ootlebury, Massachusetts. Hannah's father was
quite a man in that town, and I worked my way up till I had a little
insurance office of my own and married Hannah. Well" (he didn't say
"well" and he didn't say "wall," but there isn't any in-between way to
spell it aright), "if I'd got all the insurance business in Bootlebury,
it would not have been horses and cushions, but I didn't get half of it,
and Hannah says, 'John, I think we'd getter go out West,' for, somehow,
she didn't want to stay in a place where folks said she'd had a 'come
down.'

"We'd had about ten years of it, and I had just about come to her way of
thinking when her dad died and left her quite well fixed. An' Hannah she
had quite an eye to biz; she worked at my office desk as much as she did
at the cook stove; an' now she says to me, 'Here is where we get out.'

"Every one was talking about the Black Hills then, and that was why we
headed this way. Well, we figured out that the railway fares from St.
Louis 'round to Sidney and north to the Hills were so much higher than
the steamboat fare from St. Louis to Pierre, that we could save enough
to buy a team of ponies and a buckboard at Pierre, and then cross the
Plains with the settlers going in and be ahead by the value of the team,
which would be needed in our country business anyhow."

"Time didn't count?" interrupted Carson.

"Not much; and we wanted to see the country."

"By George! I wish I'd been with ye," said Jim. "If only it had been a
saddle trip it would have been perfect."

"Perfect!" exclaimed the little man; "I wish you could have seen us. The
farther we went up that endless river of mud the worse it seemed; and
when we landed at Pierre it did seem the last of all creation.

"I didn't have much heart to buy the ponies, but Hannah kept with me and
never once seemed to feel discouraged. But when we crossed the river
with our outfit and really set out on the blank, bleak plains, I tell
ye, we felt heart-sick, sore, and lonesome--at least, I did."

At this moment Hannah came in from the kitchen and took the lead in
conversation.

"Has John been giving you an outline of our policy in the matter of
lapsing premiums and residuary annuities?"

"Now, Hannah," replied John, "I think that is a little too much like
business for friendly callers."

"Business is always in order in the office," was Hannah's retort.

"I understand," said John, "that the Methodists are very strong in Cedar
Mounta