Sadness
crept over her and tears came into her eyes. Although she did not know what
the old man meant by the words about the sap and the tree, she did, in a
detached subconscious way, understand something of the import of the words,
and she was grateful for the thoughtfulness that had led to his telling the
others to stop trying to tease her at the table. The half worn-out old farm
hand, with the bristly beard and the strong old body, became a figure full
of significance to her mind. She remembered with gratitude that, in spite
of all of his teasing, Jim Priest had never said anything that had in any
way hurt her. In the new mood that had come upon her that meant much. A
greater hunger for understanding, love, and friendliness took possession of
her. She did not think of turning to her father or to her aunt, with whom
she had never talked of anything intimate or close to herself, but turned
instead to the crude old man. A hundred minor points in the character of
Jim Priest she had never thought of before came sharply into her mind.
In the barns he had never mistreated the animals as the other farm hands
sometimes did. When on Sunday afternoons he was drunk and went staggering
through the barns, he did not strike the horses or swear at them. She
wondered if it would be possible for her to talk to Jim Priest, to ask him
questions about life and people and what he meant by his words regarding
the sap and the tree.
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