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Linux Guide to Linux Certification 2nd Edition Eckert
Schitka Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Eckert Schitka, Jason W. Eckert, M. John Schitka
ISBN(s): 9780619216214, 0619216212
Edition: 2
File Details: PDF, 7.44 MB
Year: 2005
Language: english
This is an electronic version of the print textbook. Due to electronic rights restrictions, some third party content may
be suppressed. Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall
learning experience. The publisher reserves the right to remove content from this title at any time if subsequent rights
restrictions require it. For valuable information on pricing, previous editions, changes to current editions, and
alternate formats, please visit www.cengage.com/highered to search by ISBN#, author, title, or keyword for
materials in your areas of interest.
 Linux+ Guide to
Linux® Certification
Second Edition

Jason W. Eckert
M. John Schitka

Australia • Canada • Mexico • Singapore • Spain • United Kingdom • United States

 Linux+ Guide to Linux® Certification
is published by Course Technology.

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COPYRIGHT © 2006 Course Technology, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this Disclaimer
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Or find us on the World Wide Web at:
www.course.com
 BRIEF

Contents
INTRODUCTION xi
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction to Linux 1
CHAPTER TWO
Preparing for Linux Installation 45
CHAPTER THREE
Linux Installation and Usage 77
CHAPTER FOUR
Exploring Linux Filesystems 123
CHAPTER FIVE
Linux Filesystem Management 181
CHAPTER SIX
Linux Filesystem Administration 233
CHAPTER SEVEN
Advanced Installation 287
CHAPTER EIGHT
Working with the BASH Shell 329
CHAPTER NINE
System Initialization and X Windows 379
CHAPTER TEN
Managing Linux Processes 433
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Common Administrative Tasks 473
CHAPTER TWELVE
Compression, System Backup, and Software Installation 521
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Troubleshooting and Performance 569
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Network Configuration 607
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Configuring Network Services and Security 653
iv Linux+ Guide to Linux® Certification Second Edition

APPENDIX A
Certification 695
APPENDIX B
GNU Public License 701
APPENDIX C
Finding Linux Resources on the Internet 707
GLOSSARY 711
INDEX 735
 TABLE OF

Contents
INTRODUCTION xi

CHAPTER ONE
Introduction to Linux 1
Operating Systems 2
The Linux Operating System 4
Versions of the Linux Operating System 4
Identifying Kernel Versions 5
Licensing Linux 6
Linux Advantages 10
The History of Linux 16
UNIX 16
The Hacker Culture 17
Linux 19
Linux Distributions 20
Common Uses of Linux 24
Internet Servers 25
File and Print Servers 30
Application Servers 30
Supercomputers 32
Scientific/Engineering Workstation 32
Office Workstation 34
Chapter Summary 34
Key Terms 35
Review Questions 39
Discovery Exercises 42

CHAPTER TWO
Preparing for Linux Installation 45
Understanding Hardware 46
Central Processing Units (CPUs) 46
Physical Memory 48
Disk Drives 50
Mainboards and Peripheral Components 53
Video Adapter Cards and Monitors 56
Keyboards and Mice 57
Gathering Preinstallation Information 58
Gathering Hardware Information 60
Gathering Software Information 63
Chapter Summary 65
Key Terms 66
Review Questions 70
Hands-on Projects 73
Discovery Exercises 74
vi Linux+ Guide to Linux® Certification Second Edition

CHAPTER THREE
Linux Installation and Usage 77
Installing Linux 78
Installation Methods 78
Performing the Installation 78
Basic Linux Usage 99
Shells,Terminals, and the Kernel 99
Basic Shell Commands 102
Shell Metacharacters 104
Getting Command Help 106
Shutting Down the Linux System 109
Chapter Summary 110
Key Terms 111
Review Questions 112
Hands-on Projects 115
Discovery Exercises 122

CHAPTER FOUR
Exploring Linux Filesystems 123
The Linux Directory Structure 124
Changing Directories 125
Viewing Files and Directories 128
File Types 128
Filenames 129
Listing Files 130
Wildcard Metacharacters 135
Displaying the Contents of Text Files 136
Displaying the Contents of Binary Files 143
Searching for Text Within Files 144
Regular Expressions 145
The grep Command 146
Editing Text Files 149
The vi Editor 149
Other Common Text Editors 158
Chapter Summary 162
Key Terms 162
Review Questions 164
Hands-on Projects 167
Discovery Exercises 178

CHAPTER FIVE
Linux Filesystem Management 181
The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard 182
Managing Files and Directories 183
Finding Files 188
Linking Files 192
File and Directory Permissions 196
File and Directory Ownership 196
Managing File and Directory Permissions 199
Default Permissions 206
Special Permissions 208
Chapter Summary 212
Key Terms 213
Review Questions 215
 Table of Contents vii

Hands-on Projects 218

Discovery Exercises 229

CHAPTER SIX
Linux Filesystem Administration 233
The /dev Directory 234
Filesystems 237
Filesystem Types 237
Mounting 238
Working with Floppy Disks 240
Working with CD-ROMs 248
Working with Hard Disks 250
Hard Disk Partitioning 250
Working with Hard Disk Partitions 254
Monitoring Filesystems 261
Disk Usage 261
Checking Filesystems for Errors 264
Hard Disk Quotas 267
Chapter Summary 271
Key Terms 271
Review Questions 273
Hands-on Projects 277
Discovery Exercises 284

CHAPTER SEVEN
Advanced Installation 287
Advanced Hardware Configuration 288
SCSI Hard Disk Drive Configuration 288
Mainboard Flow Control: IRQs , DMAs , and I/O Addresses 290
Plug-and-Play 293
APM and ACPI 294
RAID Configuration 295
Installation Methods 297
DVD Installation 298
Hard Disk Installation 298
Network-Based Installations 301
Automating Linux Installations 304
Troubleshooting Installation 307
Problems Starting the Installation 308
Problems During Installation 308
Problems After Installation 309
Chapter Summary 316
Key Terms 316
Review Questions 318
Hands-on Projects 321
Discovery Exercises 326

CHAPTER EIGHT
Working with the BASH Shell 329
Command Input and Output 330
Redirection 331
Pipes 335
Shell Variables 343
Environment Variables 343
User-Defined Variables 348
viii Linux+ Guide to Linux® Certification Second Edition

Other Variables 350

Environment Files 351
Shell Scripts 352
Escape Sequences 354
Reading Standard Input 355
Decision Constructs 355
Chapter Summary 363
Key Terms 364
Review Questions 365
Hands-on Projects 368
Discovery Exercises 376

CHAPTER NINE
System Initialization and X Windows 379
The Boot Process 380
Boot Loaders 381
LILO 381
GRUB 384
Dual Booting Linux 389
Linux Initialization 395
Runlevels 395
The /etc/ inittab file 398
Configuring Daemon Startup 402
The X Windows System 404
Linux GUI Components 404
Starting and Stopping X Windows 410
Configuring X Windows 412
Chapter Summary 417
Key Terms 418
Review Questions 420
Hands-on Projects 424
Discovery Exercises 430

CHAPTER TEN
Managing Linux Processes 433
Linux Processes 434
Viewing Processes 435
Killing Processes 443
Process Execution 445
Running Processes in the Background 447
Process Priorities 449
Scheduling Commands 452
Scheduling Commands with atd 452
Scheduling Commands with crond 455
Chapter Summary 459
Key Terms 460
Review Questions 462
Hands-on Projects 465
Discovery Exercises 470

CHAPTER ELEVEN
Common Administrative Tasks 473
Printer Administration 474
The Common UNIX Printing System 474
Managing Print Jobs 476
 Table of Contents ix

The LPD Printing System 478

Configuring Printers 479
Log File Administration 484
The System Log Daemon 484
Managing Log Files 487
Administering Users and Groups 490
Creating User Accounts 496
Modifying User Accounts 499
Deleting User Accounts 501
Managing Groups 502
Chapter Summary 504
Key Terms 505
Review Questions 507
Hands-on Projects 510
Discovery Exercises 518

CHAPTER TWELVE
Compression, System Backup, and Software Installation 521
Compression 522
The compress Utility 522
The gzip utility 525
The bzip2 utility 527
System Backup 529
The tar Utility 531
The cpio Utility 535
The dump/restore Utility 537
Burning Software 542
Software Installation 542
Compiling Source Code into Programs 544
Installing Programs Using RPM 552
Chapter Summary 556
Key Terms 557
Review Questions 558
Hands-on Projects 561
Discovery Exercises 567

