HARRY BECOMES AN AUTHOR.
The closing of the Academy made quite a difference in the life of
Centreville. The number of boarding scholars was about thirty, and
these, though few in number, were often seen in the street and at the
postoffice, and their withdrawal left a vacancy. Harry Walton felt
quite lonely at first; but there is no cure for loneliness like
occupation, and he had plenty of that. The greater part of the day
was spent in the printing office, while his evenings and early
mornings were occupied in study and reading. He had become very much
interested in French, in which he found himself advancing rapidly.
Occasionally he took tea at Mr. Ferguson's, and this he always
enjoyed; for, as I have already said, he and Ferguson held very
similar views on many important subjects. One evening, at the house
of the latter, he saw a file of weekly papers, which proved, on
examination, to be back numbers of the "Weekly Standard," a literary
paper issued in Boston.
"I take the paper for my family," said Ferguson. "It contains quite
a variety of reading matter, stories, sketches and essays."
"It seems quite interesting," said Harry.
"Yes, it is. I will lend you some of the back numbers, if you like."
"I would like it. My father never took a literary paper; his means
were so limited that he could not afford it."
"I think it is a good investment. There are few papers from which
you cannot obtain in a year more than the worth of the subscription.
Besides, if you are going to be an editor, it will be useful for you
to become familiar with the manner in which such papers are
conducted."
When Harry went home he took a dozen copies of the paper, and sat up
late reading them. While thus engaged an idea struck him. It was
this: Could not he write something which would be accepted for
publication in the "Standard"? It was his great ambition to learn to
write for the press, and he felt that he was old enough to commence.
"If I don't succeed the first time, I can try again," he reflected.
The more he thought of it, the more he liked the plan. It is very
possible that he was influenced by the example of Franklin, who,
while yet a boy in his teens, contributed articles to his brother's
paper though at the time the authorship was not suspected. Finally
he decided to commence writing as soon as he could think of a
suitable subject. This he found was not easy. He could think of
plenty of subjects of which he was not qualified to write, or in
which he felt little interest; but he rightly decided that he could
succeed better with something that had a bearing upon his own
experience or hopes for the future.
Finally he decided to write on Ambition.
I do not propose to introduce Harry's essay in these pages, but will
give a general idea of it, as tending to show his views of life.
He began by defining ambition as a desire for superiority, by which
most men were more or less affected, though it manifested itself in
very different ways, according to the character of him with whom it
was found. Here I will quote a passage, as a specimen of Harry's
style and mode of expression.
"There are some who denounce ambition as wholly bad and to be avoided
by all; but I think we ought to make a distinction between true and
false ambition. The desire of superiority is an honorable motive, if
it leads to honorable exertion. I will mention Napoleon as an
illustration of false ambition, which is selfish in itself, and has
brought misery and ruin, to prosperous nations. Again, there are
some who are ambitious to dress better than their neighbors, and
their principal thoughts are centred upon the tie of their cravat, or
the cut of their coat, if young men; or upon the richness and style
of their dresses, if they belong to the other sex. Beau Brummel is a
noted instance of this kind of ambition. It is said that fully half
of his time was devoted to his toilet, and the other half to
displaying it in the streets, or in society. Now this is a very low
form of ambition, and it is wrong to indulge it, because it is a
waste of time which could be much better employed."
Harry now proceeded to describe what he regarded as a true and
praiseworthy ambition. He defined it as a desire to excel in what
would be of service to the human race, and he instanced his old
Franklin, who, induced by an honorable ambition, worked his way up to
a high civil station, as well as a commanding position in the
scientific world. He mentioned Columbus as ambitious to extend the
limits of geographical knowledge, and made a brief reference to the
difficulties and discouragements over which he triumphed on the way
to success. He closed by an appeal to boys and young men to direct
their ambition into worthy channels, so that even if they could not
leave behind a great name, they might at least lead useful lives, and
in dying have the satisfaction of thinking that they done some
service to the race.
This will give a very fair idea of Harry's essay. There was nothing
remarkable about it, and no striking originality in the ideas, but it
was very creditably expressed for a boy of his years, and did even
more credit to his good judgment, since it was an unfolding of the
principles by which he meant to guide his own life.
It must not be supposed that our hero was a genius, and that he wrote
his essay without difficulty. It occupied him two evenings to write
it, and he employed the third in revising and copying it. It covered
about five pages of manuscript, and, according to his estimate, would
fill about two-thirds of a long column in the "Standard."
After preparing it, the next thing was to find a _nom de plume_, for
he shrank from signing his own name. After long consideration, he at
last decided upon Franklin, and this was the name he signed to his
maiden contribution to the press.
He carried it to the post-office one afternoon, after his work in the
printing office was over, and dropped it unobserved into the
letter-box. He did not want the postmaster to learn his secret, as
he would have done had he received it directly from him, and noted
the address on the envelope.
For the rest of the week, Harry went about his work weighed down with
his important secret--a secret which he had not even shared with
Ferguson. If the essay was declined, as he thought it might very
possibly be, he did not want any one to know it. If it were
accepted, and printed, it would be time enough then to make it known.
But there were few minutes in which his mind was not on his literary
venture. His preoccupation was observed by his fellow-workmen in the
office, and he was rallied upon it, good-naturedly, by Ferguson, but
in a different spirit by Clapp.
"It seems to me you are unusually silent, Harry," said Ferguson.
"You're not in love, are you?"
"Not that I know of," said Harry, smiling. "It's rather too early
yet."
"I've known boys of your age to fancy themselves in love."
"He is is more likely thinking up some great discovery," said Clapp,
sneering. "You know he's a second Franklin."
"Thank you for the compliment," said our hero, good-humoredly, "but I
don't deserve it. I don't expect to make any great discovery at
present."
"I suppose you expect to set the river on fire, some day," said
Clapp, sarcastically.
"I am afraid it wouldn't do much good to try," said Harry, who was
too sensible to take offence. "It isn't so easily done."
"I suppose some day we shall be proud of having been in the same
office with so great a man," pursued Clapp.
"Really, Clapp, you're rather hard on our young friend," said
Ferguson. "He doesn't put on any airs of superiority, or pretend to
anything uncommon."
"He's very kind--such an intellect as he's got, too!" said Clapp.
"I'm glad you found it out," said Harry. "I haven't a very high idea
of my intellect yet. I wish I had more reason to do so."
Finding that he had failed in his attempt to provoke Harry by his
ridicule, Clapp desisted, but he disliked him none the less.
The fact was, that Clapp was getting into a bad way. He had no high
aim in life, and cared chiefly for the pleasure of the present
moment. He had found Luke Harrison a congenial companion, and they
had been associated in more than one excess. The morning previous,
Clapp had entered the printing office so evidently under the
influence of liquor, that he had been sharply reprimanded by Mr.
Anderson.
"I don't choose to interfere with your mode of life, unwise and
ruinous as I may consider it," he said, "as long as it does not
interfere with your discharge of duty. But to-day you are clearly
incapacitated for labor, and I have a right to complain. If it
happens again, I shall be obliged to look for another journeyman."
Clapp did not care to leave his place just at present, for he had no
money saved up, and was even somewhat in debt, and it might be some
time before he got another place. So he rather sullenly agreed to be
more careful in future, and did not go to work till the afternoon.
But though circumstances compelled him to submit, it put him in bad
humor, and made him more disposed to sneer than ever. He had an
unreasoning prejudice against Harry, which was stimulated by Luke
Harrison, who had this very sufficient reason for hating our hero,
that he had succeeded in injuring him. As an old proverb has it "We
are slow to forgive those whom we have injured."