"A man doesn't know how good he really is until he begins to try to help some one else up. Then he finds out."
"I need to be helped," he said, in a tone that seemed to be intended for her ear alone. "I am ignorant,—don't know nothin'. Can't hardly read, or write, or cipher. Could yer learn me?"
She looked at the strong man before her, touched by his appeal.
"What do you wish to learn?"
"First readin' an' writin' an' cipherin'."
"What next?"
"Oh, everythin', I guess."
The others had caught fragments of the conversation, and now joined in. Mike Maloney spoke first.
"Do yez think yez are a kid again, Jack, that yez are sthartin' wid book learnin'?"
"No, Mike, not a kid, but a dunce."