Fame and Fortune; or, The Progress of Richard Hunter, Jr. Horatio Alger [classic books for 12 year olds txt] 📗

to look at the lots which he had suggested buying. They were located in a very eligible situation, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Some of my young readers may not be aware that the dimensions of a city lot are twenty-five feet front by one hundred feet in depth. The four lots together made a plot of one hundred feet by one hundred, or a little less than quarter of an acre. In the country the whole would scarcely have been considered sufficient for a house with a good yard in front; but if people choose to live in the city they must make up their minds to be crowded.

"It looks small,—don't it?" said Dick. "I shouldn't think there was four lots there."

"Yes," said Mr. Murdock, "they are of the regular size. Some lots are only twenty feet wide. These are twenty-five. They don't look so large before they are built on."

"Well," said Dick, "I'm in for buying them."

"I think it will be a good investment for both of us," said Mr. Murdock.

"The money shall be ready whenever you want it," said Dick.

"Very well. I will see the owner to-morrow, or rather this evening, as it is best to be prompt, lest we might lose so favorable a bargain. I will make the best terms I can with him, and let you know the result to-morrow."

"All right!" said Dick. "Good-night, Mr. Murdock."

"Good-night. By-the-by, why won't you come round and take supper with us? My wife and children will be glad to make your acquaintance."

"Thank you," said Dick. "I will come some other evening with pleasure; but if I stay away without saying anything about it, Fosdick won't know what's become of me."

Dick got back to Bleecker Street a little late for dinner. When he entered the dining-room, the remainder of the boarders were seated at the table.

"Come, Mr. Hunter, you must render an account of yourself," said Miss Peyton, playfully. "Why are you late this evening?"

"Suppose I don't tell," said Dick.

"Then you must pay a fine,—mustn't he, Mrs. Browning?"

"That depends upon who is to benefit by the fines," said the landlady. "If they are to be paid to me, I shall be decidedly in favor of it. That reminds me that you were late to breakfast this morning, Miss Peyton."

"Oh, ladies mustn't be expected to pay fines," said Miss Peyton, shaking her ringlets. "They never have any money, you know."

"Then I think we must let Mr. Hunter off," said Mrs. Browning.

"If he will tell us what has detained him. You must excuse my curiosity, Mr. Hunter, but ladies, you know, are privileged to be curious."

"I don't mind telling," said Dick, helping himself to a piece of toast. "I'm talking of buying some lots up-town, and went up with a friend to look at them."

Fosdick looked at Dick, inquiringly, not knowing if he were in earnest or not.

"Indeed!" said Mr. Clifton. "May I inquire where the lots are situated?"

"I'll tell you if I buy them," said Dick; "but I don't want to run the risk of losing them."

"You needn't be afraid of my cutting you out," said Clifton. "I paid my washerwoman this morning, and haven't got but a dollar and a half over. I suppose that won't buy the property."

"I wish it would," said Dick. "In that case I'd buy half a dozen lots."

"I suppose, from your investing in lots, Mr. Hunter, that you are thinking of getting married, and living in a house of your own," said Miss Peyton, simpering.

"No," said Dick, "I shan't get married for a year. Nobody ought to be married before they're seventeen."

"That's just my age," said Miss Peyton.

Mr. Clifton afterwards informed Dick that Miss Peyton was twenty-five, but did not mention how he had ascertained. He likewise added that when he first came to the boarding-house, she had tried her fascinations upon him.

"She'd have married me in a minute," he said complacently; "but I'm too old a bird to be caught that way. When you see Mrs. Clifton, gentlemen, you'll see style and beauty, and—money" he added, after a moment's reflection.

Mr. Clifton had a tolerably good opinion of himself, as may be inferred from this remark. In fact, he valued himself rather more highly than the ladies appeared to do; but such cases are not remarkable.

"Mrs. Clifton will be a lucky woman," said Dick, with a sober face.

"You're very kind to say so," said Mr. Clifton, modestly. "I believe I'm tolerably good-looking, and nobody'll deny that I've got style. But money,—that's my weak point. You couldn't lend me five dollars, could you, till next week?"

"I'm afraid not," said Dick. "My up-town lots cost so much, and then there'll be the taxes afterwards."

"Oh, it's of no consequence. I thought a little of going to the opera to-night, and I need a new pair of gloves. It costs a sight to keep a fellow in gloves."

"So it does," said Dick. "I bought a pair for fifty cents six months ago, and now I've got to buy another pair."

"Ha, ha! good joke! By the way, I wonder you fellows don't take a better room."

"Why should we? Isn't this good enough?" asked Fosdick.

"Oh, it's comfortable and all that," said Clifton; "but you know what I mean. You wouldn't want any of your fashionable friends to call upon you here."

"That's a fact," said Dick. "Suppose," he said, turning to Fosdick, with a twinkle in his eye, "Johnny Nolan should call upon us here. What would he think of our living in such a room?"

"He would probably be surprised," said Fosdick, entering into the joke.

"Is he one of your Madison-Avenue friends?" asked Clifton, a little mystified.

"I don't know where he lives," said Dick, with truth; "but he's a friend of mine, in business down town."

"Wholesale or retail?"

"Retail I should say,—shouldn't you, Fosdick?"

"Yes," said Fosdick, amused at Clifton's evident mystification.

"Well, good-evening, gents," said Clifton, sauntering out of the room. "Call and see me when you haven't anything better to do."

"Thank you. Good-night."

"Were you in earnest, Dick, about the up-town lots," asked Fosdick, after Clifton had left the room.

