le confidence in his getting along well."

"What, Mark, are you in favor of his going so far--a boy who has never
been away from home in his life?"

"I don't know what to say. I have not had time to consider the matter,
as it has come upon me suddenly. I have a good deal of confidence in
Tom, but there is one difficulty in my mind."

"What is that, father?" asked Tom anxiously.

"The expense of getting to California, and the method of raising the
money; I don't like to increase the mortgage."

"I suppose you are right, father," said Tom slowly. "I know it is more
than I have any right to ask. I wouldn't even have mentioned it if I
hadn't hoped to help you to pay it back."

"That is understood, Tom," said his father kindly. "I know you mean what
you say, and that you would redeem your promise if fortune, or rather
Providence, permitted. It is a serious matter, however, and not to be
decided in a hurry. We will speak of it again."

Nothing more was said about Tom's plan till after the children had gone
to bed. Then, as Mark Nelson and his wife sat before the fire in the
open fireplace, the subject was taken up anew.

"Mary," said Mark, "I am beginning to think favorably of Tom's
proposal."

"How can you say so, Mark?" interrupted his wife. "It seems like madness
to send a young boy so far away."

"Tom can't be called a young boy; he is now sixteen."

"But he has never been away from home."

"He must go some time."

"If it were only to Boston or New York; but to go more than three
thousand miles away!" and the mother shuddered.

"There are dangers as great in Boston or New York as in California,
Mary, to a boy of Tom's age. He can't always be surrounded by home
influences."

"I wish we could find employment for him in town," said Mrs. Nelson
uneasily.

"That is a mother's thought, and it would be pleasant for all of us; but
I doubt if it would be better for Tom."

"Why not?"

"A boy who is thrown upon his own guardianship and his own resources
develops manliness and self-reliance sooner than at home. But we need
not take that into consideration; there is nothing to do here, nor is
there likely to be. He must go away from home to find employment. To
obtain a place in Boston or New York requires influence and friends in
those places; and we can hope for neither. In California he will become
his own employer. The gold-mines are open to all, and he may earn in a
year as much as he could in five years in