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Page 76
"I told her I supposed it was because we were all such copy-cats. First
we imitated the old Vicar of Wakefield so many years that it gave us a
cheerful bent of mind, and lately we'd taken the story of Aldebaran to
heart and were imitating him and the other Jester. She said, 'Commend me
to copy-cats. I'm glad I discovered the species.'
"I am telling you all this in order that you may see that we have
managed to keep inflexible to the extent of impressing our neighbours,
at least, and there is no need for you to worry about us any more. I
hope you will accept Eugenia's invitation and spend that two weeks at
the sea-shore in the idlest, most care-free way you can think of, and
not give one anxious thought to us. True, our day of great things is
over. We no longer lay large plans, and sweep the heavens with a
telescope, looking for pleasure on a large scale, among the stars. But
it is wonderful how many little things we find now that we used to let
slip unheeded, since we've gone to looking for them with a microscope."
Two days later another letter was sent post-haste to Joyce, written in a
hurried scrawl with a pencil, clearly showing Mary's agitation.
"Something exciting has happened at last! The Leverings brought a friend
to call this afternoon, who has just arrived in Lone-Rock to spend the
rest of vacation with them; a grumpy, middle-aged, absent-minded, old
professor from the East, who seemed rather bored with us at first. But
when he was taken out to the side-show in the 'Zoo,' he waked up in a
hurry. His very spectacles gleamed and his gray whiskers bristled with
interest when he saw my assortment of pressed wild-flowers from the
desert, and the collection of butterflies and trap-door spiders and
other insects in my 'Buggery,' as Norman calls it. When I showed him all
the data I had collected from text-books and encyclop�dias about the
insect and plant life of the desert, and all the notes I had made myself
from my own observations, he actually whistled with surprise. He sat
and fired questions at me like a Gatling gun for nearly an hour,
winding up by asking me if I had any idea what a valuable collection I
had made, and if I would be willing to part with it.
"Then it came out that he is a noted naturalist who is preparing a set
of books on insects and their relation to plant life, and is spending a
year in the West on purpose to study the varieties here. Some of my
specimens are so rare he has not come across them before, and he said my
notes would save him weeks of time--in fact, would be like a blazed
trail through a wilderness, showing him where to go to verify my
observations without loss of time.
"Of course, when it comes to the pinch, I _don't_ want to part with my
beautiful collection of specimens. It means a great deal to me; I was
over four years making it. But it is too great an opportunity to let
pass. He is to name the price to-morrow after he has made a careful
estimate, so I don't know how much he will offer, but Mrs. Levering says
it is sure to be far more than an inexperienced teacher or stenographer
could earn in a whole summer.
"How I have worried and fretted and fumed because I had no way to make
money here! Now besides what I get for my specimens I am to have a
chance to earn a little more. Professor Carnes will be here till cold
weather, and since I can give him 'intelligent assistance,' as he calls
it, he will have work for me in connection with his notes, copying and
indexing them, and gathering new material.
"Now you can go back to saving up for your year abroad, and give the
family the honour of claiming _one_ member with a career. Jack is really
going back to the office the first of September for a part of every day,
at quite a respectable salary considering the length of time he will
work. He's too valuable a man to the company for them to part with. As
for me, I'm _sure_ something else will turn up as soon as my work for
Professor Carnes comes to an end. We Wares can look back over so many
_Eben-Ezers_ raised to mark some special time when Providence came to
our rescue, that we have no right ever to be discouraged again.
Professor Carnes is my last one, though nobody would be more astonished
than he to know that he is regarded in the light of an old Israelitish
Memorial stone. You will not have such frequent letters from me after
this, as I shall be so busy. But Jack says he will attend to my
correspondence. He is beginning to write a little every day. Yesterday
he wrote to Betty. He has enjoyed her letters so much, telling about
her lovely time up in the Maine woods. I am so glad you are to have a
vacation, too. So no more at present from your happy little sister."
Like all people who are limited to one hobby, and who pursue one line of
study for years regardless of other interests, Professor Carnes took
little notice of anything outside of his especial work. If Mary had been
a new kind of bug he would have studied her with profound interest,
spending days in learning her peculiarities, and sparing no pains in
classifying her and assigning her to the place she occupied in the great
plan of creation. But being only a human being she attracted his
attention only so far as she contributed to the success of his work.
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