to him. No,
boy, the city man or boy is not intended for a farmer, but the farmer
boy is intended for the city, when he gets enough of the farm. About so
much farming has got to be done, but it will be done by those who are
brought up to it, and who know that every minute has got to be used
to produce something, that the appetite must be satisfied easily and
cheaply, and that everything on the farm must be of marketable value,
and nothing must be bought that can be dispensed with, and that
everybody must work or give a good reason for not working. The pleasure
of farming is largely in anticipation. The big crops and big prices
are always coming next year. You would be about as good at farming as
I would at preaching," and Uncle Ike gradually ceased speaking, like an
old clock that is running down, and ticking slower and slower, and then
he fell asleep in his chair, and the red-headed boy sat and thought of
what had been said, and looked at his hands as though he expected to
find a blister, and smelled of them to see if he had actually been
milking cows, and then he rolled over on the lounge and went to sleep,
and the two snored a match.

CHAPTER XII.

[Illustration: I heard a rumor about you yesterday 101]

"Uncle Ike, I heard a rumor about you yesterday that tickled me almost
to death," said the red-headed boy, as he came into the old gentleman's
room while he was shaving, and the boy took the lather brush and worked
it up and down in the cup until the lather run over the side, and he had
lather enough on hand to shave half the men in town.

"What was it?" said the old man, as he puckered his mouth on one side,
and opened it so he could shave around the corner of his mouth. "Nothing
disreputable, is it; nothing to bring disgrace on the family?" and he
wiped the razor on a piece of newspaper, and stropped it on his hand,
as he looked in the mirror to see if there were any new wrinkles in his
face.

"Well, I don't know as it would disgrace us so very much, if you looked
out for yourself, and didn't steal," said the boy, as he began to
sharpen his knife on Uncle Ike's razor strop. "There is a rumor among
the boys that you may be nominated for President, and a lot of us boys
got together and took a vote, when we were in swimming, and you were
elected unanimously. I am to be the boss who deals out the offices, and
all the boys are going to have a soft snap. Before the thing goes
any further the boys wanted me t