? Come on, now, Ruben, ile up and
edify us some more!"

"On what point do you seek enlightenment?" inquired the Thread Man.

Jimmy stretched his long legs, and spat against the stove in pure
delight.

"Oh, you might loosen up on the work of a man," he suggested. "These
lambs of Casey's fold may larn things from you to help thim in the
striss of life. Now here's Jones, for instance, he's holdin' togither a
gang of sixty gibbering Atalyans; any wan of thim would cut his throat
and skip in the night for a dollar, but he kapes the beast in thim
under, and they're gettin' out gravel for the bed of a railway. Bingham
there is oil. He's punchin' the earth full of wan thousand foot holes,
and sendin' off two hundred quarts of nitroglycerine at the bottom of
them, and pumpin' the accumulation across continents to furnish folks
light and hate. York here is runnin' a field railway between Bluffton
and Celina, so that I can get to the river and the resurvoir to fish
without walkin'. Haines is bossin' a crew of forty Canadians and he's
takin' the timber from the woods hereabouts, and sending it to be made
into boats to carry stuff across sea. Meself, and me partner, Dannie
Micnoun, are the lady-likest lambs in the bunch. We grow grub to feed
folks in summer and trap for skins to cover 'em in winter. Corn is our
great commodity. Plowin' and hoein' it in summer, and huskin' it in the
fall is sich lamb-like work. But don't mintion it in the same brith
with tendin' our four dozen fur traps on a twenty-below-zero day.
Freezing hands and fate, and fallin' into air bubbles, and building
fires to thaw out our frozen grub. Now here among us poor little,
transmutin', lambs you come, a raging lion, ripresentin' the cultour
and rayfinement of the far East. By the pleats on your breast you show
us the style. By the thrid case in your hand you furnish us material so
that our women can tuck their petticoats so fancy, and by the book in
your head you teach us your sooperiority. By the same token, I wish I
had that book in me head, for I could just squelch Dannie and Mary with
it complate. Say, Mister O'Khayam, next time you come this way bring me
a copy. I'm wantin' it bad. I got what you gave off all secure, but I
take it there's more. No man goin' at that clip could shut off with
thim few lines. Do you know the rist?"

The Thread Man knew the most of it, and although he was very
uncomfortable, he did not know just how to get away, so he recit