at home.

His first duty was to cultivate the acquaintance of the ostlers. He
found them to be rough, good-natured men, not over-scrupulous about
their manners or their morals. If it does not occur to my young
readers, it will to their parents, that this was not a fit place for
a boy--that he was in constant contact with corruption. His companions
were good-hearted men; but this circumstance rendered them all the
more dangerous. There was no fireside of home, at which the evil
effects of communication with men of loose morals would be
counteracted. Harry had not been an hour in their society before he
caught himself using a big oath--which, when he had gone to bed, he
heartily repented, renewing his resolution with the promise to try
again.

He was up bright and early the next morning, made a fire in the
counting room, and had let out half the horses in the stable to water,
before Major Phillips came out. His services were in demand, as Joe
Flint, for some reason, had not come to the stable that morning.

The stable keeper declared that he had gone on a "spree," and told
Harry he might take his place.

Harry did take his place; and the ostlers declared that, in everything
but cleaning the horses, he made good his place. The knowledge and
skill which he had obtained at the poorhouse was of great value to
him; and, at night, though he was very tired, he was satisfied that he
had done a good day's work.

The ostlers took their meals at the house of Major Phillips, which
stood at one side of the stable yard. Harry did not like Mrs. Phillips
very well; she was cross, and the men said she was a "regular Tartar."
But he was resolved to keep the peace. He afterwards found it a
difficult matter; for he had to bring wood and water, and do other
chores about the house, and he soon ascertained that she was
determined not to be pleased with anything he did. He tried to keep
his temper, however, and meekly submitted to all her scolding and
grumbling.

Thus far, while Harry has been passing through the momentous period of
his life with which we commenced his story, we have minutely detailed
the incidents of his daily life, so that we have related the events of
only a few days. This is no longer necessary. He has got a place, and
of course one day is very much like every other. The reader knows him
now--knows what kind of boy he is, and what his hopes and expectations
are. The reader knows, too, the great moral epoch in his hi