up children who needed to be amused and directed; and
women the custodians of life and morals, home, and happiness. They
deserved the mantle of charity and patience, love, and tenderness.

He was not religious. He had never felt a so-called change of heart, and
yet he was a walking example of the best that religion encourages, for
he governed himself, set the pace of right living, and illustrated the
golden rule.

He believed in that first and foremost, and in setting a good example as
far as lay in his power, but not in any professions.

"Ye mustn't feel I ain't on yer side," he said once to Parson Bush, who
had urged him to join the church, "for I am, only it's agin my natur ter
'low I've had a special dispensation o' the Lord's grace in my behalf.
I'm a weak vessel, like all on us, an' my impulses need caulkin'. I do
the best I kin, 'cordin' to my light, 'n' that's all any man kin. The
Lord won't go back on us fer not gittin' dipped, an' if there's a
heaven beyond, our only chance o' a seat is by startin' an annex right
here on airth. Sayin' you've joined the Lord's army's well enough, but
doin' what ye feel the Lord's tryin' to, is better.

"Ez Sally Harper used ter say in meetin', 'We're all on us poor
critters, an' if we jine, there's no tellin' when we'll backslide.'"

It was perhaps the consciousness of inherent human weakness that kept
Jess out of the fold.

"A man may do right 'n' keep on doin' right 'most all his life long," he
said, "an' some day up pops a temptation, when he's least prepared
for't, and over he goes like a sailboat 'thout ballast in a gale o'
wind. An' then what becomes o' all yer 'lowin' the Lord's opened yer
eyes 'n' gin ye extra grace? Ye only get laughed at by the scoffers 'n'
yer influence gone fer good. Human nature's brittle stuff, an' them as
does right 'thout any change o' heart, come purty near bein' leaders in
the percession toward the Throne."

His philosophy, broad as infinite mercy and humble as a child's
happiness, permeated all his thoughts and tinged all his speeches.

"No joy's quite so comfortin' as we cac'late," he would say, "an' no
sorrer quite so worryin'. We go through life anticipatin' happy
termorrers and glorious next days, and when we git to 'em, somehow
they've sorter faded away, and it's to be the next day and the next as
is ter be the bright uns. Then, we are all on us like boys, chasing jack
o' lanterns over a swamp medder, an' if we 'low they're clus