contrary. It had kept me studyin' an' schemin'
an' analysin' until, after that year had been stored away to season, I
discovered it was the best year I'd ever put in, an' while I hadn't got
overly well acquainted with Spike, I had become mighty friendly with
myself and was surprised to find out how much the' was to me.

Did you ever think of that? You start out an' a feller comes along an'
throws an opinion around your off fore foot an' you go down in a heap
an' that opinion holds you fast for some time. When you start on again
another feller ropes you with a new opinion, an' the first thing you
know you are all cluttered up an' loaded down with other fellers'
opinions, an' the' ain't enough o' your own self left to tell what
you're like; but after that winter with Spike I was pretty well able to
dodge an opinion until I had time to learn what it meant.

But the main good I got out of Spike was learnin' how to take old Cast
Steel Judson. It was some years after this before I met up with him;
but the good effect hadn't worn off and me an' Cast Steel just merged
together like butter an' a hot penny. I wasn't much more 'an a kid even
then, but law! I wish I knew just half as much now as I thought I did
then. My self respect was certainly a bulky article those days an' I
wasn't in the habit of undervaluin' my own judgment--not to any great
extent; but that habit o' study I'd formed with Spike was my balance
wheel, an' I generally managed to keep my conceit from shuttin' out the
entire landscape. The' wasn't a great deal escaped my eye, 'cause I
begun to notice purty tol'able young that experience is consid'able
like a bank account: takes a heap o' sweat to get her started, but
she's comfortable to draw on in a pinch.

Ol' man Judson was a curious affair, had his own way o' doin' every
blessed thing, an' whenever he hired a man he always went through the
same rigamarole. "Now what I'm contractin' for," he'd say, "is just
only your time an' whatever part o' your thinkin' apparatus as is
needed in doin' YOUR share o' my business. If I detail you to sit in
the shade an' count clouds, I don't want no argument, I want the clouds
counted. When I don't specially express a hungerin' for any of your
advice, that's the very time when you don't need to give any. Whenever
you think you have a kick comin'--why think again. Then if you still
see the kick, make it to the foreman. If that don't work make it to me;
but when you make it to