Year: 1878

Jim did not wonder that her father and
mother were proud OF her or that they
felt there was q vast difference between
him and her. He thought there was
himself and he believed she did, for
one day of the last summer. when he
stumbled on her hower-bed, she spoke
sharply at him and If he had not mis-
understood her, called him a "beggar."


He was careless and stupid If she
had said as much, he would have
thought it justifiable under the circum-
stances. But for her to speak in that
way-as if his misfortune was his fault
made him almost hate her. He did
not answer back, but the look he gave
her kept her from ever repeating the
taunt and also from forgetting that she
had once made it.


Yet he continued to be the same care
less I" i'm " up to this winter morning.
But when Mr.. Long had administered
his reproof and returned to the house to
brush the meal from his clothes, the
youth fell into q profound meditation,
out of which he came with this eiacula-
tlon


"I'n do It'll"


When the next term of school began,
there were two scholars from Farmer
Longs.


Jennie aud Jim.


They went together but they sepa-
rated when they got there, for Jennie
was in a higher department than Jim
could enter. This was the first term
the latter had ever begun with a deter
mination TO learn. That he was now 80
determined is proved by the answer he
gave to his teacher on the first day of
school, when she asked him, among
other things, what he wanted to do; it
was this "I want ter git ter know ez
much ez Jennie Long does"


How did he come outP Well. he
went to school every term for three
years. He studied evenings, and all the
time when not at work, during vacations.
BY incessant devotion to his books
throug n those three years, he was able
to master all the textbooks used in that
institution. For the last two terms of
his course, he was member of Jennie's
classes. He graduated when she did I;
and, in most of their joint studies, was
marked several points above her.


How did Jim think he came out
Going home with Jennie that last day,
after school had closed, he repeated the
words Mr.. Long had spoken three years
before =" Y aint nowhere side NV her :"
md thought they were truer now than
ever.


Had the "want ter git ter know"
which he began, given place to a
want less likely to be satisfied


II Jennie had been aware that her own
views concerning the result of their
rivalry-if it was such-coincided with
Jim's, she probably would not have
expressed herself as she did to her
mother, that evening, when they two
were alone. 81 suppose" said she,
he thinks he's done a wonderful thing
but 1 don't. Ii 1 had studied and
studied and studied as he has, should
have been far ahead of the great-great
giant. But OF course 1 don't care a
ig about it, mamma"


Whether Jennie's remarks indicated
happy frame of mind or not, might be
9 question. But without question she
used happy word when she spoke OF
Jim as a giant, for he was a mighty
youth. Jennie was really petite. She
knew it but it did not trouble her that
those girls who were familiar with her
called her Little Jennie Long"


Jim knew that he was of great stature
for his age; and was little sensitive on
that point. i don't think he fancied
being called "Big Jim." And it may
have been his aversion to that name
that accounted partly for his blushing
so deeply one morning of his last term,
when he had taken his seat at the open
ing of school. Some mischievous youth
had written a stanza ON the blackboard
which was on the wall that faced the
seats-and written it in such q large
hand that every scholar could read it
from where he sat. This is a copy of
the lofty verse that the teacher hastened
to erase as soon as she discovered what
the scholars were laughing at:


" But one dsres write-what every one knows
That several little fellers fret


Because 8 chance they never get


To walk and talk with Jennie Long.


Who hinders them2 Big Jim-the strong.
He comes with her and with her goes
And thinks she wants him to, L s'pose."
When Jim's eyes caught that, his face
turned very red, as red as-Jennie's.


The youth that wrote that poem
dared " to write it; but he did not
dare to make himself known.


OF course it was nothing but "boy's
play" but Jim felt that he was near
enough to being a man to look at it from
a mans standpoint. And looking at it
in that light, he thought it proper to tell
Jennie that night when they went home
that he was very. sorry that some mean
fellow had annoyed her in such way;
that he would find out the puppy who
wrote the stuff and give him a sound
thrashing.


But Jennie, to the surprise of Jim,
could not see wherein she had been in
jured to an extent that demanded any
such course as he proposed to take. And
she dissuaded him from his sanguinary
purpose. Not easily, however, but by
arguments made in an earnest manner,
and urged more and more strongly, un-
| til he was conquered.


Without meaning II ,,arbapa Jaannia