that no one envied Mr. Laurie his wealth. How
could they? One might perhaps envy Mr. Fernald, senior, or Mr.
Clarence; but never Mr. Laurie even though the Fernald fortune and all
the houses and gardens, with their miles of acreage, as well as the
vast cotton mills would one day be his. Even Ted Turner, poor as he
was, and having only the prospect of the factories ahead of him, never
thought of wishing to exchange his lot in life for that of Mr. Laurie.
He would rather toil for Fernald and Company to his dying day than be
this weak, dependent creature who was compelled to be carried about by
those stronger than himself.

Nevertheless, in spite of this, there were intervals when Ted did wish
he might exchange houses with Mr. Laurie. Not that Ted Turner coveted
the big colonial mansion, or its fountains, its pergolas, its wide
lawns; but he did love gardens, flowers, trees, and sky, and of these
he had very little. He was, to be sure, fortunate in living on the
outskirts of the village where he had more green and blue than did most
of the mill workers. Still, it was not like Vermont and the unfenced
miles of country to which he had been accustomed. A small tenement in
Freeman's Falls, even though it had steam heat and running water, was
in his opinion a poor substitute for all that had been left behind.

But Ted's father liked the new home better, far better, and so did Ruth
and Nancy, his sisters. Many a time the boy heard his father
congratulating himself that he was clear of the farm and no longer had
to get up in the cold of the early morning to feed and water the stock
and do the milking. And Ruth and Nancy echoed these felicitations and
rejoiced that now there was neither butter to churn nor hens to care
for.

Even Ted was forced to confess that Freeman's Falls had its advantages.
Certainly the school was better, and as his father had resolved to keep
him in it at least a part of the high-school term, Ted felt himself to
be a lucky boy. He liked to study. He did not like all studies, of
course. For example, he detested Latin, French, and history; but he
revelled in shop-work, mathematics, and the sciences. There was nothing
more to his taste than putting things together, especially electrical
things; and already he had tried at home several crude experiments with
improvised telegraphs, telephones, and wireless contrivances. Doubtless
he would have had many more such playthings had not materials cost so
much, mone