d
manners, which made him seem quite out of place in a fashionable
hotel.

"No," answered Sam. "I am a stranger in Boston. I came from New
York."

"You don't say! It's an all-fired big city, isn't it?" said the
countryman.

"It is very large," said Sam, patronizingly.

"I live in the country," said the other--quite needlessly, so Sam
thought--"up in New Hampshire. I've come down here to get a job."

"So have I," responded Sam, with new interest in his companion.

"Are you boardin' here?" asked the countryman.

"No; I am going to try to find a boarding-place. The prices are too
steep here."

"Let me go with you," said the young man, eagerly.

Sam thought, on the whole, it would be pleasanter to have company, and
accepted this proposal.

They bought a copy of the Boston _Herald_ and picked out a list of
boarding-houses which appeared to come within their means. Among these
were two on Harrison Avenue. One of these was the very house which had
already been mentioned to Sam by his boy acquaintance of the morning.

"Do you know your way round the city?" asked Sam of his companion.

"A little," said the other.

"Do you know how to go to Harrison Avenue?"

"Yes, I know that."

"Is it far?"

"Not very far. We can walk easy enough."

"That's all right, then. Let us go."

The two set out on their expedition, walking up Washington Street as
far as Essex, and, turning there, soon entered Harrison Avenue. They
beguiled the time on the way by conversation.

"What, was you calc'latin' to find to do?" asked the countryman.

"I was clerk in a store in New York," said Sam; "I'd like to get into
a store here."

"So should I."

Sam privately thought him too countrified in appearance for the
position he desired, but did not say so.

"Have you had any experience?" he asked, curiously.

"Oh, yes; I used to drive the wagon for a grocery store, to hum."

Sam privately doubted whether this experience would be of any
particular value to his new acquaintance. However, he had not much
faith in his own qualifications, and this concerned him more.

"What's your name?" inquired Sam.

"Abner Blodgett," was the reply. "What's yours?"

"Sam Barker."

"You don't say! There's a doctor in our town by the name of Barker;
any relation?"

"I guess not. I never heard of a doctor in our family."

Presently they reached the number indicated. Sam rang the bell.

"You are looking for a boarding-place," he explained. "We s