Salesmen
going from village to village to sell ploughs became under his
influence filled with the zeal of missionaries carrying the gospel to
the unenlightened. Stockholders of the plough company rushing to him
with rumours of coming business disaster stayed to write checks for
new assessments on their stock. He was a man who gave men back their
faith in business and their faith in men.
To David plough-making was an end in life. Like other men of his type
he had other interests but they were secondary. In secret he thought
of himself as capable of a broader culture than most of his daily
associates and without letting it interfere with his efficiency tried
to keep in touch with the thoughts and movements of the world by
reading. After the longest and hardest day in the office he sometimes
spent half the night over a book in his room.
As Margaret Ormsby grew into womanhood she was a constant source of
anxiety to her father. To him it seemed that she had passed from an
awkward and rather jolly girlhood into a peculiarly determined new
kind of womanhood over night. Her adventurous spirit worried him. One
day he had sat in his office reading a letter announcing her
homecoming. The letter seemed no more than a characteristic outburst
from an impulsive girl who had but yesterday fallen asleep at evening
in his arms.
Pages:
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193