Good-by, dear old Arizona. Good-by, sunny California. (Pro tem) to you both.] At last, scarcely able to stand up, we reached Madera. Afraid that the Sugar Pine Company would indict us for deserting, we spent our last penny for a ticket to Fresno, Cal. We got a job at Madera's planing mill in Fresno and found a lodging house at No. 846 I street, run by a Mrs. Dora Harrell, a widow. Two days later we were discharged, Mr. Madera saying that we were the slowest two young men that had ever worked for him. The fact is, the two days he paid us for was like finding money, for after that long tramp in the Sugar Pine Mountains we were too weak to work. It was about all we could do to stand around the mill and watch the others work. Franck now placed his grip in the express office and bade me good-bye, saying he was going to hobo it to Los Angeles. I refused to accompany him, relating my "Robert Smith" experience, but he was bent upon going, and with tears in our eyes we parted. Not long after I was taken ill, and for two weeks I was unable to leave my room. My money was all gone and I was in debt to my landlady for board. About this time I received another long letter from my brother, offering me a half interest in his grocery store, and advising me to come at once if I expected to find mother alive. I lost no time in telegraphing the following reply: "Will come immediately if you send ticket; otherwise I can't." Late the next day I received a telegraph order for ninety dollars. The telegraph company wrote out a check, which I got the Principal of the Fresno Business College to endorse. I purchased a ticket via Denver and Chicago, and after a long and tedious journey, I arrived in Tarboro. My mother was sleeping and dreaming of her boy in far off sun-bathed California, when, with a light kiss, I awoke her. I will never forget the glad cry that escaped her lips when she saw me home once again, safe and sound. It was Horace Greeley, the great American author, who said: "Young men go West." From what little I saw of this great, grand country beyond the Mississippi, I think it is good advice. There are more opportunities to make money and more money to be made, and the climate is better; but unless father and mother are dead, take the well-meant advice of a young man who has recently been West; only to learn that there was but one place on earth--"HOME." THE END. San Pedro, Cal., Aug. 8th, 1906. M. F. Vanranker, Esq., Supt. Dear Sir:--This will introduce Mr. John Peele, who would like to make application with you for work. I know him personally, and can recommend him to be an honest, sober, and energetic young man, and will make you an A.1. conductor, for he is very bright and quick. If you can use him you will make no mistake. Very respectfully yours, J. W. JENNINGS. St. Louis, Mo., Jan. 29, 1907. My Dear Friend Jack: