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��THE OLD FARM.
��the allurements of vicious pleasure to spend their leisure hours in the gilded haunts of impurity, leading no less sure- ly if not so directly, to the same deplora- ble result!
"Fifteen months in Boston and noth- ing yet accomplished," exclaims the young man, as, having lighted his little lamp and thrown oft" his hat and coat he drops listlessly upon the bed. " It is enough to make the bravest heart de- spair; and yet I must resist these tempta- tions or I can never hope to succeed." Then with a firmer tone he add*, '■ I will break away fr®m these young men whose acquaintance I have made, pleas- ant as their company is. It is dangerous, I know. A few more nights like this and I shall be beyond recovery."
In these few r words of soliloquj r we have the key to Charles Bradley's expe- rience in Boston. Arriving in the city a total stranger, young and inexperienced, he soon found that instead of entering at at once on the high road to success his ambitious fancy had pictured, the most he could hope for for the time being, was to secure the opportunity of earning a bare subsistance; and this, indeed, was no easy matter. Several days of fruit- less enquiry passed before he found any- thing to do, and it was only when the small fund of ready money which Mr. Watson had furnished him with when he left home was nearly exhausted, and he felt compelled to search in those direc- tions which his pride had previously kept him from exploring. Finally, and partially by accident, he fell in with a job teamster who wanted some assistance in loading and unloading goods which he was transporting from one of the de- pots to a large retail grocery store. It was a short job, hard work and small compensation, but better than nothing, and he had absolutely no alternative; he must do something at once, and he ac- cordingly went to work and did his best. In a day or two the work was done; but the teamster promised him the chance to assist whenever he needed help again, and he thus had occasional employment for two or three weeks, till he finally se- cured steady work at a grocery where he was engaged in putting up and deliver-
��ing parcels, receiving therefor a weekly compensation but little beyond the amount required for board at the cheer- less boarding-house where we now find him, and which has been his only home since the state of his rapidly lessening means compelled the selection of the cheapest attainable accommodations. There he has labored steadily and faith- fully, though constantly hoping and anx- iously looking for a more favorable situ- ation, but hoping and looking in vain, as it appears thus far.
Of late he has become intimate with several young men of about his own age, employed in neighboring stores, and in- stead of going to his boarding-house when the long day's work is ended, which is not till late in the evening, he has joined them in visiting cheap places of amusement and resorts of dissipation, where he has at times, although against his convictions of propriety, indulged in drinking, but never to excess; but to- night, as we have seen, he has realized his danger, and with the firm spirit, hap- pily not yet broken, fortified by that in- nate pride which often does more than all other influences to save young men from ruin, he has determined to break away from his associations before it is too late.
��A few weeks have passed since the night when we saw Charles Bradley. There has come no change in his situa- tion. It is the same constant round of arduous toil from early morn till late at night. His employers are satisfied with his labors and know him to be honest and faithful, but, they have no better situation to give, and will make no increase in his wages, for, as they claim, they can hire others equally industrious and service- able for the same, or even less. Indeed, hardly a day passes but they are be- sought more than once by intelligent ap- pearing young men from the country, who have been long seeking in vain for work in the city, to give them employ- ment at just such wages as will pay for the cheapest meals and the poorest lodg- ing;. With no chance for promotion or increase of wages where he is, and no prospect of more desirable or remunera-
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