The boys had never before seen Sharp look as he did as he walked to a desk in the back of the room and sat down. As soon as the bell was struck for recess Grayson hurried over to Sharp and said,
“You helped me out of a terrible scrape, do you know it?”
“I’m glad of it,” said Sharp. “And that isn’t all; I wish I could think of something else to own up to.”
Chapter V.
THOSE JAIL-BIRDS.
ALTHOUGH the people of Laketon could not forgive Mr. Morton and Paul Grayson for not talking more about themselves and their past lives, they could not deny that both the teacher and his pupil were of decided value to the town. All the boys, whether in Mr. Morton’s school or the public school, seemed to like Paul Grayson when they became acquainted with him, and the parents of the boys sensibly argued that there could not be anything very bad about a boy who was so popular. Besides, the other boys in talking about Paul declared that he never swore and never lied; and as lying and swearing were the two vices most common among the Laketon boys, and therefore most hated by the parents, they felt that there was at least no occasion to regard the new-comer with suspicion.
As for Mr. Morton, he rapidly made his way among the more solid citizens. He was willing to work, whether his services were required by church, Sunday-school, or society, and he did not care to hold office of any sort, so his sincerity was cheerfully admitted by all. When, however, he had one day, soon after his arrival, asked several prominent men why the town had no society, or even person, to visit the very poor and the persons who might be in prison, he ran some risk of being considered meddlesome.
“We know our own people best,” said Sam Wardwell’s father. “The only people here who suffer from poverty are those who won’t work, while the few people who get into our jail are hard cases; half of them wouldn’t listen to you if you talked to them, and the others would listen only to have an excuse to beg tobacco or something. There’s a man in the jail now for passing counterfeit money; he’s committed for trial when the County Court sits in September; that man is just as smart as you or I. He is as fine a looking fellow as you would wish to see, talks like a straightforward business man, and yet he passed counterfeit bills at four different places in this town. What would talk do for such a fellow?”
“No one knows until some one tries it,” replied the teacher, quietly.
“Well, all I have to say is,” remarked Mr. Wardwell, in a tone that was intended to be very sarcastic, “those who have plenty of time to waste must do the trying. If you want such work done, why don’t you do it yourself?”