the old Nick in us, an'
not bein' able to change our naturs much, no matter how hard we try, I
reckon I hev a mighty fine chance o' Heaven, which, ez I said, I want to
be a world, right smart like this, only a heap bigger an' finer. But I
don't mean to go thar for seventy or eighty years yet, 'cause I want to
give this earth a real fa'r trial."

In which the shiftless one had his wish, as he lived to be a hundred,
and his eyes were clear and his voice strong to the last.

"That's a mighty fine picture you draw, Sol," said Long Jim,
appreciatively, "an' if you're up thar settin' on the bank uv a river
that looks plum' like runnin' silver with green trees a thousand feet
high risin' behind you, you ketchin' fish thirty or forty feet long, an'
ef you should happen to turn an' look 'roun' an' see comin' toward you a
long-legged ornery feller that you used ter cahoot with in the
wilderness on both sides uv the Ohio, would you rise up, drop them big
fish an' your fishin' pole, come straight between the trunks uv them
green trees a thousand feet high toward that ornery lookin' long-legged
feller what wuz new to the place, stretch out your right hand to him,
an' say: 'Welcome to Heaven Long Jim Hart. Come right in an' make
yourself to home, 'cause you're goin' to live with us a million an' a
billion years, an' all the rest uv the time thar is. Your fishin' pole
is down thar by the bank. I've been savin' it fur you. Henry is 'bout a
mile farther up the stream pullin' in a whale two hundred feet long that
he's had his eye on fur some time. Paul is down thar, settin' under a
bush readin' a book uv gold letters on silver paper with diamonds set in
the cover, an' Tom Ross is on that hill, 'way acrost yonder, lookin' at
a herd uv buff'ler fifty miles wide which hez been travelin' past fur a
month.' Now, Sol, would you give your old pardner that kind uv a
welcome?"

"Would I Jim? You know I would. I'd blow on a trumpet an' call all the
boys straight from what they wuz doin' to come a-runnin' an' meet you.
An' I'd interduce you to all our new friends. An' I'd show you the best
huntin' grounds an' the finest fishin' holes right away, an' when night
come all o' us with our new friends would hev a big feast an'
celebration over you. An' all o' us thar in Heaven that knowed you, Jim,
would be right proud o' you."

"I knowed that you'd take me right in, Sol," said Long Jim, as they
shook hands over the future.

"Now for the night," sa