"
"Well, he isn't a mean man," said Hiram, "he gives me ten dollars a
month and my board, and two suits of clothes a year, including shoes and
hats."
"Have you no ambition to do any better?" asked Quincy.
"Ambition?" cried Hiram, "why I'm full of it. I've thought of more than
a dozen different kinds of business that I would like to go into and
work day and night to make my fortune, but what can a feller do if he
hasn't any capital and hasn't got any backer?"
"Well, the best thing that you can do, Hiram, is to find a partner;
that's what people do when they have no money; they look around and find
somebody who has."
"You mean," said Hiram, "that I've got to look 'round and find some one
who has got some money, who's willin' to let me have part of it. There's
lots of fellers in Eastborough that have got money, but they hang to it
tighter'n the bark to a tree."
"And yet," said Quincy, "a man like Obadiah Strout can go around this
town and get parties to back him up to the extent of twenty-five hundred
dollars."
"Yes, I know," answered Hiram, "but he couldn't do that if the parties
didn't have a mortgage on the place, and o' course if Strout can't keep
up his payments they'll grab the store and get the hull business.
Pages:
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389