I could not
have spent one cent during that time, for I carried the whole sum home;
but I do not remember that I was conscious of any want. The hours on the
farm were not short; an eight-hour day would have been considered but a
half-day. We worked from sun to sun, and I grew and knew no sorrow or
oppression. The next year I received the munificent wage of $6 a month,
and the following year, $8.
In after years, in brick-yards, sawmills, lumber woods, or harvest
fields, there was no arbitrary limit put upon the amount of work to be
done. If I chose to do the work of a man and a half, I got $1.50 for
doing it, and it would have been a bold and sturdy delegate who tried to
hold me from it. I felt no need of help from outside. I was fit to care
for myself, and I minded not the long hours, the hard work, or the hard
bed. This life was preliminary to a fuller one, and it served its use.
I know what tired legs and back mean, and I know that one need not have
them always if he will use the ordinary sense which God gives. Genius,
or special cleverness, is not necessary to get a man out of the rut of
hard manual labor.
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