Every person, who has any energy of character, desires to get ahead in the world.

Some merchants, who own big ships and big warehouses by the dozen, desire to be what they consider rich.

But their idea of wealth is very grand.

They wish to count it in millions of dollars, in whole blocks of warehouses; and they are even more discontented than the day laborer who has to earn his dinner before he can eat it.
Bobby's father and mother had just such an ambition, only it was so modest that the merchant would have laughed at it.

They wanted to own the little black house in which they resided, so that they could not only be sure of a home while they lived, but have the satisfaction of living in their own house.