II.

Perhaps Mr. Darwin can tell inquirers why, out of very common origin,
there occasionally spring beings who are very decided improvements on
their progenitors; but we are only able to state that Jim Hockson was
one of these superior beings, and was himself fully aware of the fact.
Not that he was conceited at all, for he was not, but he could not help
seeing what every one else saw and acknowledged.

Every one liked him, for he was always kind in word and action, and
every one was glad to be Jim Hockson's friend; but somehow Jim seemed to
consider himself his best company.

His mackerel lines were worked as briskly as any others when the fish
were biting; but when the fish were gone, he would lean idly on the
rail, and stare at the waves and clouds; he could work a cranberry-bog
so beautifully that the people for miles around came to look on and take
lessons; yet, when the sun tried to hide in the evening behind a ragged
row of trees on a ridge beyond Jim's cranberry-patch, he would lean on
his spade, and gaze until everything about him seemed yellow.

He read the Bible incessantly, yet offended alike the pious saints and
critical sinners by never preaching or exhorting. And out of everything
Jim Hockson seemed to extract what it contained of the ideal and the
beautiful; and when he saw Millicent Botayne, he straightway adored the
first woman he had met who was alike beautiful, intelligent and refined.
Miss Millie, being human, was pleased by the admiration of the
handsome, manly fellow who seemed so far the superior of the men of his
class; but when, in his honest simplicity, he told her that he loved
her, she declined his further attentions in a manner which, though very