Page:Man's Country (1923).pdf/57

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responsibilities, preparing to keep the bond of words which he had given. Yet the ensuing two years proved very hard on the stricken family, mostly because the elder brother, Jim, failed it so completely.

But fortunately, as Jim brought home less and less, George Judson brought home more and more. This was possible because, every day when the afternoon paper route was carried, he went on the street with papers under his arm to sell, and the spring of 1898 was a great year for a newsboy. Cuba was a daily source of sensations. At length the Maine was blown up, and swiftly the scare-heads of war became thrilling facts.

George sold out edition after edition. He read the news, of course, and felt a great pride in his country. In his boyish heart he longed to have been storming up San Juan Hill with the Colonel of the Rough Riders, but the regret he felt over an involuntary absence from those stirring scenes of battle was compensated in a measure by the joy and pride he felt in going home each night to his mother with pockets jingling full of nickels, dimes, and quarters. On the 4th of July, 1898, the events of that day being big in news value, he put another boy on to carry his route for him and took the whole afternoon for salesmanship. He made double the usual amount of money and got the first glimpse of a