"If he wasn't jus' tryin' to sneak his way through 'thout payin'!"
exclaimed John Jay, indignantly. George made no comment, but John Jay
seemed unable to quit talking about the occurrence. Half an hour later
he broke out again: "He thought 'cause I was jus' a little boy he could
cheat me, an' nobody would evah know the difference. I nevah in all my
life befo' heard tell of anything so mean!"
"Haven't you?" asked George, with such peculiar emphasis and such a
queer little smile that John Jay felt guilty, although he could not have
told why.
"No, I nevah did," he insisted.
George leaned against the door-casing, and looked thoughtfully across
the fields. "There are more turnpikes in life than one, my boy," he said
kindly, "and every one has its toll-gate. There is the road to learning.
I gave up everything to get through that gate, even my health. One
cannot be anything or do anything worth while without paying some sort
of toll. It may be time or strength or hard work or patience, and
sometimes we have to give them all.
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