LUKE FORMS A RESOLUTION
As Luke read this letter his pleasant face became stern in its
expression. They had indeed been cruelly wronged. The large sum of
which they had been defrauded would have insured them comfort and
saved them from many an anxiety. His mother would not have been
obliged to take in sewing, and he himself could have carried out his
cherished design of obtaining a college education.
This man in whom his father had reposed the utmost confidence had been
false to his trust. He had kept in his own hands the money which
should have gone to the widow and children of his dying friend. Could
anything be more base?
"Mother," said Luke, "this man Thomas Butler must be a villain."
Yes, Luke; he has done us a great wrong."
"He thought, no doubt, that we should never hear of this money."
"I almost wish I had not, Luke. It is very tantalizing to think how it
would have improved our condition."
"Then you are sorry to receive the letter, mother?"
"No, Luke. It seems like a message from the dead, and shows me how
good and thoughtful your poor father was to the last. He meant to
leave us comfortable."
"But his plans were defeated by a rascal. Mother, I should like to
meet and punish this Thomas Butler."
"Even if you should meet him, Luke, you must be prudent. He is
probably a rich man."
"Made so at our expense," added Luke, bitterly.
"And he would deny having received anything from your father."
"Mother," said Luke, sternly and deliberately, "I feel sure that I
shall some day meet this man face to face, and if I do it will go hard
if I don't force him to give up this money which he has falsely
converted to his own use."
The boy spoke with calm and resolute dignity hardly to be expected in
one so young, and with a deep conviction that surprised his mother.
"Luke," she said, "I hardly know you to-night. You don't seem like a
boy. You speak like a man."
"I feel so. It is the thought of this man triumphant in his crime,
that makes me feel older than I am. Now, mother, I feel that I have a
purpose in life. It is to find this man, and punish him for what he
has done, unless he will make reparation."
Mrs. Walton shook her head. It was not from her that Luke had
inherited his independent spirit. She was a fond mother, of great
amiability, but of a timid shrinking disposition, which led her to
deprecate any aggressive steps.
"Promise me not to get yourself into any trouble, Luke," she said,
"even if you do meet this man."
"I can't promise that, mother, for I may not be able to help it.
Besides, I haven't met him yet, and it isn't necessary to cross a
bridge till you get to it. Now let us talk of something else."
"How much did you make to-day, Luke?" asked Bennie, his young brother,
seven years old.
"I didn't make my fortune, Bennie. Including the morning papers, I
only made sixty cents."
"That seems a good deal to me, Luke," said his mother. "I only made
twenty-five. They pay such small prices for making shirts."
"I should think they did. And yet you worked harder and more steadily
than I did."
"I have worked since morning, probably about eight hours."
"Then you have made only three cents an hour. What a shame!"
"If I had a sewing-machine, I could do more, but that is beyond our
means."
"I hope soon to be able to get you one, mother. I can pay something
down and the rest on installments."
"That would be quite a relief, Luke."
"If you had a sewing-machine, perhaps I could help you," suggested
Bennie.
"I should hardly dare to let you try, Bennie. Suppose you spoiled a
shirt. It would take off two days' earnings. But I'll tell you what
you can do. You can set the table and wash the dishes, and relieve me
in that way."
"Or you might take in washing," said Luke, with a laugh. "That pays
better than sewing. Just imagine how nice it would look in an
advertisement in the daily papers: A boy of seven is prepared to wash
and iron for responsible parties. Address Bennie Walton, No. 161-1/2
Green Street."
"Now you are laughing at me, Luke," said Bennie, pouting. "Why don't
you let me go out with you and sell papers?"
"I hope, Bennie," said Luke, gravely, "you will never have to go into
the street with papers. I know what it is, and how poor boys fare. One
night last week, at the corner of Monroe and Clark Streets, I saw a
poor little chap, no older than you, selling papers at eleven o'clock.
He had a dozen papers which he was likely to have left on his hands,
for there are not many who will buy papers at that hour."
"Did you speak to him, Luke?" asked Benny, interested.
"Yes; I told him he ought to go home. But he said that if he went home
with all those papers unsold, his stepfather would whip him. There
were tears in the poor boy's eyes as he spoke."
"What did you do, Luke?"
"I'll tell you what I did, Bennie. I thought of you, and I paid him
the cost price on his papers. It wasn't much, for they were all penny
papers, but the poor little fellow seemed so relieved."
"Did you sell them yourself, Luke?"
"I sold four of them. I went over to Madison Street, and stood in
front of McVicker's Theater just as the people were coming out. It so
happened that four persons bought papers, so I was only two cents out,
after all. You remember, mother, that was the evening I got home so
late."
"Yes, Luke, I felt worried about you. But you did right. I am always
glad to have you help those who are worse off than we are. How
terribly I should feel if Bennie had to be out late in the streets
like that!"
"There are many newsboys as young, or at any rate not much older. I
have sometimes seen gentlemen, handsomely dressed, and evidently with
plenty of money, speak roughly to these young boys. It always makes me
indignant. Why should they have so easy a time, while there are so
many who don't know where their next meal is coming from? Why, what
such a man spends for his meals in a single day would support a poor
newsboy in comfort for a week."
"My dear Luke, this is a problem that has puzzled older and wiser
heads than yours. There must always be poor people, but those who are
more fortunate ought at least to give them sympathy. It is the least
acknowledgment they can make for their own more favored lot."
"I am going out a little while this evening, mother."
"Very well, Luke. Don't be late."
"No, mother, I won't. I want to call on a friend of mine, who is
sick."
"Who it is, Luke?"
"It is Jim Norman. The poor boy took cold one day, his shoes were so
far gone. He has a bad cough, and I am afraid it will go hard with
him.
"Is he a newsboy, too, Luke?" asked Bennie Walton.
"No; he is a bootblack."
"I shouldn't like to black boots."
"Nor I, Bennie; but if a boy is lucky there is more money to be made
in that business."
"Where does he live?" asked Mrs. Walton.
"On Ohio Street, not very far from here. There's another boy I know
lives on that street Tom Brooks; but he isn't a friend of mine. He
wanted me to keep five dollars, and treat him and some other boys to
an evening at the theater, and a supper afterwards."
"I hope you won't associate with him, Luke."
"Not more than I can help."
Luke took his hat and went downstairs into the street.
In the hall he met Nancy. She waylaid him with an eager look on her
face.
"Who was the letter from, Luke?" she asked.
"From a friend of the family, who is now dead," answered Luke,
gravely.
"Good gracious! How could he write it after he was dead?" ejaculated
Nancy.
"It was given to a person to mail who forgot all about it, and carried
it in his pocket for a year."
"My sakes alive! If I got a letter from a dead man it would make me
creep all over. No wonder your ma came near faintin'."