left 'em to shift for themselves. 'T was none o' my business to hunt for their lost hoss. Some said a little fellow in a white cap had just gone off with him." Kit, in his base-ball cap, which had once been white, sat silent, thinking Eli might at any moment look around again and connect him with the adventure he was relating. Lydia was smiling upon him, as unsuspicious of his secret as if she had been accustomed to seeing such caps every day. "Where did ye stop overnight? "Eli inquired. "I went home to my uncle's to spend the night," Kit replied. 66 "Home to East Adam?” exclaimed Mr. Badger. 'You don't say ! I can't see why you did that if you wanted to be at the cattle-show the second day." “I had a chance to ride,” Kit explained, thinking what a ride it was, on the wrong horse! "And I thought my uncle's folks-for some reasonswould be anxious to see me." He could hardly resist the impulse he felt to relate then and there the whole story of the horse which the unconscious Eli was driving with such unalloyed satisfaction. But while he was considering how to begin, Lydia changed the subject by inquiring, "What mak'th you live with your uncle'th folkth? Ith it a good home?" "As good as I deserve, I suppose," said Kit, with rueful recollections of his recent troubles. "I have to work for my living, and I may as well do it there as anywhere. Though I 'm not sure I shall stay much longer." Why tho?" Lydia inquired. Not knowing just what his uncle's final intentions would be regarding him, Kit answered cautiously that he had some intention of looking for a place that might suit him better. "How would our plathe thuit you?" she asked. "I've heard Pa thay many a time that he would like to engage a good thmart boy-young perthon," she corrected herself, with an admiring look at Christopher. The thought of working for a man like Eli, of sitting daily at table with the Badger family and witnessing poor Mrs. Badger's martyrdom, he did not find enticing. But he answered diplomatically: "I don't believe I am clever enough for him; I'm a very stupid fellow!" "You thtupid!" laughed the incredulous Lydia. "I gueth not! Ith he, Pa?" "I calculate he 's smart enough for me," said Eli. "I've been thinkin' about it myself. I want jus' such a boy; and if you 'll come and try it with me for a while, and we both like it, I'll pay you good wages.' "Oh, wont that be thplendid! thusiastic Lydia. cried the en Thinking it might be useful to hold this proposal in reserve, Kit answered discreetly: "You 're very kind, considering how little you know of me. But, of course, I can't say what I can do, until I have talked with my mother and my uncle." Lydia said: “I'm thertain we know you well enough!" while Eli meditated some moments before speaking what was in his mind. Then he said: "I'd like to have you come, first-rate. But how is it? Seems to me there can't be much work to do at your home, or else your uncle 's an indulgent sort of man, to let you go to the cattle-show twice within two days." The moment for freeing his mind and setting himself right with those whom he had so deceived,— that fatal moment seemed to Christopher to have arrived; and he answered unhesitatingly : "I had business in Peaceville, or I should n't have gone." "I have n't told you," replied Kit, after a long breath, "that we— that my uncle-had a horse stolen, and I was in search of it." Eli started. "A hoss stolen?” he asked, giving a quick backward glance at the boy behind him. "I traced it to Peaceville," Kit continued, in a voice which his utmost resolution failed to keep steady. "I found it under one of the cattle-sheds at the fair. But when I went to take it, I—I took another horse by mistake.' Eli now turned completely about, and gave Kit and his base-ball cap an astonished look. "You!" he exclaimed. "It can't be that you 're the little fellow in the white cap I heard 'em tellin' about!" "I suppose I am," said Kit, losing color, but speaking firmly. "They thought I meant to steal the horse I took. But I did n't; and I took it back to Mr. Benting, in Duckford, yesterday, as I can show by a paper in Mr. Benting's own handwriting." "That's a strange story!" growled Eli Badger. "It 'th a perfect romanthe!" exclaimed Lydia, who did not yet see the full significance of it, as it dawned upon the dull paternal mind. "What became of the hoss you were after?" Eli demanded, in the tone he was accustomed to use in addressing the miserable Mrs. Badger at home. "I hope you found it!" said the sympathizing Miss Lydia. "Hold your tongue! you don't know what you 're talking about!" cried her father, forgetting, for once, to change the stop of his vocal organ, and turn on the sweet sounds she usually called forth. Then, facing squarely about and glowering on Christopher, he said: "Tell me 'bout that hoss! "I got on his track again yesterday," Kit answered, not a little scared, but resolute still. “That, to be frank, Mr. Badger, was the business that took me so far out of the direct way home. The scamp had sold the horse to a man in your town, and I Eli suddenly pulled rein. "No nonsense "See here!" he exclaimed. with me! What sort of a hoss was he?" Kit felt that the crisis had come. He answered with a frightened smile : "You did," said Kit. "And that decided me to tell you the truth before you went any farther." "I'm thertain that wath real honorable!" interposed Lydia. "Real fiddlededee!" said her father. He reached back as if to clutch the boy who had so imposed upon his good-nature, muttering: "I've a notion to pitch you heels over head out of this buggy! "Let me get out and save you the trouble," Kit responded, promptly. 