Dave Ranney

some of the boys fixed me up. I don't remember which side won that game, but when it was finished I went home and met mother, and the interview was not a pleasant one, though she did not give me a whipping.

I used to read novels, any number of them, in those days--all about Indians, pirates, and all those blood-and-thunder tales--lies. You can not get any good out of them, and they do corrupt your mind. I would advise the young people who read these lines, and older folks also, if this is your style of reading, to stop right where you are. Get some good books--there are plenty of them--and don't fill your mind with stuff that only unfits you for the real life of the years to come.

[Illustration: A NOON SHOP MEETING ADDRESSED BY MR. RANNEY.]

CHAPTER II

FIRST STEPS IN CRIME

I was getting tired of school and wanted to go to work. I had a good Christian man for my Sunday-school teacher, Mr. M., a fairly rich man, and I did think a good deal of him. I liked to