"In the course of two or three days Fanny was quite well again. The cows and the old mare suffered somewhat from their long fast, but with care they soon recovered. Nobody was very long the worse for 'the great drift on Bolt's Hill' but Jake Penniman. Mr. Morrell was an upright man, who hated lies in every shape, and had some old-fashioned notions of discipline. The first misfortune which befell Jake was a sound horse-whipping. But a still sorer punishment was the universal contempt and coldness with which he was treated. Not one of the village boys would speak to him or play with him; the girls turned up their noses, and talked about cowards and about poor dear Fanny Bolt whenever he made his appearance. Even Jake's dull nature was roused by this treatment. He found himself more miserable than he had ever been in his life, and he thought seriously of running away."
"'I really don't know what to do with Jake,' said Mr. Morrell to Captain Bolt one day. 'He does have a hard time in the village, that's a fact. I don't think I know how to make any one work. I am no hand to drive. It is so much easier to take hold and do things myself than it is to follow Jake round and make him do them. Wife says I am to blame for a good deal of the boy's laziness, and I don't know but she is right.'"
"'Suppose you let Jake come to me for the rest of the winter,' said Captain Bolt, after a little consideration. 'I believe I am a pretty good hand to drive, at least my boys always thought so; and I will see if I can do anything for Jake.'"
"'Well, Captain Bolt, if you ain't a Christian man, I wouldn't say so,' said Mr. Morrell. 'I shouldn't suppose you could bear the sight of the boy.'"
"'Forgive and forget, neighbor. I should be ashamed to bear malice against a boy like that; and if I can do him any good, I am sure I am very willing to try. I am an old sea captain, you know, and used to having my own way, and maybe Jake will be the better for a change. I will talk with my wife and let you know.'"
"At first Jake did not very well like the notion of going up to Bolt's Hill; but his admiration of David, the returned sailor, and his desire to get away from the village, prevailed. For a while he found his life very irksome. Captain Bolt did not do after him what he left half-finished. He simply made Jake do it over again—twenty times, if necessary. So with his lessons. Jake had never perfectly learned the multiplication table. He now learned it in a day, simply because he was informed that he would have no supper till he did. He learned more in four months than he had done before in all his life, and really turned out quite an average sort of man."
