_ CHAPTER XV. A SCHOOL-BOY NO LONGER
The lad seated himself by the window. Scratch--scratch--scratch. The sun sparkled in the river. The sails, after yesterday's rain, were loosened to dry, and were white as if it had rained milk upon them instead of water. Every thing looked cheerful and bright from Lawrence Newt's window. The lad saw with delight how much sunshine there was in the office.
"I don't believe it would hurt my health to work here," thought he. Mr. Lawrence Newt rang a little bell. Venables entered quietly.
"Most ready out there?" asked Mr. Newt.
"Most ready, Sir."
"Brisk's the word this morning, you know. Please to copy these letters."
Venables said nothing, took the letters, and went out.
"Now, young man," said the merchant, "tell me what you want."
The lad's heart turned toward him like a fallow-field to the May sun.
"My father's been unfortunate, Sir, and I want to do something for myself. He advised me to come to you."
"Why?"
"Because he said you would give me good advice if you couldn't give me employment."
"Well, Sir, you seem a strong, likely lad. Have you ever been in a store?"
"No, Sir. I left school last week."
Mr. Newt looked out of the window.
"Your father's been unfortunate?"
"Yes, Sir."
"How's that? Has he told a lie, or lost his eyes, or his health, or has his daughter married a drunkard?" asked Mr. Lawrence Newt, looking at the lad with a kindly humor in his eyes.
"Oh no, Sir," replied the boy, surprised. "He's lost his money."
"Oh ho! his money! And it is the loss of money which you call 'unfortunate.' Now, my boy, think a moment. Is there any thing belonging to your father which he could so well spare? Has he any superfluous boy or girl? any useless arm or leg? any unnecessary good temper or honesty? any taste for books, or pictures, or the country, that he would part with? Is there any thing which he owns that it would not be a greater misfortune to him to lose than his money? Honor bright, my boy. If you think there is, say so!"
The youth smiled.
"Well, Sir, I suppose worse things could happen to us than poverty," said he.
Mr. Lawrence Newt interrupted him by remarks which were belied by his beaming face.
"Worse things than poverty! Why, my boy, what are you thinking of? Do you not know that it is written in the largest efforts upon the hearts of all Americans, 'Resist poverty, and it will flee from you?' If you do not begin by considering poverty the root of all evil, where on earth do you expect to end? Cease to be poor, learn to be rich. I'm afraid you don't read the good book. So your father has health"--the boy nodded--"and a whole body, a good temper, an affectionate family, generous and refined tastes, pleasant relations with others, a warm heart, a clear conscience"--the boy nodded with an increasing enthusiasm of assent--"and yet you call him unfortunate--ruined! Why, look here, my son; there's an old apple-woman at the corner of Burling Slip, where I stop every day and buy apples; she's sixty years old, and through thick and thin, under a dripping wreck of an umbrella when it rains, under the sky when it shines--warming herself by a foot-stove in winter, by the sun in summer--there the old creature sits. She has an old, sick, querulous husband at home, who tries to beat her. Her daughters are all out at service--let us hope, in kind families--her sons are dull, ignorant men; her home is solitary and forlorn; she can not read much, nor does she want to; she is coughing her life away, and succeeds in selling apples enough to pay her rent and buy food for her old man and herself. She told me yesterday that she was a most fortunate woman. What does the word mean? I give it up."
The lad looked around the spacious office, on every table and desk and chair of which was written Prosperity as plainly as the name of Lawrence Newt upon the little tin sign by the door. Except for the singular magnetism of the merchant's presence, which dissipated such a suggestion as rapidly as it rose, the youth would have said aloud what was in his heart.
"How easy 'tis for a rich man to smile at poverty!"
