money for?"

"I heard Miss Mason saying to Miss Wright to-day at noon that Mrs.
Jordan and her son are having an awful hard winter," explained Bobby.
"Folks want to send Paul to a home, but Mrs. Jordan won't let 'em. She
wants to go out doing day's work. But she's too old. Miss Mason says
old people are so heady."

Father Blossom smiled.

"I think almost any mother, old or young, would fight to keep her son
from being placed in a home," he said gently. "Do you want to earn
money for the Jordans, Bobby?"

"Yes, sir," replied Bobby sturdily. "If you'd lend me the snow shovel,
Daddy, Palmer Davis and I figured out we could earn a lot shoveling
walks."

"Oh, no, Daddy," interposed Mother Blossom from the piano where she was
helping Meg with her music lesson and yet listening to the conversation
between Bobby and his father. "He's too little for that heavy work,
isn't he?"

"I can, too," argued Bobby heatedly. "Can't I have the shovel, Daddy?
Mother's always afraid I'm going to hurt myself. I'm not a girl."

"Well, Mother happens to be right," said Father Blossom firmly. "You
and Palmer are altogether too little to try shoveling snow from walks;
it's packed now and is work for a grown boy or man. If you had a
shovel of your own, I shouldn't consent to any such scheme for earning