Already he had
finished a square tray and a handkerchief box. When the stool was
completed he was preparing for a more ambitious enterprise, a thing he
longed yet hesitated to venture upon--a wooden bookrack for
Mr. Croyden.
It was to be made from oak, not from the ordinary pine wood on which,
up to this time, he had been working; and it was to be a much more
elaborately finished article than anything he had undertaken. He had
delayed beginning it until the closing part of the term in order that
he might have the benefit of every atom of training he could get
before he made the first cuts in the wood. As he now framed his plans
for the making of the gift he smiled to think how impossible such a
project would have been a few months ago.
"Dad was right!" he affirmed. "Training your hands is just like
training any other part of your body. The longer and more regularly
you keep at it the more expert you get. Sloyd is no different from
rowing, or football, or tennis."
With the help of his instructor he drew his design, measured his
pattern, and sent for the wood.
Then, impatient to begin work, he waited.
Mr. Croyden's birthday he had learned came the last part of June, and
as on that date school ended he had only a short time to make his
present.
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