His one neat little living room was full of them -- beautiful , hideous or quaint as the case might be , and almost all having some weird or exciting story attached . Mother and I had a beautiful summer at Golden Gate . We lived the life of two children with Uncle Jesse as a playmate . Our housekeeping was of the simplest description and we spent our hours rambling along the shores , reading on the rocks or sailing over the harbour in Uncle Jesse 's trim little boat . Every day we loved the simple-souled , true , manly old sailor more and more . He was as refreshing as a sea breeze , as interesting as some ancient chronicle . We never tired of listening to his stories , and his quaint remarks and comments were a continual delight to us . Uncle Jesse was one of those interesting and rare people who , in the picturesque phraseology of the shore folks , `` never speak but they say something . '' The milk of human kindness and the wisdom of the serpent were mingled in Uncle Jesse 's composition in delightful proportions . One day he was absent all day and returned at nightfall . `` Took a tramp back yander . '' `` Back yander '' with Uncle Jesse might mean the station hamlet or the city a hundred miles away or any place between -- `` to carry Mr. Kimball a mess of trout . He likes one occasional and it 's all I can do for a kindness he did me once . I stayed all day to talk to him . He likes to talk to me , though he 's an eddicated man , because he 's one of the folks that 's got to talk or they 're miserable , and he finds listeners scarce ` round here . The folks fight shy of him because they think he 's an infidel . He ai n't that far gone exactly -- few men is , I reckon -- but he 's what you might call a heretic . Heretics are wicked but they 're mighty interesting . It 's just that they 've got sorter lost looking for God , being under the impression that He 's hard to find -- which He ai n't , never . Most of 'em blunder to Him after a while I guess .
I do n't think listening to Mr. Kimball 's arguments is likely XXXXX do me much harm .
after along as at because on over that to with