Horatio Alger
Bound to Rise
Published by Good Press, 2020
EAN 4064066422134
Table of Contents
Chapter IV: A Sum in Arithmetic
Chapter VI: Looking out on the World
Chapter VII: In Franklin's Footsteps
Chapter VIII: Harry's Decision
Chapter XIII: An Invitation Declined
Chapter XIV: The Tailor's Customer
Chapter XVII: The Night Scholars
Chapter XVIII: Lost, or Stolen
Chapter XIX: An Unwelcome Visitor
Chapter XXI: In the Tailor's Power
Chapter XXII: The Coming of the Magician
Chapter XXIII: The Ventriloquist
Chapter XXV: A Strange Companion
Chapter XXVI: Pages from the Past
Chapter XXVII: A Mystifying Performance
Chapter XXVIII: An Unexpected Payment
Chapter XXIX: In the Printing Office
Chapter XXX: The Young Treasurer
Chapter XXXII: The Good Samaritan
Chapter XXXIII: The Reward of Fidelity
Chapter I
"Sit up to the table, children, breakfast's ready."
The speaker was a woman of middle age, not good-looking in the ordinary acceptation of the term, but nevertheless she looked good. She was dressed with extreme plainness, in a cheap calico; but though cheap, the dress was neat. The children she addressed were six in number, varying in age from twelve to four. The oldest, Harry, the hero of the present story, was a broad-shouldered, sturdy boy, with a frank, open face, resolute, though good-natured.
"Father isn't here," said Fanny, the second child.
"He'll be in directly. He went to the store, and he may stop as he comes back to milk."
The table was set in the center of the room, covered with a coarse tablecloth. The breakfast provided was hardly of a kind to tempt an epicure. There was a loaf of bread cut into slices, and a dish of boiled potatoes. There was no butter and no meat, for the family were very poor.
The children sat up to the table and began to eat. They were blessed with good appetites, and did not grumble, as the majority of my readers would have done, at the scanty fare. They had not been accustomed to anything better, and their appetites were not pampered by indulgence.
They had scarcely commenced the meal when the father entered. Like his wife, he was coarsely dressed. In personal appearance he resembled his oldest boy. His wife looking up as he entered perceived that he looked troubled.
"What is the matter, Hiram?" she asked. "You look as if something had happened."
"Nothing has happened yet," he answered; "but I am afraid we are going to lose the cow."
"Going to lose the cow!" repeated Mrs. Walton in dismay.
"She is sick. I don't know what's the matter with her."
"Perhaps it is only a trifle. She may get over it during the day."
"She may, but I'm afraid she won't. Farmer Henderson's cow was taken just that way last fall, and he couldn't save her."
"What are you going to do?"
"I have been to Elihu Perkins, and he's coming over to see what he can do for her. He can save her if anybody can."
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