LUTHER BURBANK, THE MAN 



ideals toward which he was working, and he 

 kept on and up amidst many discouragements. 

 He learned soon, however, that, as there were 

 seven days in the week and as it cost him at 

 least fifty cents a day to live, he could not get 

 along very satisfactorily on a six -day wage of 

 fifty cents. The bent of the boy's mind now 

 seemed to be toward what his relatives and 

 friends thought was invention, but which, 

 though it included invention in the ordinary 

 meaning of the word, was far beyond this in 

 scope. When still younger, he was standing 

 one day by the side of a number of his elders 

 who were vainly trying to put together a 

 mower. One piece of the machinery would 

 not fit, and, after much trying, they were giv- 

 ing up, when the boy, rarely venturing a word 

 of advice to an elder, stepped forward and sug- 

 gested how the piece should go. It was put 

 in place and the machine moved off. 



When asked how he knew the piece of iron 

 belonged in that particular place, he replied 

 laconically: 



"Because you couldn't put it anywhere 

 else!" 



Studying how he might make both ends 



7 



