a man gets in
a new place, he's got to lift himse'f up to what folks does where he's
come to, or he'll fall to the bottom of what there is in that there
community--an' maybe he'll make a place fer himse'f lower'n anybody else.
In the mountings we was good people, becuz we done the best we could an'
the best any one done; but hyah, we was low-down people becuz we hated the
people that had mo' learnin', mo' land, mo' money, an' mo' friends than
what we had. My little gyuhls wasn't respectable in their clothes. My
childern was igernant, an' triflin', but I was the most triflin' of all.
Ah'll leave it to Colonel Woodruff if I was good fer a plug of terbacker,
or a bakin' of flour at any sto' in the county. Was I, Colonel? Wasn't I
perfectly wuthless an' triflin'?"

There was a ripple of laughter, in the midst of which the colonel's voice
was heard saying, "I guess you were, Mr. Simms, I guess you were,
but----"

"Thankee," said Old Man Simms, as if the colonel had given a really
valuable testimonial to his character. "I sho' was! Thankee kindly!
An'now, what am I good fer? Cain't I get anything I want at the stores?
Cain't I git a little money at the bank, if I got to have it?"

"You're just as good as any man in the district," said the colonel. "You
don't ask for more than you can pay, and you can get all you ask."

"Thankee," said Mr. Simms gravely. "What Ah tell you-all is right, ladies
and gentlemen. An' what has made the change in we-uns, ladies and
gentlemen? It's the wuk of Mr. Jim Irwin with my boy Raymond, the best boy
any man evah hed, and my gyuhl, Calista, an' Buddy, an' Jinnie, an' with
me an' my ole woman. He showed us how to get a toe-holt into this new
kentry. He teached the children what orto be did by a rentin' farmer in
Ioway. He done lifted us up, an' made people of us. He done showed us that
you-all is good people, an' not what we thought you was. Outen what he
learned in school, my boy Raymond an' me made as good crops as we could
last summer, an' done right much wuk outside. We got the name of bein'
good farmers an' good wukkers, an' when Mr. Blanchard moved to town, he
said he was glad to give us his fine farm for five years. Now, see what
Mr. Jim Irwin has done for a pack o' outlaws and outcasts. Instid o'
hidin' out from the Hobdays that was lay-wayin' us in the mountings, we'll
be livin' in a house with two chimleys an' a swimmin' tub made outen
crock'ryware. We'll be in debt a whole lot--an'