At
this he lighted a match and applied it to the sheet of paper
containing his signature
"A signature is no joke," he explained, as he watched it burn. "Put
a few words and some figures on top of it and it is a note, as good
as cash. When a fellow is a beggar he has nothing to fear, but
when he is in business he had better be careful."
When he asked me how much I was going to charge him and I said
twenty-five cents an hour, he smiled
"I'll pay you more than that. You just try your best for me, will
you?"
At the end of the first week he handed me two dollars for three
lessons
I was the happiest man in New York that day. If I had had to
choose between earning ten dollars a week in tuition fees and a
hundred dollars as wages or profits I should, without the slightest
hesitation, have decided in favor of the ten dollars, and now,
behold! that coveted source of income seemed nearer at hand than
I had dared forecast. Once a start had been made, I might expect
to procure other pupils, even if they could not afford to pay so
lavish a price as two dollars for three lessons
But alas! My happiness was not to last long.
Pages:
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300