"There's nothing for me to do," he said at last; "I don't know of a place in this town where I could get steady work that I could do; and besides, if there was, I'm after an education now." "My brother is here from Albany," Mr.Minturn made answer to this.

"He is a merchant, has a large store there, and keeps a great many clerks.

He's been plagued to death lately with one of his boys,--when he sent him home with bundles, he'd open them and help himself; and my brother told me last night, if I could warrant him a boy who was perfectly honest, he'd take him home with him, pay his fare down, and do well by him.

I thought of you right away, and I told my brother that you were just the boy for him,--you'd be as true as steel; but then, if you're going to keep on at school, it's all up." Mr.Minium did not add, that he had kept his brother until eleven o'clock the night before, telling him Tip's history,--what a boy he had been, how he had changed, how he was struggling upward; and, finally, the whole story of the examination,--the failure, the downfall, the public confession; nor how his brother had listened eagerly, and had said, with energy, after the story was finished,-- "Such a boy as that ought to be helped; and I'm ready to help him." None of this did Tip hear, but he stooped down for his basket when Mr.
Minturn had finished speaking, with a bright blush on his cheek.

It was something for a boy like him to be called "as true as steel." "Yes," he said decidedly; "I'm going to keep on at school, that's certain.