HARD WORK
The Harkins home was a very desolate place for many days after the
funeral. Mary Black remained with the family for several days, moving
about noiselessly and attending to the multitude of details which would
otherwise go neglected at such a sad period. After the first sharp
grief had worn away, Herbert and his mother sat down and talked over
their prospects for the future. Mr. Harkins had been prudent enough to
leave a small insurance policy, made out to the order of Mrs. Harkins,
and this money proved to be of immediate assistance to the widow.
Mrs. Harkins was a firm believer in the value of education, and felt
that it was her duty to give Herbert all the schooling that was
possible even if it was necessary to make a personal sacrifice to do
so. She insisted upon his going to school for at least a year after the
death of his father. He did so and made gratifying progress; but he was
now old enough to appreciate the responsibility that rested upon him
as an only son, so just before the close of the school term he went to
his mother and said:
“See here, mother, I’ve got to help you. There is no possible way out
of it. If I can do so and continue going to school, all right; if not,
I will never return to the school.”
“What you say is probably true, my boy,” replied his mother; “but the
question is what to do and how to do it.”
“Well, suppose we settle it now,” said Herbert resolutely.
“Can’t we postpone the thing for a day or so?” asked Mrs. Harkins
anxiously.
“Yes,” responded Herbert, “we could; but there is nothing like doing
to-day, instead of postponing until to-morrow.”
“In that case,” said his mother, “I think you had better continue going
to school until the close of the present term, at least.”
“That’s bully!” exclaimed Herbert heartily. “I am going to put my mind
on my studies, and I don’t think I’ll be a blockhead when the term is
over.”
“That’s true,” responded his mother sadly. “But there is another
feature of the case that gives me great sorrow.”
“What is it?” asked Herbert.
“Your college education,” replied his mother. “You know it was your
father’s fondest wish, as well as my own, that after leaving the
Cleverly School you should take the four year course at St. Joseph’s
College. I don’t see how it can be done now.”
Herbert hung his head and said nothing. The necessity of abandoning
this cherished project was a severer blow to him than he was willing
to admit to his mother. He had dreamed of a professional career and
often thought that if he were able to go through the College he would
be fitted to take the necessary examination for either the legal or the
medical profession. But now his dream was over; he was an only son,
and his duty to his mother was clear. Mr. and Mrs. Harkins were the
parents of three other children; but each of these had died in early
infancy; and now the great heap of earth which covered the remains of
the lamented father of the house was in close proximity to the three
little mounds which were watered and kept green by the tender care and
love which only a mother can understand and give. Herbert thought of
all these things as he sat silent that day. Presently he lifted his
head and spoke to his mother.
“Mother, I am old enough to understand my duty. I wanted to go to the
College very, very much; but now I know that it is impossible. We must
meet adversity, and meet it bravely.”
Her only answer was to embrace the boy who was acquiring manliness at
such a rapid rate.
The school question for the term having been settled, the next question
was to consider what steps could be taken to increase their very small
income. The subject having been opened, was discussed at various times
during the next two weeks. There was a twenty acre farm adjoining the
little home of the Harkins. It came up against the little vegetable
garden which Mr. Harkins had cultivated with care and profit during
his lifetime. The tenant of the large tract had been unfortunate, and
he was anxious to sub-let his lease for a very modest sum of money.
Herbert consulted with Mr. Coke, the lawyer, regarding the matter, and
after some days it was decided to purchase the lease, which had about
two years to run.
The first step in the new life was the engaging of a farmhand to do
the heavy work on the twenty acre tract. A reliable, industrious
man was secured for a very reasonable amount of wages; but with the
understanding that he would be kept for at least two years. The work
was begun under pleasant auspices. After it had proceeded a few weeks,
it was decided that Herbert should get as much schooling as he could
in the meantime. It must be admitted that he attended school rather
irregularly during this period. It was at this time of his life that
he learned in a manner never to be forgotten that this is a world of
hard work. Often he got out of bed before dawn in order to ride the
horse to plough among the growing corn, potatoes and hops. The program
was to get as much ploughed by ten o’clock in the morning as could be
hoed during the remainder of that day. After this Herbert would start
for school, where he sometimes arrived as the afternoon session was
half through. In winter his work was lighter, but the snow was often
deep and drifted. The cold was intense, the north wind piercing and his
clothing so thin that he felt real discomfort.
