"My father used to say, 'Live
and learn.' That's a good motto, to my thinking."
"It may be carried too far. When a boy's got to be of the age of
your boy, he'd ought to be thinking of workin.' His time is too
valuable to spend in the schoolroom."
"I can't agree with you, squire. I think no time is better spent
than the time that's spent in learning. I wish I could afford to
send my boy to college."
"It would cost a mint of money; and wouldn't pay. Better put him
to some good business."
That was the way he treated his own son, and for this and other
reasons, as soon as he arrived at man's estate, he left home, which
had never had any pleasant associations with him. His father wanted
to convert him into a money-making machine--a mere drudge, working
him hard, and denying him, as long as he could, even the common
recreations of boyhood--for the squire had an idea that the time
devoted in play was foolishly spent, inasmuch as it brought him
in no pecuniary return. He was willfully blind to the faults and
defects of his system, and their utter failure in the case of his
own son, and would, if could, have all the boys in town brought up
after severely practical method. But, fortunately for Harry, Mr.
Walton had very different notions. He was compelled to keep his son
home the greater part of the summer, but it was against his desire.
"No wonder he's a poor man," thought the squire, after his visitor
returned home.
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