Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-07-25
that she should give. up school-teaching

that she should give up school-teaching
when She became my wife.
eat this time the art of veneering
was, perhaps, at its height, and for
the benefit of any n here who
knows nothing Of that art l may
say it is simply that of covering what
l may call base wood with what I
may call precious wood. Logs of ma
hogany, walnut. satinwood, rose
wood, and SO on, are cut into thin
leaves about the eighth of an inch
thick, and glued down on base wood.
In the process Of cutting half the wood
is lost; but supposing an inch thick
ness is required, you csn have, at the
expense Of a quarter of an inch of
mahogany and seven-eighths of an
inch of common wood what seems to
be inch mahogany. Quarter of an inch
and seven-eighths of an inch would be,
of course, an inch and an eighth, but
the odd eighth flies from the circular
saw in mahogany sawdust.
'tlt was in selecting logs which might
be protitably cut into veneer [ attracted
attention at M%arston's yard. 1t was on
ny ioASiASAo Ia Ull1S u1ttUlC1 L SUuILCu
in life on my own account. My plan
was simple. l wandered from place
to place. from sale to sale, from yard
to yard, spying out l~ikely-looking
pieces M bringing news Of them to
manufacturers.
''ln the course of my wanderings I
naturally came into contact with men
employed in nearly every Wholesale
Undergrad in London. Among these
was a working man named John
Fraser, who had always struck me as
n possessed of a shrewd knowledge
OF timber. AS with me, he could give
me no reason for the conclusions at
which he arrived. He simply said:
i like it or Il DON'T 'Buy it. or .Let
it alone;;' L think it will turn out WE'LL
or y am sure it is no good.'
81 cannot explain how it was, but l
felt drawn towardt this man Fraser, and
whenever l went to where he was en-
ployed made it a point to meet him
and have a chat. 1t will not seem like
Boosting on my part if 1 say l was a
better judge OF logs than he. 1t is the
simple truth. In my experience he
rarely hesitated, but on some occasions
he would decline TO give an opinion any
way, merely saying the thing was be-
yond him.
lone wet, dull, miserable forenoon
in February I went into the yard where
Fraser was employed. had nothing
to do that day. [ knew no fresh con
signment had reached that yard since
my last visit. I felt depressed, dis
couraged. The present year had not
opened even as we'll for me as the
former one. I began to think Jane and
l would have, indeed, very long to wait
before we could start, ever SO modestly,
our little home. l found Fraser sitting
idly on some square Quebec timber.
Because of his Judgment IN logs Fraser
was allowed great latitude in l~aziness.
In fact, he vas retained almost wholly
for the purpose of appraising uncut
wood. He was in a peculiarly morose
and taciturn humor. l could get moth
ing out Of him but negatives. 1t was
not a nice day. There vas no news.
Nothing had arrived since I vas here
last. 1t did not seem as if the seasons
were now as they had been long ago.
Two large timber firms had not been
able to pay their way and were bank.
rupt. There was no knowing but that
his own firm was in a bad way. 1t was
now pretty sure that the end of the
world could not be far off. He had nc
faith in his own Judgment of logs, and
he began to doubt mine.
At last, he said to me, I know there
isn't a better Judge of stuff in the rough
than you: although you are a young
man, but wait till you come to my
years and may be you'll fancy your
opinion less.
"'Perhaps I may said I; but so fa1
as l have gone l have new made q
very bad guess yet
".Aye, aye, %aye-youth is ever over.
bold. When l vas your age may be ]
too thought I couldn't be taken in. But
tits wonderful how we lose courage as
we grow old. You give IN opinion
twice as readily as l who have had five
times your experience. Tell me, he
cried with sudden animation, were you
ever downright beaten by a log yet?'
"'Never,' 1 answered, with a laugh.
i daresay l have not been long enough
at the business
"'Would you like to be beaten:?' he
said, getting up, and infusing what was
for him a great deal of animation into
his movements.
".If you've got anythingin stock you
think will beat me- I said, 'let me see
it,
"'Come,' he said defiantly, and with
out another word ne led the way to a
remote corner of the yard where 1 had
never been before.
81 followed in silence. In a couple
of minutes we stood opposite q piece OF
mahogany.
"siiighteen feet by three feet, by
three feet he said. What do you make
OF itp'
81 looked long and narrowly. There
was absolutely no Indication OF promise
in the wood, and yet felt an uneasy
desire to come by that log in some way
or another. Not only was there no APP
pearance of promise, but it looked un-
couth, %ungainly, and certainly a super
fetal glance would induce any average
buyer to pass it over. However it was,
the longer l lookeu the less l liked to
leave 1t there. Something drew me
towardit, but whether it was the fasci-
nation of attraction or the fascination
of repulsion which chained me to tn
spOt. I could not decide.