The foreman of the bricklayers looked down from the scaffold to
the speaker below. Something in the lad's upturned face appealed
to the man. He threw a brick at him.

It was Hezekiah Hayloft. He was all in homespun. He carried a
carpet-bag in each hand. He had come to New York, the cruel city,
looking for work.

Hezekiah moved on. Presently he stopped in front of a policeman.

"Sir," he said, "can you tell me the way to----"

The policeman struck him savagely across the side of the head.

"I'll learn you," he said, "to ask damn fool questions----"

Again Hezekiah moved on. In a few moments he met a man whose tall
black hat, black waistcoat and white tie proclaimed him a clergyman.

"Good sir," said Hezekiah, "can you tell me----"

The clergyman pounced upon him with a growl of a hyena, and bit a
piece out of his ear. Yes, he did, reader. Just imagine a
clergyman biting a boy in open daylight! Yet that happens in
New York every minute.

Such is the great cruel city, and imagine looking for work in it.
You and I who spend our time in trying to avoid work can hardly
realise what it must mean. Think how it must feel to be alone
in New York, without a friend or a relation at hand, with no one