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2 — WTHAPPY DAYS’
- Dick Dudley’s Dime.
BY H. K. SHACKLEFORD.
CHAPTER I.
DICK DUDLEY AND THE DIME THAT SAVED
118 PE,
Dick Duptry was an A, D. T. messen-
r boy in one of the down-town offices of
the company in New York City, and at the
time of the opening of our story, was a
little over sixteen years of age, He was
very much like other boys mat aes age, fond
BB
ie
med or worried over. His mother was
a alittle widow who lived over on the east
side where rents were cheap and poverty
no disgrace. She took in sewing whilst
her daughter Edna, a girl of eighteen
years, clerked at Ridley’ 's, and Dick worked
as a@ messen; ere i e three managed
to earn enou: oO keep a a little home of
four rooms, eat » olesorne food and dress
plainly.
Edna was a very beautiful, girl of the
blonde type, who longed to be able to earn
more than the pittance she received in the
great establishment in which she was em-
loyed. Bae. she well knew that inagreat
city like w York so many girls were
eager to work even for small pay that
merit alone could command greater com-
pensation, hence she strove to please both
“HAPPY DAYS” BICYCLE COUPON.
TO THE TWENTY PERSONS
Sending Us the Largest Number of These Coupons
CUT FROM COPIES OF “HAPPY DAYS”
BETWEEN THE NUMBERS 212 AND 223,
We Will Send to Each One
A “HAPPY DAYS” BICYCLE.
See Directions on Page 16.
bright silver coin lying on the pavement.
He whee ound and went back to pick
it up. <a as his fingers touched it a
heavy cornice weighing several hundred
ounds crashed down on the pavement
ehin
ile leaped as though he had been shot
and looked at the broken stone like one in
adream. Then he looked at the dime he
had picked up. It was a very bright new
employers and customers, in order to}co
make her services valuable. Twice she fs “You are little,” he said, ‘‘but you
had been promoted with increased pay,|saved my life. If I hadn’t seen you I'd
and she yet hoped to go up higher in Pre
estimation of her employer:
Vhile she was ofa gentle, loving dispo-
sition, 8 she had an immense amount of de-
cision in her mental make up, which trait
made her the ruler of the little
household, She ruled Dick with such
firmness that he often galled, her ‘* Mother
Ed,” and his mother “ ”” but he loved
her—almiost worshiped her—and she ha
the utmost confidence in him, as he had
never failed her in the many little emerg-
encies: that had risen since the death of
their father, three years before the time of
whic we write.
k,” she said to him one evening, | <
** mother’s sewing machine is nearly paid
for now; we have but three more instal-
ments to payonit. Theagent is a mean
man, and if we fail to have the money for
him at the end of the month he will take
the machineaway. Yesterday he took
away Josie Miller's, because she was a few
days behind w: ith the last instalment,
The poor girl bad nearly worked herself to
death to keep up her payments, and snow
she has no way of earning the money.”
“And he has taken it from her after
paying sixty dollars on it?” he aske
“Yes—and but five dollars are now due
on its ‘They say i is cary enough till nearly
all the money is on a machine;
then he seizes it atterw ards so as to get it
clear to, sell to some other poor girl or
we Well, if he should try to play such a
game on us, I'd make him pay more than a
machine is worth to get his bones set
again,” 8a said Dick, in a burst of honest in-
ignatio
a “Ob, that would never do. In New York
never ave
without paying dearly for it.
be sent to prison, and we would not only
be disgraced, but left to jive without your
help, I was going to suggest that you do
your best to earn a few tips from those you
serve during the next two weeks, so as to
make sure we can meet the next payment
promptly. Our expenses have been greater
than usual this month, on account of
mother’s illness Bt week, when she
comlan tear a apen
“All right,” eld “Dick. “I'l do my
best ; but. i do that all the time as for that
matter. Money is hard to get—for some
people. Down in Wall street, where Iam
sent a dozen times a day, men make or
lose fortunes in an hour.
3, but they have money with which
to make money, and when they make it
they have it to lose again, We have no
money except that which we all work hard
for.
os But Iam going to watch for a chance
. to make some down he remarked,
with a shake of the head ‘that told he had
been thinking about it more than once,
“You will find no chance without
money,” she replied.
late unless he has money or credit, and
we have neither. Don’t forget the pay-
ments on the machine.
A few days after the conversation with
Edna about the sewing machine Dick was
sent up Broadway to answer a call that
had been made for a messenger, He ran
all the way in the hope of earning a tip for
himself, a3 he knew that only men with
money had offices in the huilding to which
@ was going. On the way he had to pass
a building where some men were at work
on the roofupon the front, Just before
he got in front of i the ’ building be espied a
. caught hold of the rear end of
have been smashed clean through the side-
walk.”
