ted to stay there ten years; it's more than eight
now. Does the ten-year mark yet stand?"

"Yes, Al., it still stands, if nothing should interfere," said Walter.
He had never told his brother the reason back of that ten-year mark, and
he was not ready, even yet, for that. Of late he had taken to wondering
when and how the Experiment would come to its crisis. He wanted some
help just now, and here might be an opening. So he went on, "I've been
working away at several special jobs, as you know I like to do, and one
of them has a good deal to do with a young fellow named Farwell, John
Wesley Farwell, Jr., who'll be the mainstay of the best hardware store
in Delafield before long if he sticks to it. Everybody calls him 'J.W.,'
and he's the sort of boy that has always interested me, he's so
'average,'" He paused; his thoughts busy with the Experiment.

"Well," his brother broke in, after a moment, "what's this young John
Wesley Methodist been doing?"

"It isn't altogether what he has been doing, but it's what I'd like to
see him get a chance to do," explained the preacher. "He's tied to the
store and to Delafield, so far, and I've reasons for wanting him to see
some parts of this country he'll never see from Main Street in our
town."

"Well, brother mine, maybe he could be induced to leave that particular
Main Street. There's where we get the best citizens of this village. Has
he any objections to making a change--to travel, for instance?"

"I don't know," said Walter; "probably not. He's young, and has a pretty
good education. I do know that he's ambitious to make himself the best
hardware man in our section, and I believe he'll do it, in time.
Personally, I _want_ him to travel. But how would anybody go about
getting him the chance?"

Albert Drury laughed. "That's easy, only a preacher couldn't be
expected to see it. If any country boy really knows the stuff he
handles, whether it is hardware or candy or hides, he can get the chance
all right. This town wants him. Don't you know that the big wholesale
houses recruit their sales forces by spotting just such boys as your
John Wesley Farwell may be? But what do you mean by calling him average,
if he's such a keen judge of hardware?"

"Oh, well, he _is_ more than average on hardware, but he's so
beautifully average human; one of those chaps who do most of the real
work of the world."

"All right, old man; I'm not sure that I follow you; but, anyway, I may
be of some