Ted and the Telephone | Page 7

Or:
"Mr. Stevens and I shall be busy this morning checking up the pay roll.
Suppose you have an eye on the hilling up of the potatoes, Ted. Show
the men how you want it done and start them at it. I'll be over later to
see how it's going."
Frequently, instead of working, the boy was called in to give an opinion
on some agricultural matter with which he had had experience.
"We are finding white grubs in the corner of the Pine Lea garden. They
are gnawing off the roots of the plants and making no end of trouble.
What did you do to get rid of them when you were up in Vermont?"
"Salt and wood ashes worked better than anything else," Ted would
reply modestly. "It might not be any good here but we had luck with it
at home."
"We can try it, at least. You tell Mr. Stevens what the proportions are
and how you applied it."
And because the advice was followed by a successful extermination of
the plague, the lad's prestige increased and he was summoned to future
conclaves when troublesome conditions arose.
Now and then there was a morning when Mr. Stevens would remark to
Mr. Wharton:
"I've got to go to the Falls to-day to see about some freight. Ted Turner
will be round here, though, and I guess things will be all right. The men
can ask him if they want anything."
And so it went.
First Ted filled one corner, then another. He did errands for Mr.

Wharton, very special errands, that required thought and care, and
which the manager would not have entrusted to every one. Sometimes
he ventured valuable suggestions which Mr. Stevens, who really had
had far less farming experience than he, was only too grateful to
follow.
If the boy felt at all puffed up by the dependence placed upon him, he
certainly failed to show it. On the contrary he did his part
enthusiastically, faithfully, generously, and without a thought of praise
or reward. Although he was young to direct others, when he did give
orders to the men he was tactful and retiring enough to issue his
commands in the form of wishes and immediately they were heeded
without protest. He never shirked the hard work he asked others to
perform but was always ready to roll up the sleeves of his blue jeans
and pitch with vigor into any task, no matter how menial it was. Had he
been arrogant and made an overbearing use of his authority, the men
would quickly have rated him as a conceited little popinjay, the pet of
the boss, and made his life miserable; but as he remained quite
unspoiled by the preference shown him and exhibited toward every one
he encountered a kindly sympathy and consideration, the workmen
soon accepted him as a matter of course and even began to turn to him
whenever a dilemma confronted them.
Perhaps Ted was too genuinely interested in what he was doing to think
much about himself or realize that the place he held was an unusual one.
At home he and his father had threshed out many a problem together
and each given to it the best his brain had to offer, without thought of
the difference in their ages. Sometimes Ted's way proved the better,
sometimes Mr. Turner's. Whichever plan promised to bring the more
successful results was followed without regard for the years of him who
had sponsored it. They were working together and for the same goal
and what did it matter which of them had proposed the scheme they
finally followed? To get the work completed and lay low the obstacles
in their path were the only issues of importance.
So it was now. Things at Aldercliffe and Pine Lea must be done and
done well, and only what furthered that end counted. Nevertheless, Ted

would not have been a human boy had he not been pleased when some
idea of his was adopted and found to be of use; this triumph, however,
was less because the programme followed was his own than because it
put forward the enterprise in hand. There was a satisfaction in finding
the key to a balking problem and see it cease to be a problem. It was
fun, for example, to think about the potatoes and then say to Mr.
Wharton:
"Do you know, Mr. Wharton, I believe if we tried a different spray on
that crop that isn't doing well it might help matters."
And when the new concoction was tried and it did help matters, what a
glow of happiness came with the success!
What wonder that as the days passed, the niche awarded the lad grew
bigger and bigger!
"There is no way you could