LUTHER BURBANK, THE MAN 



her family. He protested against taking it 

 because he might never be able to repay her, 

 and, indeed, there was scant hope in his 

 condition that he would live to do it. The 

 woman insisted, and the pint of milk a day 

 which she brought to him saved his life. 



The man who was to become the foremost 

 figure in the world in his line of life, and who 

 was to pave the way by his own discoveries 

 and creations for others of all lands to follow 

 in his footsteps, was a stranger in a strange 

 land, close to starvation, penniless, beset by 

 disease, hard by the gates of death. And yet 

 never for an instant did this heroic figure lose 

 hope, never did he abandon confidence in him- 

 self, not once did he swerve from the path he 

 had marked out. In the midst of all he kept 

 an unshaken faith. He accepted the trials that 

 came, not as a matter of course, not tamely, 

 nor with any mock heroics, but as a passing 

 necessity. His resolution was of iron, his will 

 of steel, his heart of gold ; he was fighting in 

 the splendid armor of a clean life. 



It was a wan and haggard figure that rose 

 at last from his sick bed and wandered from 

 place to place in search of work. Matters 



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