ou are to be tied down in this God-forsaken place. How'd
you like to go up to the Springs, Si, and work in a hotel?"

The very thought of going to such a place, and to such work, fired the
boy's imagination, although the idea of it daunted him.

"I'd like it powahful well, Mistah Ma'ston," he replied.

"Well, I'm going up there, and the proprietor of one of the best
hotels, the Fountain House, is a very good friend of mine, and I'll
get him to speak to his head waiter in your behalf. You want to get
out of here, and see something of the world, and not stay cooped up
with nothing livelier than rabbits, squirrels, and quail."

And so the work was done. The black boy's ambitions that had only
needed an encouraging word had awakened into buoyant life. He looked
his destiny squarely in the face, and saw that the great world outside
beckoned to him. From that time his dreams were eagle-winged. The farm
looked narrower to him, the cabin meaner, and the clods were harder to
his feet. He learned to hate the plough that he had followed before in
dumb content, and there was no longer joy in the woods he knew and
loved. Once, out of pure joy of living, he had gone singing about his
work; but now, when he sang, it was because his heart was longing for
the city of his dreams, and hope inspired the song.

However, after Mr. Marston had been gone for over two weeks, and
nothing had been heard from the Springs, the hope died in Silas's
heart, and he came to believe that his benefactor had forgotten him.
And yet he could not return to the old contentment with his mode of
life. Mr. Marston was right, and he was "cooped up there with nothing
better than rabbits, squirrels, and quail." The idea had never
occurred to him before, but now it struck him with disconcerting force
that there was something in him above his surroundings and the labor
at which he toiled day by day. He began to see that the cabin was not
over clean, and for the first time recognized that his brothers and
sisters were positively dirty. He had always looked on it with
unconscious eyes before, but now he suddenly developed the capacity
for disgust.

When young 'Lishy, noticing his brother's moroseness, attributed it to
his strong feeling for a certain damsel, Silas turned on him in a
fury. Ambition had even driven out all other feelings, and Dely Manly
seemed poor and commonplace to the dark swain, who a month before
would have gone any length to gain a smile from