Ragged Dick Part 25

"'Taint lawful to use fire-arms," said d.i.c.k.

"Now, d.i.c.k," said Fosd.i.c.k, "before we begin, I must find out how much you already know. Can you read any?"

"Not enough to hurt me," said d.i.c.k. "All I know about readin' you could put in a nutsh.e.l.l, and there'd be room left for a small family."

"I suppose you know your letters?"

"Yes," said d.i.c.k, "I know 'em all, but not intimately. I guess I can call 'em all by name."

"Where did you learn them? Did you ever go to school?"

"Yes; I went two days."

"Why did you stop?"

"It didn't agree with my const.i.tution."

"You don't look very delicate," said Fosd.i.c.k.

"No," said d.i.c.k, "I aint troubled much that way; but I found lickins didn't agree with me."

"Did you get punished?"

"Awful," said d.i.c.k.

"What for?"

"For indulgin' in a little harmless amoos.e.m.e.nt," said d.i.c.k. "You see the boy that was sittin' next to me fell asleep, which I considered improper in school-time; so I thought I'd help the teacher a little by wakin' him up. So I took a pin and stuck into him; but I guess it went a little too far, for he screeched awful. The teacher found out what it was that made him holler, and whipped me with a ruler till I was black and blue. I thought 'twas about time to take a vacation; so that's the last time I went to school."

"You didn't learn to read in that time, of course?"

"No," said d.i.c.k; "but I was a newsboy a little while; so I learned a little, just so's to find out what the news was. Sometimes I didn't read straight and called the wrong news. One mornin' I asked another boy what the paper said, and he told me the King of Africa was dead.

I thought it was all right till folks began to laugh."

"Well, d.i.c.k, if you'll only study well, you won't be liable to make such mistakes."

"I hope so," said d.i.c.k. "My friend Horace Greeley told me the other day that he'd get me to take his place now and then when he was off makin' speeches if my edication hadn't been neglected."

"I must find a good piece for you to begin on," said Fosd.i.c.k, looking over the paper.

"Find an easy one," said d.i.c.k, "with words of one story."

Fosd.i.c.k at length found a piece which he thought would answer. He discovered on trial that d.i.c.k had not exaggerated his deficiencies.

Words of two syllables he seldom p.r.o.nounced right, and was much surprised when he was told how "through" was sounded.

"Seems to me it's throwin' away letters to use all them," he said.

"How would you spell it?" asked his young teacher.

"T-h-r-u," said d.i.c.k.

"Well," said Fosd.i.c.k, "there's a good many other words that are spelt with more letters than they need to have. But it's the fashion, and we must follow it."

But if d.i.c.k was ignorant, he was quick, and had an excellent capacity. Moreover he had perseverance, and was not easily discouraged. He had made up his mind he must know more, and was not disposed to complain of the difficulty of his task. Fosd.i.c.k had occasion to laugh more than once at his ludicrous mistakes; but d.i.c.k laughed too, and on the whole both were quite interested in the lesson.

At the end of an hour and a half the boys stopped for the evening.

"You're learning fast, d.i.c.k," said Fosd.i.c.k. "At this rate you will soon learn to read well."

"Will I?" asked d.i.c.k with an expression of satisfaction. "I'm glad of that. I don't want to be ignorant. I didn't use to care, but I do now. I want to grow up 'spectable."

"So do I, d.i.c.k. We will both help each other, and I am sure we can accomplish something. But I am beginning to feel sleepy."

"So am I," said d.i.c.k. "Them hard words make my head ache. I wonder who made 'em all?"

"That's more than I can tell. I suppose you've seen a dictionary."

"That's another of 'em. No, I can't say I have, though I may have seen him in the street without knowin' him."

"A dictionary is a book containing all the words in the language."

"How many are there?"

"I don't rightly know; but I think there are about fifty thousand."

"It's a pretty large family," said d.i.c.k. "Have I got to learn 'em all?"

"That will not be necessary. There are a large number which you would never find occasion to use."

"I'm glad of that," said d.i.c.k; "for I don't expect to live to be more'n a hundred, and by that time I wouldn't be more'n half through."

By this time the flickering lamp gave a decided hint to the boys that unless they made haste they would have to undress in the dark.

They accordingly drew off their clothes, and d.i.c.k jumped into bed.

But Fosd.i.c.k, before doing so, knelt down by the side of the bed, and said a short prayer.

"What's that for?" asked d.i.c.k, curiously.

"I was saying my prayers," said Fosd.i.c.k, as he rose from his knees.

"Don't you ever do it?"

"No," said d.i.c.k. "n.o.body ever taught me."

"Then I'll teach you. Shall I?"

"I don't know," said d.i.c.k, dubiously. "What's the good?"

Fosd.i.c.k explained as well as he could, and perhaps his simple explanation was better adapted to d.i.c.k's comprehension than one from an older person would have been. d.i.c.k felt more free to ask questions, and the example of his new friend, for whom he was beginning to feel a warm attachment, had considerable effect upon him. When, therefore, Fosd.i.c.k asked again if he should teach him a prayer, d.i.c.k consented, and his young bedfellow did so. d.i.c.k was not naturally irreligious. If he had lived without a knowledge of G.o.d and of religious things, it was scarcely to be wondered at in a lad who, from an early age, had been thrown upon his own exertions for the means of living, with no one to care for him or give him good advice. But he was so far good that he could appreciate goodness in others, and this it was that had drawn him to Frank in the first place, and now to Henry Fosd.i.c.k. He did not, therefore, attempt to ridicule his companion, as some boys better brought up might have done, but was willing to follow his example in what something told him was right. Our young hero had taken an important step toward securing that genuine respectability which he was ambitious to attain.

Weary with the day's work, and d.i.c.k perhaps still more fatigued by the unusual mental effort he had made, the boys soon sank into a deep and peaceful slumber, from which they did not awaken till six o'clock the next morning. Before going out d.i.c.k sought Mrs. Mooney, and spoke to her on the subject of taking Fosd.i.c.k as a room-mate.