LUTHER BURBANK, THE MAN 



was soon called upon to put to test. The 

 country was new, and the few ranchers and 

 farmers had not yet begun to realize the pos- 

 sibilities of their region in the way of fruit 

 culture. He sought for work, that he might 

 get ahead enough to make a start as a nur- 

 seryman. He saw the possibilities of the 

 country in this line and the promise of a good 

 living, and perhaps a competence if he could 

 only get established. But work was not easy 

 to get. Day after day he sought it and failed, 

 and day by day his slender store of money 

 ran down. He did all sorts of odd jobs, many 

 of them far beyond his strength. He heard of 

 a new building to be put up in the frontier 

 town. He applied for work. He had no tools, 

 but, being promised a job if he had a shing- 

 ling hatchet, he invested nearly all of his 

 remaining funds in one, only to find, the next 

 morning, that the job had gone to some one 

 else. 



He found more steady work at last at a 

 mere pittance, cleaning out chicken-coops on 

 a chicken-ranch. The work was disagreeable 

 in the extreme, but he was willing to do any- 

 thing that was honorable. At this time he 



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