he could go no farther. He
sat down by the door of a fine house, and wished that he was back
again in the little town where he was born. The cook-maid, who was
just getting dinner, saw him, and called out,--

"What are you doing there, you little beggar? If you don't get away
quick, I'll throw a panful of hot dish-water over you. Then I guess
you will jump."

Just at that time the master of the house, whose name was Mr.
Fitz-war'ren, came home to dinner. When he saw the ragged little
fellow at his door, he said,--

"My lad, what are you doing here? I am afraid you are a lazy fellow,
and that you want to live without work."

"No, indeed!" said Dick. "I would like to work, if I could find
anything to do. But I do not know anybody in this town, and I have not
had anything to eat for a long time."

"Poor little fellow!" said Mr. Fitz-war-ren. "Come in, and I will see
what I can do for you." And he ordered the cook to give the lad a good
dinner, and then to find some light work for him to do.

Little Dick would have been very happy in the new home which he had
thus found, if it had not been for the cross cook. She would often
say,--

"You are my boy now, and so you must do as I tell you. Look sharp
there! Make the fires, carry out the ashes, wash these dishes, sweep
the floor, bring in the wood! Oh, what a lazy fellow you are!" And
then she would box his ears, or beat him with the broom-stick.

At last, little Alice, his master's daughter, saw how he was treated,
and she told the cook she would be turned off if she was not kinder to
the lad. After that, Dick had an eas-i-er time of it; but his
troubles were not over yet, by any means.

His bed was in a garret at the top of the house, far away from the
rooms where the other people slept. There were many holes in the floor
and walls, and every night a great number of rats and mice came in.
They tor-ment-ed Dick so much, that he did not know what to do.

One day a gentleman gave him a penny for cleaning his shoes, and he
made up his mind that he would buy a cat with it. The very next
morning he met a girl who was car-ry-ing a cat in her arms.

"I will give you a penny for that cat," he said.

"All right," the girl said. "You may have her, and you will find that
she is a good mouser too."

Dick hid his cat in the garret, and every day he carried a part of his
dinner to her. It was not long before she had driven all the rats and
mice away; and then Dick could sle