"Not that I want to jedge him harsh, coz I don't know what kind
o' maggots is eatin' his innards to make him so ornery. I'm
bound to suppose he has 'em, or he wouldn't act so dum like it.
So I says, go slow and gentle before puttin' a black brand on any
feller; as my mother used to say, never say a bad thing till ye
ask, 'Is it true, is it kind, is it necessary?' An' I tell you,
the older I git, the slower I jedge; when I wuz your age, I wuz a
steel trap on a hair trigger, an' cocksure. I tell you, there
ain't anythin' wiser nor a sixteen-year-old boy, 'cept maybe a
fifteen-year-old girl.
"Ye'll genilly find, lad, jest when things looks about as black
as they kin look, that's the sign of luck a-comin' your way,
pervidin' ye hold steady, keep cool and kind; something happens
every time to make it all easy. There's always a way, an' the
stout heart will find it.
"Ye may be very sure o' this, boy, yer never licked till ye think
ye air an' if ye won't think it, ye can't be licked.
It's just the same as being sick. I seen a lot o' doctorin' in
my day, and I'm forced to believe there ain't any sick folks
'cept them that thinks they air sick.
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