Page 7 - An Amateur Fireman

"Now, what's the matter with my doin' a little thing like that? It don't hurt anybody, an' I pick up a good many
points."

"Some day a falling wall will knock you down, or you'll find yourself under the wheels of an engine, and then
your 'points' won't be of any particular advantage."

"I can take care of myself as well as you, an' if I don't knock 'round when there's a fire, how am I ever goin' to
learn the business?"

"You don't want to learn what's a dog's life at the best. Steer clear of it, lad, and put your mind on anything
else, for a man don't last long at this kind of work; even if he doesn't get killed offhand, it's only a question of
time--and in many cases a precious short time--before a fireman is laid on the shelf, worn out. Now, clear
away from here if you won't take pay for the shine, and remember that I'll have my eye out after this to see
you don't get inside the lines."

Seth obeyed promptly with never a protest, and 'Lish said to the watchman at the desk:

"That's a decent kind of a lad, and if he hangs around here any more there's no reason why we shouldn't throw
a job in his way now and then."

"How does that fit in with the lesson you read to him?"

"I didn't try to make it fit. If I can scare him out of the notion he's got in his head, it'll show he ain't suited for
this kind of a life; but if he sticks at it, I'll believe it's worth while to give him a lift now and then."

If Seth could have heard this brief conversation he would, most likely, have indulged in the latest jig-step he
had learned, and perhaps neglected his work as bootblack until hunger forced him to take up the brushes
again; but he was ignorant of 'Lish's good intentions, and went away with a heavy heart, yet having no idea of
abandoning his efforts to "learn the business."

He did not cease to spend his spare moments about Ninety-four's house, and after 'Lish Davis had many times
threatened the direst punishment if he persisted in such a course, but without effect, the members of the
company came to look upon Seth as a boy of pluck, who would one day force his way into the Department.

However, no one of Ninety-four's men had given him an opportunity for doing other than blacking boots, and
the boy was entirely ignorant of their friendliness toward him.

Such was the general position of affairs on the night when Dan Roberts believed it his duty to mildly reprove
Seth for spending so much time in what seemed to be idleness when he should be looking for customers.

After the master of the shed-home had announced so positively that he would be a fireman in due course of
time, Dan, remembering how Jip Collins had lost his footing in the household, decided he had done his whole
duty in the matter, and straight-way changed the subject of conversation by saying:

"Sam Barney had mighty bad luck to-day. First off, somebody passed a lead dime on him, an' then he lost as
many as fifteen cents at one slap."

"How?" Seth asked with no slight show of interest.

"That's what he can't make out. He had the money in the same pocket where he always carries it, when all of a
sudden it was gone."