The $500 Check — page 31: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

18 THE $500 CHECK. ‘*They’re poor, ain’t they ?”’ “Yes; Barton was not a forehanded man. He didn’t know how to accumulate money.”’ ‘*T suppose he left very little to his widow.”’ “Very little. However, I have given the boy a place in my factory, and I believe his mother earns a trifle by covering base-balls. They don’t want for anything—that is, any- thing in reason.”’ ‘‘ Bert Barton seems a likely boy.”’ **Qh, he’s as good as the average of boys in his position.”’ ‘* I suppose he and Percy are quite intimate, being cousins.” ‘Indeed we are not!” returned piss tossing his head. ‘‘His position is very different from mine.”’ Uncle Jacob surveyed Percy in innocent wonder. ‘Still, he’s kin to you,’’ he observed. “That doesn’t always count,’’ said Percy. ‘‘He has his friends, and I have mine. I don’t believe in mixing classes.”’ ‘*T expect things have changed since I was a boy,” said Uncle Jacob, mildly. ‘*Then, Gomichoo CS (E(@) m