Jim also continued helping on his father's farm. When he was twelve, he could plow a furrow so straight that even his exacting father found no fault. He enjoyed farming, but he enjoyed business more.
When Jim was 14, his father–who was more liberal than most of the folks in his congregation–decided to do something he had wanted to do for years. He tried to convince the folks that Sunday School was not a bad thing. He preached other heresies, too: men should be educated for the ministry and receive stipends for their services to the church. The church was in an uproar; a vote was called on whether or not to excommunicate him. He quit the church to avoid dividing it.
Jim became bitter and refused to attend church for twenty years. However, his faith in God wavered only for a while; his training in morality lasted.
Shortly before Jim graduated from high school, his father gave him a pre-graduation gift: he lent him four acres of farm ground. The expert farmer-father refused to give any farming advice unless Jim paid him. Jim decided to set out on his own as his father had hoped, figuring out what to do and how best to do it. He decided to raise watermelons. He must have planned well, because the melons grew rapidly and prospered. Some of them were almost ripe, and Jim went out to pick those few. But they were gone!
This presented a new challenge, but Jim was always up to challenges. He took a small tent, his dog and shotgun, and began spending the nights with the watermelons. The first night, someone approached some melons, the dog barked, Jim shot the shotgun into the air, and voices hollared, "Don't shoot. We were just on our way home from work." No more melons were lost.
After the melons were ripened and picked, Jim sold them from door to door. When the county fair opened, Jim parked his wagon outside the gates and began hawking his wares. Suddenly he heard his father's voice, "Jim, go home immediately! You're a disgrace to the family!"
Jim obeyed instantly, confused and worried. What on earth was wrong? He found out shortly, for his father was soon home. He told Jim he should have known he was guilty of unfair dealing. No one should have had to tell him that.
