The Gentleman Wood-Sawyer of Seattle

Jemima Pendexter was a blooming brunette with dark brown eyes and a healthy bloom on either cheek. Ferdinand Allaire was a handsome young fellow of six-and-twenty, whose dark, sparkling eyes sent out roguish gleams from beneath a pair of arched brows. But money was the problem. Jemima’s mother kept a boarding-house, and Ferdinand was in debt to her.

'Suppose you take me in part payment of my bill,' Ferdinand suggested. 'I believe I have the elements of a first-rate husband about me.' Miss Jemima turned away, laughing. Suddenly, a commotion outside interrupted them. Mrs. Pendexter was bargaining with an itinerant wood-sawyer, but the man refused her price and moved on. To her surprise, she found Ferdinand Allaire in his shirt-sleeves on the sidewalk. 'I’m your man, ma’am,' he said, rubbing his white palms together. 'I’ll do it for three dollars, and turn it in toward our account.'

He set briskly to work, whistling merrily. The sight of a 'society young man' splitting wood drew stares from passersby. As he worked, an open carriage rolled by, carrying his wealthy, hard-hearted uncle, Laurence Allaire, who had recently cut Ferdinand from his will. The uncle witnessed his nephew in the act of manual labor. Instead of the disgust Ferdinand feared, the old man felt a surge of respect for the boy’s pluck. He went straight to his lawyer to restore Ferdinand to his will. Tragedy struck shortly after—the uncle died suddenly of apoplexy—but Ferdinand, now the heir, returned to Jemima, the debt paid and his future secured by a simple, honest day's labor.