LUTHER BURBANK His BOYHOOD 



ON A 

 MASSACHUSETTS FARM 



THE CONCEPTION OF AN IDEA 

 AND THE BIRTH OF A GREAT AMBITION 



HAD my father been a superstitious man my 

 advent would perhaps have been unwel- 

 come, for I was my father's thirteenth 

 child. I have no reason to suppose, however, that 

 this fact was ever given a thought. It is indeed 

 very likely that at the time of my coming no one 

 counted heads carefully enough to find out that 

 the newcomer had drawn the traditionally unlucky 

 number. 



In point of fact, it was only by reference to the 

 Family Bible that anyone was likely to know the 

 full roll of the fraternity, for several of my father's 

 children had died in infancy, and some of the old- 

 est ones had gone out into the world before the 

 date of my arrival. 



I speak of "my father's children" because my 

 mother was his third wife, and she had borne 

 only two children before my birth, both of whom 



[VOLUME XII CHAPTER I] 