That was a close « ‘call for you, my boy,”
said an elderly man who was some ten
paces behind him and going in the same
direction,
“* You bet it was,” he replied. “Isawa
dime on the sidewalk and stopped to pick
it apy an ” and the showed the bright little coin
as
“ Thats Sour lucky coin, my boy. You
want to keep it as long as you live,” said
the man, “Touch my hand with it for
luck, please, for I believe in luck,” and he
held’ out bis hand ‘toward Dick as he
want to snatch it, eh?” Dick
asked, a bit suspicious of the man, though
pew was well dressed and prosperous look-
“Son no !” laughed the other,
oua dollar for it for luc
**Guess I'll keep it for luck, said Dick,
putting it into his pocket.
“TH give
hand with it, then,” and the
open ha: as extended toward him
ick got a good rip on the little coin, and
Di go
thus held itas he rubbed
the 2 palm of of the ventle man,
my boy,” laughed the man,
“You want tohold on to that dime, It
preans Tuels to you,” and he passed on up
2 8b)
“ Here, rub itjon me, too, kid I” called out
a very seedy-looking member of the Broad-
way bum, holding out adirty palm toward
im, “Im e worst sort of hard luck
since I stepped on the tail of a black cat
two years ago,”
“Oh, this won’t work against a black
cat at all, To break that spell you'll have
to catch a blue cat and sling him over a
its edge across
oa
catch
a church steeple by the tail, ” and with that
Dick started on up the street in the direc-
tion he had_ been sent, leaving quite a
crowd behind to laugh at the Broadway
Ham.
When he reached the office of the man
who had call
looked at his veuhs and said, taking upa
package of p
“Put these i into “the hand of the man to
whom they belong inside of atm minutes
and I'll pay, youa dollar ext
Dick looked at the address, wand then up
at, the office clock, sayin
“ Allright, sir,” and ‘ashed out of the
office. On the street ener were too many
people coming an ing fur him to do
iy running Srithout “colliding with ary-
He was about to run out into the
middle of the street to make the trip when
he heard the clang of a fire-engine bell.
One was coming at a plungi i
hook and ladder truck
engine dashed by, man and be aoe giving me
ther rightof way. When the ladder truck
ame up Dick darted out into ee street,
01
ler, and swung himself up on it with the
ease and agility of an old fireman,
i, there !” yelled a fireman. ‘Get
down from there !”
He nodded his head and slowly began to
make preparations to dismount, the
meantime he was being carried block ‘after
block at a break-neck speed. e firemen
watched him and saw that be was evi-
dently afraid ofafall, ~
elled a red-shirted
man, and he swung himself below, but
held on to the rung of one of the ladders
till he was carried up as far as be wished
lad- | fore?
to go. Then he let go and landed safely
on his feet.
“Mr. Den ham !” he called out. ‘Is he
in?”
“Yes—here !” answered a tall,
haired old gentleman,
white-
“This is for you, sir, and it’s worth a
ollar tome to have you put down here
the time to the minute you * eoived it,”
and he held out his record-book to him,
r. Denham wrote down his name and
the exact time the packa; e was received,
Dick looked at it, and sai
“T won it with four minutes to spare—
thank you, sir,” “and without another word
bowed and we:
He returned to the office of the sender of
the package, showed him the record and
looked up expectantly at
“What! e it in six ‘minutes I” ex-
claimed the gentleman,
y boy. You couldn't do that.
hel ed you out.on time, ”
‘0, sir, I leaped on to the ‘Jadder truck
of a fire company and went through in Six
minutes, the firemen. sassing me all t
way.
“Oh, you did, eh?” laughed the man.
“That's ‘good—that’s the way to succeed,
When you know how to seize an opportun-
ity you have learned a good deal, my boy.
ose who know how to catch on are the
men who get there. Here’s your dollar and
another ore withitas an encourager. You
are the only messenger I ever knew who
got through on time. Hope you'll be presi-
ent of the company some day and teach
the boys in its, employ to cultivate speed
when on
“Thank you, sir,” said Dick, as he re-
ceived the tip. ‘* Youare the only man [
ever ran for who appreciated speed,
Iimay be able to serve you again, sir,
CHAPTER IT.
DICK’S DREAM AND HIS FAL
Dick went fown the stairs to the sweet
like one in a dre
“Two doliars” at one clip!” he said,
“Never had such luck in my life,” and he
walked on toward the homie office of the
Messenger Company i in a deep study, Two
dollars wasn’t much, but it meant a good
deal to him, to his mother and sister. He
was thinking of all that as he walked
along, and more, too, ithe remark of the
man that “* those who knew how to catch
on were the men who there,” kept
ringing in his ears allt @ vay down the
Denham
ed for a messenger the latter | street,
as it luck or speed?” he asked him-
self, as 3 he fondled the two-dollar bill in
his pocket, ‘It was lucky for me that the
ladder truck came by. It was lucky that
Ton me. By George,
3 ucky dime—that id
it!” and he fishe ed out the little silver coin
ana looked a!
