文档介绍：DRIVEN FROM HOME.
DRIVEN FROM HOME.
By Horatio Alger Jr.
1
DRIVEN FROM HOME.
CHAPTER I
DRIVEN FROM HOME.
A boy of sixteen, with a small gripsack in his hand, trudged along the
country road. He was of good height for his age, strongly built, and had
a frank, attractive face. He was naturally of a cheerful temperament, but
at present his face was grave, and not without a shade of anxiety. This
can hardly be a matter of surprise when we consider that he was thrown
upon his own resources, and that his available capital consisted of thirty-
seven cents in money, in addition to a good education and a rather unusual
amount of physical strength. These last two items were certainly valuable,
but they cannot always be exchanged for the necessaries forts of
life.
For some time his steps had been lagging, and from time to time he
had to wipe the moisture from his brow with a fine linen handkerchief,
which latter seemed patible with his almost destitute condition.
I hasten to introduce my hero, for such he is to be, as Carl Crawford,
son of Dr. Paul Crawford, of Edgewood Center. Why he had set out to
conquer fortune single-handed will soon appear.
A few rods ahead Carl's attention was drawn to a wide-spreading oak
tree, with a carpet of verdure under its sturdy boughs.
"I will rest here for a little while," he said to himself, and suiting the
action to the word, threw down his gripsack and flung himself on the turf.
"This is refreshing," he murmured, as, lying upon his back, he looked
up through the leafy rifts to the sky above. "I don't know when I have
ever been so tired. It's no joke walking a dozen miles under a hot sun,
with a heavy gripsack in your hand. It's a good introduction to a life of
labor, which I have reason to believe is before me. I wonder how I am
coming out--at the big or the little end of the horn?"
He paused, and his face grew grave, for he understood well that for
him life had e a serious matter. In his absorpti