I have a big job on hand."
That day he told Mr. Lightenhome that he had secured a place at Mr. Dale's,
and that he was to have a reduction on groceries. "Which means, Uncle
Chris, that I pay for the groceries for us both, while you do the cooking
and pay the rent."
Silently and swiftly Mr. Lightenhome calculated. He saw that if he were
saved the buying of the groceries for himself, he could eke out his small
hoard till after Christmas. The poorhouse receded a little from the
foreground of his vision as he gazed into the eyes of the boy opposite him
at the table. He did not know that his own eyes spoke eloquently of his
deliverance, but Elnathan choked as he went on eating.
"Now hustle, El!" he commanded one day on his way back to the store.
"There's gold in your eyes if you keep them open, and in your tongue if you
keep it civil, and in your back and in your wits if they are nimble. All I
have to say is, Get it out."
"Get it out," he repeated when he had reached the rear of the store. And he
began busily to fill and label kerosene cans, gasoline cans, and molasses
jugs. From there he went to the cellar to measure up potatoes.
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