Yes, the saloon was a mighty fine place, and it was more than that.
By the time I was ten years old, my family had abandoned ranching and gone to live in the city.

And here, at ten, I began on the streets as a newsboy.

One of the reasons for this was that we needed the money.
Another reason was that I needed the exercise.

I had found my way to the free public library, and was reading myself into nervous prostration.

On the poor ranches on which I had lived there had been no books.