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Lem .
    “America is still a young country,”
Mr. Whipple said, assuming his public manner, “and like all young countries, it
is rough and unsettled. Here a man is a millionaire one day and a pauper the
next, but no one thinks the worse of him. The wheel will turn, for that is the
nature of wheels. Don’t believe the fools who tell you that the poor man hasn’t
got a chance to get rich any more because the country is full of chain stores.
Office boys still marry their employers’ daughters. Shipping clerks are still
becoming presidents of railroads. Why, only the other day, I read where an
elevator operator won a hundred thousand dollars in a sweepstake and was made a
partner in a brokerage house. Despite the Communists and their vile propaganda
against individualism, this is still the golden land of opportunity. Oil wells
are still found in people’s back yards. There are still gold mines hidden away
in our mountain fastnesses. America is…”
    But while Shagpoke was still speaking, a prison guard came by and forced him hurriedly to resume
his duties. He left with his bedpan before Lem had an
opportunity to thank him properly for his inspiring little talk.
    Helped not a little by the
encouragement Mr. Whipple had given him, our hero mended rapidly. One day he
was summoned to the office of Mr. Purdy, the warden. That official showed him
the pardon from the Governor. As a parting gift, he presented Lem with a set of false teeth. He then conducted him to the
prison gates, and stood there awhile with the boy, for he had grown fond of
him.
    Shaking Lem’s hand in a hearty farewell, Mr. Purdy said:
    “Suppose you had obtained a job in
New York City that paid fifteen dollars a week. You were here with us in all
twenty weeks, so you lost the use of three hundred dollars. However, you paid
no board while you were here, which was a saving for you of about seven dollars
a week or one hundred and forty dollars. This leaves you the loser by one
hundred and sixty dollars. But it would have cost you at least two hundred
dollars to have all your teeth extracted, so you’re really ahead of the game
forty dollars. Also, the set of false teeth I gave you cost twenty dollars new
and is worth at least fifteen dollars in its present condition. This makes your
profit about fifty-five dollars. Not at all a bad sum for a
lad of your age to save in twenty weeks.”

 
10
     
    Along with his civilian clothes, the
prison authorities turned back to Lem an envelope
containing the thirty dollars he had had in his pockets on the day he was
arrested.
    He did not loiter in Stamford, but
went immediately to the depot and bought a ticket for New York City. When the
cars pulled into the station, he boarded them determined not to speak to any
strangers. He was helped in this by the fact that he was not as yet used to his
false teeth. Unless he exercised great care, they fell into his lap every time
he opened his mouth.
    He arrived in the Grand Central
Station all intact. At first he was quite confused by the hustle and bustle of
the great city, but when a Jehu standing by a broken-down Pierce Arrow hack
accosted him, he had the presence of mind to shake his head in the negative.
    The cabby was a persistent fellow. “Where
do you want to go, young master?” he asked with sneering servility. “Is it the
Ritz Hotel you’re looking for?”
    Lem took a
firm purchase on his store teeth and asked, “That’s one of those high-priced
taverns, isn’t it?”
    “Yes, but I’ll take you to a cheap
one if you’ll hire me.” “What’s your charge?”
    “Three dollars and
a half, and half a dollar for your baggage.”
    “This is all the baggage I have,”
said Lem , indicating his few things tied in a red
cotton handkerchief.
    “I’ll take you for three dollars,
then,” said the driver with a superior smile.
    “No, thanks, I’ll walk,” said our
hero. “I can’t afford to pay your charge.”
    “You can’t walk; it’s over ten miles
from this