.

He was a favorite child, not only with the old paupers, but with the
keeper and his family; and this circumstance undoubtedly softened the
asperities of his lot. As soon as he was old enough, he was required
to work as much as the keeper thought his strength would bear. He was
very handy about the house and barn, more so than boys usually are;
and Mr. Nason declared that, for the three years before it was
proposed to send him away, he had more than earned his board and
clothes.

He had been at school four winters, and the schoolmasters were
unanimous in their praise. He was a smart scholar, but a little
disposed to be roguish.

The moral discipline of the poorhouse was not of the most salutary
character. Mr. Nason, though a generous and kind-hearted man, was not
as exemplary in his daily life as might have been desired. Besides,
one or two of the old paupers were rather corrupt in their manners and
morals, and were not fit companions for a young immortal, whose mind,
like plastic clay, was impressible to the forming power.

The poorhouse was not a good place for the boy, and the wonder is that
Harry, at twelve years of age, was not worse than we find him. He had
learned to love Mr. Nason, as he had learned to fear and to hate
Squire Walker. The latter seemed to have absolute power at the
poorhouse, and to be lord and master in Redfield. But when the
overseer proposed to place the boy in the family of a man whom even
the paupers looked down upon and despised, his soul rebelled even
against the mandate of the powerful magnate of the town.

Harry turned the matter over and over in his mind as he sat upon the
rock at Pine Pleasant. At first he tried to reconcile the idea of
living with Jacob Wire; but it was a fruitless effort. The poorhouse
seemed like a paradise to such a fate.

Then he considered the possibility and the practicability of resisting
the commands of Squire Walker. He could not obtain much satisfaction
from either view of the difficult problem, and as a happy resort under
the trials of the moment, he began to console himself with the
reflection that Mr. Nason might prevail with the overseers, and save
him from his doom.

He had not much hope from this direction, and while he was turning
again to the question of resistance, he heard footsteps in the grove.
He did not feel like seeing any person and wished he could get out of
sight; but there was no retreating without being observed, so he lay
dow