Even  Mr.  Lyman,  though  he  is  so  fond  of  him,  says
he  has  no  genius."

"How  would  you  like  to  have  him  a  merchant?"

"A  merchant!  He  would  have  small  capital  to
begin  on."

"That  is   nothing.     Most  of   our  rich  men  have


140  A    CHANGE    OF    SCENE.
be^un  with  no  other  capital  than  enterprise,  industry,
and  good  character.  Have  you  any  plan  for  Harry?"

Mrs.  Davis  had.  She  was  at  that  moment  awaiting
an  answer  from  a  respectable  carpenter,  a  friend  of
hers  settled  in  L .  The  answer  came,  and  was  un
favorable.  The  carpenter  had  no  vacant  place.  Mrs.
Dawson  renewed  the  proposition  for  a  mercantile
career.  She  proposed  that  Harry  should  enter  a  retail
shop  in  New  York.  At  first,  Mrs.  Davis  shrank  from
the  temptations  of  city  life,  and  uncertainties  of  trade.
But  Mrs.  Dawson  urged  so  earnestly,  entered  into  all
Harry's  future  with  such  friendly  and  flattering  zeal,
that  both  mother  and  son  were  persuaded  to  think  of
the  project  Two  or  three  other  failures  to  obtain
places  for  which  Mrs.  Davis  had  applied,  occurred  at
this  time ;  and  finally  it  was  agreed,  when  Mrs.  Daw-
son  left  Salisbury,  that  she  should  make  application
and  report  her  success.
