nd dragging out roots. The job
seemed endless, and his progress each day was discouragingly slow. He
had expected to get through in a month, but he soon found it would
take two. Frequently Timothy Robinson wandered by and looked at the
increasing pile of roots and the slowly extending stretch of cleared
land. But he never spoke to Ellis and made no comment on the matter to
anybody.

One evening, when the field was about half done, Ellis went home more
than usually tired. It had been a very hot day. Every bone and muscle
in him ached. He wondered dismally if he would ever get to the end of
that wretched elderberry field. When he reached home Jacob Green from
Westdale was there. Jacob lost no time in announcing his errand.

"My hired boy's broke his leg, and I must fill his place right off.
Somebody referred me to you. Guess I'll try you. Twelve dollars a
month, board, and lodging. What say?"

For a moment Ellis's face flushed with delight. Twelve dollars a month
and permanent employment! Then he remembered his promise to Mr.
Fillmore. For a moment he struggled with the temptation. Then he
mastered it. Perhaps the discipline of his many encounters with those
elderberry roots helped him to do so.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Green," he said reluctantly. "I'd like to go, but I
can't. I promised Mr. Fillmore that I'd finish cleaning up his
elderberry pasture when I'd once begun it, and I shan't be through for
a month yet."

"Well, I'd see myself turning down a good offer for Old Tom Fillmore,"
said Jacob Green.

"It isn't for Mr. Fillmore--it's for myself," said Ellis steadily. "I
promised and I must keep my word."

Jacob drove away grumblingly. On the road he met Timothy Robinson and
stopped to relate his grievances.

* * * * *

It must be admitted that there were times during the next month when
Ellis was tempted to repent having refused Jacob Green's offer. But at
the end of the month the work was done and the Fillmore elderberry
pasture was an elderberry pasture no longer. All that remained of the
elders, root and branch, was piled into a huge heap ready for burning.

"And I'll come up and set fire to it when it's dry enough," Ellis told
Mr. Fillmore. "I claim the satisfaction of that."

"You've done the job thoroughly," said Old Thomas. "There's your
sixteen dollars, and every cent of it was earned, if ever money was,
I'll say that much for you. There ain't a lazy bone in your body. If