The Randall County news. (Canyon City, Tex.) 1908-1926, 1909-12-24
John Wilson's
Ambition
He Found a Work For Which
He Was Fitted.
By FRANK II. SWEET.
By FRANK II. SWEET.
Copyright. 1909, by American Press
Association.

at eighteen. leaving college and tax
Ing up the relns which his father haG
dropped II Was not 10 be temporary
be understood. but complete renun
citation of all his plans-of his life a.
he had hoped 10 make IT There Were
six children and a rundown farm and
mother whose waning strength
should be nourished rather than
drawn upon. II was the only way
better TO sacrifice his ambition than
that they should be forced upon char
ity. In bis OVID plans it would be
years before he could educate himself
and make a living
So the books were laid aside. and he
forced his energy 10 study of the
farm and its possibilities His father
had been content with the old meth
DDS and had fallen behind He must
push on into the new, not only for the
necessary livelihood but for The grow
ing needs Of his brothers and sisters
and their education A city was hui
few miles away, and gradually he
fortified III" barren fields Ia renewed
productivenesS 10 such vegetables as
the markets called for
He was shy by nature, a scholar
whose world was in retirement with
his books. but now he forced himself
upon a peddler's cart and sold vegeta-
bles and frnit from house 10 honse.
bargaining for the needs at home He
senf,Drni biS 90 ,r,iear .,,l
planned for their shrewd expenditure,
and he lost sleep in the study of con
verting soil and sunshine and lahor
into hard. necessary dollars.
But with " al the road was difficult
and sometimes almost beyond bis pow
er az endurance. Ten years aud he
still wore he coat he had worn hack
from college. now frayed and patched:
the mortgage on the farm remained
the same. and he still went from house
10 house selling vegetables, not vet
able 10 hire boy to do the marketing
But on the other hand, the brothers
and sisters were all he could have
wished. rhe oldest boy was working
his way through an agricultural col
lege. with an ambition for a higher ed
ucatiou beyond: the next was in
technical school at Philadelphia study
ing to be civil engineer one cir
was at the state normal. another learn
ing 10 be a nurse. while the two young
est were sim too young 10 hay.
thought much abonf their future. bur
,s..,
helped him. and from time to time all
OF them had entreated Ia be allowed
10 do their share in the support. But
here he was tiru They should have
what hr had missed he declared. and
ii was too Iale tor him to 20 back and
tax" up life a. he mad left it.
So The years went on, and be toiled
early and late and planned and bar
gained aud improved. but for all that
he WIS not "a farmer aud never could
lie. for it was his will in the work.
not his heart lie never went TO
house 10 ask trade but what be Shrank
back as from a blow. and long after
his hands had grown hard and knotty
his thoughts would wander surrepti-
tiousiy % The books he had laid aside
Perhaps il WAS his recognized dis
taste for the work that made him do
il SO thoroughly and couscienuously.
There was not farm in the country
round that was better managed or that
produced more for its size. John Whit
son was d crank. The neighbors said.
which meant that be was always Oh
the lookou, for weak. sensitive places .
in fence cor field. as in himself, that
could he strengthened by timely re.
newal or patching. or tuuin. up II /
there was any durv he Shrauk from, |
that was the duty he was apt to seek 4
first and do most thoroughly.
By The time the Younger children
were ready for the final Studies which /
were 10 bit them for their chosen call /
ings the college graduate and the civil .
engineer were al work and sending .
their mites iu the home fund. And .
with the coming II these mites came
Johns first opporfu.itv 10 tgrp his at