" I think Sampson
stammered a little on "dig-dig" just for the fun. But the boys all agreed
to his request and so they heard
_TOM MILLER'S STORY._
My story, boys, shall be what you ask. I shall call it "The Young
Soap-Boiler," for I suppose you'll admit that boiling soap is about as
unpleasant work as there is.
"Touched bottom that time," interposed Harry Wilson.
Well, the boy that I'm going to tell about was Dudley Crawford. With a
cheery eye and voice, a quick eye, a quicker hand and a fleet foot, he
was a great favorite on the play-ground. If there was a weak boy, whom
the others imposed upon, Dudley was always his fast friend, and the mean
fellows who make up for their cowardice toward boys of their size by
"picking" at little fellows or green boys, had always a wholesome fear of
Dudley, though I do not think he ever struck one of them. But his
fearless, honest eye cowed them, and I am sure he would have struck hard
if it had been necessary to protect the poor little fellows who kept
under his wing. The boys called them "Dud's chickens."
There was one boy in the school, Walter Whittaker, who had a special
desire to be on good terms with Dudley. Walter's father had gotten rich
during the war, and Walter had a special fondness for being genteel.
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