as drawn to a rosy-cheeked apple.
Ben was rather hungry, and reflecting that probably apples were as cheap
as any other article of diet, he responded to the appeal by purchasing.
It proved to be palatable, and he ate it with a good relish.
"Ice-cream, only a penny a glass," was the next announcement. The
glasses, to be sure, were of very small size. Still ice-cream in any
quantity for a penny seemed so ridiculously cheap that Ben, poor as he
was, could not resist the temptation.
"I'll take a glass," he said.
A dab of ice-cream was deposited in a glass, and with a pewter spoon
handed to Ben. He raised the spoon to his mouth, but alas! the mixture
was not quite so tempting to the taste as to the eye and the pocket. It
might be ice-cream, but there was an indescribable flavor about it, only
to be explained on the supposition that the ice had been frozen
dish-water. Ben's taste had not been educated up to that point which
would enable him to relish it. He laid it down with an involuntary
contortion of the face.
"Give it to me, Johnny," he heard at his elbow.
Turning, he saw a small, dirty-faced boy of six, with bare feet and
tattered attire, who was gazing with a look of greedy desire at the
delicious mixture.
Ben handed him the glass and spoon, and stood by, looking at him with
some curiosity as he disposed of the contents with a look of evident
enjoyment.
"Do you like it?" he asked.
"It's bully," said the young epicure.
If Ben had not been restricted by his narrow means, he would have
purchased another glass for the urchin. It would have been a very cheap
"treat." But our young adventurer reflected that he had but twenty-two
cents left, and prudence forbade.
"I don't see how he can like the nasty stuff," he thought.
But the time was to come when Ben himself, grown less fastidious, would
be able to relish food quite as uninviting.
Ben made his way across the Park to Broadway again. He felt that it was
high time for him to be seeking employment. His ideas on this subject
were not very well defined, but when he left home he made up his mind
that he would try to get a place in a store on Broadway. He supposed
that, among the great number of stores, there would be a chance for him
to get into some one. He expected to make enough to live in a
comfortable boarding-house, and buy his clothes, though he supposed that
would be about all. He expected to have to economize on spending money
the first year
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