His experience with the welfare officer had been too
great a humiliation to be soon forgotten.
The town to which his father brought them was full of excitement over an
oil-boom, and men were making money fast and spending it just as fast. It
was a gathering-place for loafers and gamblers, sin and wickedness
abounding on every hand.
Mr. Hill was not located in the town, but had care of engines which kept
pumps going out on the field. He was to have a house near his work after a
while, but for the present he had a house five miles away. The country was
wild and the neighbors few, and Austin saw that he would not be bothered
with his children gadding among the neighbors here. That was a consolation,
though he grieved to have them so far from a good school.
True to his impulses Austin found work as soon as he was settled in the new
home. This time he hired to the farmers who had not all their fall work
done yet. When he could no longer get work among them, he was compelled to
remain at home, for he would not go away where he could not keep in touch
with the children. But there was plenty to do at home. They wished to farm
the next year, and he could prepare the ground this fall; besides, he
obtained the privilege of clearing a certain piece of ground for the posts
he could get from it. The sale of these posts brought in something, though
not so much as if he had been working for wages.
It seemed especially necessary that he be at home with the children at
night, for his father was often gone till late and then came home partly
under the influence of drink.
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