fresh determination. But, a moment later, with that sudden
smile upon his face, he also resolved to compromise a bit with
hardship. He stopped at the first wayside store and invested in towels
which he learned to wash and dry at convenient times. This gave him
pleasant independence, and since his bedroom had always been fixed in
the open,--for from the first he could not bring himself to sleep in
crowded rooms where whole families took their rest,--he could make his
morning toilet without offense to his hosts, while a soapy plunge in
some mountain stream became a luxury he would not readily forego. And
always, whatever the hardship, there was the compensation of
barefooted boys and girls held spellbound, and often fathers and
mothers as well, while he unfolded the wonders of a world which lay
beyond the mountain's rim, and always he had the advantage of being
able to assure them that he, too, was mountain bred.

So, with contending against many things distasteful on one side, and
exhilaration while little hands clung to his as his had clung to Mr.
Polk's that long ago day in the heights about Hollow Hut, the summer
passed and he began his work as teacher.

He had long known that he would enjoy teaching, and took up his
duties with keen interest. Fortunately for him he had little conceit
or pedantry, which would have been a fatal handicap for him as teacher
among his own people, simple-hearted though they were. He organized
his work with straightforward earnestness and quiet ability and things
usually moved smoothly in his class room. But many old difficulties in
the life of the school with which he had seen the teachers battling
when he was a pupil promptly presented themselves afresh to test the
tact, skill and wisdom of the young teacher. Some boys still came to
school with well-developed taste for tobacco and liquor which parents
still indulged, and passing mountaineers often good-naturedly
fostered. Having helped to battle with these things as a boy he knew
somewhat how to handle them. But another matter of which he took
little note in his student days, but which had nevertheless always
been a difficult problem, was love-making in the school. He was sorely
puzzled how to wisely handle this.

"Little mother," he wrote Mrs. Polk, "my chief difficulty is laughable
in a sense, but from another point of view it is really a stupendous
problem! One old mountaineer said to me last summer, 'Them schools is
the courtin'es