says a man
can't do with his own corn on his own place what he wants to do with
it? A man's got as good a right, in my mind, to put up a still and
make whiskey out of his corn as his wife has to gather apples and make
pies!" he concluded, fairly quivering with excitement.

Steve held himself quietly, and said gently:

"Mr. Follet, you are too ill for me to discuss these things with you
now. I see we look at them from totally different points of view."

"There ain't but one point of view," shrilly returned Mr. Follet, "and
that's the point of view of man's rights. Why, it won't be long till a
man can't milk his own cow without the government standing round to
watch her switch her tail and tell him how to do it,--all ready to
grab the money if he sells a little to a neighbour!"

"Well, Mr. Follet," said Steve, looking steadily but kindly in the
enraged eyes of his opponent, "there is one thing that we do agree
upon, and that is, every man has a right to his own opinion," and the
kindness in Steve's eyes merged into his sudden smile, which stemmed a
little the rising tide of Mr. Follet's wrath.

After a somewhat subdued pause he turned to Steve appealingly:

"But you will go and get this load for me,--you will have no
responsibility about it. I have never had anything to do with
moonshiners before," he went on, "but Raymond got in with 'em and
thinks it would be a huge joke to send a lot of their whiskey to his
friends in these 'dry towns,' and that prohibition business has riled
me so that I promised I would help pass the stuff along. Raymond's
going to hang around the saloon and the station to see that the coast
is clear o' government men, while the thing is goin' on."

"No," said Steve instantly and firmly when Mr. Follet was through, "I
cannot do it, Mr. Follet, greatly as it grieves me to refuse you a
favour. I feel that whiskey, the knife and the pistol have been
Kentucky's greatest curses, especially among the people of the
mountains. I would lay down my life, if necessary, for mountain folks,
but I long instead to spend it for them in replacing the pistol and
the knife with the book and the pen, and in cultivating among them a
thirst for knowledge instead of drink," said Steve with quiet passion
which held Mr. Follet's unwilling attention. Then he added:

"Understand me, Mr. Follet, I do not attempt to decide for you what is
right or wrong, I only know that I cannot do this thing you ask and
keep my self-