. But it must
not be thought that he had himself become an agriculturist. He had not
even dreamed of it. There is not necessarily any more relation between
a "prairie buster" and the land he "busts" than there is between a
farmer and a locomotive engineer; the spirit of it is different. Jonas
bossed cattle.

If there would seem to be anything of incongruity or humorous contrast
between Jonas and his married neighbors, it must be remembered that,
under the circumstances of a growing country, there was not. In a land
where many men live alone in shacks and do their own work, and where
any woman's husband must be able to go forth with a frying-pan and
shift for himself at times, it was no marvel to see Jonas Hicks doing
the same; though, to be sure, he was doing it a little nearer town than
is customary, and this proximity made his single-blessedness shine out
a little plainer. But if there was any humor in that, or in fact
anything else, it was Jonas's prerogative to see it first and to
stretch the joke as far as it would go. Then, too, he lived there only
at intervals--which were getting to cover the greater part of the
time--in the style of a man who camps out. And after a few days'
absence in "busting," he would suddenly reappear and turn loose his
oxen and start up housekeeping with all the new pleasure of a man who
is glad to get back among the folks again.

From all of which it will be seen that Jonas's house needed to make no
apology for its presence; he had owned land there among the first; it
was the others who were the innovators and the newcomers; and as to his
way of housekeeping it simply clung a little closer to nature. It was,
in fact, the most natural thing in the neighborhood.

As he continued to live there he liked it more and more. He was glad
that things turned out just as they did. His very location in "the
middle of the puddle," as Steve Brown put it, made it look, to him, as
if all these beautiful women and interesting little children had
gathered round to ornament his position in life; and there is a great
deal in looks. He felt also, having owned some of the land upon which
the townspeople were settled, that he was in some manner responsible
for it all; and so he had a corresponding pride in the community at
large and was personally interested in everybody's welfare.

His own property he could have sold or cultivated; but he was well
enough satisfied with things as they were. He c