“Did you make any deal with those people down in the western part of the state?” asked the colonel. “Jennie wrote me that you’ve got an offer.”
“No,” said Jim, and he told the colonel about the proposal of Mr. Hofmyer.
“Well,” said the colonel, “in my capacity of wild-eyed reformer, I’ve made up my mind that the first four miles in the trip is to make the rural teacher’s job a bigger job. It’s got to be a man’s size, woman’s size job, or we can’t get real men and real women to stay in the work.”
“I think that’s a statesmanlike formulation of it,” said Jim.
“Well,” said the colonel, “don’t turn down the Pottawatomie County job until we have a chance to see what we can do. I’ll get some kind of a meeting together, and what I want you to do is to use this offer as a club over this helpless school district. What we need is to be held up. Do the Jesse James act, Jim!”
“I can’t, Colonel!”
“Yes, you can, too. Will you try it?”
“I want to treat everybody fairly,” said Jim, “including Mr. Hofmyer. I don’t know what to do, hardly.”
“Well, I’ll get the meeting together,” said the colonel, “and in the meantime, think of what I’ve said.”
Another thing to think of! Jim rushed into the house and surprised his mother, who had expected him to arrive after a slow walk from town through the snow. Jim caught her in his arms, from which she was released a moment later, quite flustered and blushing.