“I ain’t used to genteel society,” said Dick. “I shouldn’t know how to behave.”
“Then I could show you. You won’t be a boot-black all your life, you know.”
“No,” said Dick; “I’m goin’ to knock off when I get to be ninety.”
“Before that, I hope, said Frank, smiling.
“I really wish I could get somethin’ else to do,” said Dick, soberly. “I’d like to be a office boy, and learn business, and grow up ‘spectable.”
“Why don’t you try, and see if you can’t get a place, Dick?”
“Who’d take Ragged Dick?”
“But you ain’t ragged now, Dick.”
“No,” said Dick; “I look a little better than I did in my Washington coat and Louis Napoleon pants. But if I got in a office, they wouldn’t give me more’n three dollars a week, and I couldn’t live ‘spectable on that.”
“No, I suppose not,” said Frank, thoughtfully. “But you would get more at the end of the first year.”
“Yes,” said Dick; “but by that time I’d be nothin’ but skin and bones.”
Frank laughed. “That reminds me,” he said, “of the story of an Irishman, who, out of economy, thought he would teach his horse to feed on shavings. So he provided the horse with a pair of green spectacles which made the shavings look eatable. But unfortunately, just as the horse got learned, he up and died.”
“The hoss must have been a fine specimen of architectur’ by the time he got through,” remarked Dick.
“Whereabouts are we now?” asked Frank, as they emerged from Fourth Avenue into Union Square.
“That is Union Park,” said Dick, pointing to a beautiful enclosure, in the centre of which was a pond, with a fountain playing.
“Is that the statue of General Washington?” asked Frank, pointing to a bronze equestrian statue, on a granite pedestal.
“Yes,” said Dick; “he’s growed some since he was President. If he’d been as tall as that when he fit in the Revolution, he’d have walloped the Britishers some, I reckon.”
Frank looked up at the statue, which is fourteen and a half feet high, and acknowledged the justice of Dick’s remark.
“How about the coat, Dick?” he asked. “Would it fit you?”
“Well, it might be rather loose,” said Dick, “I ain’t much more’n ten feet high with my boots off.”
“No, I should think not,” said Frank, smiling. “You’re a queer boy, Dick.”
“Well, I’ve been brought up queer. Some boys is born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Victoria’s boys is born with a gold spoon, set with di’monds; but gold and silver was scarce when I was born, and mine was pewter.”
“Perhaps the gold and silver will come by and by, Dick. Did you ever hear of Dick Whittington?”
“Never did. Was he a Ragged Dick?”
“I shouldn’t wonder if he was. At any rate he was very poor when he was a boy, but he didn’t stay so. Before he died, he became Lord Mayor of London.”
“Did he?” asked Dick, looking interested. “How did he do it?”
“Why, you see, a rich merchant took pity on him, and gave him a home in his own house, where he used to stay with the servants, being employed in little errands. One day the merchant noticed Dick picking up pins and needles that had been dropped, and asked him why he did it. Dick told him he was going to sell them when he got enough. The merchant was pleased with his saving disposition, and when soon after, he was going to send a vessel to foreign parts, he told Dick he might send anything he pleased in it, and it should be sold to his advantage. Now Dick had nothing in the world but a kitten which had been given him a short time before.”
“How much taxes did he have to pay on it?” asked Dick.
“Not very high, probably. But having only the kitten, he concluded to send it along. After sailing a good many months, during which the kitten grew up to be a strong cat, the ship touched at an island never before known, which happened to be infested with rats and mice to such an extent that they worried everybody’s life out, and even ransacked the king’s palace. To make a long story short, the captain, seeing how matters stood, brought Dick’s cat ashore, and she soon made the rats and mice scatter. The king was highly delighted when he saw what havoc she made among the rats and mice, and resolved to have her at any price. So he offered a great quantity of gold for her, which, of course, the captain was glad to accept. It was faithfully carried back to Dick, and laid the foundation of his fortune. He prospered as he grew up, and in time became a very rich merchant, respected by all, and before he died was elected Lord Mayor of London.”