profit. There was one old lady--she was rich, too, for she lived in
a big brick house--beat me down so, that I didn't make no profit at
all; but she wouldn't buy without, and I hadn't sold none that day;
so I let her have them. I don't see why rich folks should be so hard
upon a poor boy that wants to make a livin'."

"There's a good deal of meanness in the world, I'm afraid, Dick."

"If everybody was like you and your uncle," said Dick, "there would
be some chance for poor people. If I was rich I'd try to help 'em
along."

"Perhaps you will be rich sometime, Dick."

Dick shook his head.

"I'm afraid all my wallets will be like this," said Dick, indicating
the one he had received from the dropper, "and will be full of
papers what aint of no use to anybody except the owner."

"That depends very much on yourself, Dick," said Frank. "Stewart
wasn't always rich, you know."

"Wasn't he?"

"When he first came to New York as a young man he was a teacher, and
teachers are not generally very rich. At last he went into business,
starting in a small way, and worked his way up by degrees. But there
was one thing he determined in the beginning: that he would be
strictly honorable in all his dealings, and never overreach any one