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Troubleshooting and Performance 569
Troubleshooting Methodology 570
Resolving Common System Problems 572
Hardware-Related Problems 573
Software-Related Problems 575
Performance Monitoring 580
Monitoring Performance with sysstat Utilities 581
Other Performance Monitoring Utilities 587
Customizing the Kernel 589
Kernel Modules 589
Compiling a New Linux Kernel 592
Patching the Linux Kernel 595
Chapter Summary 596
Key Terms 596
Review Questions 598
Hands-on Projects 601
Discovery Exercises 606
x Linux+ Guide to Linux® Certification Second Edition

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Network Configuration 607
Networks and TCP/IP 608
The TCP/IP Protocol 609
TCP/IP Classes and Subnetting 612
Configuring a NIC Interface 614
Configuring a PPP Interface 619
Name Resolution 626
Connecting to Network Resources 629
Downloading Files Using FTP 629
Accessing Files with NFS 632
Accessing Windows Files 633
Running Remote Applications 635
Accessing E-mail 638
Chapter Summary 640
Key Terms 641
Review Questions 642
Hands-on Projects 645
Discovery Exercises 651

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Configuring Network Services and Security 653
Network Services 654
Identifying Network Services 654
Configuring Common Network Services 657
Routing and Firewall Services 669
Security 674
Securing the Local Computer 674
Protecting Against Network Attacks 676
Detecting Intrusion 679
Chapter Summary 681
Key Terms 681
Review Questions 683
Hands-on Projects 686
Discovery Exercises 693

APPENDIX A
Certification 695
Linux+ Certification 696
Linux+ Certification Objectives 697

APPENDIX B
GNU Public License 701

APPENDIX C
Finding Linux Resources on the Internet 707

GLOSSARY 711

INDEX 735
 Introduction
“...In a future that includes competition from open source, we can expect that the eventual destiny
of any software technology will be to either die or become part of the open infrastructure itself.”
Eric S. Raymond,The Cathedral and the Bazaar

A s Eric S. Raymond reminds us, Open Source Software will continue to shape the
dynamics of the computer software industry for the next long while, just as it has
done for the last decade. Created and perpetuated by hackers, Open Source Software
refers to software in which the source code is freely available to anyone who wishes to
improve it (usually through collaboration). And, of course, at the heart of Open Source
Software lies Linux — an operating system whose rapid growth has shocked the world
by demonstrating the nature and power of the Open Source model.
However, as Linux continues to grow, so must the number of Linux-educated users,
administrators, developers, and advocates.Thus, we find ourselves in a time when Linux
education is of great importance to the Information Technology industry. Key to demon-
strating ability with Linux is the certification process. The Linux+ Guide to Linux®
Certification, Second Edition uses carefully constructed examples, questions, and practical
exercises to prepare readers with the necessary information to obtain the sought-after
Linux+ certification from the Computing Technology Industry Association, or CompTIA.
The Linux+ certification may also be used to fulfill the UNIX module of the cSAGE
certification, which is geared toward junior-level system engineers. Once candidates pass
the Linux+ exam, they are required only to pass the cSAGE core exam to earn the cSAGE
Certification designation. Whatever your ultimate goal, you can be assured that reading
this book in combination with study, creativity, and practice, will make the Open Source
world come alive for you as it has for many others.

The Intended Audience

Simply put, this book is intended for those who wish to learn the Linux operating sys-
tem and pass the Linux+ certification exam from CompTIA. It does not assume any
prior knowledge of Linux or of computer hardware. Also, the topics introduced in this
book, and covered in the certification exam, are geared towards systems administration,
yet are also well suited for those who will use or develop programs for Linux systems.
Chapter 1,“Introduction to Linux” introduces operating systems as well as the features,
benefits, and uses of the Linux operating system. As well, this chapter discusses the his-
tory and development of Linux and Open Source Software.
xii Linux+ Guide to Linux® Certification Second Edition

Chapter 2, “Preparing for Linux Installation” introduces the various hardware compo-
nents inside a computer, as well as methods that can be used to collect hardware and soft-
ware information prior to installing the Linux operating system.
Chapter 3,“Linux Installation and Usage” walks through a typical Linux installation given
the hardware and software information collected in the previous chapter. As well, this
chapter describes how to interact with a Linux system via a terminal and enter basic com-
mands into a Linux shell such as those used to obtain help and properly shutdown the system.
Chapter 4,“Exploring Linux Filesystems” outlines the Linux filesystem structure, and the
types of files that can be found within it.As well, this chapter discusses commands that can
be used to view and edit the content of those files.
Chapter 5, “Linux Filesystem Management” covers those commands that can be used
to locate and manage files and directories on a Linux filesystem. Furthermore, this chap-
ter outlines the different methods used to link files as well as how to interpret and set file
and directory permissions.
Chapter 6, “Linux Filesystem Administration” discusses how to create, mount, and man-
age filesystems in Linux. This chapter also discusses the various filesystems available for
Linux systems and the device files that are used to refer to the devices which may contain
these filesystems.
Chapter 7,“Advanced Installation” introduces advanced hardware concepts and configu-
rations that may prove useful when installing Linux. As well, this chapter discusses differ-
ent methods that may be used to install Linux as well as common problems that may occur
during installation, and their resolutions.
Chapter 8,“Working with the BASH Shell” covers the major features of the BASH shell
including redirection, piping, variables, aliases, and environment files. Also, this chapter
details the syntax of basic shell scripts.
Chapter 9, “System Initialization and X Windows” covers the different bootloaders that
may be used to start the Linux kernel and dual-boot the Linux operating system with
other operating systems such as Windows. This chapter also discusses how daemons are
started during system initialization as well as how to start and stop them afterwards. Finally,
this chapter discusses the structure of Linux Graphical User Interfaces as well as their con-
figuration and management.
Chapter 10,“Managing Linux Processes” covers the different types of processes, as well as
how to view their attributes, change their priority, and kill them. Furthermore, this chap-
ter discusses how to schedule processes to occur in the future using various utilities.
Chapter 11, “Common Administrative Tasks” details three important areas of system
administration: printer administration, log file administration, and user administration.
 Introduction xiii

Chapter 12, “Compression, System Backup, and Software Installation” describes utilities
that are commonly used to compress or back up files on a Linux filesystem. As well, this
chapter discusses how to install software from source code as well as using the Red Hat
Package Manager (RPM).
Chapter 13, “Troubleshooting and Performance” discusses the system maintenance cycle
as well as good troubleshooting procedures for solving hardware and software problems.
Also, this chapter outlines utilities that can be used to monitor and pinpoint the cause of
performance problems, as well as how to patch and recompile the kernel to fix software,
hardware, and performance problems.
Chapter 14, “Network Configuration” introduces networks, network utilities, and the
TCP/IP protocol, as well as how to configure the TCP/IP protocol on a NIC or PPP
interface. In addition, this chapter details the configuration of name resolution.
Chapter 15, “Configuring Network Services and Security” introduces commonly con-
figured Linux network services and their configuration, as well as firewall and routing ser-
vices. In addition, this chapter details the concepts and tools that may be used to secure a
Linux computer locally and from across a network.
Additional information is also contained in the appendices at the rear of the book.
Appendix A discusses the certification process with emphasis on the Linux+ certification
and how the objective list for the Linux+ certification matches each chapter in the text-
book. Appendix B is a copy of the GNU Public License. Appendix C explains how to
find Linux resources on the Internet and lists some common resources by category.

Features
To ensure a successful learning experience, this book includes the following pedagogical
features:
■ Chapter Objectives: Each chapter in this book begins with a detailed list of the
concepts to be mastered within that chapter.This list provides you with a quick ref-
erence to the contents of that chapter, as well as a useful study aid.
■ Screenshots, Illustrations, and Tables: Wherever applicable, screenshots and
illustrations are used to aid you in the visualization of common installation, admin-
istration and management steps, theories, and concepts. In addition, many tables pro-
vide command options that may be used in combination with the specific command
being discussed.
■ End-of-Chapter Material: The end of each chapter includes the following fea-
tures to reinforce the material covered in the chapter:
■ Chapter Summary: Gives a brief but complete summary of the chapter
■ Key Terms List: Lists all new terms and their definitions
xiv Linux+ Guide to Linux® Certification Second Edition

■ Review Questions: Test your knowledge of the most important concepts covered
in the chapter
■ Hands-on Projects: Are preceded by the Hands-on icon and a description of the
exercise that follows.These projects contain specific step-by-step instructions that
enable you to apply the knowledge gained in the chapter
■ Discovery Exercises: Include theoretical, research, or scenario-based projects
■ On the CD-ROM: On the CD-ROMs included with this text you will find a
copy of Fedora Linux.
■ CoursePrep® Test Prep Software: Test preparation software for the revised
Linux+ Certification Exam will become available approximately 90 days after the
final Linux+ exam is released. It will be available to download free of charge from
Course Technology’s website at http://www.course.com. Search for this book title, then
click on the link for “Student Downloads.” Click on the list for the CoursePrep to
download the software. The user name and password is: testprep. This password is
case-sensitive and does not contain a space between the two words. Once the
revised test preparation software is available, it will automatically be included on
CD-ROM in this book.

