LEM COMES TO THE VILLAGE. 367 



fifty people to see him unhitched and two or three of 

 them wanted to buy, one of them being Lem Jenkins, 

 but I shook my head and told them that I had pur- 

 chased Champ for myself and would keep him. 



"In order not to get ahead of my story I must state 

 that the fall before Lemuel Jenkins decided that he 

 had had enough of farming. His father wanted him 

 to stay at home and help keep up the place, but Lem 

 would not listen to it. He was always wanting both 

 his father and mother to sell the farm and move into 

 the village or go to Buffalo. Both of them knew 

 that the farm would not sell for enough to keep them 

 when the money was let out at interest, and they also 

 knew that they could not make a living at either place 

 after the money was gone. Helen, that is Lem's 

 mother, wanted him to marry their neighbor's daugh- 

 ter, Sarah Leroy, and settle down, but he was uneasy 

 and wanted a change. The upshot of it all was that 

 Lem came to the village and went to clerking in 

 Flynn's store. This Flynn was a long-headed chap 

 in his way- He saw that Lem could bring him some 

 trade, which was worth considering when the busi- 

 ness in the village was cut up between three of them. 

 Then Flynn knew that Lem, with his prospects when 

 the old folks were gone, would be a good catch, and 

 all the mothers with daughters on their hands would 

 look at it in the same light. And so it proved. 



"Lem Jenkins, in his young days, was a right 

 smart looking lad, and at a husking, dance, or church 

 sociable, there were only two or three in those parts 

 who could hold a candle to him. He could find more 

 red ears of corn, dance longer, and play more games 

 than any one I ever heard of, and when you pinned 



