ive me a loaf, and take their pay in matches. But
they said they'd got enough matches to last three months; so there
wasn't any chance for a trade. While I was standin' at the stove
warmin' me, the baker went into a back room, and I felt so hungry I
thought I would take just one loaf, and go off with it. There was
such a big pile I don't think he'd have known it."

"But you didn't do it?"

"No, I didn't and I was glad of it, for when the man came in ag'in,
he said he wanted some one to carry some cake to a lady in St.
Mark's Place. His boy was sick, and he hadn't no one to send; so he
told me he'd give me ten cents if I would go. My business wasn't
very pressin' just then, so I went, and when I come back, I took my
pay in bread and cakes. Didn't they taste good, though?"

"So you didn't stay long in the match business, Dick?"

"No, I couldn't sell enough to make it pay. Then there was some
folks that wanted me to sell cheaper to them; so I couldn't make any
profit. There was one old lady--she was rich, too, for she lived in
a big brick house--beat me down so, that I didn't make no profit at
all; but she wouldn't buy without, and I hadn't sold none that day;
so I let her have them. I don't see why rich folks should be so hard
upon a poor boy that wants to make a livin'."

"There's a good deal of meanness in the world, I'm afraid, Dick."

"If everybody was like you and your uncle," said Dick, "there would
be some chance for poor people. If I was rich I'd try to help 'em
along."

"Perhaps you will be rich sometime, Dick."

Dick shook his head.

"I'm afraid all my wallets will be like this," said Dick, indicating
the one he had received from the dropper, "and will be full of
papers what aint of no use to anybody except the owner."

"That depends very much on yourself, Dick," said Frank. "Stewart
wasn't always rich, you know."

"Wasn't he?"

"When he first came to New York as a young man he was a teacher, and
teachers are not generally very rich. At last he went into business,
starting in a small way, and worked his way up by degrees. But there
was one thing he determined in the beginning: that he would be
strictly honorable in all his dealings, and never overreach any one
for the sake of making money. If there was a chance for him, Dick,
there is a chance for you."

"He knowed enough to be a teacher, and I'm awful ignorant,"
said Dick.

"But you needn't stay so."

"How can I help it?"

"Can't you lear