s along certain
lines of industry. But in this field we are supreme and have given the
world something for which we need not blush. So, say I, three cheers for
Uncle Sam! Sometime if you can manage it, make a trip through one of our
up-to-date American watch factories. Examine the numberless machines
that represent so much patient and intelligent study. Then come home
grateful to our watch pioneers for what they have handed on to us."

CHAPTER XVIII

CHRISTOPHER HAS A BIRTHDAY

While clocks and watches ticked on and rings and gemmed necklaces were
sold to covetous buyers, the year was sweeping by and May was coming.
Christopher always looked forward to this month, gay with flowers, for
with it came his birthday--a date always celebrated with rejoicing in
the Burton family.

It was the one time of year when he became of supreme importance and
when everybody in the house united to turn the world upside down for his
delight. Christmas was a general holiday. But May twentieth was his own
particular anniversary. Always there was some really worthwhile present
about which endless whispering and the greatest secrecy was maintained.
Once it had been a fine camera; once a tool chest; last year it was the
long-coveted wireless for which he had so long sighed. What, speculated
the boy, would it be this season?

Thus far he had not gleaned an inkling. There had been times when in
spite of his father's and mother's precautions to surprise him he had
had suspicions; and occasionally such suspicions had proved to be right.
His radio set, for example--he had been pretty sure it was coming, and
on May twentieth there it was! And then there had been instances when
measurements had to be taken or the size of his shoes considered, and
these inevitable hints had given away beforehand the plots his parents
were hatching.

But this year dense mystery hung like a curtain over the great day.
There was not even a mention made of it. No casual remarks were dropped
to trap him into telling what he wanted. Indeed, so dumb was every one
concerning the festival that he actually began to fear the date had been
forgotten. Of course a great deal of money had already been spent on his
eyes; he realized that. He had been to the oculist almost every week for
treatment. He knew he should be grateful for all this and he was. But
despite what it had cost, one could hardly consider it a present. Still,
as the days went by and there appeared to b