got a fish-line, but no hooks. It warn't any good to
me without hooks. I tried for the hooks three or four times, but
somehow I couldn't make it work. By and by, one day, I asked Miss
Watson to try for me, but she said I was a fool. She never told me
why, and I couldn't make it out no way.

I set down one time back in the woods, and had a long think about it.
I says to myself, if a body can get anything they pray for, why don't
Deacon Winn get back the money he lost on pork? Why can't the widow
get back her silver snuff-box that was stole? Why can't Miss Watson
fat up? No, says I to myself, there ain't nothing in it. I went and
told the widow about it, and she said the thing a body could get by
praying for it was "spiritual gifts." This was too many for me, but
she told me what she meant--I must help other people, and do
everything I could for other people, and look out for them all the
time, and never think about myself. This was including Miss Watson, as
I took it. I went out in the woods and turned it over in my mind a
long time, but I couldn't see no advantage about it--except for the
other people; so at last I reckoned I wouldn't worry about it any
more, but just let it go. Sometimes the widow would take me one side
and talk about Providence in a way to make a body's mouth water; but
maybe next day Miss Watson would take hold and knock it all down
again. I judged I could see that there was two Providences, and a poor
chap would stand considerable show with the widow's Providence, but if
Miss Watson's got him there warn't no help for him any more. I thought
it all out, and reckoned I would belong to the widow's if he wanted
me, though I couldn't make out how he was a-going to be any better off
then than what he was before, seeing I was so ignorant, and so kind of
low-down and ornery.

Pap he hadn't been seen for more than a year, and that was comfortable
for me; I didn't want to see him no more. He used to always whale me
when he was sober and could get his hands on me; though I used to take
to the woods most of the time when he was around. Well, about this
time he was found in the river drownded, about twelve mile above town,
so people said. They judged it was him, anyway; said this drownded man
was just his size, and was ragged, and had uncommon long hair, which
was all like pap; but they couldn't make nothing out of the face,
because it had been in the water so long it warn't much like a face at
all. They said