Text and Graphic Conventions

Wherever appropriate, additional information and exercises have been added to this book
to help you better understand what is being discussed in the chapter. Icons throughout the
text alert you to additional materials.The icons used in this textbook are as follows:

Tips are included from the authors’ experiences that provide additional real-
world insights into the topic being discussed.
Tip

Notes are used to present additional helpful material related to the subject being
described.
Note

Instructor’s Materials
The following supplemental materials are available when this book is used in a classroom
setting. All of the supplements available with this book are provided to the instructor on a
single CD-ROM.
■ Electronic Instructor’s Manual: The Instructor’s Manual that accompanies this
textbook includes additional instructional material to assist in class preparation, includ-
ing suggestions for classroom activities, discussion topics, and additional projects.
 Introduction xv

■ Solutions: Answers to all end-of-chapter materials are provided, including the Review
Questions, and, where applicable, Hands-on Projects and Discovery Exercises.
■ ExamView®: This textbook is accompanied by ExamView, a powerful testing soft-
ware package that allows instructors to create and administer printed, computer
(LAN-based), and Internet exams. ExamView includes hundreds of questions that
correspond to the topics covered in this text, enabling students to generate detailed
study guides that include page references for further review. The computer-based
and Internet testing components allow students to take exams at their computers,
and also save the instructor time by grading each exam automatically.
■ PowerPoint presentations: This textbook comes with Microsoft PowerPoint slides
for each chapter.These are included as a teaching aid for classroom presentation, to
make available to students on the network for chapter review, or to be printed for
classroom distribution. Instructors, please feel at liberty to add your own slides for
additional topics you introduce to the class.
■ Figure Files: All of the figures in this textbook are reproduced on the Instructor’s
Resource CD in bit-mapped format. Similar to the PowerPoint presentations, these
are included as a teaching aid for classroom presentation, to make available to stu-
dents for review, or to be printed for classroom distribution.

Before You Begin

Linux can be a large and intimidating topic if poorly organized. As a result, each concept
introduced in this textbook has been carefully planned and introduced in sequence. To
ensure that you gain a solid understanding of core Linux concepts, you must read this book
in consecutive order since each chapter builds upon previous ones.As well, we recommend
that you participate in a local Linux Users Group (LUG) and explore the Internet for Web
sites, FAQs, HOWTOs, and newsgroups that will expand your knowledge of Linux.

Lab Requirements
The following hardware is required for the Hands-on Projects at the end of each chapter
and should be listed on the Hardware Compatibility List available at www.redhat.com:
■ Pentium CPU (Pentium II 400 or higher recommended)
■ 256 MB RAM (512 MB RAM recommended)
■ 8 GB hard disk
■ CD-ROM drive
■ 3.5" floppy diskette drive
■ Network Interface Card
■ Internet connection
xvi Linux+ Guide to Linux® Certification Second Edition

Similarly, the following lists the software required for the Hands-on Projects at the end of
each chapter:
■ Red Hat Fedora Linux (Core 2)
■ Bluefish 0.13 source code in tarball format (available from http://www.sourceforge.net )
■ Tripwire 2.3-47 compiled program for the Intel i386 architecture in RPM format
(available from http//www.tripwire.org )

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First, we wish to thank the staff at Course Technology for an overall enjoyable experience
writing a textbook on Linux that takes a fundamentally different approach than traditional
textbooks. More specifically, we wish to thank our Project Manager, Manya Chylinski, for
her coordination and insight, as well as our Developmental Editor, Dave George, and
Production Editor, Elena Montillo, for the long hours they spent pulling everything
together to transform the text into its current state. As well, we wish to thank Moirag
Haddad at Digital Content Factory for her advice and guidance, and Frank Gerencser, of
triOS College for freeing us up to write this textbook and his continuous encouragement
for writing books to augment teaching.
Jason W. Eckert: I must take this time to thank my co-author, M. John Schitka for the hard
work, long hours, and dedication he spent on this book. As well, I thank Starbucks Coffee
for keeping me on schedule, and most importantly, my daughter Mackenzie for providing
me with many of the examples used in this textbook as well as teaching me that having
fun playing basketball is more important than writing a textbook.
M. John Schitka: First I want to thank my mentor and co-author Jason W. Eckert for his
insight, patience, and wisdom during the long hours and late nights that went into the cre-
ation of this textbook. More importantly I must thank my family, my wife Jill, and chil-
dren Kyra, Luke, and Noah for their support, tolerance, and patience during the time it
took to write this textbook. Hopefully readers will find it enlightening and of benefit in
their educational journey.
Finally, we wish to acknowledge the encouragement of our colleagues Mitch Mijailovic
and Tonio Mladineo; if it were not for them, I doubt we would love the Linux operating
system as much as we do today.
Readers are encouraged to e-mail comments, questions, and suggestions regarding Linux+
Guide to Linux® Certification, Second Edition to the authors:
Jason W. Eckert: [email protected]
M. John Schitka: [email protected]
 CHAPTER

1
INTRODUCTION TO LINUX
After completing this chapter, you will be able to:
♦ Understand the purpose of an operating system
♦ Outline the key features of the Linux operating system
♦ Describe the origins of the Linux operating system
♦ Identify the characteristics of various Linux distributions and where to
find them
♦ Explain the common uses of Linux in industry today

L inux technical expertise has quickly become significant in the computer

workplace as more and more companies have switched to using Linux to
meet their computing needs. Thus, it is important today to understand how
Linux can be used, what benefits Linux offers to a company, and how Linux has
developed and continues to develop. In the first half of this chapter, you learn
about operating system terminology and features of the Linux operating
system, as well as the history and development of Linux. Later in this chapter,
you learn about the various types of Linux and situations in which Linux is
used.

