Chapters 15 and 16 Summary

The time has come to pick the cotton and dozens of Negroes arrive to work. Everyone, even the children, are pressed into service in some way. Callie is jealous of her brothers because they get to run errands and are paid a penny for their work, while she must babysit the workers' babies and toddlers. When she complains about it, her father agrees to pay her a nickel, then she hires Sul Ross to do the work for her, paying him 2 cents of the 5 cents she's getting so she can spend time with Granddaddy. When her grandfather says she might turn out to be a woman of commerce and seems a bit disappointed, she makes it clear that she's committed to science.

In Chapter 16, everyone is excited because the town of Fentress is getting its first telephone line, which will be...