How bri ft it ‘as!
e have 1 "kept it for its s brightness
if for nothing No his
“lucky coin eed ‘he would valine to it
witha Y aeathless tenacity as fhe harbinger
of, pod fortage | in the futur
Of course it is” he said to
himself, Fe Didn't it turn me back just in
time to save my life? Didn't it bring me
the two dollars in the same way? DidI
ever have any luck worth speaking of be-
I guess not—o! $3 not,” and
he kissed the bright little coin “and placed
itina pocket i in which he didn’t carry his
pennies
On entering the office he showed the
manager his record book, and sat down to
await anextracall, The manager noticed
the quick time he had made, but did not
mention it to him. Ie knew that he could
always be depended on when quick work
was wanted by any custom:
ick was more quiet the rest of the day,
for he was thinking of what his good luck
might lead to, The truth is he was build-
ing ‘air castles,” structures that have
“That won't do, | whe:
eee ye Ls
been worked on by millions of men and
boys in all ages of the world, Ss no
harm, and has brought bappiness to many
in their dreams of the
On the way home that. evening Dick took
out his dime and looked lovingly a¢ i it.
“You are little, but, oh, my!” he said.
“T’ve got_more confidence in you than in
any bank in the city, where I haven't got a
cent. I'm going to grow old with you—if
yous don’t go back on me, You called me
ack just in time to-day, and then rode mp
town on the hook and ladder truck,
say that dimes make dollars, Do you feel
those two follars i in my pocket? Did you
make ’em ?
That evening he told his sister and little
mother of the good luck the dime™ ha
brought him, the little mother caught
him in her arms in her joy at his escape
from death under the falling stone—not for
the extra two dollars he had brought home
er, °
“Let me look at that dime, Dick,” said
Edna, taking the little coin from his "hand,
She gazed at it and then rubbed it all over
her hands.
“It may bring me luck, too,” she laughed,
as. phe gave. it back to him.
, you've Bot all that: 's necessary for
i to have,” he remarked, looking ad-
initingly at per. “You are beautiful, and
don’t kno
pone laughed and blushed a little, and he
the dime away in his bank pocket, as
fe ‘called the left side pocket of his trou-
and the coin turned and began making the
circuit of the room, growing larger all the
time—now a quarter—now a half, then a
dollar, and yet grew larger till it ‘seemed
like a great silver plate, Then he stopped
and gazed at it in amazement, watching
it grow in size tillit was as big as a cart-
el,
Then he grew frightened and stood in
awe of it. He dodged it to avoid being
run over by it. Instead of his chasing it,
was himself chased. From a cart-
wheel it seemed to grow to the size of an
immense fly-wheel, and from it scores of
other wheels dropped—all giving chase to
him, as though torun over him and crush
him, At last one of them bumped against
si s to awake him;‘and he
found himself on the floor, having tumbled
out o: .
He sprang up ‘and glared about him as
though not quite certain of his bearing.
‘Then he remembere is dream, and.
laughed as he returned to bed, But he did
not get to sleep again very soon, for he lay
there thinking of the lucky dime, wonder-
ing if it ever would grow in reality as it
had in his dream.
“Dick, I heard: you up during the night,”
remarked, his mother at breakfast, ‘* Were
ou sick
y “No, mother, I fell out of bed,” he re-
lied, and both she and his sister ‘laughed
heartily. 1 But he did not tell them about
his dream for fear of being laughed at still
o
o
EE
ye was beginning to look at the little
coin with a seriousness that would not
brook ridicule.
A knock on the door of their little flat
gaused Edna to leave the table to see who
it wi
Oh, is it you, Josie? Come in!” and
Edna hata the door open for a young int
about her own age, who stood | there wit!
bundle of dry goods in her S.
“Tf your mother is not using g her machine
this morning,” sa ung girl, 10
was Josie DM: filler, “1 woul’ like to doa rite
tle work on it. My own is gone, you
“Yes—yes; you can use it!” called out
Mrs, Dudley. | ‘* Come right in, Josie! I
am glad to have you with me,” wand Josie
entered and laid her work on ac
“TIave you had your breakfast “yet?”
Edna asked,
“Yes—a cup of tea and a roll.”
“Come and have another, then,” said
Mrs. Dudley, making room for her, She sat
down by Dick’s side, and was waiting for
a cup of tea, when Edna began telling her
about the lucky
“ And it saved your life?” she exclaimed,
turning to Dic
* Yes, as surely as anything that ever
e see it please,” she asked, and hi e
showed it toher. She held it between her
hands, pressed it against her cheeks and
finally kissed it.
“Oh, I hope it may bring me good luck
rtoo,” she said, and as she spoke her lips
trem: .
The poor girl was making at a brave fight
and was trying not to com
“Do elieve in sucht things?” she
asked OOF Dick as she handed the dime back
‘o him.
ic Why 8 should I not after what hap-
pened yesterday?”
$