SURROUNDINGS.

IT was now September. Archie had been in New York the whole summer
through, attending carefully to his work on the Evening Enterprise, and
continuing his study of stenography. He had taken occasional trips to
Long Branch and Asbury Park on Saturday afternoons, but every other day
he spent in working up ideas for the paper, and each evening he devoted
to the shorthand school. By this time, though, he felt that he knew all
that was necessary of shorthand, and found himself more free to go about
in the evenings. He visited his friends more frequently, and sometimes
spent whole evenings in studying works on English literature, for he was
ambitious to know more of the great work he had decided to make his own.
This study was not really work to him, for his interest in everything
connected with literature was so great that he found a pleasure in
reading even the most classical books on the subject, and of course so
much reading of this sort did a great deal to educate his mind along
this line of work.

One evening in the early fall, Archie decided to accept the invitation
of Mr. Depaw, the railway president, to call. So he carefully dressed
himself in the best he had, and walked up Fifth Avenue and into the side
street where the great man had his home. He rang the bell and presented
his card, and waited in the drawing-room for an answer. The footman was
gone but a moment, and returning, announced that the family would be
down directly. Archie was very much pleased that he was to meet the
entire family, and looked about him with great interest at the elegant
furnishings of the room in which he sat. He couldn't help thinking how
lovely it must be to have so many books, so many pictures, and so many
works of art of every kind. The boy thought then that he would like to
be a wealthy man, just to be able to gratify his desires for beautiful
things.

He had to wait only a short time before the genial Mr. Depaw entered the
room, accompanied by several members of the family. Archie was greeted
very warmly, and introduced to every one, and then they immediately
began an animated conversation, in which Archie soon found himself
taking an active part, much to his surprise. He felt that he had
never before realised what a great gift it is to be able to talk
entertainingly, and this evening was a revelation to him in the ways of
good society. He found that every one was much interested in the story
of his adventures, an