Chapter VI: Idleness and Want

THERE was once a great big man who lived in a hovel with his wife and five children. They were very poor, indeed,—as poor as they could be; and their hovel was tumbling down over their heads. The father's name was Tom; people used to call him lazy Tom, because he was always lolling on the top of the fence or against the side of a barn instead of doing his work.

Tom's wife was just as lazy as he. Her long hair was flying all over her head, because it was too much bother to comb it, unless she was going to a fair; then she tied it up with all the ribbons she could get.

From morning till night, the beds were never made up; but then they were not real beds. They were bags of straw thrown in the corners. But these might have looked much better than they did, if the covering had been spread on quite straight and smooth.

Once in a while Tom brought home a few potatoes or a little meal, or a piece of pork; and then, his wife, Lyddy, cooked the food. Generally she had nothing to cook with. It never entered her mind that she might earn something herself.

Back of Tom's hovel there was a pretty little brook. The water used to go singing and dancing over the stones; and the fish hopped up and down to get a glimpse of the sunlight. Many a nice meal Tom and his family might have had, if he had but industry and patience to fish in the brook. But, as his wife said about keeping her hair smooth, he said about the fish, it was such a bother to catch them.

It was not a nice home at all; but then, Jim and Phebe, and red-headed Johnny, and Molly and the baby Gloryanne, had never lived in a better; so they knew no other way than to be contented in the midst of confusion and filth.

One day Johnny, who was the best natured of the lot, was swinging on the old broken gate in front of the hovel when a horse going by in a carryall lost a shoe. The lady who was driving did not notice the loss, but Johnny did, and darting into the street picked it up, and ran with all his might after the carriage, shouting as he went.

The lady heard the noise, and was afraid it would frighten her horse, so she drove faster than ever. Johnny never could have caught up with her if a wagoner had not been coming the other way and seeing the little fellow running and motioning in a frantic manner, he called the lady to stop till he could see what it all meant.

The wagoner then got out of his wagon and took the iron shoe from little Johnny, and called him a smart little chap for bringing it to the lady. Then he held up the horse's foot, and told her she must not travel far until the shoe was put on, for the foot was very tender, and the sharp stones would make him lame. He directed her to a blacksmith who lived down a lane; and Johnny said at once that he would run on beside the buggy, and show her the way.

The lady's name was Marsh. She looked at the dirty, ragged clothes which covered poor Johnny, then she gazed in his face and saw a pair of bright brown eyes twinkling with fun, heavy locks of auburn hair falling in curls over his forehead, and a set of white, even teeth shining through his red lips; she liked him notwithstanding his rags and dirt.

She walked the horse all the way to the blacksmith's, talking with Johnny, and becoming more interested in him every minute.

He told her all about his home, about his brother and sisters. When she asked him what he did, he said:

"I do nothing."

"What, idle from morning till night?"

"Yes'um."

"Would you like to work?"

He scratched his head. "Yes'um, I think I should, 'cause I git awful tired of swinging on the gate."

"I am going on a mile or two," the lady said; "but I want to see you again: if you will be here at noon, I will have something for you to pay you for your trouble."

When she came back, he was there waiting; he had not been home. She took him into the buggy, and asked him whether he would like to go home with her and learn to work in her garden. She told him if he would try to be a good boy, she would be a friend to him, and help him grow up to be a useful man.

Tom and Lyddy and all the children rushed to the door of the hovel when the buggy stopped before the old, broken gate, and were so much surprised when they saw Johnny get out laughing, that they couldn't say a word. They were glad enough to get rid of Johnny; there would be one less mouth to feed, lazy Tom said, and so they bid him good-bye without a tear.

Johnny had been at his new home one week when the lady asked him whether he would like to go back and live with his mother.