1
2 Chapter 1 Introduction to Linux

OPERATING SYSTEMS
Every computer has two fundamental types of components: hardware and software.
Hardware consists of the physical components inside a computer and are electrical in
nature; they contain a series of circuits that are used to manipulate the flow of information.
A computer can have many different pieces of hardware in it, including the following:
■ A processor, which computes information (also known as the central processing
unit or CPU)
■ Physical memory, which stores information needed by the processor (also known
as random access memory or RAM)
■ Hard disk drives, which store most of the information that you use
■ Floppy disk drives, which store information on floppy disks
■ CD-ROM drives, which read information from CD-ROMs
■ Sound cards, which provide sound to external speakers
■ Video cards, which display results to the computer monitor
■ Circuit boards, which hold and provide electrical connections between various
hardware components (also known as mainboards or motherboards)
Software, on the other hand, refers to the sets of instructions or programs that understand
how to use the hardware of the computer in a meaningful way; they allow different hardware
to interact with, as well as manipulate data (or files) commonly used with programs. When
a bank teller types information into the computer behind the counter at a bank, for example,
that bank teller is using a program that understands what to do with your bank records.
Programs and data are usually stored on hardware media, such as CD-ROMs, hard disks, or
floppy disks, although they can also be stored on other media or even embedded in
computer chips. These programs are loaded into various parts of your computer hardware
(such as your computer’s memory and processor) when you first turn on your computer, and
when you start additional software, such as word processors or Internet browsers. After a
program is executed on your computer’s hardware, that program is referred to as a process.
Thus, the difference between a program and a process is small. A program is a file stored on
your computer, whereas a process is that file in action, performing a certain task.
Two different types of programs are executed on a computer: applications, which include
those programs designed for a specific use and with which you commonly interact, such as
word processors, computer games, graphical manipulation programs, and computer system
utilities, and operating system (OS) software, which consists of a series of software
components used to control the hardware of your computer. Without an operating system,
Other documents randomly have
different content
 “Out with it!” said Johnny, impatiently, “you’re afraid—what?”
“I’m afraid that’s what the priest and the Levite said,” finished
Tiny, slowly.
“What do you?—oh yes, I suppose you mean about the Good
Samaritan, and, ‘now which of these was neighbor?’ Is that what
you’re driving at?”
Tiny nodded again, even more earnestly than before.
“Now that’s very queer,” said Johnny, musingly, “but Jim said
almost exactly the same thing. He’s picked up a little lame fellow—
no relation to him at all, and no more his concern than anybody’s
else—and he’s keeping the boys off him, and behaving as if he was
the little chap’s grandmother, and I do believe it is all because of
things mamma has said to him. He doesn’t know about Ned Owen;
what he said was because I happened to catch him grandmothering
this little Taffy, as he calls him, but it was just exactly as if he had
known all about everything. It’s very well for him; he isn’t all mixed
up with the other bootblacks, the way I am with the boys at school,
and he can do as he pleases, but don’t you see, Tiny, what a mess I
should get myself into, right away, if I began to take up for that boy
against all the others?”
Tiny replied with what Johnny considered
needless emphasis,—
“I don’t see it at all, Johnny Leslie, and
what’s more, I don’t believe you do either! The
boys at school would only laugh at you, if the
worst came to the worst, and I’m pretty sure,
from things Jim has told mamma, that the kind
of boys he knows would just as lief kick him,
or knock him down, if they were big enough,
as to look at him! And if you’d stand up for
that poor little boy, I think some more of them would, too. Don’t you
remember, papa said boys were a good deal like sheep; that if one
went over the fence, the whole flock would come after him;
sometimes, I wish I could do something for that boy! I don’t see
how you can bear to let them all make fun of him, and never say a
word, when it made you so mad, that time, when those two dreadful
boys tried to hang my kitten. It seems to me it’s exactly the same
thing!”
Tiny’s face was quite red by the time she had finished this long
speech, and Johnny’s, though for a very different reason, was red
too. He had been angry with Tiny, at first, but before she stopped
speaking, his anger had turned against himself. She was a little
frightened at her own daring in “speaking up” to Johnny in this way,
but she soon saw that her fright was needless.
“Tiny,” he said, solemnly, after a rather long pause, “you can’t
expect me to wish I was a girl, you know, they do have such flat
times, but I will say I think its easier for them to be good than it is
for boys,—in some ways, anyhow,—and I think I must be the
beginning of a snob! You didn’t even look foolish the day mamma
took Jim with us to see the pictures, and we met pretty much
everybody we knew, and my face felt red all the time. I’m really very
much obliged to you for shaking me up. I shall talk it all out with
mamma, now, and see if I can’t settle myself. To think how much
better a fellow Jim is than I am, when I’ve had mamma and papa
and you, and he don’t even know whether he had any mother at
all!” And Johnny gave utterance to his feelings in something between
a howl and a groan. To his great consternation, Tiny burst into a
passion of crying, hugging him, and trying to talk as she sobbed.
When he at last made out what she was saying, it was something
like this,—
“I thought you were going to be mean and horrid—and you’re
such a dear boy—and I couldn’t bear to have you like that—and I
love you so—oh, Johnny!”
Johnny may live to be a very old man; I hope he will, for good
men are greatly needed, but no matter how long he lives, he will
never forget the feelings that surged through his heart when he
found how bitter it was to his little sister to be disappointed in him.
He hugged her with all his might, and in a very choked voice he told
her that he hoped she’d never have to be ashamed of him again—
that she shouldn’t if he could possibly help it.
And after the talk with his mother that night, he hunted up the
“silken sleeve,” which he had worn until it was threadbare, and then
put away so carefully that he had a hard time to find it. It was too
shabby to be put on his hat again, but somehow he liked it better
than a newer one, and he stuffed it into his jacket, when he dressed
the next morning, about where he supposed his heart to be. He
reached the schoolhouse a few minutes before the bell rang, and
found everybody but Ned Owen laughing and talking. He was sitting
at his desk with a book, on which his eyes were intently fixed, held
before him, but his cheeks were flushed, and his lips pressed tightly
together.
Johnny did not hear anything but a confusion of voices, but he
could easily guess what the talk had been about. He walked straight
to his desk, and, laying his hand with apparent carelessness on
Ned’s shoulder, he glanced down at the open history, saying, in his
friendliest manner, which was very friendly,—
“It’s pretty stiff to-day, isn’t it? I wish I could reel off the dates the
way you do, but every one I learn seems to drive out the one that
went in before it!”
The flush on Ned’s face deepened, and he looked up with an
expression of utter astonishment, which made Johnny tingle with
shame from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet. And
Johnny thought afterward how, if the case had been reversed, he
would have shaken off the tardy hand and given a rude answer to
the long-delayed civility.
Ned replied, very quietly,—
“It is a little hard to-day, but not half so hard as—some other
things!”
And just then the laughing and talking suddenly stopped, for Mr.
Lennox opened the door, but Johnny had already heard a subdued
whistle from one quarter and a mocking “Since when?” from
another, and, what, was worse, he was sure Ned had heard them
too.
To some boys it would have been nothing but a relief to find that,
as Tiny had suggested, Ned’s persecutors were very much like
sheep, and, with but few exceptions, followed Johnny’s lead before
long, and made themselves so friendly that only a very vindictive
person could have stood upon his dignity, and refused to respond.
Ned was not vindictive, but he was shy and reserved; he had been
hurt to the quick by the causeless cruelty of his schoolmates, and it
was many days before he was “hail fellow well met” with them,
although he tried hard not only to forgive, but to do what is much
more difficult—forget.
As for Johnny, when he saw how, after a trifling hesitation, a few
meaningless jeers and taunts, the tide turned, and Ned was taken
into favor, his heart was full of remorse. It seemed to him that he
had never before so clearly understood the meaning of the words,
“Inasmuch as ye did it not to the least of these My brethren, ye did
it not to Me.”
Some one has likened our life to a journey; we keep on, but we
can never go back, and, as “we shall pass this way but once,” shall
we not keep a bright lookout for the chances to help, to comfort, to
encourage? How many loads we might lighten, how many rough
places we might make smooth for tired feet! Not a day passes
without giving us opportunities. Think how beautiful life might be
made, and, then,—think what most of us make of it! Travellers will
wander fearlessly through dark and winding ways with a torch to
light their path, and a slender thread as a clue to lead them back to
sunlight and safety. The Light of the World waits to “lighten our
darkness, that we sleep not in death.” If we “hold fast that which is
good,” we have the clue.
 CHAPTER XI.
BATTLE AND VICTORY.

t’s a queer world, and no mistake.”

Jim looked unusually grave, as he gave
Johnny the benefit of these words of
wisdom. Johnny was on his way home from
school, and he had stopped to show Jim a
certain knife, about which they had
conversed a good deal, at various times. It
had four blades, one of them a file-blade; it
was strongly made, but pretty too, with a nice smooth white handle,
and a little nickel plate on one side, for the fortunate owner’s name.
They had first made its acquaintance from the outside of a shop-
window, where it lay in a tray with about a dozen others of various
kinds, all included in the wonderful statement,—
“Your choice for fifty cents!”
Johnny and Jim had both chosen
immediately, but as Johnny, who was
beginning to take an interest in politics,
remarked, it was one thing to nominate a
knife, and quite another to elect it! A slight
difficulty lay in the way of their walking
boldly into the store, and announcing their choice; neither of them
had, at that precise moment, floating capital to the amount of fifty
cents!
“And some fellow who has fifty cents will be sure to snap up such
a bargain before the day’s over,” said Johnny, mournfully. “What fun
it must be to be rich, Jim; just to walk into a store when you see
anything you like, and say, ‘I’ll take that,’ without even stopping to
ask how much it is.”
“Yes, it sounds as if it would be,” said Jim, “but though I can’t
exactly say that I’m intimate with many of ’em, it does seem to me,
looking at it from the outside, as it were, that they get less sugar for
a cent than some of us ’umble sons of poverty do!”
And Jim winked in a manner which Johnny admired all the more
because he was unable to imitate it.
“I don’t see how you can tell,” said Johnny, “and I think you must
be mistaken, Jim.”
“Well now, for instance,” replied Jim, who delighted in an
argument, “I’m taking what the newspaper-poetry-man would call an
ever-fresh delight in those three jolly warm nightshirts your mother
had made for me. I’d never have saved the money for ’em in the
world, if she hadn’t kept me up to it, and I feel as proud as Cuffee,
every time I put one on, to think I paid for every stitch of it—I can’t
help feeling sort of sorry that it wouldn’t be the correct thing to wear
them on the street. Now do you suppose your millionaire finds any
fun in buying nightshirts? I guess not! And that’s only one thing out
of dozens of the same sort. See?”
“Yes,” answered Johnny, thoughtfully, “I see what you mean; I
didn’t think of it in that way, before. But, all the same, I’d be willing
to try being a millionaire for a day or two. And I do wish the fellow
in there would kind of pile up the other knives over that white one
till I can raise money enough to buy it!”
It is needless to say that the shopkeeper did not act upon this
suggestion—perhaps because he did not hear it; and yet, by some
singular chance, day after day passed, and still the white-handled
knife remained unsold. And then Johnny’s uncle came to say
goodbye, before going on a long business journey, and just as he
was leaving, he put a bright half dollar in his nephew’s hand, saying,
—
 “I’ll not be here to help keep your birthday this year, my boy, so
will you buy an appropriate present for a young man of your age
and inches, and give it to yourself, with my love?”
Would he? Uncle Rob knew all about that knife, in less than five
minutes, and then, as soon as he was gone, Johnny begged hard to
be allowed to go out after dark, “just this once,” to secure the knife;
he felt so entirely sure that it would be gone the next morning!
But it was not. And its presence in his pocket, during school hours,
had a rather bad effect upon his pursuit of knowledge. On his way
home, as I have said, he stopped to show his newly-acquired
treasure to Jim, and he was a little disappointed that Jim did not
seem more sympathetic with his joy, but simply said, thoughtfully,—
“It’s a queer world, and no mistake!”
 THE NEW KNIFE.

