?"

"To begin with, I'm going to do some sums."

Henry drew from under the bed a tattered arithmetic and a slate and
pencil. He opened the arithmetic at interest, and proceeded to set
down a problem on the slate.

"Have you got away over there?" asked Sam.

"Yes; I've been at work ever since last October. I don't get on very
fast, because I have only my evenings."

"What do you do when you come to a tough customer?"

"I try again. There are some sums I have tried a half a dozen times."

"You must have a lot of patience," said Sam.

"I don't know about that. I always feel paid when I get the right
answer at last."

"It must be dull work studyin' every night. I couldn't do it. It would
make my head ache."

"Your head is tougher than you think for," said Henry.

"Just let me see what sum you are tryin'." His roommate handed him the
books, and he read the following example:

"John Smith borrowed $546.75 at 7 per cent., and repaid it at the end
of two years, five months and six days. What amount was he required to
pay?"

"Can you do that?" asked Sam.

"I think so; it isn't very hard."

"I never could do it; it's too hard."

"Oh, yes, you could, if you had gone over the earlier part of the
arithmetic."

"What's the use of it, any way?"

"Don't you see it's business? If you are going to be a business man,
you may need to understand interest. I shouldn't expect to be promoted
if I didn't know something about arithmetic. I am only an errand boy,
now, and don't need it."

"I wish I knew as much as you. What else do you study?"

"I practice writing every evening. Here is my writing-book."

Henry drew out, from under the bed, a writing-book, which was more
than half written through. He had evidently taken great pains to
imitate the copy, and with fair success.

Sam was quite impressed.

"You can write as well as the teacher I went to up in the country," he
said.

"You can write, can't you, Sam?"

"Not much. I haven't tried lately."

"Everybody ought to know how to read, and write a decent hand."

"I s'pose so," said Sam; "but there's a lot of work in it."

He got into bed, and while he was watching Henry doing sums, he fell
asleep. His roommate devoted an hour to arithmetic, and wrote a page
in his copy-book. Then he, too, undressed, and went to bed.

CHAPTER V.

SAM'S FINANCES.

Sam did not find it quite so pleasant being in a place as he had
anticipated. He had been accustomed to r