"They don't pay him for overtime, do they?" queried Raymond. "Well, then,
they orto, instid of turnin' him out!"

"Well, they'll turn him out!" prophesied Newton. "I'm havin' more fun in
school than I ever--an' that's why I'm with you on this quittin'
trapping--but they'll get Jim, all right!"

"I'm having something betteh'n fun," replied Raymond. "My pap has never
understood this kentry, an' we-all has had bad times hyeh; but Mr. Jim an'
I have studied out how I can make a betteh livin' next year--and pap says
we kin go on the way Mr. Jim says. I'll work for Colonel Woodruff a part
of the time, an' pap kin make corn in the biggest field. It seems we
didn't do our work right last year--an' in a couple of years, with the
increase of the hawgs, an' the land we kin get under plow...."

Raymond was off on his pet dream of becoming something better than the
oldest of the Simms tribe of outcasts, and Newton was subconsciously
impressed by the fact that never for a moment did Raymond's plans fail to
include the elevation with him of Calista and Jinnie and Buddy and Pap and
Mam. It was taken for granted that the Simmses sank or swam together,
whether their antagonists were poverty and ignorance, or their ancient
foes, the Hobdays. Newton drew closer to Raymond's side.

It was still an hour before nine--when the rural school traditionally
"takes up"--when the boys had stored their traps in a shed at the Bronson
home, and walked on to the schoolhouse. That rather scabby and weathered
edifice was already humming with industry of a sort. In spite of the
hostility of the school board, and the aloofness of the patrons of the
school, the pupils were clearly interested in Jim Irwin's system of rural
education. Never had the attendance been so large or regular; and one of
the reasons for sessions before nine and after four was the inability of
the teacher to attend to the needs of his charges in the five and a half
hours called "school hours."

This, however, was not the sole reason. It was the new sort of work which
commanded the attention of Raymond and Newton as they entered. This
morning, Jim had arranged in various sorts of dishes specimens of grain
and grass seeds. By each was a card bearing the name of the farm from
which one of the older boys or girls had brought it. "Wheat, Scotch Fife,
from the farm of Columbus Smith." "Timothy, or Herd's Grass, from the farm
of A. B. Talcott." "Alsike Clover, from the farm of B. B. Hamm."