“I don’t see anything so very queer about it, myself,” said Johnny,
contentedly, adding, with a little enjoyment of having the best of it,
for once, with Jim, “papa says, that if we think more than two
people are queer to us, we may be pretty sure that we are the queer
ones, and that the rest of the world is about as usual—at least,
that’s the sense of what he said; I don’t remember the words
exactly.”
“I wasn’t thinking of myself just then, for a wonder!” said Jim,
with the slightly mocking expression on his face which Johnny did
not like. “It’s a good enough world for me, but when I see a little
chap like Taffy getting all the kicks and none of the halfpence, I
don’t know exactly what to think. He’s taken a new turn, lately;
twisted up with pain, half the time, and as weak as a kitten, the
other half.”
“Where is he, anyhow?” asked Johnny.
“Well,” said Jim, turning suddenly red under his coat of tan, “I’ve
got him round at my place. The fact is, it was too unhandy for me to
go and look after him at that other place; it was noisy, too. He didn’t
like it.”
Several questions rose to Johnny’s lips, but he repressed them; he
had discovered that nothing so embarrassed Jim as being caught in
some good work. So he only asked,—
“But how did my new knife make you think of Taffy?”
“Oh, never mind!” and Jim began to walk away.
“But I do mind!” said Johnny, following him and catching his arm.
“And I do wish you wouldn’t think it is smart to be so dreadfully
mysterious. Come, out with it!”
“Very well, then,” said Jim, stopping suddenly, “if you don’t like it,
maybe you’ll know better another time. It made me think of him
because I have been meaning to buy him one of those knives as
soon as I could raise the cash, but I’ve had to spend all I could make
lately for other things. The little chap keeps grunting about a knife
he once found in the street, and lost again; and he seems to fancy
that when he’s doing something with his hands he don’t feel the pain
so much. He cuts out pictures with an old pair of scissors I
happened to have, whenever I can get him any papers, but he likes
best to whittle, and he broke the last blade of that old knife of mine
the other day; he’s been fretting about it ever since. I’m glad you’ve
got the knife, Johnny, since you’re so pleased about it, and wanted it
so, but I couldn’t help thinking—” and here Jim abruptly turned a
corner, and was gone before Johnny could stop him.
“I should just like to know what he told me all that yarn for!” said
Johnny to himself; a little crossly. “He surely doesn’t think I ought to
give my knife, my new knife, that uncle Rob gave me for a birthday
present, to that little Taffy? Why, I don’t even know him!”
And Johnny tried to banish such a ridiculous idea from his mind at
once. But somehow it would not be banished. The thought came
back to him again and again; how many things he had to make life
sweet and pleasant to him; how few the little lonely boy, shut up all
day in Jim’s dingy bed room, the window of which did not even look
on a street, but on a narrow back yard, where the sun never shone.
The more he thought of it, the more it appealed to his pity. And here
was a chance,—but no, surely people could not be expected to make
such sacrifices as that.
He managed to shake off the troublesome thought for a few
minutes, when he showed the knife to his mother and Tiny. They
both admired it to his heart’s content, and said what a bargain it
was, and what a wonder that nobody had bought it before, and
what a suitable thing for him to buy for Uncle Rob’s birthday present
to him. But, when he went up to his room, the question again forced
itself upon him, and would not be shaken off. Over and over again in
his mind, as they had done that other time, the words repeated
themselves,—
“And who is my neighbor?”
He did not see Jim again for several days, and this made him
unreasonably angry. It seemed to him that Jim had taken things for
granted altogether too easily. How did Jim know that he, Johnny,
was not waiting for a chance to send the knife to poor little Taffy?
 But was he? He really hardly knew himself until one day when, by
dint of hard running, he caught Jim, and asked him,—
“See here! How’s that little chap, and what’s gone with you
lately?”
“He’s worse,” said Jim, gruffly, “and I’m busy—that’s what’s gone
with me. I can’t stop, I’m in a hurry.”
“Oh, very well!” said Johnny, in an offended tone. “I thought we
were friends, Jim Brady, but I’ll not bother you any more. Goodbye.”
“Johnny,” said Jim, putting his hand on Johnny’s shoulder as he
spoke, “can’t you make any allowance for a fellow’s being in trouble?
I can’t stop now, I really and truly can’t, but I’ll be on the corner by
the library this afternoon, and if you choose to stop, I’ll talk all you
want me to.”
“All right, I’ll come,” said Johnny, his wounded self-love forgotten
at sight of Jim’s troubled face.
He hurried home, and, with the help of an old table knife, he
managed to work ten cents out of the jug that he had “set up” for a
Christmas present fund. With this he bought the largest picture
paper he could find for the money. Then he gathered together a
handful of pictures he had been saving for his scrap book, wrapped
the knife first in them, then in the large paper, and then tied the
whole up securely in a neat brown paper parcel.
When he saw Jim that afternoon he asked him as cautiously as he
could about Taffy’s needs, and at last he said,—
“Jim, why haven’t you told mamma about him, and let her help
you?”
“It seemed like begging. I didn’t like—” and Jim stopped, looking
very much embarrassed.
“Well, I mean to tell her as soon as I go home,” said Johnny,
resolutely, “for I know she’ll go and see him, and have something
done to make him better, and—Jim, I must go now, but will you
please give this to Taffy, with my love?”
And, putting the parcel in Jim’s hand, Johnny turned, and ran
home.
But was he really the same Johnny? Had wings grown on his feet?
Had his heart been suddenly changed into a feather? He whistled,
he sang, he stopped to turn somersets on the grass in the square.
No one but his Captain had known of the battle. None, but the Giver
of it, knew of the victory.
 CHAPTER XII.
FASTING.

