{"product_id":"2940014465892","title":"The Young Musician ; Or, Fighting His Way","description":"CHAPTER I. A CANDIDATE FOR THE POORHOUSE.\u003cbr\u003e\"As for the boy,\" said Squire Pope, with his usual autocratic air, \"I\u003cbr\u003eshall place him in the poorhouse.\"\u003cbr\u003e\"But, Benjamin,\" said gentle Mrs. Pope, who had a kindly and\u003cbr\u003esympathetic\u003cbr\u003eheart, \"isn't that a little hard?\"\u003cbr\u003e\"Hard, Almira?\" said the squire, arching his eyebrows. \"I fail to\u003cbr\u003ecomprehend your meaning.\"\u003cbr\u003e\"You know Philip has been tenderly reared, and has always had a\u003cbr\u003ecomfortable home--\"\u003cbr\u003e\"He will have a comfortable home now, Mrs. Pope. Probably you are not\u003cbr\u003eaware that it cost the town two thousand dollars last year to maintain\u003cbr\u003ethe almshouse. I can show you the item in the town report.\"\u003cbr\u003e\"I don't doubt it at all, husband,\" said Mrs. Pope gently. \"Of course\u003cbr\u003eyou know all about it, being a public man.\"\u003cbr\u003eSquire Pope smiled complacently. It pleased him to be spoken of as a\u003cbr\u003epublic man.\u003cbr\u003e\"Ahem! Well, yes, I believe I have no inconsiderable influence in town\u003cbr\u003eaffairs,\" he responded. \"I am on the board of selectmen, and am\u003cbr\u003echairman\u003cbr\u003eof the overseers of the poor, and in that capacity I shall convey\u003cbr\u003ePhilip\u003cbr\u003eGray to the comfortable and well-ordered institution which the town\u003cbr\u003ehas\u003cbr\u003eset apart for the relief of paupers.\"\u003cbr\u003e\"I don't like to think of Philip as a pauper,\" said Mrs. Pope, in a\u003cbr\u003edeprecating tone.\u003cbr\u003e\"What else is he?\" urged her husband. \"His father hasn't left a cent.\u003cbr\u003eHe\u003cbr\u003enever was a good manager.\"\u003cbr\u003e\"Won't the furniture sell for something, Benjamin?\"\u003cbr\u003e\"It will sell for about enough to pay the funeral expenses and\u003cbr\u003eoutstanding debts-that is all.\"\u003cbr\u003ePage 3\u003cbr\u003eThe Young Musician ; Or, Fighting His Way\u003cbr\u003e\"But it seems so hard for a boy well brought up to go to the\u003cbr\u003epoorhouse.\"\u003cbr\u003e\"You mean well, Almira, but you let your feelings run away with you.\u003cbr\u003eYou\u003cbr\u003emay depend upon it, it is the best thing for the boy. But I must write\u003cbr\u003ea\u003cbr\u003eletter in time for the mail.\"\u003cbr\u003eSquire Pope rose from the breakfast-table and walked out of the room\u003cbr\u003ewith his usual air of importance. Not even in the privacy of the\u003cbr\u003edomestic circle did he forget his social and official importance.\u003cbr\u003eWho was Squire Pope?\u003cbr\u003eWe already know that he held two important offices in the town of\u003cbr\u003eNorton. He was a portly man, and especially cultivated dignity of\u003cbr\u003edeportment. Being in easy circumstances, and even rich for the\u003cbr\u003eresident\u003cbr\u003eof a village, he was naturally looked up to and credited with a\u003cbr\u003eworldly\u003cbr\u003esagacity far beyond what he actually possessed.\u003cbr\u003eAt any rate, he may be considered the magnate of Norton. Occasionally\u003cbr\u003ehe\u003cbr\u003evisited New York, and had been very much annoyed to find that his\u003cbr\u003erural\u003cbr\u003eimportance did not avail him there, and that he was treated with no\u003cbr\u003esort of deference by those whom he had occasion to meet. Somehow, the\u003cbr\u003ecitizens of the commercial metropolis never suspected for a single\u003cbr\u003emoment that he was a great man.\u003cbr\u003eWhen Squire Pope had finished his letter, he took his hat, and with\u003cbr\u003emeasured dignity, walked to the village post-office.\u003cbr\u003eHe met several of his neighbors there, and greeted them with affable\u003cbr\u003econdescension. He was polite to those of all rank, as that was\u003cbr\u003eessential\u003cbr\u003eto his retaining the town offices, which he would have been unwilling\u003cbr\u003eto\u003cbr\u003eresign.\u003cbr\u003eFrom the post-office the squire, as he remembered the conversation\u003cbr\u003ewhich\u003cbr\u003ehad taken place at the breakfast-table, went to make an official call\u003cbr\u003eon\u003cbr\u003ethe boy whose fate he had so summarily decided.\u003cbr\u003eBefore the call, it may be well to say a word about Philip Gray, our\u003cbr\u003ehero, and the circumstances which had led to his present destitution.\u003cbr\u003ePage 4\u003cbr\u003eThe Young Musician ; Or, Fighting His Way\u003cbr\u003eHis father had once been engaged in mercantile business, but his\u003cbr\u003ehealth failed, his business suffered, and he found it best-indeed,\u003cbr\u003enecessary--to settle up his affairs altogether and live in quiet\u003cbr\u003eretirement in Norton.\u003cbr\u003eThe expenses of living there were small, but his resources were small,\u003cbr\u003ealso, and he lived just long enough to exhaust them.\u003cbr\u003eIt was this thought that gave him solicitude on his death-bed, for he\u003cbr\u003eleft a boy of fifteen wholly unprovided for.\u003cbr\u003eLet us go back a week and record what passed at the last interview\u003cbr\u003ebetween Philip and his father before the latter passed into the state\u003cbr\u003eof\u003cbr\u003eunconsciousness which preceded death.\u003cbr\u003e\"Are you in pain, father?\" asked Philip, with earnest sympathy, as his\u003cbr\u003efather lay outstretched on the bed, his face overspread by the deathly\u003cbr\u003epallor which was the harbinger of dissolution.\u003cbr\u003e\"Not of the body, Philip,\" said Mr. Gray. \"That is spared me, but I\u003cbr\u003eown\u003cbr\u003ethat my mind is ill at ease.\"\u003cbr\u003e\"Do you mind telling me why, father!\"\u003cbr\u003e\"No; for it relates to you, my son, or, rather, to your future. When\u003cbr\u003emy\u003cbr\u003eaffairs are settled, I fear there will be nothing left for your\u003cbr\u003esupport.\u003cbr\u003eI shall leave you penniless.\"\u003cbr\u003e\"If that is...","brand":"All classic book warehouse","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47146029777136,"sku":"2940014465892","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014465892_p0.jpg?v=1763609218","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014465892","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}