ted some of
these to him.

"My dear child," he said, "it is not necessary to go so far to account for
the history of this poor wandering musician. You say that he looked to you
like a broken-down gentleman; there are thousands of such men in the
country, ne'er-do-wells, who have tired out all their friends, and have
taken at last to a life that permits a certain amount of freedom and
furnishes them with a living sufficient for necessary wants. It is from
such men as these that the great body of tramps is largely recruited. Many
such men drive hackney-coaches in our large towns; some of them enlist in
the army; but wherever they are, and whatever they take up, they are sure
to stay near the foot of the tree. They have no inclination for better
things. They work as hard as men who have steady employment, but they
prefer their own liberty with a crust to a solid meal regularly earned. I
agree with you myself that there was an appearance of having seen better
times about this man; I can go so far with you as to admit that I think
that at some time or other he moved in decent circles; but if we could get
at the truth I have no doubt whatever that we should find that he had
thrown away every opportunity, alienated every friend, and, having cut
himself adrift from all ties, took to the life of a wanderer. For such a
man nothing could be done; but I hope that the boy, beginning in vastly
poorer circumstances than his father, will some day come to earn his
living honestly in the position of life in which he is placed."

The interest, however, which Miss Warden took in the boy remained
unabated, and had a very useful effect upon him. She persuaded him to come
up every day for half an hour to the rectory, and then instructed him in
his lessons, educating him in a manner very different from the perfunctory
teaching of the old dame at the school. She would urge him on by telling
him that if he would attend to his lessons he would some day be able to
rise to a better position than that of a village fisherman. His father, no
doubt, had had a good education, but from circumstances over which he had
had no control he had been obliged to take to the life of a strolling
musician, and she was sure that he would have wished of all things that
his son should be able to obtain a good position in life when he grew up.

Under Miss Warden's teaching the boy made very rapid progress, and was,
before two more years had passed, vastly in advance o