ohnny had been talking to his mother, as he

often talked, about a Bible verse which he
did not fully understand—
“But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine
head and wash thy face, that thou appear
not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father
which seeth in secret,”—and she had told
him that a sacrifice, to be real and whole-
hearted, must be made not only willingly, but cheerfully; “not
grudgingly, or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver.”
“I don’t wonder at all at that, mamma,” Johnny had replied, “when
you think how hateful it is to have people do things for you as if they
didn’t wish to. I’d rather go without a thing, than take it when
people are that way.”
“Yes,” said Mrs. Leslie, “people do sometimes say ‘oh bother’ when
‘certainly’ would be more appropriate,”—Johnny laughed, but he
blushed a little, too—“and ‘directly,’ or ‘in a minute,’” continued his
mother, “when it would be more graceful, to say the least of it, to go
at once, without any words. We forget too often that ‘even Christ
pleased not Himself,’ and we fret over the disturbing of our own little
plans and arrangements, as if we were all Great Moguls.”
“You don’t, mammy,” and Johnny kissed his mother in the
particular spot, just under her chin, where he always kissed her
when he felt unusually affectionate.
“Oh, yes I do, dear, oftener than you know,” said Mrs. Leslie, “but
I am trying all the time, and when I am nearly sure that I am going
to be cross, I go away by myself, if I can, for a few minutes, where I
can fight it out without punishing any one else, and when I can’t do
that, I ask for strength just to keep perfectly still until pleasant
words will come.”
“You’ve been practising so long, mamma,” said Johnny, wistfully,
“that you’re just about perfect, I think; but I don’t believe I will be, if
I live to be as old as Methusaleh! I wish I had some sort of an
arrangement to clap on the outside of my mouth, that would hold it
shut for five minutes!”
“But don’t you see, dear,”—and Mrs. Leslie laughed a little at
Johnny’s idea—“that if you had time to remember to clap on your
‘arrangement,’ you would have time to stop yourself in another and
better way?”
“Yes, mamma, I suppose I should,” admitted Johnny, “but it
somehow seems as if the other way would be easier, especially if I
had the ‘arrangement’ somewhere where I could always see it.”
“But don’t you remember, dear,” said his mother, “that even after
Moses lifted up the brazen serpent, the poor Israelites were not
saved by it unless they looked up at it? That came into my mind the
other day when we were playing the new game—‘Hiding in plain
sight,’ you know. Every time we failed to find the thimble, it was in
such ‘plain sight’ that we laughed at ourselves for being so stupid,
and then I thought how exactly like that we are about ‘the ever-
present help.’ It is always ready for us, and then we go looking
everywhere else, and wonder that we fail! And I think you would
find it so with your ‘arrangement.’ You would see it and use it,
perhaps, for a day or two, and then you would grow used to it, and
it would be invisible to you half the time, at least.”
This game of “Hiding in plain sight” was one which Ned Owen had
recently taught them, and it was very popular both at school and in
the different homes. A thimble was the favorite thing to hide; all but
the hider either shut their eyes or went out of the room, while he
placed the thimble in some place where it could be very plainly seen
—if one only knew where to look for it! Sometimes it would be on a
little point of the gas fixture; sometimes on top of a picture-frame or
mantel-ornament, and then the hider generally had the pleasure of
seeing the seekers stare about the room with puzzled faces, and
finally give it up, when he would point it out triumphantly, and they
would all exclaim at their stupidity.
The rule was, that if any one found it, he
was merely to say so, and not to point it
out to the rest.
Johnny was very much impressed with
his mother’s comparison, and resolved, as
he said to himself, to “look sharper” for the
small chances of self-denial which come to
all of us, while large chances come but to
few, or only at long intervals. There was a poem of which Mrs. Leslie
was very fond, and which Tiny and Johnny had learned just to
please her, which had this verse in it:—

“I would not have the restless will

That hurries to and fro,
Seeking for some great thing to do,
Or secret thing to know.
I would be dealt with as a child,
And guided where to go.”

And another verse ended with,—

“More careful, than to serve Thee much,

To please Thee perfectly.”

Tiny and Johnny were given to “making believe” all sorts of

startling and thrilling adventures, in which they rescued people from
avalanches, and robbers, and railway-accidents; and, to do Tiny
justice, all this making believe did not in the least interfere with the
sweet obedience and thoughtfulness for the comfort of others which
marked her little life every day. She was much more practical than
Johnny was, and would never have thought of these wonderful
“pretends” by herself, but she was always ready to join him in
whatever he proposed, unless she knew it to be wrong, and he was
quite proud of the manner in which she had learned from him to
invent and suggest things in this endless game of “pretending.”
But while it did her no harm
at all, I am afraid it sometimes
made Johnny feel that the small,
everyday chances which came in
his way were not worth much,
and this was why his mother
had made her little suggestions about self-denial. So, though Johnny
still hoped that he could think of, or discover, some “great thing,” he
resolved to be very earnest, meanwhile, in looking out for the small
ones.
He had just begun to study Latin, and it was costing him many
groans, and a good deal of hard work. He did not exactly rebel
against it, for he knew how particularly his father wished him to be a
good Latin scholar, but he expressed to Tiny, freely and often, his
sincere wish that it had never been invented.
He went back to school immediately after dinner, one day, in order
to “go over” his lesson once more. He had studied it faithfully the
afternoon before, but one great trouble with it was that it did not
seem to “stay in his head” as his other lessons did when he learned
them in good earnest.
“It’s just like trying to hang your hat up on nothing, mamma,” he
said, mournfully, as he kissed his mother goodbye.
He had counted on having the schoolroom entirely to himself, so
he felt a little vexed when he saw one of the smaller boys already at
his desk in a distant corner, and his “Hello, Ted! What’s brought you
back so early?” was not so cordial as it was inquiring.
He realized this, and felt a little ashamed of himself when Ted
answered, meekly,—
“I didn’t think I’d be in anybody’s way, Johnny, and if I don’t know
my map questions this afternoon, I’ve got to go down to the lower
class!”
The little boy’s face looked very doleful as he said this; it would
not be pleasant to have his stupidity proclaimed, as it were, in this
public manner. Not that his teacher was doing it with any such
motive as this. Teddy had missed that particular lesson so frequently,
of late, that Mr. Lennox was nearly sure it was too hard for him, and
that it would be only right, for Teddy’s own sake, to put him in a
lower class; and this was why, if to-day’s lesson, which was
unusually easy, proved too hard for him, the change was to be
made.
“You’re not in my way a bit, Ted,” said Johnny, heartily, “and this
bothering old Latin is as hard for me as your map questions are for
you, so we’ll be miserable together—‘misery loves company’ you
know.”
With that Johnny sat down and opened his book, but his mind,
instead of settling on the lesson, busied itself with the unhappy little
face in the corner.
“But if I go over there and help him,” said Johnny, to himself,
almost speaking aloud in his earnestness, “I’ll miss my own lesson,
sure!”
“And suppose you do,” said the other Johnny, “you will only get a
bad mark in a good cause, but if Teddy misses his, he will be
humiliated before the whole school.”
“But papa doesn’t like me to have bad marks.”
“Don’t be a mean little hypocrite, Johnny Leslie! If your father
knew all about it, which would he mind most, a bad mark in your
report, or a worse one in your heart? And besides, you’ve twenty-
five minutes, clear. You can do both, if you’ll not be lazy.”
That settled it—that, and a sort of fancy that he heard his mother
saying,—
“Even Christ pleased not Himself.”
He sprang up so suddenly that Teddy fairly “jumped,” and went
straight over to the corner, saying, as he resolutely sat down,—
“Here, show me what’s bothering you, young man, and perhaps I
can help you. Don’t stop to palaver—there’s no time!”
But Teddy really couldn’t help saying,—
“Oh, thank you, Johnny!” and then he went at once to business.
“It’s all the capitals,” he said, “I can learn them fast enough, when
I’ve found them, but it does seem to me that the folks who make
maps hide the capitals and rivers and mountains, on purpose. Now,
of course Maine has a capital, I s’pose, but can you see it? I can’t, a
bit.”
“Why, here it is, as plain as the nose on your face,” said Johnny,
and put his finger on it without loss of time.
Teddy screwed up his eyes and forehead as he looked at the map,
saying finally,—
“So it is! I saw that, but it looked like ‘Atlanta,’ and I didn’t see the
star at all.”
This was repeated with almost every one; Teddy was unusually
quick at committing to memory, but he made what at first seemed to
Johnny the most stupid blunders in seeing. However, the lesson was
learned, or rather, Teddy was in a fair way to have it learned, and
Johnny was back at his Latin, fifteen minutes before the bell rang.
And, to his astonishment, the Latin no longer refused to be
conquered. He had done good work at it, the day before, better
work than he knew, and now, feeling how little time he had left, he
studied with unusual spirit and resolution. When the bell rang, he
was quite ready for it, and his recitation that afternoon was entirely
perfect, for the first time since he began that terrible study. He did
not know how much more he had gained in the conquest of his
selfishness; but all large victories are built upon many small ones,
and the same is, if possible, even truer of all large defeats. Habit is
powerful, to help or to hinder.
And a most unexpected good to little Ted grew out of that day’s
experience; one of the things which prove, if it needs proving, that
we never can tell where the result of our smallest words and deeds
will stop. One of Johnny’s young cousins had recently been suffering
much from head-ache, which was at last found to be caused wholly
by a defect in her eyes. They saw unequally, and a pair of spectacles
remedied the defect and stopped the head-ache, beside affording
much enjoyment for the cousinhood over her venerable appearance.
Johnny was puzzling over Teddy’s apparent stupidity in one way, and
evident brightness in another, when he suddenly remembered his
cousin Nanny, and clapped his hands, saying to himself as he did so,
—
“That’s it, I do believe! He can’t see straight!”
Johnny lost no time in suggesting this to Teddy, who, in his turn,
spoke of it to his mother. She had already begun to notice the
strained look about his eyes, and she took him at once to an oculist.
The result was, that he shortly afterward appeared in a pair of
spectacles, and told Johnny with some little pride,—
“The eye doctor says that, as far as
seeing goes, one of my eyes might about as
well have been in the back of my head; and
it seems queer, but everything looks
different—I didn’t know so many things
were straight! And you won’t catch me missing my map questions
any more! Why, the places seem fairly to jump at me, now. And—
and—I do hope I can do something for you before long, Johnny, for
it’s all your doing, you know. If you hadn’t helped me that day,
there’s no telling when I’d have found it out.”
 “Don’t you worry about doing something for me, Ted,” said
Johnny, kindly. “You’ve done enough, just putting on those
spectacles. You look exactly like your grandfather seen through the
wrong end of a spyglass!”
 CHAPTER XIII.
A CHANCE FOR A KNIGHTLY DEED.

