you'd make a good one. You seem to like the forest. But I don't believe it
is possible. The chief never hires anybody under twenty-one years of age
excepting in very unusual circumstances. In fact, I know of only two such
cases. And those two boys were almost of age and were unusualy well
qualified. I'm sorry, for I'd like to see you in the Forest Service.
Good-bye." He turned on his heel and was gone.

Lew watched the ranger until he disappeared from view. Charley scarcely
glanced at him. He was lost in thought. Evidently his thoughts were not
pleasant, for from time to time he scowled.

"Lew," he said, at length, "I never realized until this minute just what
that sign on the old hemlock meant." And he quoted: "'Everybody loses
when timber burns.' It's true. Everybody loses--positively everybody.
The sportsmen lose game, the fishermen lose fish, the towns lose their
water-supply, the mills lose their water-power, civilization loses wood.
Why, Lew, civilization's built of wood. How could we live without it? And
as for me, think what I've lost through forest fires. I've lost an
opportunity to own half of a boat. I've suffered from thirst. I've lost a
chance to catch some fish. And, Lew, I've lost a college education! I
never understood it before. If the cost of lumber hadn't gone up so much,
Dad could have paid for his house easily and helped me through college.
Now I've got to give up going to college. I've got to work two or three
years for Dad and if ever I get married and want to build a home, I see
where I've got to slave for the rest of my life to pay for the lumber
that's in it, and the wooden furnishings inside of it. Think of it, Lew!
You and I and all the rest of us have to work for years and years just to
pay for what a lot of reckless people did before we were born. It's
terrible, Lew, terrible. I've got to spend three years in a factory
because of it. I thought for a minute that I might get a job here in the