stand about ez good a chance o' gettin' to
heaven ez anybody else. An' maybe He will--who knows?

But ez for book-readin', wife an' me aint never felt called on to read
no book save an' exceptin' the Holy Scriptures--an', of cose, the seed
catalogues.

An' here Sonny, not quite twelve year old, has read five books thoo, an'
some of 'em twice-t an' three times over. His "Robinson Crusoe" shows
mo' wear'n tear'n what my Testament does, I'm ashamed to say. I've done
give Miss Phoebe free license to buy him any book she wants him to have,
an' he's got 'em all 'ranged in a row on the end o' the mantel-shelf.

Quick ez he'd git thoo readin' a book, of co'se wife she'd be for
dustin' it off and puttin' up on the top closet shelf where a book
nach'ally belongs; but seem like Sonny he wants to keep 'em in sight.
So wife she'd worked a little lace shelf-cover to lay under 'em, an'
we've hung our framed marriage-c'tificate above 'em, an' the corner
looks right purty, come to see it fixed up.

Sir? Oh, no; we ain't took him from none o' the other schools yet. He's
been goin' to Miss Phoebe's reg'lar now--all but the exhibition an'
picnic days in the other schools--for nearly five months, not countin'
off-an'-on days he went to her befo' he settled down to it stiddy.

He says he's a-goin' there reg'lar from this time on, an' I b'lieve he
will; but wife an' me we talked it over, an' we decided we'd let things
stand, an' keep his name down on all the books till sech a time ez he
come to long division with Miss Kellog.

An' ef he stays thoo that, we'll feel free to notify the other schools
thet he's quit.

SONNY'S DIPLOMA

[Illustration: 'Y']

Yas, sir; this is it. This here's Sonny's diplomy thet you've heerd so
much about--sheepskin they call it, though it ain't no mo' sheepskin 'n
what I am. I've skinned too many not to know. Thess to think o' little
Sonny bein' a grad'jate--an' all by his own efforts, too! It is a
plain-lookin' picture, ez you say, to be framed up in sech a fine gilt
frame; but it's worth it, an' I don't begrudge it to him. He picked out
that red plush hisself. He's got mighty fine taste for a country-raised
child, Sonny has.

Seem like the oftener I come here an' stan' before it, the prouder I
feel, an' the mo' I can't reelize thet he done it.

I'd 'a' been proud enough to've had him go through the reg'lar co'se
o' study, an' be awarded this diplomy, but to 've seen 'im thess walk
in an' dem