The Story of Paul Boyton | Page 8

told her the story
of the rescue and handed over the silver. The mother's eye's beamed
with pleasure as she listened. She praised her gallant little son and
thanked the officer for his kindness. After he was gone she put the
silver carefully away and interviewed the hero, as often before, with a
shingle.
"Not only for playing hookey," she said; "but for going into the water at
all."
The little fellow rescued that day is Thomas McCaffery, now a member
of the Alleghany City Fire Department. Many years afterwards he gave
Paul a gold medal in remembrance of their first meeting.
In vacation Paul started out to look for work, for with all his wildness
he was industrious. He secured a place in a paper box factory at the
princely salary of fifty cents a week. His business was to lower great
packages of boxes from the upper story to the ground floor. He thought
how delightful it would be to go down himself on the rope. One day he
induced a small boy who worked near, pasting, to mind the windlass
while he descended by hanging on above the usual pits of boxes. The
sensation was novel and pleasing and it became exciting when the boy
above leaned over and shouted: "The boss is coming, look out for
yourself. I'll have to go." An instant later Paul and the boxes crashed
together on the bottom floor. The proprietor dragged him out of the
ruin he had made and assisted him energetically to the street, without
even the hint of a recommendation.
As Paul slowly and painfully wended his way home, a lady called him:
"Little boy, do you want a job?" Paul said he did and was put to work.
He had to sprinkle the street and keep the brick sidewalk clean in front
of her house. He was happily aided by a long hose, so that he
thoroughly enjoyed his new work and gave entire satisfaction. About
ten days after, Mrs. C., his employer sent him to escort her son to the
house of a relative living in Lawrenceburg, a village a few miles up the
river from Pittsburgh. She warned Paul to be careful of her little boy,

who was a delicate child about his own age and gave him street car fare
to pay his way up and down. Her last instructions were to leave Harvey
at his aunt's and return as soon as possible. When Paul was about to
take the car back, he thought of a pleasanter way, one in which he
could save his car fare, too. So he went to the river where he selected a
large sized plank and a piece of driftwood for a paddle. Then he piloted
himself down in safety and was back in time. A few days later, the
trusty little messenger was sent to Lawrenceburg to bring Harvey home.
Instead of taking the cars as instructed, Paul induced his charge to go
with him to the river. The little boy was very timid and refused to
embark on a steering oar that Paul found near the shore. A steering oar
consists of a plank securely pinned into a spar about thirty feet long and
used on stern and bow of a raft to guide it. Paul at last half forcibly
seated him on a block of wood on the steering oar and procuring a pole
they started on their voyage. All went well until they had passed under
the old Aqueduct Bridge. Then a crowd of Pittsburgh boys who were in
a skiff recognized Paid as the leader of their enemies from Alleghany
and opened up hostilities. Paul bravely kept them off with his pole and
whenever the chance offered propelled it nearer and nearer to his own
side of the river. When almost ashore they rammed the steering oar
with the bow of their skiff, struck Paul with the oar and tumbled poor
Harvey into the river. Paul never thought of himself; but seizing the son
of his aristocratic mistress, he swam in for the shore, then only a few
feet away. The Pittsburgh boys were satisfied with the prize they had
captured in the steering oar and towed it away to their own side of the
river. They were followed, however, by a shower of rocks hurled by the
infuriated Paul. A sad looking pair greeted the maid who answered
their ring. Paul turned young Harvey over to her, then sneaked around
to the alley to await developments. Hearing loud lamentations coming
from the direction of Mrs. C.'s room, he started for home where he told
his mother that the work was too severe for him and fearing the lady
would refuse to let him go, he left without bothering her for a reference.