The Cash Boy

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Alger, Horatio, Jr.

"The Cash Boy"

Enfeebled by sickness, I was able to earn but little, but we lived in a wretched room in a crowded tenement house. My infant boy was taken sick and died. As I sat sorrowfully beside the bed on which he lay dead, I heard a knock at the door. I opened it, and admitted a man whom I afterward learned to be John Wade. He very soon explained his errand. He agreed to take my poor boy, and pay all the expenses of his burial in Greenwood Cemetery, provided I would not object to any of his arrangements. He was willing besides to pay me two hundred dollars for the relief of my necessities. Though I was almost beside myself with grief for my child's loss, and though this was a very favorable proposal, I hesitated. I could not understand why a stranger should make me such an offer. I asked him the reason."

? ? ? ? "'You ask too much,' he answered, appearing annoyed. 'I have made you a fair offer. Will you accept it, or will you leave your child to have a pauper's funeral?'

? ? ? ? "That consideration decided me. For my child's sake I agreed to his proposal, and forebore to question him further.

Pages:
135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159

The Great Round World And What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1. No. 23, April 15, 1897 A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls (page 33) The Contrast (page 85) Oak Openings (page 668)

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Alger, Horatio, Jr.

"The Cash Boy"