"'Why not?'

"'It costs so much to die,' he says. 'Why, it takes a thousan'
dollars to give a man a decent funeral these days.'

"'Wal,' I says, 'a man that can't afford either to live or die
excites my sympathy an' my caution. You've taxed the community for
yer luxuries, an' now ye want to tax me for yer notes. It's unjust
discrimination. It gives me a kind of a lonesome feelin'. You
tell your boy Dan to come an' see me. He needs advice more than
you need money, an' I've got a full line of it.'

"Bill went away richer by a check for a few hundred dollars. Oh, I
always know when I'm losin' money! I'm not like other citizens o'
Pointview.

"Dan came to see me the next Saturday night. He was a big,
blue-eyed, handsome, good-natured boy, an' dressed like the son of
a millionaire. I brought him here to the office, an' he sat down
beside me.

"'Dan,' I says, 'what are your plans for the future?'

"'I mean to be a lawyer,' says he.

"'Quit it,' I says.

"'Why?' says he.