07 Henry, the Bootblack

Henry was a kind, good boy.His father was dead, and his mother was very poor.He had a little sister about two years old.

He wanted to help his mother, for she could not always earn enough to buy food for her little family.

One day, a man gave him a dollar for finding a pocketbook which he had lost.

Henry might have kept all the money, for no one saw him when he found it.But his mother had taught him to be honest, and never to keep what did not belong to him.

With the dollar he bought a box, three brushes, and some blacking.He then went to the corner of the street, and said to every one whose boots did not look nice, “Black your boots, sir, please?”

He was so polite that gentlemen soon began to notice him, and to let him black their boots.The first day he brought home fifty cents, which he gave to his mother to buy food with.

When he gave her the money, she said, as she dropped a tear of joy, “You are a dear, good boy, Henry.I did not know how I could earn enough to buy bread with, but now I think we can manage to get along quite well,”

Henry worked all the day, and went to school in the evening.He earned almost enough to support his mother and his little sister.