make him believe it. Good-bye--and mind what I say: Rest perfectly easy,

one and all of you, for our troubles are nearly at an end."

Poor lad, he could not know that his mother would cry some loving,

compassionate tears over his letter and put off the family with a

synopsis of its contents which conveyed a deal of love to then but not

much idea of his prospects or projects. And he never dreamed that such a

joyful letter could sadden her and fill her night with sighs, and

troubled thoughts, and bodings of the future, instead of filling it with

peace and blessing it with restful sleep.

When the letter was done, Washington and the Colonel sallied forth, and

as they walked along Washington learned what he was to be. He was to be

a clerk in a real estate office. Instantly the fickle youth's dreams

forsook the magic eye-water and flew back to the Tennessee Land. And the

gorgeous possibilities of that great domain straightway began to occupy

his imagination to such a degree that he could scarcely manage to keep

even enough of his attention upon the Colonel's talk to retain the

general run of what he was saying. He was glad it was a real estate

office--he was a made man now, sure.

The Colonel said that General Boswell was a rich man and had a good and

growing business; and that Washington's work world be light and he would

get forty dollars a month and be boarded and lodged in the General's

family--which was as good as ten dollars more; and even better, for he

could not live as well even at the "City Hotel" as he would there, and

The Gilded Age