第10章 Henry, the Bootblack 亨利，擦鞋童

Henry was a kind, good boy. His father was dead, and his mother was very poor. He had a little sister about two years old.

He wanted to help his mother, for she could not always earn enough to buy food for her little family.

One day, a man gave him a dollar for finding a pocketbook which he had lost.

Henry might have kept all the money, for no one saw him when he found it. But his mother had taught him to be honest, and never to keep what did not belong to him.

With the dollar he bought a box, three brushes, and some blacking. He then went to the corner of the street, and said to every one whose boots did not look nice,"Black your boots, sir, please? "

He was so polite that gentlemen soon began to notice him, and to let him black their boots. The first day he brought home fifty cents, which he gave to his mother to buy food with.

When he gave her the money, she said, as she dropped a tear of joy, "You are a dear, good boy, Henry. I did not know how I could earn enough to buy bread with, but now I think we can manage to get along quite well,"

Henry worked all the day, and went to school in the evening. He earned almost enough to support his mother and his little sister.

亨利是个善良不错的男孩。他爸爸死了，妈妈很贫穷。他有个大概2岁左右的妹妹。

他非常想帮助妈妈，因为妈妈经常挣不够钱去买食物，以至于没法养活这个小家庭。

一天，因为他帮别人找到了丢失的钱包，人家给了他一美元。

亨利本可以自己悄悄留下这个钱包，因为没有人发现他捡到了它；但是妈妈教育他做人要诚实，永远不要根本就不属于自己的东西。

用这一美元，他买了一个箱子、三把刷子和一些鞋油。然后他跑到街道的角落里，对每个鞋子看起来不是那么干净的人轻声问道：“先生，需要擦鞋吗？”

他表现的太有礼貌了，以致于绅士们都开始注意他并且让他擦皮鞋。第一天他就带回家50分，给了妈妈让她买吃的。

当他把钱交给妈妈的时候，妈妈流下了幸福的泪水，她说：“亨利，你真是个可爱的好男孩。之前我都不知道我怎样才能挣够买面包的钱，现在我相信，我们可以一起努力共度难关了。”

亨利白天工作一天，晚上去学校学习。他挣的钱几乎可以养活妈妈和妹妹了。