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 
