is necktie
was made of the very narrowest and most brilliant red ribbon that
could be found.

It would have been impossible to cut anything from the bottom of his
trousers, for the very good reason that they were already so short as
to give them the appearance of trying to crawl up his legs to get out
of sight; but in his eyes the high polish of his shoes had a better
chance of being seen. Ben's face and hands were as clean as Johnny's,
but he had put none of the candle-grease on his hair, although he had
smoothed it with water until two small streams were trickling down
either side of his face, giving plenty of employment to his hands, as
he tried to prevent it from running down his neck.

Paul looked on at these preparations with the greatest surprise; and
when his friends announced that they were ready, and that he was to
accompany them, he followed without a word, awed by the general
magnificence.

CHAPTER IV.

A GREAT ENTERPRISE.

It was not a long walk from the hogshead home to the house which Mrs.
Green proposed to turn into a place where meals and lodgings could be
procured on a limited scale; but neither Ben nor Johnny lost any
opportunity of stopping to gaze in at the lighted windows that served
as mirrors, in order to make sure that their attire had not been
disarranged in any way by their rapid walk. And when they stood in
front of the door, it seemed to Paul as if they never would get ready
to ring the bell, so much time did they spend in making sure that
their fine toilets were quite in order, and the general effect
satisfactory.

But they did ring the bell at last, and when Nelly came to the door
there was no mistaking the fact that their appearance was striking in
the highest degree; for the girl stood regarding them with so much
astonishment that it was some time before she could invite them to
walk in.

As Ben told Dickey Spry, when they got home that night, it "jest took
the eyes outer Mother Green an' Nelly to see them lookin' as soft as
silk an' fine as fiddlers."

After the embarrassment caused by their costumes had passed away in a
degree, although Nelly did not seem to recover from her surprise
during the entire evening, Mrs. Green proceeded to the business on
hand by showing the boys two rooms, furnished with no pretensions to
elegance, but as neat as they were bare, which she told them she would
let to four boys at the moderate price of two dollars and a half each
per week,