m remembered so keenly back
in Crawberry.

As for Old Lem Camp, he was as cheerful as Hiram had ever seen him, and
showed a deal of interest in everything about the farm, and had proved
himself, as Mrs. Atterson had prophesied, a great help.

Scarcely a house along the road was not shut up and the dooryard
deserted--for everybody was going to the barbecue. All but the Dickerson
family. Sam was at work in the fields, and the haggard Mrs. Dickerson
looked dumbly from her porch, with a crying baby in her scrawny arms as
the Attersons and Hiram passed.

But Pete was at the barbecue. He was there when Hiram arrived, and he
was making himself quite as prominent as anybody.

Indeed, he made himself so obnoxious finally, that one of the rough men
who was keeping up the fires threatened to chuck Pete into the biggest
one, and then cool him off in the river.

Otherwise, however, the barbecue passed off very pleasantly. The men who
governed it saw that no liquor was brought along, and the unruly element
to which Pete belonged was kept under with an iron hand.

There was so little "fun", of a kind, in Pete's estimation that, after
the big event of the day--the banquet--he and some of his friends
disappeared. And the picnicking ground was a much quieter and pleasanter
place after their departure.

The newcomers into the community made many friends and acquaintances
that day. Sister was going to school in the fall, and she found many
girls of her age whom she would meet there.

Mrs. Atterson met the older ladies, and was invited to join no less than
two "Ladies' Aids", and, as she said, "if she called on all the
folks she'd agreed to visit, she'd be goin' ev'ry day from then till
Christmas!"

As for Hiram, the men and older boys were rather inclined to jolly him
a bit. Not many of them had been upon the Atterson place to see what
he had done, but they had heard some stories of his proposed crops that
amused them.

When Mr. Bronson, however, whom the local men knew to be a big farmer in
the Middle West, and who owned many farms out there now, spoke favorably
of Hiram's work, the local men listened respectfully.

"The boy's got it in him to do something," the Westerner said, in his
hearty fashion. "You're eating his potatoes now, I understand. Which one
of you can dig early potatoes like those?

"And he's got the best stand of corn in the county."

"On that river-bottom, you mean?" asked one.

"And on the upland, too.