"Yes," said Dick. "It's an investment that Mr. Murdock advised. I'll tell you about it, and then you can tell me what you think of it."

Dick thereupon gave an account of the conversation that had taken place between him and the head clerk, and what they proposed to do. "What do you think of it?" he concluded.

"I have no doubt it is an excellent plan," said Fosdick; "but of course my opinion isn't worth much. I don't see but you stand a chance to be a rich man some time, Dick."

"By the time I get to be a hundred," said Dick.

"A good while before that, I presume. But there's something else we must not forget."

"What is that?"

"Money is a good thing to have, but a good education is better. I was thinking to-day that since we have come here we haven't done any studying to amount to anything."

"That is true."

"And the sooner we begin the better."

"All right. I agree to that."

"But we shall need assistance. I've taught you about all I know myself, and now we want to go higher."

"What shall we do?"

"I'll tell you, Dick. Have you noticed the young man that has a room just opposite ours?"

"His name is Layton,—isn't it?"

"Yes."

"What about him?"

"I heard yesterday that he was a teacher in a private school. We might engage him to teach us in the evening, or, at any rate, see if he is willing."

"All right. Is he in now, I wonder?"

"Yes. I heard him go into his room a few minutes since."

"Very well; suppose we go in and speak to him."

The boys at once acted upon this suggestion, and, crossing the entry, knocked at the door.

"Come in!" said a voice from within.

The door being opened, they found themselves in the presence of a young man of pleasant appearance, apparently about twenty-five years of age.

"Good-evening, gentlemen," he said. "I am glad to see you. Will you have seats?"

"Thank you," said Fosdick. "We came in on a little business. I understand you are a teacher, Mr. Layton."

"Yes, I am engaged in a private school in the city."

"My friend and myself are engaged in business during the day, but we feel that our education is quite deficient, and we want to make arrangements to study evenings. We cannot do this to advantage without assistance. Are you occupied during the evenings?"

"No, I am not."

"Perhaps you would not like teaching in the evening, after being engaged in the daytime."

"On the contrary, I have been hoping to secure scholars; but I hardly knew how to set about it."

"Are you acquainted with the French language, Mr. Layton?"

"Yes, I am tolerably familiar with it. I studied it at college with a native teacher."

"If you are a college graduate, then, you will be able to teach us whatever we desire to learn. But I am afraid we may not be able to make it worth your while. We have neither of us large salaries. But if four dollars a week—two dollars for each of us—would be satisfactory—"

"I shall be satisfied with it," said Mr. Layton. "In fact," he added, frankly, "I shall consider it quite a welcome addition to my salary. My father died a year since, and my mother and sister are compelled to depend upon me in part for support. But I have not been able to do as much for them as I wished. This addition to my earnings will give me the means of increasing their comforts."

"Then it will be a pleasant arrangement all round," said Fosdick. "What would you advise us to study?"

After a few inquiries as to their present attainments, Mr. Layton recommended a course of mathematics, beginning with algebra, history, and the French language. He gave the boys a list of the books they would be likely to need.

The next evening the boys commenced studying, and determined to devote an hour and a half each evening to mental improvement. They found Mr. Layton an excellent teacher, and he on his side found them very apt pupils.

Dick had an active, intelligent mind, and an excellent capacity, and Fosdick had always had a thirst for learning, which he was now able to gratify. As his salary would have been insufficient to pay his expenses and the teacher besides, he was obliged to have recourse to his little fund in the savings bank. Dick offered to assist him, but Fosdick would not consent. Just as his savings were about exhausted, his wages were raised two dollars a week, and this enabled him to continue the arrangement without assistance.

In the course of a few weeks the boys commenced reading French, and found it quite interesting.

CHAPTER IX. ROSWELL CRAWFORD AT HOME.

While Fosdick and Dick are devoting their evenings to study, under the guidance of Mr. Layton, we will direct the reader's attention to a young gentleman who considered himself infinitely superior in the social scale to either. Roswell Crawford could never forget that Dick had once been a boot-black, and looked upon it as an outrage that such a boy should be earning a salary of ten dollars a week, while he—a gentleman's son—was only paid four, which he regarded as a beggarly pittance. Roswell's father had once kept a small dry goods store on Broadway, but failed after being in business a little less than a year. This constituted his claim to gentility. After his failure, Mr. Crawford tried several kinds of business, without succeeding in any. His habits were not strictly temperate, and he had died two years previous. His wife hired a house in Clinton Place, and took boarders, barely succeeding in making both ends meet at the end of the year. The truth was that she was not a good manager, and preferred to talk of her gentility and former wealth to looking after the affairs of the household. She was very much like her son in this respect.

Among Mrs. Crawford's boarders was Mr. Gilbert, who is already known to the reader as the book-keeper of Rockwell & Cooper. It has been mentioned also that he was Roswell's cousin, being a son of Mrs. Crawford's only brother. He, too, was not unlike his aunt and cousin, and all three combined to hate and despise Dick, whom Mrs. Crawford saw fit to regard as her son's successful rival.

"How's the boot-black, Cousin James?" asked Roswell, on the evening succeeding that which Dick had passed at Mr. Rockwell's.

"Putting on airs worse than ever," replied Gilbert.

"Mr. Rockwell has a singular taste, to say the least," said Mrs. Crawford, "or he wouldn't hire a boy from the streets, and give him such extravagant wages. To pay such a vagabond ten dollars a week, when a boy of good family, like Roswell, can get but four,