Chapter VII: Honest Cowles

"Work with your own hands, that ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing."

TWO years swiftly glided away. Harrison I had now grown to be a stout lad of twelve summers. In his looks he bore a strong resemblance to his father, except that there was an expression of firmness and decision which Mr. Danforth lacked. As Alfred was taller than he, the clothes that he had out-grown were given to Harrison; and thus he was kept well dressed, with little expense to his mother.

The friendship between Harrison and his young friend Ella grew stronger every year. It was he who told her all the difficult words in her reading lesson; and he, too, who again and again explained the simple examples in arithmetic, to suit the youthful comprehension of his young companion. When it was cold or muddy he always found it convenient to go through three squares, in the opposite direction from his school-house, for the purpose of carrying her satchel of books.

Nor was Ella at all behind him in her favors. She kept him well supplied with pen-wipers and invisible pin-cushions; and, at New Years, presented him with a pair of slippers, which, if they were not her own workmanship, were certainly her own selection, and a showy pair they were too. At another time she gave him a game of pictured cards, in which all kinds of trades were represented. Mrs. Haven often remarked that they formed a picture of themselves, as they sat at the little round table, with the cards spread out before them, Ella in the fore-ground, kneeling in her chair to bring herself on a level with her companion, every once in a while leaning back, shaking her golden ringlets from her bright face, while she indulged in a merry laugh at some arch expression of the other; Harrison, with his deep blue eyes shaded by jet-black lashes, his clear, rosy complexion and his frank, good-humored smile, dressed in his neatly fitting clothes, and his neat, shining collar turned down from his well-shaped neck, formed no unpleasant back-ground.

All this time Alfred had not once been home, though his father had been several times to visit him. Sometimes he hoped there was an improvement in the boy; and then, again, the teacher's report was very discouraging. At any rate, it was not thought best to expose him to the temptations of a city, even for ever so short a period.

At the end of two years came a sad change. Mr. Haven suddenly failed in his business, owing to the villainy of one of his partners. This so affected his spirits that he fell an easy victim to a prevailing epidemic, and died, leaving his poor wife in a state bordering on insanity, from the suddenness of the double shock.

Alfred came home to his father's funeral; but finding the restraints of poverty too irksome, ran away and enlisted on board a ship for a long voyage.

It was now that Mrs. Danforth had an opportunity to relieve her grateful heart by kindness and care of her mistress. She tended her through a long and dangerous illness, soothing her agitated nerves by the precious promises of the Bible. Upon her recovery, she it was who arranged the small cottage to which the widow had decided to remove; who prepared the elegant furniture for sale; who bent her own shoulders to bear the burden which would have fallen too heavily upon the new-made widow. Nor was it until every arrangement had been satisfactorily completed that she would leave one who confessed, with tears, that she owed her more than her life; and this was the blessed hope of once more meeting her husband, in that world where there is no sorrow nor parting.

During the two years that she had passed under the roof of Mr. Haven, her own and her son's expenses had been so slight that almost the entire sum she had earned had been placed in safe keeping for future use. She felt that she could well afford three months for the gratuitous care of her friend; but now she must look around for employment, and she hoped to obtain something so profitable as to enable her to keep her son at school until his fifteenth year. He was already such a proficient at accounts, that his late master had advised her to place him in a store.

When it was known that Mrs. Danforth was willing to engage herself once more as a nurse, she had abundant opportunities to do so. She hired a pleasant room in the house of a friend, who consented to board her son for the service he could render out of school hours.

The life of his father had made a deep and lasting impression upon the mind of the boy. He could distinctly trace all the want of success to his dislike of regular employment, and made many resolutions to avoid idleness as a sure precursor of vice. He devoted himself with new vigor to his books, that he might thus repay his mother for her self-sacrificing exertions. He well knew that it would be far more congenial to her feelings to hire a small tenement and live with him in the most economical manner, rather than to be constantly subjected to going among strangers; and that she would have done this had it not been for her desire to have him spend more time in the prosecution of his studies. Mrs. Danforth had in early life received an excellent education, and therefore valued learning as the open door to success.

The family in which Harrison was for a time to reside, consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Cowles, one daughter, and two sons. They were members of the same church as Mrs. Danforth, and their children, though brought up in the city and surrounded by all the temptations to vice which proved so fatal to many of their companions, still retained the purity and freshness commonly considered the characteristics of rural life. It had been the great desire of Mr. and Mrs. Cowles to render their home so attractive that their children would prefer it, after the labors of the day had ended, to a stroll through the brilliantly-lighted streets, or a lounge in some popular saloon.

