"I don't know, Tode, whether you're cracked, or what is the matter with you," he said at last, when he could speak, "but I never heard a fellow mixing up peanuts and heaven before."
Tode was someway not in a mood to be laughed at, so he gave vent somewhat loftily to a solemn truth.
"Oh well, if you're a mind to think that the peanuts is of the most consequence after all, why I don't know as I object."
And then the boy deliberately knelt down and began his evening prayer. He was too ignorant to know that there were boys who thought it unmanly to pray. It never occurred to him to omit his kneeling. As for Jim he felt himself in a very strange position. He kicked his heels against the bedpost for awhile, but presently he grew ashamed of that, and contented himself with very noisily making ready for bed. Tode, when he rose, was in a softened mood, and as he blew out the light said:
"I wish you knew how to pray, Jim. I do, honestly, it's so nice."
"Praying and brandy bottles don't go together," answered his companion, shortly.
"No more they don't," said Tode, emphatically. "I had to quit that business myself."
If some of our respectable brandy-drinking, brandy-selling deacons could have heard those two ignorant boys talk!
