Half an hour later he broke out again: "He thought 'cause I was jus' a little boy he could cheat me, an' nobody would evah know the difference.

I nevah in all my life befo' heard tell of anything so mean!" "Haven't you ?" asked George, with such peculiar emphasis and such a queer little smile that John Jay felt guilty, although he could not have told why.
"No, I nevah did," he insisted.
George leaned against the door-casing, and looked thoughtfully across the fields.

"There are more turnpikes in life than one, my boy," he said kindly, "and every one has its toll-gate.

There is the road to learning.
I gave up everything to get through that gate, even my health.

One cannot be anything or do anything worth while without paying some sort of toll.