any say in the matter. You're sitting up
every night sewing long after I've gone to bed. Why, one night, you
remember I woke up and it was after twelve, yet you were still sewing.
You are getting thin and careworn, mother. Do you think I don't notice
it? And do you imagine I can stand it right along? There has got to be a
change, that's all. I've made my mind up."

She looked into his resolute face, and seeing the love that shone in his
eyes felt that after all her burdens could not be so hard when Heaven
had given her such a stalwart son to be the staff of her old age.

"And what have you decided, Dick? Will you get after that company and
force them to begin paying dividends again? I think that would be a
blessing to more widows than one; but I'm afraid it would prove a task
beyond your strength, dear," she said, patting him on the head as he
stood beside her, almost three inches taller than his mother.

"No, I don't think I could manage that, but there is one thing I can and
will do and that is to find a job, so that I can be bringing in
something every week to help out. Then you needn't sit up at night as
you do. Please don't say anything against it, mother. I've made up my
mind to it. The vacation has begun, and unless things take a turn for
the better, school and Dick Morrison have parted company for good. I'm
only sorry I don't seem to have inherited any of father's genius for
tools, or I could get a position as an assistant to Mr. Plane, the
carpenter. But I've been considering the situation, and I'm going to
find some way to bring in a few dollars each week, even if I have to set
out to be a fisherman."

She smiled with pride, and in that moment the fond mother did not envy
the wife of the rich department store keeper who rode about in her
carriage and delighted to let other people realize just how small and
mean they appeared in her sight.

"Well, it is nice to hear you say all that, Richard, for it tells me
that your heart is true, and that no matter what befalls I can depend on
my boy's love. But there's no use crossing a river before we come to it.
I shall offer no opposition to you doing any honest work that comes your
way during vacation; and if times have not improved when school opens
again, I suppose I must endure the thought of your continuing on. You
have always been a lucky fisherman, and what you bring home has been so
sweet and palatable that it seems to me you could easily find purchasers
fo