Richard Dares Venture | Page 2

home my weekly wages. I know it would be a big help all around. It takes a heap of money to run a family of three girls and a growing boy."
Mrs. Dare smiled sadly.
"What do you know about that?" she asked. "We all have enough to eat and drink, and our own roof over our heads."
"Yes, but I know that my dear mother sits up sewing sometimes long after we have gone to bed, so that our clothing may be cared for, and I know that she hasn't had a new dress in a year, though she deserves a dozen," added Richard heartily.
"I haven't much use for a new dress--I go out so little," said his mother. "But what kind of work do you wish to get?"
"Oh, anything that pays. I'm not particular, so long as it's honest.
"I'm afraid you will find but few chances in Mossvale. Times are dull here--ever since the hat factory moved away. I guess the stores have all the help they want. You might get a place on one of the farms."
"I don't think any farmer would pay much besides my board," replied the boy. "I've got another plan," he continued, with some hesitation.
"And what is that?"
"To try my luck in New York. There ought to be room enough for me in such a big city."
"New York!" exclaimed Mrs. Dare, in astonishment. "Why, you have never been there in your whole life!"
"I know it, but I've read the papers pretty well, and I wouldn't be afraid but what I could get along first rate."
Mrs. Dare shook her head doubtfully.
"It is almost impossible to get a footing there," she declared. "When we were first married your father struggled hard enough, both there and in Brooklyn, but somehow, he didn't seem to make it go, and so we moved here. Everything rushes in the city, and unless you have some one to speak for you no one will give you a chance."
"I would take the first thing that came to hand, no matter what it paid, and then watch for something better."
"It might be that you would have luck," said Mrs. Dare reflectively. "I don't like to discourage you. Still--"
"You wouldn't like to see me go away and then fail, is that it?"
"Yes. Failures at the start of life often influence all the after years. Suppose you have a talk with your father about this."
"I thought I'd speak to you first, mother. I wanted to know if you would be willing to let me go."
"If your father thinks it best, I shall be satisfied, Richard. Of course, I will miss you."
"I know that, mother," returned Richard rising. "But then I could come home once in a while. The city is not so very far away."
The plan of "striking out" had been in Richard Dare's mind for several months. The country school at Mossvale had closed for the season early in the spring--so as to allow the farmer boys to do their work, and Richard was satisfied that he had about learned all that Mr. Parsons, the pedagogue, was able or willing to teach, and saw no good reason for his returning in the fall. He would have liked to continue his studies, but there was only one other institute of learning in the neighborhood--a boarding academy, where the rates for tuition were high, and to this he well knew his parents could not afford to send him.
Mr. Dare was by trade a house painter and decorator. When a young man he had served three years in the army, during the great rebellion, from which he had come away with a bullet in his shoulder, and a strong tendency towards chronic rheumatism. Shortly after he had married, and now, twenty years later, his family included four children, of which Richard, age sixteen, was next to the oldest.
Mr. Dare was a steady, sober man, who disliked excitement, and the quiet plodding along in Mossvale just suited him. He was only a journeyman, and it is doubtful if his ambition had ever risen beyond his present station. By frugality he and his wife had saved enough to buy a half acre of land in this pretty New Jersey village, on which they had erected a neat cottage, and here apparently John Dare was content to spend the remainder of his life.
But Richard Dare partook of but little of his father's retiring disposition. He was a bright, active boy, with a clear heart and brain, and he longed to get at some work where energy would be the road to success. His comprehension was rapid, and beneath an outwardly calm spirit, lurked the fire of a youth well trained to grapple with noble purposes and bring them to a successful issue.
Richard's desire to go to the metropolis was a natural one.