ds one day," said Larry, "when Guy came out
and began to order me round, and call me a clodhopper and other unlikely
names, which I didn't enjoy. Finally he pulled off my hat, and when I
put it back on my head, he pulled it off again. Finally I found the only
way to do was to give him as good as he sent. So I pulled off his hat
and threw it up in a tree. He became very angry, and ordered me to go up
after it. I wouldn't do it, but walked away. The next day my father
was summoned to the house, where Mr. Allan Roscoe complained of me for
insulting his son. He asked my father to thrash me, and when father
refused, he discharged him from his employment. A day or two afterward a
new gardener came to Roscoe Castle, and father understood that there was
no chance of his being taken back."

"That was very mean in Mr. Roscoe," said Hector, indignantly.

"Yes, so it was; but father couldn't do anything. He couldn't get a
new place, for it wasn't the right time of year, and Mr. Roscoe said he
wouldn't give him a recommendation. Well, we had very little money in
the house, for mother has been sick of late years, and all father's
extra earnings went to pay for medicines and the doctor's bill. So one
day I told father I would come to New York and see if I couldn't find
something to do."

"I think you did the right thing, Larry," said Hector, approvingly. "It
was your duty to help your father if you could."

"I can't help him much," answered Larry.

"What made you take up this business, Larry?"

"I couldn't get anything else to do, besides, this pays better than
working in a store or office."

"How--much can you earn at it?"

"Six or seven dollars a week."

"I should think it would require all that to support you."

"It would if I went to a boarding house, but I can't afford that."

"Where do you live?"

"At the Newsboys' Lodging House."

"How much does that cost you?"

"For eighteen cents a day I get supper, lodging and breakfast. In the
middle of the day I go to a cheap restaurant."

"Then you are able to save something?"

"Yes; last week I sent home three dollars, the week before two dollars
and a half."

"Why, that is doing famously. You are a good boy, Larry."

"Thank you, Hector; but, though it is doing very well for me, it isn't
as much as they need at home. Besides, I can't keep it up, as, after
a while, I shall need to buy some new clothes. If your father had been
alive, my father would never have lost h