Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1909-09-02
AN ABLE ASSISTANT,
BY ADELAIDE RUTH HILL.

pencil IN the other. \ man carrying
artists sketching materials was COM
ing down the road. He stopped and
leaned against the stone wall.
us this the Harrington place." he
asked the girl.
ut is"
1.-The old maids who owned it, |
hear, are dead, and it has passed into
the hands of a new owner. They say
mes Il globe trotter and there's no more
chance of the place being kept up than
before"
ION the contrary, L am employed to
scheme"
"You?"
You seem surprised to see a girl do
ing such work. l have just been grad
uated in the department of gardening
at - college,"
"H'm! Where are your assistants?
You can't do the job alone"
Cant get any"
How would I do"" he asked after
a pause.
"You seem to be an artist, not a tiller
Of the SOIL
Artists can't live on their artistic
productions: they must stop once in
awhile to earn some money by work"
You couldn't arm much here-only
50 a day and found"
Il could u ahead $12 q week. I'll
go to work right off if you like"
The man was engaged, the head
gardener warning him that if she
caught him dreaming over the sur
rounding scenery, which was very fine,
she would dock" his wages. He must
also agree to give her a weeks notice
before quitting. All this being ar
ranged, she set him to work digging
up the sod for il new arrangement of
the walks. 1t was hard work, and he
didn't get on very we'll. At evening
she told him he'd better give it up.
81 tell you what I'll do he said.
"1ou pay me what you are allowed
for assistants. With that I'll agree to
employ two assistants and boss them.
Thatll give you all your time for plan
ming"
He succeeded in talking her into the
scheme. though she couldn't see where
he would get help or make anything
for himself. He went to the village
that evening and the next morning
had two lusty fellows at work. He sat
in the grounds sketching. giving his
nlen occasional Instructions.
Il DECLARE" said the head gardener,
"if that isn't just like an artist. No
body IA ver tell how they live.
Well, if he doesn't make any money
it's no concern Of mine. Hes getting
the work dome"
Finding too much time fore her plan
ming, she strolled out and took Il look
at the picture he was making. The
outline of Il landscape was sketchcd
on the canvas.
II would like to know" she said,
how YOU expect to gain any money
by paying your wages to others"
Il thought that was the only way
to make mcncy-getting other people
to do the hard work and doing the
skilled part YOURSELF"
But you're not ever doing the skill
ed part"
you're doing that"
while You are
Wasting my time. admit it. This
picture will never be good for any
thing. Let's go in and try the piano."
He seemed to have his way
with her. She followed him into the
house. and. sitting before the piano.
he struck several chords.
This won't do" he said snappishly.
"The thing can't have been tuned in
years. These people can't expect you
to get on with a tin pan. What's the
agents Nance"
Before she could stop him he had
rung up the agent on the telephone,
and she was Mortified to hear him say:
Miss Kissock. the head gardener,
wants to know what you mean by
leaving the piano in such a condition?
She says If you don't have a man here
to tune it right off she'll throw up her
job"
He flung down the receiver and re-
joined her.
upon my world" she exclaimed.
"Who authorized you to say that?"
eff he doesn't have a tuner here by
tomorrow morning you needn't pay me
any wages for myself or the two as
sistants. You women are not fitted
to get on as men are. You haven't
got any sand"
where men have as much of it as
you have there's none left for us
women"
She consented to let the matter rest,
and sure enough the next morning the
piano was tuned. Then the first assist
ant gardener insisted on the head gar
dener spending the morning with him
in the music room.
Finally the grounds were laid out
on the new plan. The men the assist
ant had hired kept at work and seemed
satisfied with their pay. How their
boss managed the finances to make
anything was q mystery.
When the work was ready to turn
over to the agent the artist took his
traps and moved on. 1t seemed to the
girl that her world had moved on and