During the two years that she had passed under the roof of Mr. Haven, her own and her son's expenses had been so slight that almost the entire sum she had earned had been placed in safe keeping for future use. She felt that she could well afford three months for the gratuitous care of her friend; but now she must look around for employment, and she hoped to obtain something so profitable as to enable her to keep her son at school until his fifteenth year. He was already such a proficient at accounts, that his late master had advised her to place him in a store.
When it was known that Mrs. Danforth was willing to engage herself once more as a nurse, she had abundant opportunities to do so. She hired a pleasant room in the house of a friend, who consented to board her son for the service he could render out of school hours.
The life of his father had made a deep and lasting impression upon the mind of the boy. He could distinctly trace all the want of success to his dislike of regular employment, and made many resolutions to avoid idleness as a sure precursor of vice. He devoted himself with new vigor to his books, that he might thus repay his mother for her self-sacrificing exertions. He well knew that it would be far more congenial to her feelings to hire a small tenement and live with him in the most economical manner, rather than to be constantly subjected to going among strangers; and that she would have done this had it not been for her desire to have him spend more time in the prosecution of his studies. Mrs. Danforth had in early life received an excellent education, and therefore valued learning as the open door to success.
The family in which Harrison was for a time to reside, consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Cowles, one daughter, and two sons. They were members of the same church as Mrs. Danforth, and their children, though brought up in the city and surrounded by all the temptations to vice which proved so fatal to many of their companions, still retained the purity and freshness commonly considered the characteristics of rural life. It had been the great desire of Mr. and Mrs. Cowles to render their home so attractive that their children would prefer it, after the labors of the day had ended, to a stroll through the brilliantly-lighted streets, or a lounge in some popular saloon.
"Young people must be taken once to the theatre, to bowling alleys, to gambling saloons," say some, "in order that they may see the extravagance, folly, and vice to which such places of amusement lead." But not so thought these simple-minded Christians. They were willing to believe that God could judge better for them than they could do for themselves. They read from the inspired word, "Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it; pass not by it; turn from it, and pass away;" and from such commands they never departed.
The daughter, Mary Jane, was a bright, active girl, the delight of her father's eyes. Occasionally she formed a slight acquaintance with a young mechanic or clerk, who invited her to accompany him to the theatre or some other place of fashionable resort. When she sought the consent of her parents, they had but one reply: "If you, my dear, can convince us that it does not come under the list of those recreations which are forbidden in the Bible, or if we can be sure that it will be a benefit to you in any way, we will consent; otherwise you must be content to let us judge what is for your good."
Mr. Cowles had for many years been the head porter in one of the most extensive mercantile houses in the city. When he and his wife first left their country home in search of fortune, they were content with two small rooms in the third story of a respectable house. They were very poor; and, as they never went beyond their means, never bought an article for which they could not pay at the time, they were often really straitened. But the habits of regular, industrious effort brought its reward. Mr. Cowles sought employment on the wharves. He was ready to turn his hand to any honest labor. He did not shrink from hard work. He never grumbled that he was obliged to be up early in the morning or to work late at night. When he obtained a job he took pains to do it well, to the satisfaction of his employer; and his honest way of saying, "I hope I've done it to your mind, sir," met with a ready response from those who seldom bestowed praise.
One job well performed brought another; and honest John Cowles had not worked on the wharf three months before he was preferred beyond hundreds of others who had lounged about there years before he was ever heard of.
After a while he was regularly employed to assist in unloading vessels, shovelling coal, or carrying freight. He was very strong; and the constant exercise of his strength rendered him still more so. Then he was strictly honest, in the Bible sense of the word,—in his business transactions preferring his neighbor's interests to his own—so that among those who employed him he received the title of "honest Cowles." This name always brought a flush of pleasure to his countenance;-and he often said, "I would not exchange it for the title of an emperor!"
In the mean time his wife struggled hard at her own work. She might have obtained steady employment at a laundry; but this would take her away from home from morning till night. The wages were better than she could expect elsewhere; but, after anxious consultation with her husband, she concluded it was her duty as well as her privilege to keep the hearth-stone warm against his return from the arduous labors of the day. So she kept their small house neat and tidy, had his meals ready for him at the moment, and always received him with a smile of welcome. Next she was advised to obtain sewing from the slop-shops; but, after one week's trial, her husband would not allow her to continue this employment.