22 SUMMEK IN A BOG. 



completed that far. The masons and stone- 

 cutters were French and German. The fore- 

 man of the gang was a Frenchman named 

 Vandelyne. He knew his business and saw to 

 it that the work was done right. Do you know 

 why there 's such a lot of people poor?" He 

 turned his keen gray eyes to mine with a half 

 smile in their depths. 



"It 's half laziness and shirk and half ig- 

 norance. Poor people have poor ways and 

 plenty of them. Here — ^maybe I ought to ex- 

 plain what I mean better. I have all respect 

 for poverty. It is the virgin soil from which 

 every man and woman produces according to 

 labor and ability. Some get wealth and knowl- 

 edge, and some do n 't. When I just spoke of 

 the poor I meant the 'don'ts,' the shiftless, 

 ignorant, dirty, lazy, self-satisfied people who 

 ought to be treated for the hook-worm to see 

 if it will help them any, as I hope it may. 

 They 're the folks who retire to the city in 

 search of 'a job' and the aid of charity, leav- 

 ing us farmers to raise the crops the best we 

 can without proper help from farmhands. 

 Shirkers, every one of them! 



"But there was no shirk to Vandelyne. 

 Right up along the hills, there by your farm, 

 they put in not less than two years, I 'm told. 

 The limestone that the culverts and bridges 



