Barzilla Small, Luther's fond parent, also professed intense dislike for the man now filling his son's position in the bank.

"I don't know how 'tis," affirmed Barzilla, "but the fust time I see that young upstart I says to myself: 'Young feller, you ain't my kind.' This remark being repeated to Captain Sam, the latter observed: 'That's gospel truth and thank the Lord for it.'" Another person who refused to accept Phillips favorably was Phineas Babbitt.

Phineas's bitterness was not the sort to sweeten over night.

He disliked the new bank clerk and he told Jed Winslow why.
They met at the post office--Phineas had not visited the windmill shop since the day when he received the telegram notifying him of his son's enlistment--and some one of the group waiting for the mail had happened to speak of Charlie Phillips.

"He's a nice obligin' young chap," said the speaker, Captain Jeremiah Burgess.
"I like him fust-rate; everybody does, I guess." Mr.Babbitt, standing apart from the group, his bristling chin beard moving as he chewed his eleven o'clock allowance of "Sailor's Sweetheart," turned and snarled over his shoulder.
"I don't," he snapped.
His tone was so sharp and his utterance so unexpected that Captain Jerry jumped.
"Land of Goshen! You bark like a dog with a sore throat," he exclaimed.