'No, no!" pleaded Lydia, clasping his arm; "thit thtill! If he throwth you out, I'll get out, too!" "Let him stay, then, if he wants to!" said Eli, facing forward again, and seizing whip and reins. "What are you going to do, Pa?" screamed "Very much such a horse as you are driving, Lydia. Mr. Badger." Eli stopped Dandy short and poised his whip. "Is this the hoss?" he demanded. "The very horse!" replied Christopher. "Goodneth grathiouth me!" almost shrieked the bewildered Lydia. "What a thingular cointhidenthe! "Singular!" snarled Eli. "Why did n't ye tell me this before?" he exclaimed, looking savagely at Christopher, as if he would like to follow up with his whip (as poor Kit had anticipated) the little job his hickory stick had left incomplete the evening before. "I ought to have done it," the boy began in some trepidation to explain. "But you gave me such a clubbing last night,—and told me this morning that you meant to keep the horse, in spite of anybody, I did n't believe I knew I could "I'm going to drive back home, as fast as ever this hoss can snake us over the road,” said Eli, backing and cramping the buggy toward the wayside fence. "O Pa!" she persisted, "can't you listen to reathon?" Who has any?" retorted Mr. "Reason! Badger. "I'll settle this little difficulty!" cried Kit, preparing to jump out. "O Pa!" still pleaded Lydia, "thtop jutht a minute, for my thake! wont you? You'll be thorry if you don't! You know he ith n't able to walk!" And detaining Christopher with the hand which held her parasol, she reached over with the other and made a snatch at the reins. Eli stopped. (To be continued.) READY FOR BUSINESS; OR, CHOOSING AN OCCUPATION.* A SERIES OF PRACTICAL PAPERS FOR BOYS. BY GEORGE J. MANSON. NO. III.—A HOUSE-BUILDER. I THINK the clothier is largely responsible for keeping our American boys from choosing the calling of an artisan. Years ago it was not uncommon to see a lad with a patch on his clothes, but nowadays, not even poor boys wear patched clothing. An outfit is so cheap, compared with former times, and our enterprising clothing merchants keep their wares so persistently and temptingly before the public, that a boy demands a change of raiment quite as often as does his father. The boy who wishes to be a house-builder can not, while he works, wear fine clothes; he can not carry a cane and be a little dandy. He may not, in the first years of his work, look as attractive as a drygoods clerk or a book-keeper,- that is, from a clothes-horse point of view,- but I think that in his old age, if he has been found fitted for his task, and has worked hard at it, not only his clothes, but his whole surroundings would appear so prosperous as to surprise the clerk or book-keeper he may have envied in his early days. This matter of clothes seems to be the only objection I can find against a boy's learning to be a house-builder. And so, at the outset, if he wishes to enter that occupation, let him brush this objection aside. Let him make up his mind not to heed the laughter and sneers of his foolish young friends, as they comment on his overalls and his dinner-pail, or twit him with “learning a trade." Let him, in fact, keep one thought in view,― his determination to be a housebuilder; and let all his energies be bent toward its accomplishment. must, for the term of four years, be apprenticed to the man with whom you are to learn the trade. You will be required to sign a document called an "Apprentice's Indenture." This paper, so important to all parties concerned, binds the young apprentice to faithfully serve his employer for a specified term of years, to be honest, industrious, careful, and obedient, and to hold himself subject to his employer's orders and wishes; it binds the employer to teach or instruct the apprentice in all the "mysteries of the craft," to provide board, lodging, and medical attendance, and to furnish a written certificate of character and ability at the close of such apprenticeship. This paper, or "Indenture," must be signed by the employer, the apprentice, and the apprentice's parent or legal guardian. In former times apprentices were, I believe, occasionally treated rather roughly, but all that is changed now. Indeed, the system is not in vogue in some sections of the country; and where it is enforced it is on account of the trades-unions, which insist that each one who enters the craft shall be thoroughly instructed. But it will take the same length of time to learn the trade, whether you are apprenticed or not. The young mason starts, trowel in hand,-his first effort being to "fill in" between the front and back rows of brick. This, of course, is quite easy, and in a few weeks he will be able to "back up" or lay brick on the back row. After learning that, he will be allowed to work on the front row. The more difficult parts of the mason's trade are the doing of fancy brick-work on the fronts of buildings, the "carrying up" of the corners, and bad angles. It will be some years before a young man is fully competent in all these branches. Then, as he grows older (having in mind all the time that he wishes to be a builder), the apprentice will make himself competent to lay out work from the plans of the architect. This requires a practical knowledge of arithmetic. A friend of mine is a very prosperous builder. He had only an ordinary school education, and, like many boys, carried away but few of the rules of arithmetic. When he became a "boss" builder, however, he was obliged continually to make calculations on the cost of work, on the price of material, * Copyright by G. J. Manson, 1884. If you wish to be a house-builder, you must learn one of two trades - you must be a mason or a carpenter. Let us suppose you start as a mason. This should not be later than your seventeenth year. You must have a good constitution, and be able