fter that first perfect Latin lesson, Johnny’s

road to success seemed in a measure
broken, and though he by no means
achieved perfection every time, his failures
were less total and humiliating, day by day,
and, to use his own beautiful simile about
the hat, he began to find “pegs” in his head
whereon he could hang his daily stint of
Latin. But it was still hard work; there was
no denying that; and if his affection for his father had not been very
strong and true, the task would have been still more difficult. But
somehow, whenever Mr. Leslie came home looking more tired than
usual, or turned into a joke one of the many little acts of self-denial
and unselfish courtesy which helped to make his home so bright, it
seemed to Johnny that it would be mean indeed to grumble over
this one thing, which he was doing to please his father.
He had been much impressed
by the manner in which he had
learned that first perfect lesson,
for, on the previous Sunday,
when he had recited the verses
which told how the five barley loaves and two small fishes had fed
the hungry multitude in the wilderness, he had thought, and said,
that it must have been easier for those people who saw the Master
perform such miracles, to follow him, than it was now for those who
must “walk by faith” entirely, with no gracious face and voice to
draw them on.
 His mother did not contradict him, just then; she rarely did, when
he said anything like that; she preferred to wait, and let him find out
for himself, with more or less help from her. So she only answered,
this time,—
“Was the thimble really hidden last night, Johnny? You know I was
called away before anybody found it, and you were all declaring that
this time, you were sure, it couldn’t be ‘in plain sight.’”
Johnny laughed, but he looked a little foolish, too, as he
answered,—
“Why no, mamma—it was perched on the damper of the stove. I
declare, that game puzzles me more and more every time we play it;
I might as well be an idiot and be done with it! But what made you
think of that just now, mamma dear?”
“I suppose it came into my mind because I want you to look a
little harder before you let yourself be quite certain about the
miracles,” replied his mother, “and I will give you a sort of clue. You
know papa’s business is a very absorbing one, and you often hear
people wondering how he finds time for all the other things he does,
but I never wonder; it seems to me that he gives all his time to the
Master, and that he is so free from worrying care—so sure he will
have time enough for all that is really needful, that he loses none in
fretting or hesitating; he just goes right on. There is a dear old
saying of the Friends that I always like—‘Proceed as the way opens.’
Now if you will think about it, and about how uses for money, and
for all our gifts and talents, come in some way to all who are in
earnest about using them rightly, perhaps you will see what I mean.
‘A heart at leisure from itself’ can do a truly wonderful amount of
work for other people.”
A dim idea of his mother’s meaning had come into Johnny’s mind,
even then, and suddenly, after he had done work which he had
thought would fill half an hour, in fifteen minutes, a flash of light
followed, and he “saw plainly.”
 I cannot tell you of all the small chances which came to him daily,
but many of them you can guess by looking for your own. He tried
hard to remember what his mother had said about willing service
and cheerful giving. “Oh bother!” was not heard very often, now,
and when it was, it was generally followed speedily by some “little
deed of kindness” which showed that it had been repented of.
He was rushing home from school one day in one of his
“cyclones,” as Tiny called the wild charges which he made upon the
house when he was really in a hurry. It was a half-holiday, and most
of the boys had agreed to go skating together, just as soon as some
ten or fifteen mothers could be brought within shouting distance.
The ice was lasting unusually late, and the weather was delightfully
clear and cold, but everybody knew that a thaw must come before
long, in the nature of things, and everybody who skated felt that it
really was a sort of duty to make the most of the doomed ice, while
it lasted.
Johnny was like the Irishman’s gun in one respect—he could
“shoot round a corner;” but he did not always succeed in hitting
anything, as he did to-day. The anything, this time, happened to be
Jim Brady, and as Jim was going very nearly as fast as Johnny was,
neither had breath enough left, after the collision, to say anything
for at least a minute. Then Jim managed to inquire, between his
gasps,—
“Any lives lost on your side, Johnny?”
“No, I b’lieve not,” said Johnny, rather feebly, and then they both
leaned against the fence, and laughed.
“I was coming after you, Johnny,” began Jim, and then he stopped
to breathe again.
“Well, you found me!” said Johnny, who, being smaller and lighter
than Jim, was first to recover from the shock, “but tell me what it is,
please, quick, for I’m in a hurry!”
And almost without knowing that he did so, he squared his elbows
to run on again. Jim saw the motion, and his face clouded over.
 “I can’t tell you everything I had to say in half a second, so I’ll not
bother you; maybe, I can find somebody else,” and Jim began to
walk off.
Johnny sprang after him, caught his arm, and gave him a little
shake, saying as he did so,—
“See here, Jim Brady, if you don’t stop putting on airs at me like
this, I’ll—I’ll—” and he stopped for want of a threat dire enough for
the occasion.
“I would,” said Jim, dryly, “but if I were you, I’d find out first what
airs was—were—and who was putting ’em on. I see you’re in a
hurry, and I’m sorry I stopped you. Let go of my arm, will you?”
“No, I won’t!” said Johnny, “so there now! And if you won’t be
decent, and turn ’round, and walk towards home with me, why, I’ll
walk along with you till you tell me what you were going to say. I
never did see such a—” and again Johnny stopped for want of a
word that suited him.
Jim made no answer, and his face remained sullen, but he turned
at once, and the two walked on arm in arm, toward Johnny’s home.
“Well,” said Johnny, presently, “we’re ’most there. Are you going to
say anything?”
“I wouldn’t, if it was for myself—not if you hung on to me for a
week!” and Jim’s face worked; Johnny even thought his voice
trembled a little.
“Taffy’s sick,” continued Jim, “and I can’t find out what ails him.
He says he don’t hurt anywhere, but he won’t eat, and as far as I
can make out he don’t sleep much, and he feels as if he was red
hot. And all he cares for is when I am with him evenings, and read
to him. That old Turkess where I have the room sort of looks after
him; she knows I’ll look after her if she doesn’t! But it must be
lonesome for the little chap all day, and yet I daresn’t lose any more
time with him than I do now, or I wouldn’t have the money—I mean
—oh, I can’t leave my business for anybody! And I thought, maybe,
you’d give him an hour two or three times a week, Johnny; so I set
a fellow to mind my stand, and if you can come, and your mother
doesn’t mind, I’ll show you the way.”
Johnny was silent a moment. How the sun shone, and how the
pond sparkled and glittered! Three or four of the boys, at a distant
street corner, beckoned frantically to him with their skates, to hurry
him.
Perhaps you think Johnny must have been very selfish, to hesitate
even for a moment, but then, you know, you are looking at him, and
not at yourself! Before Jim’s sensitive pride had time to take fire
again, the answer was ready.
“I’ll do it, Jim,” said Johnny, cordially, “if you’ll wait half a second
till I ask mamma—she always likes to know where I am.”
“Thank you,” said Jim, briefly, and then, with a sudden thought,
he asked,—
“Have you had your dinner yet?”
“Why no! I forgot all about it!” and Johnny suddenly realized that
he was alarmingly hungry.
“You see,” he added, “I had a big sandwich at
recess, and somebody gave me an apple, so I
can just ask mamma to save me something, and
go right along with you; you can’t be away from
your stand all the afternoon, I suppose.”
“You’ll do nothing of the kind!” said Jim, firmly,
“I’ll wait for you out here, so go in, and eat as
much as you can hold. I’m in no hurry
whatsomever!”
And Jim leaned against the fence with as much
composure as if the keen March wind had been a June zephyr.
He felt a little surprise, however, when Johnny, without another
word, marched into the house and left him there; a surprise which
did not last long, for in less than five minutes, Mrs. Leslie’s hand was
on his shoulder, and she was gently pushing him up the steps, and
into the dining-room.
“Oh please, Mrs. Leslie!” and Jim’s face grew suddenly red, “I’m
not fit. I didn’t wait to fix up—I’m not a bit hungry!”
His distress was so evidently real, that Mrs. Leslie paused, half
way to the table.
“I’ll compromise,” she said, laughing, “since you are too proud to
come in anything but full dress, you shall hide yourself here, and
we’ll pretend you didn’t come in at all!”
She opened the door into the neat, cosey
inner kitchen. No one was there, and Jim
sat down by the fire with a feeling of great
relief. For dinner had just been put on table,
in the dining-room; Tiny, in spotless white
apron and shining yellow curls, stood by her
chair, and he murmured to himself,—
“I’d ’a’ choked to death, first mouthful!”
The dining-room door was not quite
closed, and presently he heard Tiny saying,—
“Oh, please let me, mamma! I want to—please!”
And then she came softly in with a tempting plate of dinner, which
she set upon the table.
“There!” she said, “there’s some of everything there, except the
pudding, and I’ll bring you that when we have ours. I’m so glad you
came to-day, because there’s a Brown Betty. I think you’d better sit
this way, hadn’t you? Then you can look at the fire; it looks nice,
such a cold day.”
It was all said and done with such simple sweetness and good-
will, that Jim’s defences gave way at once.
 “Thank you, Miss Tiny,” he said, with the grave politeness which
never failed him when he spoke either to her or to her mother, and
he sat down at once in the place she had chosen—for worlds he
would not have wounded that gentle spirit. And he found it no
hardship, after all, to eat the dinner she had brought him; what
“growing boy” could have resisted it?
After dinner, when the comforting food
had done more than he knew to put him in
good-humor, Mrs. Leslie asked him many
questions about Taffy, filling a basket as she
talked, with jelly and delicate rusks and
oranges. A few of the questions were by
way of making sure that the place was a
safe one for Johnny. She meant to go
herself, the next day, to see the little boy,
but she did not wish to interfere to-day with
the arrangement which Jim had made. So the two boys went off
together, and Jim, sure now of Johnny’s good-will, and a little
ashamed of his own “cantankerousness,” as he called it to himself,
talked about Taffy all the way, but only as they neared the door of
the dreary lodging-house did Jim succeed in saying what lay nearest
his heart.
“I haven’t told you the worst of it, Johnny,” he said, in a troubled
voice, from which all the usual mocking good-nature was gone, “the
little chap has somehow found out that he’s dying, and—he’s afraid!”
There was no time for more; they were already on the stairs, and
Johnny gave a sort of groan; who was he to comfort that little
trembling soul?
“Oh,” he thought, “if mamma were only here!”
 CHAPTER XIV.
THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW.

