"De ye think I did, Tildy? Gid-dap, Jerry."
"I know it. Only a fool or a lunatic would offer to give one thousand dollars when he hasn’t a cent to his name."
"Ye’r wrong, Tildy. I’m not crazy, an’ I don’t think I’m altogether a fool. It was somethin’ else that shook me timbers at the meetin’."
"Oh, you know as well as I do. I imagined I was as rich as I used to be several hundred years ago, an’——"
"For pity sakes, Abner, stop that nonsense. Because you think you lived hundreds of years ago, and that you were very rich and a great man, doesn’t make you rich and great now. You’re only Abner Andrews of Ash Point, and can hardly pay your bills, let alone give one thousand dollars toward building a Home for orphan children."
"But, Tildy, I thought I was really old man Astor, an’ saw millions of dollars right before me."
"Well, if that’s the way you felt, I think it’s about time we called in the doctor. There’s surely something wrong with your head."
"But, Tildy, ye don’t understand. De ye think I was goin’ to set there an’ let them people git off with their cussed meanness? Not by a jugful! Gid-dap, Jerry, what’s the matter with ye?"
"But what about that thousand dollars? Do you expect to pay it?"
"Not out of that old farm of ours, let me tell you that. Why, it’s nothing but a heap of gravel, and you know as well as I do how hard we scratch and dig to raise anything. But you would buy the place, no matter what I said."
"It’s a mighty fine situation, though, Tildy. G’long, Jerry."
"It may be that, Abner, but you can’t live on a fine situation these days. Haven’t you always had fine situations for over twenty years now, and what have they amounted to?"
"Yes, I’ve touched on a good many things in that time, Tildy. I ran the old ’Flyin’ Scud’ on the river fer five years; an’ then I bought that thrashin’ machine from Sol Britt, an’ ran it fer awhile. After that I went in fer lumberin’, an’ kept it up fer several winters. Now I’m into farmin’. Yes, ye’r quite right about the situations. I’ve had several fine ones, sure enough."
"And made a mess of them all, Abner. Everything you touched failed. And I expect it will be the same with the farm."
"Oh, I don’t know about that, Tildy. We manage to git along an’ make a comfortable livin’. I’ve allus depended upon three things to pull me through."