Golden Days for Boys and Girls, Vol. XII, Jan. 3, 1891

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(Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1891, by James Elverson, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.)
Discharged from your last situation, young man? For what reason?
And the busy superintendent of the Pen Yan Road, one of the largest railway systems in the country, turned from his maps and statistics to glance suspiciously at the slight figure, before him.
Clear and prompt came the answer:
For doing my duty, sir.
Humph! replied the official, shrugging his shoulders and eying the youthful speaker more closely. Men—nor boys, for that matter—never lose situations from attention to business. You will have to find another excuse.
I have no other, sir.
By this time the notice of the subordinate officials and clerks, of whom there were twenty or more in the company's spacious rooms, was fixed upon him who stood at the iron railing encircling the chief's desk.
He was not over sixteen years of age, of medium size, poorly clad, and evidently used to hard work. But his features, though browned with a deep coat of tan and bountifully sprinkled with freckles, made up an honest, manly-looking countenance, while the blue eyes met the railroad superintendent's sterner gaze with an unflinching light.
Everything had seemed to work that day at cross-purposes with Superintendent Lyons, and he was in no humor to parley with the poor boy, who had thrust himself into his presence with more boldness than discretion.