airs, and
fine, honest face, the more indignant I felt, at the way he had been
treated. Whether he read my thoughts in my countenance, or not, I can't
say; but, after most of the passengers had got out, he moved up to me
and said, "Good boy--good boy--wasn't he? My dear, (and here his voice
sunk to a confidential whisper,) I have got money enough to buy out all
the upstart people that filled this omnibus, twenty times over, but I
like this old coat and hat. They are as good as a crucible. Help me to
find out the true metal. Good morning, my dear. Thank you for your
pity, just as much as if I needed it"--and the old man pulled the
strap, got out of the omnibus, and hobbled off down street.

Some time after, I advertised for lodgings, and was answered by a widow
lady. I liked the air of her house, it was so neat and quiet; and then,
the flowering plants in the window were a letter of recommendation to
me. Your cold-hearted, icicle people never care for flowers; (you may
write that in the fly-leaf of your primer.) But what particularly
pleased me, at Mrs. Harris', was the devotion of her son to his mother.
I expected no less, because the minute he opened the door, I saw that
he was the same young man who gave up his seat in the omnibus to the
old gentleman.

John did all the marketing and providing as wisely and as well as if he
were seventy, instead of seventeen. He wheeled his mother's arm-chair
to the pleasantest corner; handed her her footstool, and newspaper, and
spectacles; offered her his arm up stairs and down, and spent his
evenings by _her_ side, instead of joining other young men in racing
over the city to find ways to kill time.

It was a beautiful sight, in these days, when beardless boys come
stamping and whistling into their mother's presence, with their hats
on, and call her "the old woman."

I spent a pleasant autumn under Mrs. Harris' quiet roof. And now,
winter had set in, with its nice long evenings. John came in to tea,
one night, with his bright face over-clouded. His mother was at his
side in an instant. John's master had failed, and John was thrown out
of employment!

Then I learned, that it was only by the strictest economy, and hoarding
of every cent of John's small salary, that the house rent was paid and
the table provided.

And now, so the widow said, the house must be given up, for John might
be a long while getting another place; clerkships were so difficult to
obtain; and they must n