John’s stock had now greatly increased and his rancho was becoming one of the most prosperous ones in the county. To be sure, his neighbors complained that he was too energetic, and that he would never hold out at the rate he had begun. Moreover he was thought to be a trifle particular in his conduct, and his sisters were sometimes called “stuck up,” yet this was simply because they were not content to be shiftless, and despised the makeshifts which were considered good enough by most of their neighbors. “I cannot see,” said Christine, to whose ears some of these reports had come, “why we are considered to hold our heads so high simply because our gate is on its hinges and because we have light bread when we can get it. I suppose we ought to tie the gate together with a bit of rope and disdain flour.” “One would think that with so old a civilization as Mexico’s,” said John, “this part of the country ought to be far ahead of the other states, but though we are spared many of the experiences of other pioneers who have gone into the actual wilderness, we have to overcome traditions and replace indolence with energy before we can develop as we should. Texas will be a rough country for many a year, but she will work out of that and into a greater refinement in time. She is too much the refuge for outlaws, and offers too great inducements to those who want to live an irresponsible life for her to attain to great heights at once; we must give her time, Tina.” “Oh, I’ll give her all the time she wants, so far as I am concerned, so long as I am not interfered with, but I must say I do not care to be criticised for maintaining mere respectability.” John laughed. “Just jog along your own gait, child; that’s what I mean to do. Let them talk; who cares? Don’t you suppose we are respected if we are criticised? All I care for is to do my duty and to make the best of my opportunities.” “And I am sure,” Alison put in, “it is something to be an example, and that we are to more than one. I am sure Ira takes you for a model and Lolita imitates us so far as she is able.” “That’s the way to talk,” returned John. Ira and Louisa were now happily settled in their home where Ira was dutifully “gittin’ broke in,” as he expressed it, and if he “bucked” once in a while it was because he wasn’t “used to being driven double.” He would get down to his paces in time, he promised, and in fact it was his best intention to take John as an example. He had so far succeeded as to make the old Sparks place look fairly well. To be sure the capable Louisa’s hand showed in the appearance of the house and its immediate surroundings, but, since Ira was inexperienced rather than lazy, it was supposed that in time he would respond to the expectations of so good a wife, whose favorite song of the chirping cricket he might hope to hear for many a day by his own fireside.