, indeed,--what he struck the observer as being,--a prudent
counsellor, a true friend, a wisely-generous helper in every good word
and work. No man in the settlement was more respected than he--a
respect not based on his personal appearance, it was clear; for he had
a perfect contempt for the ostentations of dress and equipage, but due
to his straightforward and consistent deportment. He was about forty,
and unmarried, and, on account of his amiable, thrifty, and
Christianly qualities, was said to be the victim of incessant
"cap-setting" by managing mammas and marriageable daughters, and of no
little raillery on the part of the men, which he bore with great good
nature, safely escaping from each matrimonial snare, and returning
joke for joke.

"Been looking up land?" asked the bachelor.

The missionary related the day's doings, and what the squatter had
said about Mr. Smith and the eighty acres.

"Jones has stated the facts in the case," said Mr. Palmer, "and
advised well; but it won't do for you to have any falling out with
Smith. If you will leave the matter with me, I guess I can manage it
so that you shall have the eighty acres, and there be no bad feelings.
We had better pay Smith something than to have a quarrel."

"But is Smith a member of a church?" asked the missionary.

"We don't know who is who, yet," answered the other; "but should we
ever form a church here, of course he'll have to show a certificate of
membership in order to join; and I rather think he'll never be able to
do that. Do him all the good you can, but don't trust him overmuch."

CHAPTER VI.

MRS. JONES'S STORY.--THE GRAY WOLF.

"Was it so _very_ different east, mother," asked Tom, one day, "where
you came from, from what it is here?"

"Different in what respects?" she inquired.

"O," he answered, hesitatingly, "I mean, were folks as poor and
ignorant as--as--"

"As we are, you were going to say," said she, placidly, finishing his
sentence for him.

"I don't think that you and father are _ignorant_," he replied,
looking confused; "but--"

"I understand what you mean, Tom. No; where your father and I were
born, and where we were married, the country was thickly settled. All
the children went to school, and there were no such cabins as the one
we live in, but nice, framed houses of wood, stone, or brick."

"Were there no poor people there?"

"Yes, as many as there are here,--a great many in the large
cities,--and they f