"An' then he telled us about the day when this preacher come along
by the lake--a dreffle sightly place, this min'ster said; he 'd
seed it hisself when he was trav'lin' in them countries--an' come
acrost two men he knowed well; they was brothers, an' they was
a-fishin'.  An' he jest asked 'em in his pleasant-spoken, frien'ly
way--there wa'n't never sech a drawin', takin', lovin' way with any
one afore as this man had, the min'ster said--he jest asked 'em to
come along with him; an' they lay down their poles an' their lines
an' everythin', an' jined him.  An' then he come along a spell
further, an' he sees two boys out with their ole father, an' they
was settin' in a boat an' fixin' up their tackle, an' he asked 'em
if they 'd jine him, too, an' they jest dropped all their things,
an' left the ole man with the boat an' the fish an' the bait an'
follered the preacher.  I don't tell it very good.  I 've read it
an' read it sence that; but I want to make ye see how it sounded to
me, how I took it, as the min'ster telled it that summer day in
Francony meetin'.  Ye see I 'd no idee who the story was about, the
man put it so plain, in common kind o' talk, without any
come-to-passes an' whuffers an' thuffers, an' I never conceited 't
was a Bible narr'tive.

"An' so fust thing I knowed I says to myself, 'That 's the kind o'
teacher I want.  If I could come acrost a man like that, I 'd jest
foller him, too, through thick an' thin.'  Well, I can't put the
rest on it into talk very good; 't aint jest the kind o' thing to
speak on 'fore folks, even sech good friends as you.  I aint the
sort to go back on my word,--fishermen aint, ye know,--an' what I
'd said to myself 'fore I knowed who I was bindin' myself to, I
stuck to a'terwards when I knowed all about him.  For 't aint for
me to tell ye, who've got so much more larnin' than me, that there
was a dreffle lot more to that story than the fishin' part.  That
lovin', givin' up, suff'rin', dyin' part, ye know it all yerself,
an' I can't kinder say much on it, 'cept when I 'm jest all by
myself, or--'long o' him.