The man watched the boy, and knew exactly what he was thinking. As the eyes of the younger involuntarily glanced about the office and presently returned to the merchant, they found the merchant's gazing so keenly that they seemed to be mere windows through which his soul was looking. But the keen earnestness melted imperceptibly into the usual sweetness as Lawrence Newt said,
"You think I can talk prettily about misfortune because I know nothing about it. You make a great mistake. No man, even in jest, can talk well of what he doesn't understand. So don't misunderstand me. I am rich, but I am not fortunate."
He said it in the same tone as before.
"If you wanted a rose and got only a butter-cup, should you think yourself fortunate?" asked Mr. Newt.
"Why, yes, Sir. A man can't expect to have every thing precisely as he wants it," replied the boy.
"My young friend, you are of opinion that a half loaf is better than no bread. True--so am I. But never make the mistake of supposing a half to be the whole. Content is a good thing. When the man sent for cake, and said, 'John, if you can't get cake, get smelts,' he did wisely. But smelts are not cake for all that. What's your name?" asked Mr. Newt, abruptly.
"Gabriel Bennet," replied the boy.
"Bennet--Bennet--what Bennet?"
"I don't know, Sir."
Lawrence Newt was apparently satisfied with this answer. He only said:
"Well, my son, you do wisely to say at once you don't know, instead of going back to somebody a few centuries ago, of whose father you have to make the same answer. The Newts, however, you must be aware, are a very old family." The merchant smiled. "They came into England with the Normans; but who they came into Normandy with I don't know. Do you?"
Gabriel laughed, with a pleasant feeling of confidence in his companion.
"Have you been at school in the city?" asked the merchant.
Gabriel told him that he had been at Mr. Gray's.
"Oh ho! then you know my nephew Abel?"
"Yes, Sir," replied Gabriel, coloring.
"Abel is a smart boy," said Mr. Newt.
Gabriel made no reply.
"Do you like Abel?"
Gabriel paused a moment; then said,
"No, Sir."
The merchant looked at the boy for a few moments.
"Who did you like at school?"
"Oh, I liked Jim Greenidge and Little Malacca best,", replied Gabriel, as if the whole world must be familiar with those names.
At the mention of the latter Lawrence Newt looked interested, and, after talking a little more, said,
"Gabriel, I take you into my office."
He called Mr. Tray.
"Thomas Tray, this is the youngest clerk, Gabriel Bennet. Gabriel, this is the head of the outer office, Mr. Thomas Tray. Thomas, ask Venables to step this way."
That young man appeared immediately.
"Mr. Venables, you are promoted. You have seven hundred dollars a year, and are no longer youngest clerk. Gabriel Bennet, this is Frank Venables. Be friends. Now go to work."
There was a general bowing, and Thomas Tray and the two young men retired.
As they went out Mr. Newt opened a letter which had been brought in from the Post during the interview.
"DEAR SIR,--I trust you will pardon this intrusion. It is a long time since I have had the honor of writing to you; but I thought you would wish to know that Miss Wayne will be in New York, for the first time, within a day or two after you receive this letter. She is with her aunt, Mrs. Dinks, who will stay at Bunker's.
"Respectfully yours,
"JANE SIMCOE."
Lawrence Newt's head drooped as he sat. Presently he arose and walked up and down the office.
Meanwhile Gabriel was installed. That ceremony consisted of offering him a high stool with a leathern seat. Mr. Tray remarked that he should have a drawer in the high desk, on both sides of which the clerks were seated. The installation was completed by Mr. Tray's formally introducing the new-comer to the older clerks.
The scratching began again. Gabriel looked curiously upon the work in which he was now to share. The young men had no words for him. Mr. Newt was engaged within. The boy had a vague feeling that he must shift for himself--that every body was busy--that play in this life had ended and work begun. The thought tasted to him much more like smelts than cake. And while he was wisely left by Thomas Tray to familiarize himself with the entire novelty of the situation his mind flashed back to Delafield with an aching longing, and the boy would willingly have put his face in his hands and wept. But he sat quietly looking at his companions--until Mr. Tray said,
"Gabriel, I want you to copy this invoice."
And Gabriel was a school-boy no longer. _