mind. He saw clearly that his mother would not long remain in
office, and without her official income they would find it hard to
get along. To be sure, she received a pension of eight dollars a
month, in consideration of her husband's services in the war, but
eight dollars would not go far towards supporting their family,
small as it was. There were other means of earning a living, to be
sure, but Wayneboro was an agricultural town mainly, and unless he
hired out on a farm there seemed no way open to him, while the
little sewing his mother might be able to procure would probably pay
her less than a dollar a week.

The blow fell sooner than he expected. In the course of the next
week Mrs. Carr was notified that Ebenezer Graham had been appointed
her successor, and she was directed to turn over the papers and
property of the office to him.

She received the official notification by the afternoon mail, and in
the evening she was favored by a call from her successor.

Ebenezer Graham was a small man, with insignificant, mean-looking
features, including a pair of weazel-like eyes and a turn-up nose.
It did not require a skillful physiognomist to read his character in
his face. Meanness was stamped upon it in unmistakable characters.

"Good-evening, Mr. Graham," said the widow, gravely.

"Good-evening, ma'am," said the storekeeper. "I've called to see
you, Mrs. Carr, about the post office, I presume you have heard--"

"I have heard that you are to be my successor."