my mama say. Cook with rabbit, cook with
chicken, in the gravy, -- oh, so good!"

All the way home grandmother and Jake
talked about how easily good Christian people
could forget they were their brothers' keepers.

"I will say, Jake, some of our brothers and
sisters are hard to keep. Where's a body to
begin, with these people? They're wanting
in everything, and most of all in horse-sense.
Nobody can give 'em that, I guess. Jimmy,
here, is about as able to take over a homestead
as they are. Do you reckon that boy Am-
brosch has any real push in him?"

"He's a worker, all right, mam, and he's
got some ketch-on about him; but he's a mean
one. Folks can be mean enough to get on in
this world; and then, ag'in, they can be too
mean."

That night, while grandmother was getting
supper, we opened the package Mrs. Shimerda
had given her. It was full of little brown chips
that looked like the shavings of some root.
They were as light as feathers, and the most
noticeable thing about them was their pene-
trating, earthy odor. We could not determine
whether they were animal or vegetable.

"They might be dried meat from some

[[89]]

p088x3b _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p089w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p090

v?