“Bayport?” he queried.
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, that ain’t very far.”
“It is farther than father used to go.”
“Well, your father wasn’t any great hand for business, I guess.”
“Father was always ready to do his best,” I returned warmly, not liking the manner in which my father’s character had been assailed. “He was not responsible for the dull times here.”
“Maybe; but business is just what a man makes it.”
“Are you a miller, sir?”
“No, I ain’t; but I guess it won’t take a man like me long to learn the business.”
I had my doubts concerning the truth of the last assertion. I had been around a mill all my life, and yet there was hardly a day passed but what some new difficulty presented itself.