"He must have been a great coward," I said.
"To be sure he was; but then you might be if you pricked your finger
with the thorns of a rose, or had to do something in the garden when it
was freezing hard, eh?"
"I don't think I should be," I replied.
"But you must think," he said. "It's very nice to see flowers blooming
and fruit fit to pick with the sun shining and the sky blue; but life is
not all summer, my boy, is it? There are wet days and storms, and rough
times, and the flowers you see blossoming have been got ready in the
cold wintry weather, when they were only seeds, or bare shabby-looking
roots."
"Yes, I know that," I said.
"And you think you would like to come?"
"Yes, sir."
"What for? to play in the garden, and look on while the work is done?"
"I think I should be ashamed to do that," I said; "it would be so lazy.
If you please, Mr Brownsmith, I've got to work and do something, and if
you will have me, I should like to come."
"Well, well," he said, "mine's a good business and profitable and
healthy, and there are times when, in spite of bad crops, bad weather,
and market losses, I thank God that I took to such a pleasant and
instructive way of getting a living."
"It is instructive then, sir?" I said.
"Instructive, my lad!" he cried with energy. "I don't know any business
that is more full of teaching. I've been at it all my life, and the
older I grow the more I find there is to learn."
"I like that," I said, for it opened out a vista of adventure to me that
seemed full of bright flowers and sunshine.
"A man who has brains may go on learning and making discoveries, not
discoveries of countries and wonders, but of little things that may make
matters better for the people who are to come after him. Then he may
turn a bit of the England where he works into a tropical country, by
covering it over with glass, and having a stove; then some day, if he
goes on trying, he may find himself able to write FRHS at the end of his
name."
"And did you, sir?"
"No," he said, "I never did. I was content with plodding. I'm a
regular plodder, you see; so's Samuel."
"Is he, sir?" I said, for he evidently wanted me to speak.
"Yes, a regular plodder. Well, there, my boy, we'll see. Don't you be
in a hurry; wait and see if your relatives are going to do anything
better for you. If they are not, don't you be in a hurry."