But that family
always thought they were much bigger potatoes than they
really were. His brother Eliphalet imagined the devil
was always at his elbow--but _I_ never believed the
devil wasted that much time on him."
"I--don't--know," said Captain Jim thoughtfully.
"Eliphalet Baxter lived too much alone--hadn't even a
cat or dog to keep him human. When a man is alone he's
mighty apt to be with the devil--if he ain't with God.
He has to choose which company he'll keep, I reckon.
If the devil always was at Life Baxter's elbow it must
have been because Life liked to have him there."
"Man-like," said Miss Cornelia, and subsided into
silence over a complicated arrangement of tucks until
Captain Jim deliberately stirred her up again by
remarking in a casual way:
"I was up to the Methodist church last Sunday
morning."
"You'd better have been home reading your Bible," was
Miss Cornelia's retort.
"Come, now, Cornelia, _I_ can't see any harm in going
to the Methodist church when there's no preaching in
your own. I've been a Presbyterian for seventy-six
years, and it isn't likely my theology will hoist
anchor at this late day.
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