told the grateful father that his
boy had gotten into bad company, but the error could never be repeated,
nor can I believe it ever will be.

One day Gideon Landon, the wealthy banker and capitalist of New York,
received a characteristic letter from his son Alvin. He said his motor
boat _Deerfoot_ had been housed for the winter, there to remain until
next summer, and he and Chester Haynes had had the time of their lives,
for which they could never thank the kind parent enough. The son meant to
prove his gratitude by acts instead of words, for he intended to buckle
down to hard work and not rest until he was through West Point and had
become General of the United States Army. He added:

"And now, my dear father, I want you to do a favor or two for me,
Chester and Mike Murphy, who is one of the best fellows that ever
lived. Some time I shall tell you all our experience after you left
the bungalow on Southport Island. I know you will agree with what I
say.

"Please send to 'Uncle Ben Trotwood,' Trevett, on Hodgdon Island,
Boothbay Township, Maine, a big lot of fine smoking tobacco. While
you are about it you may as well make it half a ton, more or less.
In his old age, he doesn't do much else but smoke, eat, sleep, and
talk bass, but he was very kind to Chester and me. He kept us
overnight and fed us, and was insulted when we wished to pay him."
(No reference was made to Uncle Ben's frugal wife.)

The genial old man would never have solved the mystery of the arrival of
the big consignment of the weed had it not been accompanied by a letter
from the two boys in which all was made clear.

(Another paragraph from Alvin's communication to his father.)

"In the little town or village of Beartown live the sweetest mother
and daughter in the State of Maine. Anyhow, there is none kinder and
more loving. The name of the daughter, who isn't out of short dresses
yet, is Nora Friestone. Send her a fine first class piano--no
second-hand one--with about a bushel of music. Select any stuff you
choose, not forgetting a copy of 'The Sweet Long Ago,' published by
C. W. Thompson, Boston. I wish you could have heard Mike Murphy sing
that for them. He has one of the finest voices in the world. If he
would only study and cultivate it, he would be a second Caruso. I
will send an explanatory letter to Mrs. Friestone, so you needn't
bother to write her."

And the Steinway duly reached its dest