy can smoke without ultimately
being affected by it, and such will no doubt be the case with Ben.