"He ain't got no practical idees. Live and learn!
that's all nonsense. His boy looks strong and able to work, and
it's foolish sendin' him school any longer. That wa'n't my way,
and see where I am," he concluded, with complacent remembrance of
bonds and mortgages and money out at interest. "That was a pooty
good cow trade," he concluded. "I didn't calc' late for to get more'n
thirty-five dollars for the critter; but then neighbor Walton had
to have a cow, and had to pay my price."
Now for Hiram Walton's reflections.
"I'm a poor man," he said to himself, as he walked slowly homeward,
"but I wouldn't be as mean as Tom Green for all the money he's
worth. He's made a hard bargain with me, but there was no help for
it."
CHAPTER IV
A SUM IN ARITHMETIC
Harry kept on his way to school, and arrived just the bell rang.
Many of my readers have seen a country schoolhouse, and will
not be surprised to learn that the one in which our hero obtained
his education was far from stately or ornamental, architecturally
speaking. It was a one-story structure, about thirty feet square,
showing traces of having been painted once, but standing greatly
in need of another coat. Within were sixty desks, ranged in pairs,
with aisles running between them. On one side sat the girls, on
the other the boys. These were of all ages from five to sixteen.
The boys' desks had suffered bad usage, having been whittled and
hacked, and marked with the initials of the temporary occupants,
with scarcely an exception.
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