Helping Himself | Page 4

much?" asked the storekeeper, his countenance changing.
"Eight dollars."
"Eight dollars!" ejaculated Tudor, indignantly. "Only eight dollars out
of sixty-seven! That's a regular imposition, and I don't care ef your
father is a minister, I stick to my words."
Grant was angry, but he remembered his mother's injunction to restrain
his temper.
"We'd like to pay the whole, Mr. Tudor, if we had the money, and--"
"Do you think I can trust the whole neighborhood, and only get one
dollar in ten of what's due me?" spluttered Mr. Tudor. "Ministers ought
to set a better example."

"Ministers ought to get better pay," said Grant.
"There's plenty don't get as much as your father. When do you expect
to pay the rest, I'd like to know? I s'pose you expect me to go on trustin',
and mebbe six months from now you'll pay me another eight dollars,"
said the storekeeper, with withering sarcasm.
"I was going to tell you, if you hadn't interrupted me," said Grant, "that
we should probably have some more money for you to-morrow."
"How much?"
"Twenty-five dollars," answered the boy, knowing that part of the
money borrowed must go in other quarters. "Will that be satisfactory?"
"That's more like!" said Tudor, calming down. "Ef you'll pay that I'll
give you a leetle more time on the rest. Do you want anything this
mornin'? I've got some prime butter just come in."
"I'll call for some articles this afternoon, Mr. Tudor. Here are the eight
dollars. Please credit us with that sum."
"Well, I've accomplished something," said Grant to himself as he
plodded homeward.

CHAPTER III
GRANT WALKS TO SOMERSET

GODFREY THORNTON, Grant's uncle, lived in the neighboring town
of Somerset. He was an old bachelor, three years older than his brother,
the minister, and followed the profession of a lawyer. His business was
not large, but his habits were frugal, and he had managed to save up ten
thousand dollars. Grant had always been a favorite with him, and
having no son of his own he had formed the plan of sending him to
college. He was ambitious that he should be a professional man.
It might have been supposed that he would have felt disposed to assist
his brother, whose scanty salary he knew was inadequate to the needs
of a family. But Godfrey Thornton was an obstinate man, and chose to
give assistance in his own way, and no other. It would be a very
handsome thing, he thought, to give his nephew a college education.
And so, indeed, it would. But he forgot one thing. In families of limited

means, when a boy reaches the age of fifteen or sixteen he is very
properly expected to earn something toward the family income, and
this Grant could not do while preparing for college. If his uncle could
have made up his mind to give his brother a small sum annually to
make up for this, all would have been well. Not that this idea had
suggested itself to the Rev. John Thorn-ton. He felt grateful for his
brother's intentions toward Grant, and had bright hopes of his boy's
future. But, in truth, pecuniary troubles affected him less than his wife.
She was the manager, and it was for her to contrive and be anxious.
After Grant had arranged the matters referred to in the preceding
chapter, he told his mother that he proposed to go to Somerset to call
on his uncle.
"No, Grant, I don't object, though I should be sorry to have you lose the
chance of an education."
"I have a very fair education already, mother. Of course I should like to
go to college, but I can't bear to have you and father struggling with
poverty. If I become a business man, I may have a better chance to help
you. At any rate, I can help you sooner. If I can only induce Uncle
Godfrey to give you the sum my education would cost him, I shall feel
perfectly easy."
"You can make the attempt, my son, but I have doubts about your
success."
Grant, however, was more hopeful. He didn't see why his uncle should
object, and it would cost him no more money. It seemed to him very
plain sailing, and he set out to walk to Somerset, full of courage and
hope.
It was a pretty direct road, and the distance--five miles--was not
formidable to a strong-limbed boy like Grant. In an hour and a half he
entered the village, and soon reached the small one-story building
which served his uncle as an office.
Entering, he saw his uncle busy with some papers at his desk.
The old lawyer raised his eyes as the door opened.
"So it's you, Grant, is it?" he said. "Nobody sick at