Horatio Alger - The Tin Box, and What it Contained

"Where is my horse?" demanded Philip.

"He has run away."

"And it's all your fault!" exclaimed Philip, angrily. "My buggy'sbroken, too, and all because you ran into me, you beggar!"

"I wouldn't allow you to call me names if you hadn't been punishedalready for your unreasonable conduct," said Harry, calmly. "Whateverhas happened you brought upon yourself."

"Catch my horse!" ordered Philip, with the air of a master addressing aservant.

"I've got something else to do," said Harry, coolly, and he sprang intothe store wagon.

"Are you going to drive off and leave me here?" demanded Philip, enraged.

"I must, for my time isn't my own. It belongs to Mr. Mead. I would helpyou otherwise – though you are to blame for what has happened."

"You will suffer for this!" exclaimed the rich man's son, gazing at hisbroken buggy in helpless anger. "You'll have to pay for all the damageyou have done!"

"You can go to law about it, if you want to," said Harry, as he gatheredthe reins into his hands, and he drove off. "I've a good defense."

To Philip's disgust, Harry drove off, leaving him alone with hisdisabled carriage. It was a good time to consider whether he had actedwisely in demanding more than the law or custom allowed him, but Philipwas too angry for cool consideration.

He could not persuade himself that a boy like Harry, the son of a poorwidow, who had to work for his own living, had equal rights withhimself.

In the end he had to go home and bring back his father's hired man totake charge of the wreck. He learned that the frightened horse hadalready found his way to the stable, terrifying the family with fearsthat Philip had been seriously hurt on the way.

Philip gave a garbled account of the affair to his father and mother, and excited the indignation of both, but especially his mother.

"I never heard of such an outrage – never!" exclaimed Mrs. Ross, emphatically. "To think that boy should deliberately run into you andendanger your life – my poor Philip!"

"That's just what he did, mother," said Philip, enjoying the indignationhe had aroused.

Colonel Ross was not quite so thoroughly convinced that his son wasright.

"Did you give Harry half the road?" he inquired.

"I gave him room enough to get by," answered Philip, evasively.

"The law requires that you should give him half the road."

"I hope, Mr. Ross, you don't justify that horrid boy in running into

Philip?" said Mrs. Ross, sharply.

"No, my dear; I consider that he acted very badly. But, in Order to makehim amenable to the law for the damage Philip's team suffered, it mustappear that Philip gave him half the road."

"Then the law ought to be altered," said Mrs. Ross, with more anger thanreason. "I've no doubt that Philip gave him all the room he needed."

"When you were thrown out, did the heartless boy ride on and leave youto your fate?" asked the mother.

"No; he got out and asked me if I was hurt," Philip admitted, reluctantly.

"Much he cared!" said Mrs. Ross, contemptuously.

"I suppose he was afraid he would be put in prison if I was killed," said Philip.

"Yes, that was his motive, undoubtedly. He didn't offer to help you, Isuppose?"

"No; I asked him to, and he wouldn't," answered Philip, glad that hecould blacken poor Harry's character.

"The unfeeling young villain!" ejaculated Mrs. Ross. "He ought to be putin the State's prison!"

"Do you think he can be?" asked Philip, eagerly.

"Of course he can, if your father exerts himself as he ought."

"Nonsense, Lucinda!" said Colonel Ross, who was not a fool. "It was aboyish misunderstanding."

"You may call it that," retorted Mrs. Ross, raising her voice. "I callit a high-handed outrage. The boy ought to be arrested. Are you going todo anything about it, Philander Ross?"

Mrs. Ross generally addressed her husband by his Christian name when shewas angry with him.

"I will tell you what I will do, Lucinda. I will see Mead, and tell himthat a boy who acts in that way is not fit to drive for him."

"That's right, father. Make him discharge Harry. Then he'll have to goto the poorhouse, or beg."

"And a very suitable punishment for him," said Mrs. Ross, approvingly.

"I don't quite like to take the boy's means of living away from him," said Colonel Ross, who was by no means as unfeeling as his wife and son. "That would make his mother suffer, and she has been guilty of nocrime."

"She will uphold him in his iniquity, you may rest assured, Mr. Ross," said his wife, nodding emphatically. "If she had brought up the boy tobe respectful to his superiors this would not have happened."

"He won't be able to pay damages if he loses his place," said Colonel

Ross.

"I don't care. I want him discharged from his situation."

"Well, Lucinda," said her husband, shrugging his shoulders, "you hadbetter undertake the management of the affair. I am very busy, and can'tspare the necessary time."

"I will!" said Mrs. Ross, with alacrity. "I will call on the boy'smother, and also on Mr. Mead."

"Don't be too extreme, Lucinda. Remember, it isn't a hanging matter."

"I am not so sure but it ought to be. My poor child might have brokenhis neck. Oh, it makes my blood run cold when I think that he might belying lifeless before me at this moment."

"Don't say such things, mother," said Philip, nervously, unpleasantlyaffected by the picture his mother had drawn.

"I can't help saying it, for it might have happened."

"Where are you going to first, mother?" asked Philip.

"I will go first and call on Widow Gilbert. I consider her responsible, for if she had brought up the boy better this would never havehappened."

"May I go with you?"

"No; I would rather go alone."

If Philip had only been scarred, or had a wound to show, his motherwould have taken him with her, to make her reproof more effective, but, as he showed no marks of the encounter, she saw no advantage in hispresence.

"You just give it to her, mother," said Philip, in a tone ofsatisfaction.

"I shall know what to say, my son."

"Just frighten her, and make her think we are going to have Harryarrested."

"I shall make her understand that the boy has done a very serious thing, and has made himself amenable to the law."

"That's right, mother. Harry is too airy altogether. He seems to thinkthat I am no better than he is – a common working boy like him!"

Mrs. Ross sailed out of the room, and dressed herself with unusual care, not out of respect for Mrs. Gilbert, but rather with the purpose ofimpressing her with her grandeur.

It was very seldom that Mrs. Ross condescended to visit her poorerneighbors, and it was, therefore, not without considerable surprise thatMrs. Gilbert called to the door about eleven o'clock, just as she hadput on the potatoes to boil for dinner – recognized in the visitor on thedoorstep Mrs. Colonel Ross.

"Pray come in, Mrs. Ross. I am glad to see you," said the widow.

"I will come in for five minutes," said Mrs. Ross, carefully gatheringup her skirts, lest they should be soiled as she entered the humblecottage. She need not have been alarmed, for there was not a cleanerhouse in the village.

Mrs. Gilbert brought forward the most comfortable chair in her littlesitting-room, and the visitor seated herself.

"I am come on an unpleasant errand, Mrs. Gilbert," she commenced, frigidly.

"Unpleasant!" repeated the widow, with quick apprehension. "Has anythinghappened to my boy to Harry?"

Improbable as it seemed that in such an event Mrs. Ross should be themessenger of ill tidings, it occurred to Mrs. Gilbert that she had cometo inform her of an accident to Harry.