Butterfield: Educating O'Sullivan

Abraham Butterfield is a man out of time who stands with one foot in the past of his mountain man and Indian heritage, and another in the modern world he finds himself in. Highland Kennedy O'Sullivan is finishing his doctorate in Human Relations at Columbia University, and wants to find out why people in the west think so differently than his contemporaries in the east.
Abe, after pointing out Land has one foot in a puddle, challenges Land to work the ranch for the summer and get a first hand knowledge of the differences rather than a simple interview. Land begins to see that like the view of the Tetons this is something a little more than an average ranch. Land takes the challenge.
What happens during the summer is far beyond Land's imagination. This is evident immediately when he enters Abe's log home. It is massive and open with a balcony and rooms above. It has been a home, stage stop and store. But he is most impressed by the extensive library ranging from the 1830's original editions to modern works from Einstein and Ansel Adams. Everything in the home from door latches to tables and chairs to lamps was made by someone named Abraham over the last hundred and fifty years, including an interesting ceiling fan system driven by a single motor Abe's father had once seen in a hotel and duplicated. Clearly Abe is not the simple mountain rancher first impressions would indicate.