Page:Her Benny - Silas K Hocking (Warne, 1890).djvu/76

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CHAPTER VI.

IN WHICH BENNY MAKES A DISCOVERY.

All unseen the Master walketh
By the toiling servant's side;
Comfortable words He speaketh,
While His hands uphold and guide.
Baynes.Most sources attribute this hymn to T.Mackellar


Christmas Day this year came upon a Wednesday, and during the two days preceding it, Benny did what he characterized as a "roaring bizness." There were so many people leaving and arriving by all the ferry-boats and at all the stations, that our hero was kept on the trot nearly all the time. His frank open face seemed to most people, who had a bag or bundle to carry, a sufficient guarantee of his honesty, and they hoisted their bag upon the little fellow's shoulder without any fear that he would attempt to pry into its contents, or make off with it round some sharp comer. For a time the "match business" was turned over entirely to Nelly's management; and though the modest little girl never pushed her wares—she was too shy for that—yet Benny declared she did "stunnin'."

Many a gentleman, catching just a glimpse of the pale sweet