Where There's a Will by Eleanor Root

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jul 3, 1907

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 27.

Where There's a Will.

By Eleanor Root

(By Eleanor Root in S. S. Times.)

NOT long ago in one of our Eastern cities, prizes were offered by a benevolent and wealthy lady for the most thrifty plants grown in a certain congested district in the slums. On the day appointed for the awards, the committee began their tour of inspection. Their eyes and hearts were gladdened by the evidence of conscientious efforts at gardening in the little, restricted plots of ground, but not until the close of the day did they come across the two prize winners.

The first prize was given to a little girl, who, daily, after she had planted the seed, climbed a ladder to the roof of the poor shed where she lived, to water her pet and loosen the earth about its roots. She had no portion of ground, no sunny window in which to place it. This was all she could do. But the plant rewarded her love and care by sending out luxuriant foliage and handsome blossoms, a wonder and delight to all who saw it.

The second prize was given to a man who likewise had no plot of ground. In a broken place in the pavement about the tenement where he lived, he planted a sunflower seed. The soil was a poor clay, but he dressed it, and with the utmost care fostered the tiny green shoot which soon appeared, until it had become the glory of the alley, lifting its head regally almost to the second story windows on either side.