aring spring, and it was a mild thawy night. The windows
of the schoolhouse were filled with heads, evidencing the presence of a
crowd of almost unprecedented size, and the sashes had been thrown up for
ventilation and coolness. As Jim climbed the back fence of the
school-yard, he heard a burst of applause, from which he judged that some
speaker had just finished his remarks. There was silence when he came
alongside the window at the right of the chairman's desk, a silence broken
by the voice of Old Man Simms, saying "Mistah Chairman!"

"The chair," said the voice of Ezra Bronson, "recognizes Mr. Simms."

Jim halted in indecision. He was not expected while the debate was in
progress, and therefore regarded himself at this time as somewhat _de
trop_. There is no rule of manners or morals, however, forbidding
eavesdropping during the proceedings of a public meeting--and anyhow, he
felt rather shiveringly curious about these deliberations. Therefore he
listened to the first and last public speech of Old Man Simms.

"Ah ain't no speaker," said Old Man Simms, "but Ah cain't set here and be
quiet an' go home an' face my ole woman an' my boys an' gyuhls withouten
sayin' a word fo' the best friend any family evah had, Mr. Jim Irwin."
(Applause.) "Ah owe it to him that Ah've got the right to speak in this
meetin' at all. Gentlemen, we-all owe everything to Mr. Jim Irwin! Maybe
Ah'll be thought forrard to speak hyah, bein' as Ah ain't no learnin' an'
some may think Ah don't pay no taxes; but it will be overlooked, I reckon,
seein' as how we've took the Blanchard farm, a hundred an' sixty acres,
for five yeahs, an' move in a week from Sat'day. We pay taxes in our rent,
Ah reckon, an' howsomever that may be, Ah've come to feel that you-all
won't think hard of me if Ah speak what we-uns feel so strong about Mr.
Jim Irwin?"

Old Man Simms finished this exordium with the rising inflection, which
denoted a direct question as to his status in the meeting. "Go on!"
"You've got as good a right as any one!" "You're all right, old man!" Such
exclamations as these came to Jim's ears with scarcely less gratefulness
than to those of Old Man Simms--who stammered and went on.

"Ah thank you-all kindly. Gentlemen an' ladies, when Mr. Jim Irwin found
us, we was scandalous pore, an' we was wuss'n pore--we was low-down."
(Cries of "No--No!") "Yes, we was, becuz what's respectable in the
mountings is one thing, whar all the folks is pore, but when