in which she said that her
father insisted that Ben should come and make them a visit, and would
accept no excuse for refusing.

"I'll go this time!" exclaimed Ben, knowing he would have no trouble in
obtaining permission to take a brief vacation.

And go he did.

CHAPTER XXVI

CONCLUSION

In closing the history of Ben Mayberry, the telegraph messenger boy, it
seems to me I can do no better than by using the words of the hero
himself. The following letter I received only a few days since. It is the
last which has come to hand from Ben, who writes me regularly, as he has
done ever since I was transferred from the office in Damietta. I should
add that the date of the letter is nine years subsequent to that of his
visit to the metropolis as the guest of Mr. James Willard:

"My Dear Mr. Melville,--I am now in my twenty-fifth year.
In looking back it seems only a few years ago that you
called me to you, on the street of my native city, and
offered to make me general utility boy in the telegraph
office of Damietta. My mother and I were nearly starving
at the time, and no kindness could have been more
appropriate than yours, nor could anyone have shown
greater tact and wisdom in cultivating the good instincts
of a ragged urchin, who, otherwise, was likely to go to
ruin.

"You awakened my ambition and incited me to study; you
impressed upon me the beauty and truth of the declaration
that there is no royal road to learning; that if I
expected to attain success in any walk of life it could
only be done by hard, unremitting, patient work. There are
many rounds to the ladder, and each must climb them one by
one.

"Good fortune attended me in every respect. It was the
providence of God which saved me and enabled me to help
save sweet Dolly when the bridge went down in the storm
and darkness, and her mother was lost; yet, but for my
determination to do my best at all times, and never to
give up so long as I could struggle, I must have
succumbed.

"It was extremely fortunate that I saw the burglars at
work in the jewelry establishment of Mr. Grandin on that
memorable night in Damietta. The same stroke of fortune
might have fallen to any boy, but it was incomplete until
I was able to bring the leader to the ground with the
stone which I hurled at him.

"It m