She had
attended school in town for the past three winters, and her brother was
talking of sending her to the high school.
Practically, Rupert was the head of the family. Always respectful to his
mother, and generally consulting with her on any important matter, he
nevertheless could not help seeing that everything depended on him, and
that he was the master mind of Ames farm. And then the neighbors came to
him for advice, and older and presumably wiser men counseled with him,
and so it suggested itself to Rupert that he was the master mind of all
Dry Bench besides. Everybody called him a "rustler." When he had leisure
for school, he was beyond school age; so, nothing daunted, he set out to
study by himself. He procured the necessary books, and went to them with
an energy that made up for the lack of a teacher. Nina kept pace with
him for a time, but the ungraded village school curriculum was too slow
for Rupert; and when one spring the young reservoir projector appeared
at the county teachers' examination and passed creditably, all, as he
said "just for fun and practice," the people talked again--and elected
him to the board of trustees.
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