As soon as the worker was stricken his children were at the mercy of the world.

I saw so much of this, that the pity of it entered deep into my boy-heart and never afterward could I forget it.
I talked with the station agent, the banker and the hotel keeper.

The station agent had money in the bank which he was saving to educate his boy to be a telegrapher.

He also carried life insurance.

"If I should die," he said, "my wife would collect enough insurance to start a boarding-house.