Chapter XIII. Off for the City

"Joe, our season ends next Saturday."

"I know it, Mr. Mallison."

"We are going to close the house on Tuesday. It won't pay to keep open after our summer boarders leave."

"I know that, too."

"Have you any idea what you intend to do?" went on the hotel proprietor. He was standing down by the dock watching Joe clean out one of the boats.

"I'm thinking of going to Philadelphia."

"On a visit?"

"No, sir, to try my luck."

"Oh, I see. It's a big city, my lad."

"I know it, but, somehow, I feel I might do better there than in such a town as this,--and I am getting tired of hanging around the lake."

"There is more money in Philadelphia than there is here, that is certain, Joe. But you can't always get hold of it. The big cities are crowded with people trying to obtain situations."

"I'm sure I can find something to do, Mr. Mallison. And, by the way, when I leave, will you give me a written recommendation?"

"Certainly. You have done well since you came here. But you had better think twice before going to Philadelphia."

"I've thought it over more than twice. I don't expect the earth, but I feel that I can get something to do before my money runs out."

"How much money have you saved up?"

"I've got fifty-six dollars, and I'm going to sell my boat for four dollars."

"Well, sixty dollars isn't such a bad capital. I have known men to start out with a good deal less. When I left home I had but twenty dollars and an extra suit of clothes."

"Did you come from a country place?"

"No, I came from New York. Times were hard and I couldn't get a single thing to do. I went to Paterson, New Jersey, and got work in a silk mill. From there I went to Camden, and then to Philadelphia. From Philadelphia I came here and have been here ever since."

"You have been prosperous."

"Fairly so, although I don't make as much money as some of the hotel men in the big cities. But then they take larger risks. A few years ago a hotel friend of mine opened a big hotel in Atlantic City. He hoped to make a small fortune, but he was not located in the right part of the town and at the end of the season he found himself just fifteen thousand dollars out of pocket. Now he has sold out and is running a country hotel fifty miles west of here. He doesn't hope to make so much, but his business is much safer."

"I'm afraid it will be a long time before I get money enough to run a hotel," laughed our hero.

"Would you like to run one?"

"I don't know. I'd like to educate myself first."

"Don't you study some