positive that he detected
the taint. He wondered how far it carried, and if J. A. Lamb would smell
it, too, out on his own lawn a mile to the north; and if he did, would
he guess what it was? Then Adams laughed at himself for such nonsense;
but could not rid his nostrils of their disgust. To him the whole town
seemed to smell of his glue-works.

Nevertheless, the glue was making, and his sheds were busy. "Guess
we're stirrin' up this ole neighbourhood with more than the smell," his
foreman remarked one morning.

"How's that?" Adams inquired.

"That great big, enormous ole dead butterine factory across the street
from our lot," the man said. "Nothin' like settin' an example to bring
real estate to life. That place is full o' carpenters startin' in to
make a regular buildin' of it again. Guess you ought to have the
credit of it, because you was the first man in ten years to see any
possibilities in this neighbourhood."

Adams was pleased, and, going out to see for himself, heard a great
hammering and sawing from within the building; while carpenters were
just emerging gingerly upon the dangerous roof. He walked out over the
dried mud of his deep lot, crossed the street, and spoke genially to
a workman who was removing the broken glass of a window on the ground
floor.

"Here! What's all this howdy-do over here?"

"Goin' to fix her all up, I guess," the workman said. "Big job it is,
too."

"Sh' think it would be."

"Yes, sir; a pretty big job--a pretty big job. Got men at it on all four
floors and on the roof. They're doin' it RIGHT."

"Who's doing it?"

"Lord! I d' know. Some o' these here big manufacturing corporations, I
guess."

"What's it going to be?"

"They tell ME," the workman answered--"they tell ME she's goin' to be a
butterine factory again. Anyways, I hope she won't be anything to smell
like that glue-works you got over there not while I'm workin' around
her, anyways!"

"That smell's all right," Adams said. "You soon get used to it."

"You do?" The man appeared incredulous. "Listen! I was over in France:
it's a good thing them Dutchmen never thought of it; we'd of had to
quit!"

Adams laughed, and went back to his sheds. "I guess my foreman was
right," he told his wife, that evening, with a little satisfaction.
"As soon as one man shows enterprise enough to found an industry in a
broken-down neighbourhood, somebody else is sure to follow. I kind of
like the look of it: it'll help make our