At night, when his work was over and he had a spare hour, he made it a
habit to study the art of debating. The first book he ever owned was
the “Columbian Orator,” which was given to him by his uncle one winter
as he lay very sick with the measles. In the natural order of things
Herbert soon became recognized as the head of the house, and his mother
leaned on him for advice and accepted his decisions without question.
At the end of the first year, when Herbert balanced his carefully kept
accounts, he found that they had come out just even. It was a little
bit discouraging to find that they had made no profit from their hard
work; but it was a real consolation to know that there had been no
further drain upon the small amount of money which Mrs. Harkins had
laid aside from her husband’s insurance policy.
At the beginning of the second year of farming, Herbert learned to
his amazement that the man from whom they had purchased the unexpired
lease owed money to a number of tradesmen for implements and supplies.
These men came to him and demanded the payment of their claims; but he
was neither able nor willing to satisfy them. Herbert and his man had
finished their summer tilling and their haying when a heavy rain set in
near the end of August. The dreary character of the weather seemed to
fill him with a foreboding of approaching calamity. One night Mr. Coke
came to him with tidings that their ill fortune was about to culminate.
The following morning the sheriff and some other officials, with two
or three of the principal creditors, appeared and after formally
demanding payment of their claims, proceeded to levy on the farm stock,
implements, household effects and other worldly possessions, coupled
with a threat of arrest and imprisonment for the original tenant who
was invisible for some days.
Herbert and his mother stopped with a friendly neighbor while the
work of levying went on. In the meantime Mr. Coke had not been idle.
He denounced the proceedings as an outrage, saying that it was wrong
both in law and morals to hold Herbert and his mother responsible for
the faults or crimes of another. He did more than protest, however.
He acted and acted promptly. He went into court, explained the matter
very clearly to the Judge, and succeeded in obtaining an order by which
the levy was stopped. Herbert and his mother immediately resumed their
old life; but at the end of the year both decided that it would be
advisable to quit farming, which in their circumstances offered little
return for the hard labor involved.
The hired man, who had proven himself to be an unusually efficient
and industrious man, still had two months of his time to run. He
generously offered to release Herbert from this obligation; but the boy
had inherited his father’s trait of pluck and manliness, declined to
accept the offer. He had heard that one of the merchants in the town
who had purchased a large amount of ground on the other side of the
railroad, was anxious to have someone undertake the job of clearing
up fifty acres of the wildest land. Herbert informed his assistant of
that fact, and said that if he was willing to undertake the work he
would guarantee to give him all that they had contracted to pay in the
beginning. It was in November, and when the man and boy started to work
the snow was just going and the water and slush in some places were
knee deep.
Both were resolute, but they were indifferent choppers compared
with those who usually grapple with forests, and the job looked so
formidable that farmers and others passing along the turnpike were
accustomed to halt and predict that Herbert would be a grown man
before he saw the end of the job. But his fighting blood was up and he
determined to plod along without rest until the work was accomplished.
So they continued cutting trees and bushes, chopping up grown trunks
into small lengths, digging out rotten pines from the soil where they
had imbedded themselves, burning the brush and worthless sticks, and
carting home such wood as served for fuel. So they persevered until
the job was finally completed. Herbert received $200 for the work; and
after paying the hired man the $60 that was his due he had $140 left
to put in the family fund. There was still a balance to their credit.
Herbert was very glad the work was finished. At times he felt that
he would give way under the strain, but pluckily refused to do so.
Frequently at night the sharp lances of the Canadian thistles had to be
dug out of his festered feet with needles; but he had the stuff in him
of which successful men are made. However, two years of this sort of
toil were sufficient, and at the end of that time he cheerfully marked
“the end” at the conclusion of his experience at farming.