nd met my match in the third. Then I was
warned to attack only boys smaller than myself. The morals of the club
were meant to be on a par with those of much older boys, but signally
failed. We were as bad as we knew how to be; none of us had the courage
or the enterprise to do the naughty things which so excited our
emulation in our elders. However, we insulted and beat all the
goody-good boys in our way, swore small oaths, smoked and swaggered
until sick with nausea, and crowning achievement, learned what a Tom and
Jerry tasted like, enticed merely by the name. It was not until we had
Ike Bromley for a leader, that we fairly succeeded in being as bad as we
wished. He had an instinct for mischief and deviltry, and a way with him
that led captive the heart and devotion of all boys. Daring and cool, he
could carry a sober, innocent face which would disarm a detective and
charm a deacon. Whoever got caught or punished, he always escaped. No
one could have guessed at this time that he would become one of the most
brilliant journalists of his day, the wittiest and most engaging of men
at a dinner table, a boon companion, and beloved friend. Money was very
scarce with us; what little we had we earned in various outside ways, in
doing extra errands or selling old rubbers, old boots, copper and brass.
In fact we were the scavengers of the town, and had the run of all the
cellars. We managed to sneak or steal our way into most of the shows
that visited the town. For some reason, now quite incomprehensible, the
wharves were our most common rendezvous. And for what object we spent
our small funds on raw clams, eaten out of the shell, and doused with
pepper sauce, (which, for my part, I could with the greatest difficulty
swallow, bringing tears to my eyes, and burning in my throat for a week
after), I as little know, but now suppose it was in imitation of the
rough men and sailors about the piers with whom we consorted, and whom
we wished to impress with our manliness. Indeed, with all the rough
characters about the streets we made friends and aped their manners as
much as we could, two or three notoriously fast, rich young men being
our particular heroes. Nothing saved us from the realization of our
ideals but our extreme youth and native innocence, and perhaps some
lurking sense that we were playing at vice, with fire that would not
burn and water that would not drown. There was one thing we were
ambitious to do, yet could not scre