he room they entered was much more neat

and clean than Johnny had expected to find
it, and there was even some attempt at
decoration, in the way of picture cards and
show bills tacked upon the dingy walls. A
stove, whose old age and infirmities were
concealed by much stove-blacking, held a
cheerful little fire, and the panes of the one
window were bright and clear. The bed,
which looked unpleasantly hard, and was scantily furnished, had
been pulled to a place between the fire and the window, and Taffy,
sitting up against a skilfully arranged chair-back and two thin pillows,
looked eagerly towards the door as it opened. The sharp, thin little
face brightened with a smile, as he saw Jim, but he did not speak.
“Taffy,” said Jim, gently, “here’s Johnny
Leslie. He’s come to see you, and read to
you a little bit. He’s Miss Tiny’s brother, you
know, and Mrs. Leslie’s son. Won’t you
shake hands with him?”
Taffy held out his hand, nodding to
Johnny with much friendliness.
“Oh, yes,” he said, in a voice so low and
hoarse that Johnny bent nearer to catch his
meaning. “I’ll shake hands with him; I
thought it was some strange boy, but that’s different.”
“And see,” continued Jim, opening the basket, and setting out the
things upon a rough pine table, which held a pitcher of water and a
 tumbler, two or three medicine bottles, a
very small orange, and a big red apple,
which Johnny recognized; he had given it to
Jim a day or two ago. The little fellow’s
eyes sparkled as he saw the pretty eatables
come out of the basket, one after another,
and he stroked the glass which held the
bright-colored jelly, saying hoarsely,—
“That’s pretty, that is. His folks must be
rich,” and he nodded toward Johnny.
“I must go now,” Jim said, not noticing this last remark of Taffy’s,
“but Johnny will stay awhile, and after that it won’t be long till I’m
home. Be a good boy, and don’t bother Johnny; he’s not used to you
like I am.”
Jim went, with a very friendly goodbye; and Johnny was left alone
with Taffy, who eyed him shyly, but did not speak.
“Wouldn’t you like some of this jelly?” asked Johnny, hastily; “I
can put some in this empty tumbler for you, you know, so as not to
muss it all up at once.”
Taffy shook his head.
“Well, then, an orange?” went on Johnny. “I know a first-rate way
to fix an orange, the way they do ’em in Havana, where they grow.
Papa showed me, the winter he went there. Shall I do one for you? I
don’t believe you ever ate one that way.”
Taffy nodded eagerly, opening his parched lips, but still not
speaking. So Johnny hunted up a fork, and then, with Taffy’s knife,
cut a round, thick slice of skin, about the size of a half-dollar, off the
stem and blossom ends of the orange. These pieces of skin he put
together, and stuck the fork through them. Then he peeled half the
orange, cutting off all the white skin, as well as the yellow, then he
stuck it on the fork, at the peeled end, finished peeling it, and
handed it to Taffy, who had been looking on with breathless interest.
 “There!” said Johnny, “you just hold on to the fork, and bite, and
you’ll get all the good part of the orange, and none of the bad.”
“Now wasn’t that first-rate?” he asked, as Taffy handed him back
the fork, with the “bad” of the orange on it.
Taffy laughed delightedly. His shyness was quite gone, but Johnny
saw that his breath came with difficulty, and that it cost him an
effort to speak.
“When I get well, and go sellin’ papers again,” he said, “I’ll fix up
oranges that way on sticks. Folks would buy ’em, hot days; now
don’t you think they would?”
“Why, yes,” said Johnny, seeing he was expected to answer, “I
daresay they would.”
“The old woman down there,” and Taffy pointed to the floor, “she
says I’m dyin’. Don’t you think she’s just tryin’ to scare me? Now
don’t you, Johnny Leslie?”
Johnny was dismayed. What should he say? He sent up a swift,
silent prayer for help, then he spoke, very gently.
“Taffy, you’ve heard Jim tell about my mother, haven’t you?”
Taffy silently nodded.
“Well, suppose, while I’m here, my sister Tiny was to come, to say
mother wanted me to go home; do you think I’d be afraid to go—
home, to mother and father, you know?”
Taffy shook his head.
“Then, don’t you see,” pursued Johnny, and in his earnestness he
took the little hot hands, and held them fast. “That when our Father
in Heaven says He wants us, we needn’t be afraid to go? Mother
says we oughtn’t to be—not if we love Him.”
Johnny was afraid that Taffy would not understand, but he did.
Since Jim had taken charge of him, he had begun to go to Sunday-
school, and having quick ears and a good memory, he had learned
fast.
 “But s’pos’n we ain’t minded him?” and the feverish grasp on
Johnny’s hands grew tighter.
“We haven’t minded Him, any of us,” said Johnny, softly, “and
that’s why our Saviour died for us. Now see here, Taffy; if a big boy
was going to whip you, because you’d taken something of his, and
Jim stepped up, and said, ‘Here, I’ll take the whipping, if you’ll let
him go,’ then you wouldn’t be whipped at all. Don’t you see?”
“I didn’t know it meant just that,” said Taffy, “what made Him do
it, anyhow, if He didn’t have to?”
“Because He loved us—because He was so sorry for us!” Johnny’s
voice trembled as he said this; it seemed to him that he had never
before fully realized what the Saviour had done for the world. “He
wanted to have us all safe and happy with Him in Heaven, after we
die, and it’ll be only our own fault, if we don’t get there—just the
same as if a wonderful doctor was to come in, right now, and tell
you to take his medicine, and he’d make you well, and then you
wouldn’t take the medicine.”
“But I would, though!” said Taffy, eagerly, and as if he half
believed it would happen. “I’d take it, if it was ever so nasty, but the
doctor Jim fetched, he said he couldn’t do nothing for me, only make
me a little easier. Do you s’pose he knew?”
“Yes,” said Johnny, gravely, “I’m afraid he did, Taffy; but we
needn’t be afraid, either of us. The Saviour is stronger, and cares
more about us, than all the doctors in the world.”
Taffy did not answer; he lay back, looking up through the window
at the little patch of blue sky that showed between the tops of the
tall houses. Johnny could not tell whether or not his words had given
any comfort. He read a little story from a paper Tiny had sent, and
Taffy listened with eager interest; then a distant clock struck four,
and Johnny rose to go. Taffy made no objection to being left alone,
but when Johnny took his hand for goodbye, he said,—
“Come to-morrow. I want to hear more about Him.”
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