After a few months he left the farm hoping to find work in Philadelphia. His search for work was fruitless, and he was almost down to his last dollar when a farmer offered him a job in Maryland, which he gladly accepted. At the end of a month he drew his wages and went to New York. Here he found thousands of unemployed, but he secured a job helping some sailors who were painting a ship. At the end of three weeks he had thirty dollars in his pocket, and besides he had learned a considerable amount about painting. He earned five dollars by painting a baker’s wagon, and he managed to keep himself going by doing odd jobs with the paint brush. As winter approached jobs became scarce, and as his room was cold and cheerless, he spent most of his time walking vigorously in order to keep warm. Then a bright idea struck him. Instead of walking around aimlessly he followed the coal carts and when they dropped the coal on the sidewalks--as they did then--he promptly rang the door-bell and offered to transfer the coal to the cellar. Often after putting the coal in its place he would suggest to the owner that the cellar needed painting and would offer to do it. Many a job he secured in this way, and while his living was somewhat precarious he did not starve, and his room-rent was always paid on time. Not far away from Michael’s lodgings was the Cooper Union, with its fine library and evening classes for those who wished to improve their education. He gladly took advantage of this and, no matter how hard he had worked during the day, he was sure to be found eagerly scanning books in the evenings and asking a hundred questions about things which were not clear to him. During these days wherever he went he carried with him a pocket dictionary and turned over its pages dozens of times each day. He attended the church where the great Henry Ward Beecher was preaching, and made a note of all the words he did not understand. It is not to be wondered at that not only did he become well able to carry on conversations in English, but that soon he had a much better knowledge of that language than most boys born in America.