w, you see!"

CHAPTER XV. TROUBLE BREWS

"Old Lem Camp," as he had been called for so many years that there
seemed no disrespect in the title, was waking up. Not many mornings was
he a lie-abed. And the lines in his forehead seemed to be smoothing out,
and his eyes had lost something of their dullness.

It was true that, at first, he wandered about the farmstead muttering
to himself in his old way--an endless monologue which was a jumble of
comment, gratitude, and the brief memories of other days. It took some
time to adjust his poor mind to the fact that he had no longer to
fear that Poverty which had stalked ever before him like a threatening
spirit.

Gratitude spurred him to the use of his hands. He was not a broken
man--not bodily. Many light tasks soon fell to his share, and Mrs.
Atterson told Hiram and Sister to let him do what he would. To busy
himself would be the best thing in the world for the old fellow.

"That's what's been the matter with Mr. Camp for years," she declared,
with conviction. "Because he passed the sixty-year mark, and it was
against the practise of the paper company to keep employees on the
payroll over that age, they turned Lem Camp off.

"Ridiculous! He was just as well able to do the tasks that he had
learned to do mechanically as he had been any time for the previous
twenty years. He had worked in that office forty years, and more, you
understand.

"That's the worst thing about a corporation of that kind--it has no
thought beyond its 'rules.' Old Mr. Bundy remembered Lem--that's all.
If he hadn't so much stock in the concern they'd turn him off, too. I
expect he knows it and that's what softened his heart to Old Lem.

"Now, let Lem take hold of whatever he can do, and git interested in
it," declared the practical Mrs. Atterson, "and he'll show you that
there's work left in him yet. Yes-sir-ree-sir! And if he'll work in the
open air, all the better for him."

There was plenty for everybody to do, and Hiram would not say the old
man nay. The seed boxes needed a good deal of attention, for they were
to be lifted out into the air on warm days, and placed in the sun. And
Old Lem could do this--and stir the soil in them, and pull out the grass
and other weeds that started.

Hiram had planted early cabbage and cauliflower and egg-plant in other
boxes, and the beets were almost big enough to transplant to the open
ground. Beets are hardy and although hair-roots are apt to form on