First at the North Pole; Or, Two Boys in the Arctic Circle — Themes and Context

Andy was a youth of seventeen, of medium height, but with well-developed chest and muscles. His face was a round one, and usually good to look at, although at present it was drawn down because of what had just occurred.

The boy was an orphan, the son of a man who in years gone by had bought and sold lumber throughout the northern section of Maine. His mother had been taken away when he was a small lad, and then he and his father had left town and come to live in the big cabin from which Andy was now trudging so rapidly. An old colored woman had come along, to do the cooking and other household work.

A log jam on the river had caused Mr. Graham's death two years before this tale opens, and for a short time Andy had been left utterly alone, there being no near neighbors and no relatives to take care of the orphan. True, he had been offered a home by a lumber dealer of Bangor, but the man was such a harsh fellow that Andy shrank from going with him.

Then, one day, much to everybody's surprise, Josiah Graham appeared on the scene and announced his intention to settle down and live with his nephew. Josiah was an older half-brother to Andy's father, and the boy had often heard of him as a shiftless, lazy ne'er-do-well, who drifted from one town to another, seldom keeping a job longer than two or three weeks or a month. He did not drink, but he loved to smoke, and to tell stories of what he had done or was going to do.

"I'm a-goin' to take Andy in hand an' make a man of him," he declared, shortly after his arrival. "A young feller like him needs a guardeen." And then he had his trunk carted to the cabin and, without asking Andy's permission, proceeded to settle down and make himself comfortable.

At first it looked as if matters might go along smoothly enough, for Josiah Graham managed to obtain a position as time-keeper at one of the lumber camps, where Andy was employed as a chopper. But soon the man's laziness manifested itself, and when he did not do his work properly he was discharged.

"It was the boss's fault, 'twasn't mine," he told Andy, but the youth knew better. Then he got into a quarrel with the negro woman who did the housework and told her to go away.

"'Twill be one less to feed," he said to his nephew. "We can do our own work." But he did not do a stroke extra, and it fell to Andy's share to sweep, and wash dishes, and make his own bed. Uncle Si wanted him to make the other bed too, but he refused.

"If you want it made, you can make it yourself!" declared Andy, with spirit. "You are not working at the camp, while I am." This led to a lively quarrel. After that Josiah Graham did make up the bed a few times, but usually when he crawled into it at night it was in the same mussed-up condition as when he had crawled out in the morning.

Another quarrel came over the question of money. The uncle wanted Andy to hand over all his earnings, but this the lad refused to do. Josiah Graham had already gotten possession of the fifteen hundred dollars left by Andy's father, but this was lost in a wildcat speculation in lumber for which the old man was morally, if not legally, responsible. The youth felt that he must be cautious or his uncle might make him penniless.

"I'll pay the bills and give you a dollar a week," he told Josiah Graham. "That will buy those tablets you take for your dyspepsia. You had better give up smoking."

"Smoking is good for the dyspepsy," was the reply. "You give me the money an' I'll pay the bills," and then, when Andy still refused, the uncle waited until pay-day and went to the lumber camp and collected his nephew's wages. This brought on more trouble, and, because of this, Andy lost his position.