y fellow men.
All I do is for them. My heart is filled with feeling for the things
you see around you here, but it would be joy to me to uproot the most
beautiful plant I have if by so doing I could save you pain. Other men
have wives they love as well, little children they have fathered, big
bodies useful to the world, that are sometimes crippled with disease.
There is nothing I would not give to allay the pain of humanity. It is
not inconsistent to offer any growing thing you soon can replace, to
cure suffering. Get that idea out of your head! You said you could
worship at the shrine of the pokeberry bed, you feel holier before the
arrowhead lilies, your face takes on an appearance of reverence when you
see pink mallow blooms. Which of them would you have hesitated a second
in uprooting if you could have offered it to subdue fever or pain in the
body of the little mother you loved?"

"Oh I see!" cried the Girl. "Like everything else you make this
different. You worship all this beauty and grace, wrought by your
hands, but you carry your treasure to the market place for the good of
suffering humanity. Oh Man! I love the work you do!"

"Good!" cried the Harvester. "Good! And Ruth-girl, while you are about
it, see if you can't combine the man and his occupation a little."

CHAPTER XVI. GRANNY MORELAND'S VISIT

The following morning the Girl was awakened by wheels on the gravel
outside her window, and lifted her head to see Betsy passing with a load
of lumber. Shortly afterward the sound of hammer and saw came to her,
and she knew that Singing Water bridge was being roofed to provide shade
for her. She dressed and went to the kitchen to find a dainty breakfast
waiting, so she ate what she could, and then washed the dishes and
swept. By that time she was so tired she dropped on a dining-room window
seat, and lay looking toward the bridge. She could catch glimpses of
the Harvester as he worked. She watched his deft ease in handling heavy
timbers, and the assurance with which he builded. Sometimes he stood and
with tilted head studied his work a minute, then swiftly proceeded. He
placed three tree trunks on each side for pillars, laid joists across,
formed his angle, and nailed boards as a foundation for shingling.
Occasionally he glanced toward the cabin, and finally came swinging up
the drive. He entered the kitchen softly, but when he saw the Girl in
the window he sat at her feet.

"Oh but this is a morning, Ruth