He was now clean, and neatly dressed in an old suit of Mark's which just fitted him, and his hair, which had been long and tangled, was cut short and neatly brushed.

Being naturally of a sunny and affectionate disposition, the cheerful home influences, the motherly care of Mrs.Elmer, whose heart was very tender towards the motherless boy, and, above all, the great alteration in his father's manner, had changed the shy, sullen lad, such as he had been, into an honest, happy fellow, anxious to do right, and in every way to please the kind friends to whom his debt of gratitude was so great.

His regular employment at the ferry, the feeling that he was useful, and, more than anything else, the knowledge that he was one of the proprietors of the Elmer Mill, gave him a sense of dignity and importance that went far towards making him contented with his new mode of life.

Mark, Ruth, and he studied for two hours together every evening under Mrs.Elmer's direction, and though Frank was far behind the others, he bade fair to become a first-class scholar.
Mr.Elmer was not a man who thought boys were only made to get as much work out of as possible.

He believed in a liberal allowance to play, and said that when the work came it would be done all the better for it.