My sister Polly was 'sponsible more 'n any one, I guess, an' the only one o' the whole lot that ever gin me a decent word.

Small farmin' ain't cal'lated to fetch out the best traits of human nature--an' keep 'em out--an' it seems to me sometimes that when the old man wa'n't cuffin' my ears he was lickin' me with a rawhide or a strap.

Fur 's that was concerned, all his boys used to ketch it putty reg'lar till they got too big.

One on 'em up an' licked him one night, an' lit out next day.

I s'pose the old man's disposition was sp'iled by what some feller said farmin' was, 'workin' all day, an' doin' chores all night,' an' larrupin' me an' all the rest on us was about all the enjoyment he got.