to endure fatigue and exposure. Great strength is not such a requisite as good general health and the ability to bear climatic changes. The best workmen are those who have begun young. To be a successful builder, you must work in or near some large city. You might succeed by "jobbing," and occasionally have better work than that in the country; but the best place for a mason is where the people and the houses are. And you and the expense attendant on great amounts of labor. He told me he could work out all the problems, in his own "common-sense way," as he called it, on half the amount of paper that his son would require, and in a much shorter space of time. His son had graduated at a public school and was considered particularly well qualified in mathematics. Now, I do not mean to give my boy readers the impression that their school arithmetic should be neglected, but rather to suggest that they should often put their school-book knowledge of that science to a practical test, so that if they become builders, or engage in any other calling where such knowledge is requisite, they will be able to easily and quickly solve such problems as may arise. After the apprentice has served his four years (having, if possible, learned, in addition to the regular trade, how to set stone), he should strive to become a foreman for some large builder. In that position he will have charge of the men, see that they do their work according to the directions laid down, and he must keep their "time." Sometimes, when the gang of men employed is small, he himself might be obliged to help in the more difficult work. It would be an advantage to hold such a position for four or five years, for during that time he would be engaged in large enterprises and continually learning something, while he would also be making acquaintances with architects who might some day, when he comes to be a contractor, be of great service to him. As an apprentice he will have been receiving $4.00 a week during the first year, and $6.00 a week during the second. The wages during the last two years of apprenticeship are a matter of agreement between employer and apprentice- during the third year the rate would probably be $1.75 a day, and during the fourth year $2.00 a day. A journeyman mason's wages in the vicinity of New York City are $4.00 a day. And now he is ready to be a contracting housebuilder; that is, when bids are asked from builders for the construction of any building, he can send in his bid, and take his chances with others in getting the job. The contract is usually awarded to the lowest bidder. Here is the method, in detail, of building a house: A man owns a piece of ground and desires to erect one or more buildings. He goes to an architect, who draws up a plan and specifications. The plan is a diagram, showing the positions and sizes of the various rooms; the specifications describe minutely the quality of all the materials to be used, from the cellar to the top story. Then a "contract," or legal agreement, is drawn, to be signed by the contractor; and this being shown to such contractors as desire to compete for the work, the one who makes the lowest bid, agreeing that he will supply the material and do the work according to the contract, usually gets the job. Then the contractor (perhaps our young mason who has now served his time and is at last a boss builder) makes sub-contracts with other men; he contracts with one for excavating the cellar, with another for blue-stone, with another for brown-stone, with another for iron-work, with others for mantels, heaters, ranges, furnaces, and other things, all of which come under the mason's contract. Another contract is given to the carpenter, who has his branch of the work to attend to. The original contractors—the mason and the carpenter - pursue the same course that was taken with them: they give the sub-contract to the lowest bidder. Then the work is begun. And here you will notice the value of the experience which the young mason will have acquired during those four or five years he has been acting as foreman. If, as masons very often take large contracts, he now has a host of men under him, he must see that they do their work properly; that they furnish good materials, and in the proper quantity. If he has worked as foreman for an employer, on big jobs, he has been obliged to take this same oversight. Now that he is his own "boss," he has confidence in his own judgment, because it is founded on experience; and experience, you know, is said to be the best teacher. There is little more to be said about the mason. It may interest you to know, however, that by this time he has cast off his overalls and ceased to carry a dinner-pail. He dresses and acts like any ordinary business man. He may have an office on a business street, or he may simply have a sign on his house, giving his name, and stating that he is a house-builder. What he has to do now is to get contracts. He will not get them by sitting still and waiting. He must make acquaintances, keep informed concerning new buildings that are to be erected in his neighborhood, "drop in " occasionally on the architects with whom he has become acquainted, and "see what is going on," and, above all, he must keep himself thoroughly informed as to the price of labor and the cost of the various materials and articles which enter into his contracts, so that he will always be able, at almost a moment's notice, to give an estimate for any work he may be asked to do. Boys who wish to learn the carpenter's trade are seldom apprenticed, but they are "bound," which is about the same thing. They begin at about the age of seventeen, and work three years with their employer. The first year they do not learn |