her lot and as Mr. Stevens is short of men, I'm going to duff
in and help, even if it isn't my job. Of course I want to do my bit
when they are in a pinch. I'll see you to-morrow."

And although Laurie grumbled a good deal, he recognized the present
need, and becoming interested in the matter in spite of himself, wished
to hear the following day all about the planting. That he should
inquire greatly delighted both his father and his grandfather who had
always been anxious that he should come into touch with the management
of the estates. Often they had tried to talk to him of crops and
gardens, plowing and planting, but to the subject the heir had lent
merely a deaf ear. Now with Ted Turner's advent had come a new
influence, the testimony of one who was practically interested in
agricultural problems and thought farming anything but dull. The boy
was genuinely eager that the work of the men should be a success and
therefore when he hoped for fair weather for the haying and it seemed
to make a real difference to him whether it was pleasant or not, how
could Laurie help being eager that it should not rain until the fields
were mowed and the crop garnered into the great barns? Or when Ted was
worrying about the pests that invaded the garden, one wouldn't have
been a true friend not to ask how the warfare was progressing.

Before Laurie knew it, he had learned much about the affairs of the
estates and had become awake to the obstacles good farmers encounter in
their strife with soil and weather conditions. As a result his outlook
broadened, he became less introspective and more alive to the concerns
of those about him; and he gained a new respect for his father's and
grandfather's employees. One had much less time to be depressed and
discouraged when one had so many things to think of.

Sometimes Ted brought in seeds and showed them; and afterward a slender
plant that had sprouted; and then Mr. Hazen would join in and tell the
two boys of other plants,--strange ones that grew in novel ways. Or
perhaps the talk led to the chemicals the gardeners were mixing with
the soil and wandered off into science. Every topic seemed to reach so
far and led into such fascinating mazes of knowledge! What a surprising
place the world was!

Of course, had the Fernalds so desired they could have relieved Ted of
all his farming duties, and indeed they were sorely tempted at times to
do so; but when they saw how much better it was to keep th