She glanced at her coarse
clothes, and could hardly believe that her grandfather was a rich
merchant, and lived in a fine house. How nice it would be if she could
only find the old gentleman! He could not be cross to her; he would
give her all the money she could spend, and make a great lady of her.

"Pooh! what a fool I am to think of such a thing!" exclaimed she
impatiently, as she rose from the door stone. "I am a beggar, and what
right have I to think of being a fine lady, while my poor sick mother
has nothing to eat and drink? It is very hard to be so poor, but I
suppose it is all for the best."

"Do you want me, Katy?" said a voice from the door, which Katy
recognized as that of Master Simon Sneed.

"I want to see you very much," replied Katy.

"Wait a moment, and I will join you."

And in a moment Master Simon Sneed did join her; but he is so much of a
curiosity, and so much of a character, that I must stop to tell my
young readers all about him.

Master Simon Sneed was about fifteen years old, and tall enough to have
been two years older. He was very slim, and held his head very
straight. In 1843, the period of which I write, it was the fashion for
gentlemen to wear straps upon their pantaloons; and accordingly Master
Simon Sneed wore straps on his pantaloons, though, it is true, the boys
in the street used to laugh and hoot at him for doing so; but they were
very ill-mannered boys, and could not appreciate the dignity of him
they insulted.

Master Sneed's garments were not of the finest materials, but though he
was a juvenile dandy, it was evident that it required a great deal of
personal labor to make him such.

Clearly those straps were sewed on by himself, and clearly those
cowhide shoes had been thus elaborately polished by no other hands than
his own. In a word, the appearance of his clothes, coarse as was their
texture, and unfashionable as was their cut, indicated the most
scrupulous care. It was plain that he had a fondness for dress, which
his circumstances did not permit him to indulge to any very great
extent.

Master Simon Sneed was a great man in his own estimation; and, as he
had read a great many exciting novels, and had a good command of
language, he talked and acted like a great man. He could hold his own
in conversation with older and wiser persons than himself. He could
astonish almost any person of moderate pretensions by the largeness of
his ideas; and, of late years, his father