"Young people must be taken once to the theatre, to bowling alleys, to gambling saloons," say some, "in order that they may see the extravagance, folly, and vice to which such places of amusement lead." But not so thought these simple-minded Christians. They were willing to believe that God could judge better for them than they could do for themselves. They read from the inspired word, "Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it; pass not by it; turn from it, and pass away;" and from such commands they never departed.

The daughter, Mary Jane, was a bright, active girl, the delight of her father's eyes. Occasionally she formed a slight acquaintance with a young mechanic or clerk, who invited her to accompany him to the theatre or some other place of fashionable resort. When she sought the consent of her parents, they had but one reply: "If you, my dear, can convince us that it does not come under the list of those recreations which are forbidden in the Bible, or if we can be sure that it will be a benefit to you in any way, we will consent; otherwise you must be content to let us judge what is for your good."

Mr. Cowles had for many years been the head porter in one of the most extensive mercantile houses in the city. When he and his wife first left their country home in search of fortune, they were content with two small rooms in the third story of a respectable house. They were very poor; and, as they never went beyond their means, never bought an article for which they could not pay at the time, they were often really straitened. But the habits of regular, industrious effort brought its reward. Mr. Cowles sought employment on the wharves. He was ready to turn his hand to any honest labor. He did not shrink from hard work. He never grumbled that he was obliged to be up early in the morning or to work late at night. When he obtained a job he took pains to do it well, to the satisfaction of his employer; and his honest way of saying, "I hope I've done it to your mind, sir," met with a ready response from those who seldom bestowed praise.

One job well performed brought another; and honest John Cowles had not worked on the wharf three months before he was preferred beyond hundreds of others who had lounged about there years before he was ever heard of.

After a while he was regularly employed to assist in unloading vessels, shovelling coal, or carrying freight. He was very strong; and the constant exercise of his strength rendered him still more so. Then he was strictly honest, in the Bible sense of the word,—in his business transactions preferring his neighbor's interests to his own—so that among those who employed him he received the title of "honest Cowles." This name always brought a flush of pleasure to his countenance;-and he often said, "I would not exchange it for the title of an emperor!"

In the mean time his wife struggled hard at her own work. She might have obtained steady employment at a laundry; but this would take her away from home from morning till night. The wages were better than she could expect elsewhere; but, after anxious consultation with her husband, she concluded it was her duty as well as her privilege to keep the hearth-stone warm against his return from the arduous labors of the day. So she kept their small house neat and tidy, had his meals ready for him at the moment, and always received him with a smile of welcome. Next she was advised to obtain sewing from the slop-shops; but, after one week's trial, her husband would not allow her to continue this employment.

Finally she was fortunate enough to obtain Washing for several families, which she could do at home; and as her husband always found time to bring water for her, and her clothes were hung upon the top of the house, she found this very easy employment.

In the midst of the hardship of an uncommonly cold winter, Mary Jane was born; and honest Cowles worked with renewed zeal. It was with such pride he looked upon the tiny form, or ventured to take it in his strong, rough hands, that his wife always laughed, and said he handled it as he would a delicate piece of china. But however awkward he might be in his embraces, they were the outflowings of as warm and true a heart as ever beat.

After two years they moved into a small house by themselves. "Rather smart for us," said honest Cowles; "but I guess I can meet the rent when it comes due." Here they welcomed and reared their two boys, until Mr. Cowles found himself nearly able to pay for a house of his own. Some worthy gentlemen had invested their capital in putting up a block of neat, comfortable tenements, suitable for mechanics. They were encouraged to take the houses when they could pay a part, and let the remainder lie upon mortgage, only paying the interest of the money invested, which would be far less than the ordinary rent. They would thus be enabled gradually to pay for the whole house. Mr. Cowles went over the buildings, examined them carefully, selected the corner tenement as the one he should want—even made bold to ask his employer to step into it, and give him the benefit of his advice.

"How much can you pay down?" inquired the gentleman.

"A trifle more than half," was the reply.

"You mean, then, for once," said his employer, "to depart from your usual rule, and buy a house before you can pay for it."

Mr. Cowles looked troubled. This had been his only drawback. "I feared," said he, "that the corner house, being considerably the best one of the lot, would be taken up. Besides, there's a little plat of green to be seen from the windows, and my wife would think a deal of that."

"Then take it, by all means," urged the gentleman, turning away to speak with a customer.

But honest Cowles did not take it, though the next morning his employer offered to lend him the money to purchase the remainder. "No," said he, "I don't like to begin to break over a good rule. I'll run the risk of getting as good a one when I can pay for it."