There are some who say that money earned is enjoyed the most. James Martin did not believe this. Earning money was very disagreeable to him, and he considered any other mode of getting it preferable.
He was lounging along the street, with his hands in his pockets, meditating as above, when a little girl came up to him, and, holding out her hand, whined out, "Won't you give me a few pennies for my poor sick mother?"
Suddenly a brilliant idea came to Mr. Martin. He determined to question the little girl.
"How long have you been out beggin'?" he asked.
"Come, little girl, if you'll tell me true, I'll give you five cents."
"I'll show you," she answered, regaining confidence.
She drew from her pocket a miscellaneous collection of pennies and silver pieces, which Martin counted, and found to amount to sixty-eight cents.
"Do you make as much every day, little gal?" he asked.
"Pretty good business, isn't it? How long's your mother been sick?"
"Most a year," said the little girl, hesitating.
"I don't know. She can't set up," said the girl, again hesitating, for she was a professional mendicant, and the sick mother was a sham, being represented in reality by a lazy, able-bodied woman, who spent most of the charitable contributions collected by her daughter on drink.
"Oh, yes, I understand," said Martin, with a wink. "Good-by, little gal. Give my love to your poor sick mother, and tell her I'd come round and inquire after her health if I had time."
"You promised me five cents," said the little girl, running after him.
"Did I? Well, you'll have to wait till next time, unless you can change a fifty-dollar bill."
"Then you must wait till you see me again."
Mr. Martin's questions had not been without an object. The idea which had occurred to him was this. Why might he not make Rose, in like manner, a source of income? Perhaps he might in that way more than pay expenses, and then he would still be able to keep her, and so continue to spite Rough and Ready, which would be very agreeable to his feelings.
"I'll send her out to-morrow morning," he said to himself. "If she's smart, she can make a dollar a day, and that'll help along considerable. I'll be her poor sick mother. It'll save my workin' so hard, and injurin' my health in my old age."