There was Bill Dowd, too.

You know he really HAS got a screw loose in his head somewheres, an' there ain't any one but what says he's the town fool, all right.

Well, what do ye think HE said ?" Mr.Jack shook his head.
"Well, he said he did hope as how nothin' would happen ter that boy cause he did so like ter see him smile, an' that he always did smile every time he met him! There, what do ye think o' that ?" "Well, I think, Perry," returned Mr.Jack soberly, "that Bill Dowd wasn't playing the fool, when he said that, quite so much as he sometimes is, perhaps." "Hm-m, maybe not," murmured Perry Larson perplexedly.

"Still, I'm free ter say I do think 't was kind o' queer." He paused, then slapped his knee suddenly.

"Say, did I tell ye about Streeter--Old Bill Streeter an' the pear tree ?" Again Mr.Jack shook his head.
"Well, then, I'm goin' to," declared the other, with gleeful emphasis.
"An', say, I don't believe even YOU can explain this--I don't! Well, you know Streeter--ev'ry one does, so I ain't sayin' nothin' sland'rous.