{"product_id":"2940013365759","title":"FAME AND FORTUNE","description":"CHAPTER I.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA BOARDING-HOUSE IN BLEECKER STREET.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Well, Fosdick, this is a little better than our old room in Mott\u003cbr\u003eStreet,\" said Richard Hunter, looking complacently about him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You're right, Dick,\" said his friend. \"This carpet's rather nicer than\u003cbr\u003ethe ragged one Mrs. Mooney supplied us with. The beds are neat and\u003cbr\u003ecomfortable, and I feel better satisfied, even if we do have to pay\u003cbr\u003etwice as much for it.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe room which yielded so much satisfaction to the two boys was on the\u003cbr\u003efourth floor of a boarding-house in Bleecker Street. No doubt many of my\u003cbr\u003eyoung readers, who are accustomed to elegant homes, would think it very\u003cbr\u003eplain; but neither Richard nor his friend had been used to anything as\u003cbr\u003egood. They had been thrown upon their own exertions at an early age, and\u003cbr\u003ehad a hard battle to fight with poverty and ignorance. Those of my\u003cbr\u003ereaders who are familiar with Richard Hunter's experiences when he was\u003cbr\u003e\"Ragged Dick,\" will easily understand what a great rise in the world it\u003cbr\u003ewas for him to have a really respectable home. For years he had led a\u003cbr\u003evagabond life about the streets, as a boot-black, sleeping in old\u003cbr\u003ewagons, or boxes, or wherever he could find a lodging gratis. It was\u003cbr\u003eonly twelve months since a chance meeting with an intelligent boy caused\u003cbr\u003ehim to form the resolution to grow up respectable. By diligent evening\u003cbr\u003estudy with Henry Fosdick, whose advantages had been much greater than\u003cbr\u003ehis own, assisted by a natural quickness and an unusual aptitude for\u003cbr\u003elearning, he had, in a year, learned to read and write well, and had,\u003cbr\u003ebesides, made considerable progress in arithmetic. Still he would have\u003cbr\u003efound it difficult to obtain a situation if he had not been the means of\u003cbr\u003esaving from drowning the young child of Mr. James Rockwell, a wealthy\u003cbr\u003emerchant in business on Pearl Street, who at once, out of gratitude for\u003cbr\u003ethe service rendered, engaged our hero in his employ at the unusual\u003cbr\u003ecompensation, for a beginner, of ten dollars a week. His friend, Henry\u003cbr\u003eFosdick, was in a hat store on Broadway, but thus far only received six\u003cbr\u003edollars a week.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFeeling that it was time to change their quarters to a more respectable\u003cbr\u003eportion of the city, they one morning rang the bell of Mrs. Browning's\u003cbr\u003eboarding-house, on Bleecker Street.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThey were shown into the parlor, and soon a tall lady, with flaxen\u003cbr\u003eringlets and a thin face, came in.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Well, young gentleman, what can I do for you?\" she said, regarding them\u003cbr\u003eattentively.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"My friend and I are looking for a boarding-place,\" said Henry Fosdick.\u003cbr\u003e\"Have you any rooms vacant?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"What sort of a room would you like?\" asked Mrs. Browning.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"We cannot afford to pay a high price. We should be satisfied with a\u003cbr\u003esmall room.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You will room together, I suppose?\"","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47147521605872,"sku":"2940013365759","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013365759","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}