Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1886-02-08

chal Fuller hadn't signed with him;
and now Fuller, he's all petered out.
You can't collect nothin' of him.
Jim said the other day, he'd be glad
of chance 10 pay the note in work;
and guess I'H have him come and
fix up some kind of a store-house. |
What do you think about it?
81 don't know but what it. S good |
enough idee,'' said Mary Ann, "if |
you kin make it work. Miss Penni-
man was in here to-day; and she
said Jim Bryant had rlz half dollar
a day on his price, on account of the
hard times"
"The very reason he'd no business
to raise his price, said Steven,
wrathfully. "How's folks goin' to
get the money to pay him, when
times is so hard? shan't pay him no
two dollars a day."
Couldn't you git him to take his
meals here while he's doin' the job?"
suggested Mary Ann.
"That's a good idee. I'm glad
you thought ont. Yes, We'll make
him board it out. / guess we can
trust mother not to make his meals
cost more'n half a dollar a day."
And Steven chuckled grlmly.
James Bryant was Woodworking
man, with sickly wife and several
little children. The foregoing winter
he had borrowed little money of
Steven, giving him his note, which
Paschal Fuller willingly signed as Sc
curity. He owed Bryant double the
amount of the loan and he said, as
he wrote his name, ''Pll pay this my
self as soon as | get some money,
I'm expecting most any time now
Doubtless, he meant what he said
but he was speculating heavily, and
the depression in business which fol-
lowed the breaking out of the wal
caused his financial rum. James
Bryant found he must pay his debt
to Steven Hiland himself; and worn
out with the constant dunning which
Steven kept up, he was glad of the
opportunity to pay it in work, even
though the prospect of eating at Mrs.
Hiland's table was not the most
agreeable.
The ore-house was built, and
Steven Hiland's wool packed away
in it long before the summer was
over. When winter set in, he had
added to it the "clips'' of less fortu-
nate neiohbors, who could not wait
for higher prices, until he had nearly
two thousand pounds stored away.
He gloated- eper-his treasure, con-
stantly figuring upon it,-how much
had it cost, what he might hope to
get for it,-until even Mary Anr
grew tired of the word "wool."
"Land, father,'' she would say
81 am sick and tired of that ever
lastin' wool. We shall all turn into
sheep next
''We should be more vallyble ther
than we are likely to be any othe
way" Steven would rejoin.
He invested in sheep quite heavil.
during the winter; and when sprins
opened, and he found wool had al
ready risen beyond the price he hat
intended to sell at, his avarice grew
and scared Alps upon Alps beyont
his original expectations.
The store-house was enlarged, ant
his clip of that year also stored away
He now and then bought small quan
titles from his neighbors, but not of
ten; for specializing in wool was be
coming an important branch of trade
and men secured the country, secur
ing what there was to be found in ev
ery town. AS his store house filed
it became famous among the wool
dealers. Hardly man of them bu
had made some effort to buy il
When the demand for wool was S
; great, it was maddening to the brok
: ers to see man, with thousands Q
E pounds packed away, ''holdin' on
for higher price.
''Hang it, SAID one, after an ur
:. usually exasperating interview wit
T. Steven, "a mans no right to b
: such hog. Government ought
seize that wool, and declare it contr;
band of war
''Did ye have pretty tough tim
:, with the old cuss?' asked symps
$ thizing listener.
s Tough amt no name for it.
: talked and talked, and we went
I the store-house and looked at tt
1 wool, and then we sot down in tt
e house and talked some more. F
! nally, | offered him more than L,
e ever gin yet, but that didn't satisf
o him. Then I asked him to name h
price, tell me what he'd take for th
g lot straight through. So, after som
II beatin' about the bush, he gave m
y his figures
'sWhat were they, Huntress
d some one asked.
) Huntress colored and looked sheer
v ish. 81 dunno as I'm obliged to tell,
he answered. 'sFact is, don't war
}. you fellows to know what fool
:. was. They were high, and no mi:
Il take; but my blood was up, and
|. was bound to get that wool. | sal
S I'd take it. Well, we talked a spe
IS longer, and settled about payment
Il and how twas to be delivered; an
# I thouobt Pd oot il. sure, But, fina