Whereupon, I received from home a large box, containing all manner of
pleasant fruits, and thus poor old Grandpa Keeler and I were enabled to
take a new lease of life.
I found that it was considered indispensable to the proper discharge of
my duties in Wallencamp that I should make frequent calls on the parents
of my flock, throughout the entire community. If I failed in any measure
in this respect, they reproached me with being "unsociable," and said;
"Seems to me you ain't very neighborly, teacher."
I had called myself a student of human nature. It seemed to me, now,
that in those dingy Wallencamp houses, I stood for the first time, awed
and delighted before the real article. Sometimes the men sent out great
volumes of smoke from their pipes, in the low rooms, that were not
delightful; but as far as they knew, they exerted themselves to the
utmost, men and women both, to make their homes pleasant and attractive
to me.
Godfrey Cradlebow's place was as small and poor as any. There was one
room that served as kitchen, dining-room, and parlor, with a
corresponding medley of furniture. A very finely chased gold watch hung
against the loose brown boards of the wall--a reminder of Godfrey
Cradlebow's youth.
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