Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1886-02-08
hope his wool will choke him some

duntIeSS experience was tnat OF
Ill the dealers. Again and again,
he trade seemed almost concluded:
md, at the last, Steven would find
some pretext for ''boldin' on" A
continual struggle was going on in
lis mind between avarice and reason.
he knew he ought to be satisfied with |
he profit he would make by selling
At once; but, sorely tempted as he
was by the certainty of present gain,
the thought would arise that by wait
ing little longer he could make a
little more, and he could not bring
himself to let his boarded wool go.
So time went On, the stock of
wool constantly accumulating, until
at the time of Lincoln's second elec-
tion he had nearly ten thousand lbs.
packed away, waiting for higher
price.
If you take my advice, Neighbor
Hiland," said Squire Flanders, his
nearest neighbor, s'you'll sell that
wool now. while you can. The war
is bound to be over in the spring,
and wool will be one of the first
things to come down. / heard you
was offered two dollars and seventy
five cents pound for the lot the 9th
er day. You'll never get so good an
offer again"
''I'm goin' to hold on till | get
three dollars pound," said Steven,
showing his teeth.
"Man alive, you're crazy!" return
ed the squire. "Do you expect to
get thirty thousand dollars for your
wool?''
'sWe shall see," was Stevens re-
ply; and Squire Flanders drove off,
grumbling at what he called the mans
"pig- g-headedness.'
We all remember the events of the
spring of '65,-how, before we could
believe that pc ace was at hand, the
South had surrendered and the war
was over. While the nation rejoiced,
one man felt no pleasure. Steven
Hiland bitterly regretted that he had
''held on" to his wool so long.
"Wall, father" SAID Mary Ann,
cit can't be helped now. You did it
for the best; and you must sell right
off, as quick as you can. You'd
oughter get good price now, if you
are spry about it.
"Yes," said Steven humbly, ''1'll
do the best / can
Throughout the long summer that
followed, the wool-buyers were bar
gaining for that wool. One day,
Steven would be almost ready to sell
the next, he would hear of some one
who had paid little more for WOO
than he had been offered, and. after
a period of indecision, he would con
clude ''to hold on spell longer" Sc
the winter set in, and the wool wa:
not sold.
This was repeated year after year
The price of wool steadily declined
He knew perfectly we'll that he ough
to Sell his stock for what he coult
bring himself to part with it for les
than he had once been offered.
He grew moody and ullen. 1t wa
dangerous to allude TO his wool. H
would answer angrily, with VOLTS
snarl, showing his teeth and looking
as one man said, ''for all the worl
as if he would bite" Even Mar
Ann dared not mention it TO him, AN
she and her mother felt that they ha
fallen on evil times. His hired me
found their lives less pleasant tha
ever.
But. land they can leave. and
| can't" said Mrs. Hiland, after a
unusually tying day. MARY Anr
| do believe your father IS goin
crazy"
There were others who thought sc
He behaved very strangely ut times
He would sit for hours on bear
high up in the store-hOuse. lookin
down at the wool, muttering to hin
self. Mrs. HIland and Mary An
were full of apprehension, sufferin
as women do when trouble is impen(
ing which they are powerless t
avert, and understand but vaguely.
Four years had passed since ii
fall of Richmond, and another spin
was opening. Steven Hiland sat OF
sunny day on his favorite beam
the store-house, brooding gloomil
over his mlsfortunes. AS he turne
to leave the house, he made a mil
step. His foot slipped. He faile
, to catch the cross-p piece by which /
, usually swung himself down, and fe
upon the wool below. 1t was not
. bad fall i; but he had wrenched hin
, self in some way as he fell. and We
unable to rise. His calls for hel
were unheard; and he lay for houl
upon his bed of wool, until at last I'll
day was ended, and Mrs. Hiland sci
the hired men to call him to suppe
Carefully, they lifted him and ca
ried him into the house, and laid hi
on his bed, from which he never ros'
Some obscure internal injury whic
baff1ed the doctors, combined wit
his nervous depression and bis mo
bid mental state, resulted in b
death before the summer was owe
Like a flock of evil birds of pre-,
the children returned to the home
stead, and began wrangling Owe
what was left. The married daupl
ters were continually ON the watcl