"He says Sile Wright is a drunkard an' a thief." Loud jeers followed the statement, then a volley of oaths and a moment of danger, for somebody shouted: "Le's tar an' feather him." "No, we'll just look at him a few minutes," Rodney Barnes shouted.

"He's one o' the greatest curiosities that ever came to this town." The slanderer, thoroughly frightened, stood silent a few moments like a prisoner in the stocks.

Soon the grocer let him in at an upper window.
Then the loud voice of Rodney Barnes rang like a trumpet in the words: "Any man who says a mean thing of another when he can't prove it ought to be treated in the same way." "That's so," a number of voices answered.
The slanderer stayed in retirement the rest of the day and the incident passed into history, not without leaving its impression on the people of the two towns.
My life went on with little in it worth recording until the letter came.
I speak of it as "the letter," because of its effect upon my career.

It was from Sally, and it said: "DEAR BART--It's all over for a long time, perhaps forever--that will depend on you.

I shall be true to you, if you really love me, even if I have to wait many, many years.