His time, which
Allen gave him in the summer, had yielded some forty-five dollars.
He hired a room at thirty-five cents a week. Mary Allen bought him
a small stove and sent to him, in the sleigh, dishes, a kettle,
chair, bed, pillow, and quilt, and a supply of candles.
She surveyed him proudly, as he was going away that morning in
December,
"Folks may call ye han'some," she said. "They'd like to make fool
of ye, but you go on 'bout yer business an' act as if ye didn't
hear."
He had a figure awkward, as yet, but fast shaping to comeliness.
Long, light hair covered the tops of his ears and fell to his
collar. His ruddy cheeks were a bit paler that morning; the curve
in his lips a little drawn; his blue eyes had begun to fill and the
dimple in his chin to quiver, slightly, as he kissed her who had
been as a mother to him. But he went away laughing.
Many have seen the record in his diary of those lank and busy days.
The Saturday of his first week at school he wrote as follows:--
"Father brought me a small load of wood and a sack of potatoes
yesterday, so, after this, I shall be able to live cheaper. My
expenses this week have been as follows:--
Rent 35 cents
Corn meal 14 "
Milk 20 "
Bread 8 "
Beef bone 5 "
Honey 5 "
Four potatoes, about 1 "
--
88 cents.
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