LUTHER BURBANK, THE MAN 



"Say, young feller, I've been watchin' you a 

 long time. You're alius attendin' to bizness. 

 But a man that kin do what you kin do oughter 

 have an easier time than you're havin'. Don't 

 you need a little extry cash once in a while?" 



Greatly interested in such a query from 

 such a man, he answered that he could use a 

 little additional money now and then, — in fact, 

 he knew where he could put a hundred dollars 

 that very day, in a place where it would bring 

 in a handsome return. 



Pulling out an old wallet, the so-called skin- 

 flint counted out two hundred dollars and 

 handed them to the astonished nurseryman. 



"No," as he drove off, "I don't want no 

 note, nor no intrust nuther: when you git 

 ready to pay it, all right. G'long, there!" 



The years now rapidly passed. The business 

 began to yield more handsomely, and yet 

 he was less and less satisfied with the outlook. 

 In the midst of the exacting demands of his 

 work, he yet found time to devote to experi- 

 mentation with new forms of plant life, — 

 always before him the supreme purpose of his 

 life. Reticent by nature, though never secre- 

 tive, he did not talk over his new ideas with 



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