ure, and then went to bed. The following morning he put eggs under
several hens that wanted to set, trimmed his grape-vines, examined the
precious ginseng beds, attended his stock, got breakfast for Belshazzar
and himself, and was ready for work when the first carpenter arrived.
Laying hewed logs went speedily, and before the Harvester believed it
possible the big shingles he had ordered were being nailed on the roof.
Then came the plumber and arranged for the bathroom, and the furnace
man placed the heating pipes. The Harvester had intended the cabin to
be mostly the work of his own hands, but when he saw how rapidly
skilled carpenters worked, he changed his mind and had them finish the
living-room, his room, and the upstairs, and make over the dining-room
and kitchen.

Her room he worked on alone, with a little help if he did not know how
to join the different parts. Every thing was plain and simple, after
plans of his own, but the Harvester laid floors and made window casings,
seats, and doors of wood that the big factories of Grand Rapids used in
veneering their finest furniture. When one of his carpenters pointed
out this to him, and suggested that he sell his lumber to McLean and use
pine flooring from the mills the Harvester laughed at him.

"I don't say that I could afford to buy burl maple, walnut, and cherry
for wood-work," said the Harvester. "I could not, but since I have it,
you can stake your life I won't sell it and build my home of cheap,
rapidly decaying wood. The best I have goes into this cabin and what
remains will do to sell. I have an idea that when this is done it is
going to appear first rate. Anyway, it will be solid enough to last
a thousand years, and with every day of use natural wood grows more
beautiful. When we get some tables, couches, and chairs made from the
same timber as the casings and the floors, I think it will be fine.
I want money, but I don't want it bad enough to part with the BEST of
anything I have for it. Go carefully and neatly there; it will have to
be changed if you don't."

So the work progressed rapidly. When the carpenters had finished the
last stroke on the big veranda they remained a day more and made flower
boxes, and a swinging couch, and then the greedy Harvester kept the best
man with him a week longer to help on the furniture.

"Ain't you going to say a word about her, Langston?" asked this man as
they put a mirror-like surface on a curly maple dressing table