The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1877-04-12
CHAPTER VIII.

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The funeral services of Georg
Doughty were as largely attended II
the great temperance meeting ha,
been. The pall-bearers, twelve il
number, were all young men who ha,
been in the habit of drinking but who
had sighed the pledge, some of then
having appended signatures to specia
pledges privately prepared on til,
the evening before the service. A.
for the sermon, ii was universally vo
ted the most powerful effort that Par.
son Wedgewell had ever made. Day
and night had the good man striven
with Doughty's parting injunction
determined to transmit the exact
spirit of ii but horrifed at its nature
At last he honestly made George,
own words the basis of his whole ser.
mon; his method being, first, to show
what would have been naturally th,
last words of young man of good
birth and Christian breeding, and
presenting Georges moral legacy by
way of contrast: he succeeded i'm max.
ing of his sermon an appeal so power.
full and all-applicable that none of the
hearers found themselves at liberty tc
search out those to whom the sermon
might seem personally addressed.
Among the hearers was Mr. Crupp,
and no one seemed more deeply inter-
ested and affected. He followed the
funeral cortege to the cemetry: but,
arrived there, he halted at the gate,
instead of following the example OF
the multitude by crowding rs closely
as possible to the grave. The final
services were no sooner concluded,
than the object Of Mr.. Crupp's unusu-
al conduct became apparent to one
person after another, the disclosure
being made to people in order of their
earthly possessions. The parson was
shocked at learning that Mr. Crupp
was importuning every man of means
to take stock in "A woolen mill, to be-
established at Barton; but whisper
ed word or two from Crupp caused
the parsen to ahatc his displeasure,
and finally to stand by Crupp and
express his own hearty appreciation
of the enterprise proposed. Then Mr..
Crupp whispered few words to
Squire Tomple, and the Squire sub
scribed hundred shares at ten dollars
each; Deacon Jones took fifty shares,
and Judge Macdonald promised to
take fifty, Crupp's name already
stood at the head of the list for hun
dred. No stock company had ever
been organized ut Barton before, and
the citizens had always manifested a
laudable reluctance to allow other
people to handle their money; but
this case seemed an exception to all
others; confidence in the enterprise
was SO powerfully expressed, alike by
the mercantile community, the bar,
the church, and the unregenerate the
last named class being represented by
the exyender of liquors), that people
who had any money made haste to
participate in what seemed to them
race for wealth, with the odds in ev-
erybody's favor. Crupp neglected no
one; He scorned no subscription on
account Of its smallness; before he
left the cemetery gate nearly half the
requisite capital had been pledged,
and before he slept that night he
found it necessary to accept rather
more than the twenty thousand dol
lars which, it had been decided two
days before would be needed. Several
days later board of directors was
elected: two or three of the directors
informally offered the superintency of
the mill to Fred Macdonald, on con-
dition that he would pledge himself to
abstain from the use OF intoxicating
beverages while he held the position,
and then Fred was elected superin-
tendent in regular form and by unani-
nous vote of the board of directors.
Great was the excitement in Barton
and the tributary country when it
was announced that the mill needed
no more money, and that, consequent
tly, no more stock would be issued
In that mysterious way in which such
things always happen, the secret es-
capped, and encountered every one,
that his new position would prevent
Fred Macdonald from drinking; non
stockholders had then the additional
grievance that they had been depriv
ed of taking any part in an enter
prise for the good of fellow-man,
and all because the rich men saw
money in the mill. None of the in
jured ones dared TO express their
minds on this subject to Squire Tom
Pile, to whom so many of them owed
money, or to Judge Macdonald, who,
in his family pride, would have laid
himself liable to action by the grand
jury, had any one suggested that his
Oldest son had ever been i'm any dan
ger of becoming drunkard. But to
Mr.. Crupp they didn't hesitate to
speak freely; Crupp owned no mort
cages, no total abstainers owed him
money; besides, he not only was not
a church member, but he had been in
the most internal of all callings, rum
selling. so it came to pass that when
one day Crupp went into Deacon
Jones' store for dollars worth of su-
gar, and was awaiting his turn among
a large crowd of customers, Father
Baguss constituted himself spokes-
man for the aggrieved faction, and
said:
''It pears to me, Mr.. Crupp, as fire.
fornin' was payin' business"
Crupp, being human, was not saint
ly; so he flushed angrily and replied:
at ought to be, if the religion you
are so fond offs worth row of pins;
but don't know what you're driving
att
ooh! of course you don't know
said Father Baguss; "but everybody
else does. You don't expect to make
money out Of that woolen mill, do
you?"
"Yes do, too, said Crupp quickly.