free. Let's both be free
until we're ready.'

"It was bully. Dan pleaded with the eloquence of an old-fashioned
lawyer. Lizzie stood firm behind this high fence, an' she was
right. With Dan in debt an' babies comin', what could she have
done for her father? Suddenly it seemed as if all the young men
had begun to take an interest in Lizzie, an', to tell the truth,
she was about the neatest, sweetest little myrmidon of commerce
that ever wore a white apron. The light of true womanhood had
begun to shine in her face. She kept the store in apple-pie order,
an' everybody was well treated. The business grew. Sam bought a
small farm outside the village with crops in, an' moved there for
the summer. Soon he began to let down his prices. The combine was
broken. It was the thing we had been waitin' for. People flocked
to his store. The others came down, but too late. Sam held his
gain, an' Lizzie was the power behind the fat. Dan finished his
course in agriculture an' I bought him a farm, an' he went to work
there, but he spent half his time in the store of his father tryin'
to keep up with Lizzie. Suddenly Dan started a ham war. He cut
the price of hams five cents a pound. Ham was one of our great
staples, an' excitement ran high. Lizzie cut below him two cents a
pound. Dan cut the price again. Lizzie made no effort to meet
this competition. The price had gone below the wholesale rate by
quite a margin. People thronged to Dan's emporium. Women stood on
the battle-field, their necks blanched with powder, their cheeks
bearin' the red badge o' courage, an' every man you met had a ham
in his hand. The Pettigrew wagon hurried hither an' thither loaded
with hams. Even the best friends of Sam an' Lizzie were seen in
Dan's store buyin' hams. They laid in a stock for all winter.
Suddenly Dan quit an' restored his price to the old figure. Lizzie
continued to sell at the same price, an' was just as cheerful as
ever. She had won the fight, an' ye wouldn't think that anything
unusual had happened; but wait an' see.

"Every day boys an' girls were droppin' out o' the clouds an' goin'
to work tryin' to keep up with Lizzie. The hammocks swung limp in
the breeze. The candy stores were almost deserted, an' those that
sat by the fountains were few. We were learnin' how to stand up.

"One day Dan came into my office all out o' gear. He looked sore
an' discouraged. I didn't wonder.

"'What's the matter now?'