uldn't 'a' said so before I heard that speech--but I say so
now."

Jim's face lighted up at this, the first convincing evidence that he had
scored.

"I b'lieve, too," went on Mr. Hofmyer, "that your idee would please our
folks. I've been the stand-patter in our parts--mostly on English and--say
German. What d'ye say to comin' down and teachin' our school? We've got a
two-room affair, and I was made a committee of one to find a teacher."

"I--I don't see how--" Jim stammered, all taken aback by this new breeze
of recognition.

"We can't pay much," said Mr. Hofmyer. "You have charge of the
dis-_cip_-line in the whole school, and teach in Number Two room.
Seventy-five dollars a month. Does it appeal to ye?"

Appeal to him! Why, eighteen months ago it would have been worth crawling
across the state after, and now to have it offered to him--it was
stupendous. And yet, how about the Simmses, Colonel Woodruff, the Hansens
and Newton Bronson, now just getting a firm start on the upward path to
usefulness and real happiness? How could he leave the little, crude, puny
structure on which he had been working--on which he had been merely
practising--for a year, and remove to the new field? Jim was in exactly
the same situation in which every able young minister of the gospel finds
himself sooner or later. The Lord was calling to a broader field--but how
could he be sure it was the Lord?

"I'm afraid I can't," said Jim Irwin, "but----"

"If you're only 'fraid you can't," said Mr. Hofmyer, "think it over. I've
got your post-office address on this program, and we'll write you a formal
offer. We may spring them figures a little. Think it over."

"You mustn't think," said Jim, "that we've _done_ all the things I
mentioned in my talk, or that I haven't made any mistakes or failures."

"Your county superintendent didn't mention any failures," said Mr.
Hofmyer.

"Did you talk with her about my work?" inquired Jim, suddenly very
curious.

"M'h'm."

"Then I don't see why you want me," Jim went on.

"Why?" asked Mr. Hofmyer.

"I had not supposed," said Jim, "that she had a very high opinion of my
work."

"I didn't ask her about that," said Mr. Hofmyer, "though I guess she
thinks well of it. I asked her what you are tryin' to do, and what sort of
a fellow you are. I was favorably impressed; but she didn't mention any
failures."

"We haven't succeeded in adopting a successful system of selling our
cream," said Jim. "I belie