In such disfavour was the poor man, that all would have been glad to have him go anywhere, so he left Hillsborough.
One day in the Christmas holidays, a boy came to the door of Riley
Brooke, with a buck-saw on his arm.
"I'm looking for work," said the boy, "and I'd be glad of the chance to saw your wood."
"How much a cord?" was the loud inquiry.
"Forty cents."
"Too much," said Brooke. "How much a day?"
"Six shillings."
"Too much," said the old man, snappishly. "I used to git six dollars a month, when I was your age, an' rise at four o'clock in the mornin' an' work till bedtime. You boys now-days are a lazy good-fer-nothin' lot. What's yer name?"
"Sidney Trove."
"Don't want ye."