68. CHAPTER LXVIII.
THE INDUSTRIOUS APPRENTICE.
Good news fly fast. On the wings of the newspapers the
nomination of Abel Newt reached Delafield, where Mr. Savory
Gray still moulded the youthful mind. He and his boys
sat at dinner.
“Fish! fish! I like fish,” said Mr. Gray. “Don't you like
fish, Farthingale?”
Farthingale was a new boy, who blushed, and said,
promptly,
“Oh! yes, Sir.”
“Don't you like fish, Mark Blanding? Your brother Gyles
used to,” asked Mr. Gray.
“Yes, Sir,” replied that youth, slowly, and with a certain
expression in his eye, “I suppose I do.”
“All boys who are in favor of having fish dinner on Fridays
will hold up their right hands,” said Mr. Gray. He looked
eagerly round the table. “Come, come! up, up, up!” said
he, good-naturedly.
“That's it. Mrs. Gray, fish on Fridays.”
“Mr. Gray,” said Mark Blanding.
“Well, Mark?”
“Ain't fish cheaper than meat?”
“Mark, I am ashamed of you. Go to bed this instant.”
Mark was unjust, for Uncle Savory had no thought of indulging
his purse, but only his palate.
When the criminal was gone Mr. Gray drew a paper from
his pocket, and said,
“Boys, attend! In this paper, which is a New York paper,
there is an account of the nomination of a member of Congress
— a member of Congress, boys,” he repeated, slowly,
dwelling upon the words to impress their due importance.
“What do you think his name is? Who do you suppose it
is who is nominated for Congress?”
He waited a moment, but the boys, not having the least
idea, were silent.
“Well, it is Abel Newt, who used to sit at this very table.
Abel Newt, one of Mr. Gray's boys.”
He waited another moment, to allow the overwhelming announcement
to have its due effect, while the scholars all looked
at him, holding their knives and forks.
“And there is not one of you, who, if he be a good boy,
may not arrive at the same eminence. Think, boys, any one
of you, if you are good, may one day get nominated to Congress,
as the Honorable Mr. Newt is, who was once a scholar
here, just like you. Hurrah for Mr. Gray's boys! Now eat
your dinners.”
