After I had scrubbed off all the dirt I could, I packed up and started again. I could see the little town long before I came to it. At the first house I reached a man had just driven up with a load of hay. When I asked him where I could find a place to camp, he told me to stay at his place if I wanted to, that he had plenty of hay, and I was welcome, so I took him at his word. Unpacking my horses I tied them under the shed and fed them. By that time the man came out and said that supper was ready. I told him that I had plenty to eat and would rather not go in.
“Come and eat with me,” he insisted, and taking me by the hand, he led me into the house.
The women and children stared at me so hard that I felt uncomfortable. The children would look at me, then turn to one another and laugh.
“I suppose you would like to wash before you eat,” said the lady. She gave me some water and soap. It was the first soap I had seen for two years. After I had washed, she told me to sit down at the table.
“Don’t you take off your hat when you eat?” the man asked.
“No,” I said.
“Will you please take it off here?”
I pulled it off.
They had bread and butter and potatoes and gravy and milk—the first I had seen since I left home. But I was mighty glad when I got away from that table.
I went out and watered my horses and gave them some more hay. By this time it was dark, so I made my bed and turned in. Just as I was getting into bed, I saw this man go down town and pretty soon he came back with three more men. I saw them go into the house. Shortly afterwards he came out and said that the bishop was in the house and would like to have a talk with me. I told him that I did not want to talk; but he kept at me until I got up and went into the house.