A Governors Gift 



hoe was duly bought and placed in his 

 possession. And it was not many 

 years before a real sure-enough imple- 

 ment of the same type displaced the 

 toy the Governor had given, and a work 

 and an education as yet unfinished 

 was begun. 



The boy does not now remember just 

 what he did with that first hoe. He 

 does recollect, however, that after the 

 great occasion of its formal presenta- 

 tion his father had tried to explain its 

 real significance. 



"My boy," he said, "you- must 

 understand that the Governor did not 

 expect that you were always to keep 

 this particular hoe and try all your 

 life to earn enough with it, in working 

 for someone whose garden needed hoe- 

 ing, to make a living for yourself." 



That was a little beyond the boy's 

 depth, somewhat over his childish 

 head; but the father elaborated the 

 proposition in such manner that the 

 underlying idea was vaguely caught. 



[57] 



