diff options
| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-02-07 08:56:05 -0800 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-02-07 08:56:05 -0800 |
| commit | eee299a80191e3313a2e86c7dcce8bff4725258d (patch) | |
| tree | e30d15677487d9e5bda511637f704e5b12390b5d | |
Initial commit
| -rw-r--r-- | 54772-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 551741 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 54772-h/54772-h.htm | 7839 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 54772-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 98971 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 54772-h/images/frontis.jpg | bin | 0 -> 49751 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 54772-h/images/i112.jpg | bin | 0 -> 50232 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 54772-h/images/i120.jpg | bin | 0 -> 49034 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 54772-h/images/i192.jpg | bin | 0 -> 50169 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 54772-h/images/i232.jpg | bin | 0 -> 49485 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 54772-h/images/i264.jpg | bin | 0 -> 49867 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 54772.txt | 7679 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 54772.zip | bin | 0 -> 146079 bytes |
11 files changed, 15518 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/54772-h.zip b/54772-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b13f4bf --- /dev/null +++ b/54772-h.zip diff --git a/54772-h/54772-h.htm b/54772-h/54772-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d1e209 --- /dev/null +++ b/54772-h/54772-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7839 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+ "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+ <head>
+ <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+ <title>
+ The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Turning of the Tide, by Elijah Kellogg.
+ </title>
+ <style type="text/css">
+
+ p { margin-top: .75em;
+ text-align: justify;
+ margin-bottom: .75em;
+ }
+
+ p.bold {text-align: center; font-weight: bold;}
+ p.bold2 {text-align: center; font-weight: bold; font-size: 150%;}
+
+ h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {
+ text-align: center; /* all headings centered */
+ clear: both;
+ }
+ h1 span, h2 span { display: block; text-align: center; }
+ #id1 { font-size: smaller }
+
+
+ hr {
+ width: 33%;
+ margin-top: 2em;
+ margin-bottom: 2em;
+ margin-left: 33.5%;
+ margin-right: 33.5%;
+ clear: both;
+ }
+
+ hr.smler {
+ width: 15%;
+ margin-top: 2em;
+ margin-bottom: 2em;
+ margin-left: 42.5%;
+ margin-right: 42.5%;
+ clear: both;
+ }
+
+ body{margin-left: 10%;
+ margin-right: 10%;
+ }
+
+ table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 5px; border-collapse: collapse; border: none; text-align: right;}
+
+ .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */
+ /* visibility: hidden; */
+ position: absolute;
+ left: 92%;
+ font-size: smaller;
+ text-align: right;
+ text-indent: 0px;
+ } /* page numbers */
+
+ .center {text-align: center;}
+ .smaller {font-size: smaller;}
+ .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;}
+ .box {max-width: 35em; margin: 1.5em auto;}
+ .space-above {margin-top: 3em;}
+ .left {text-align: left;}
+
+ .poem {display: inline-block; text-align: left;}
+ .poem br {display: none;}
+ .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;}
+ .poem div {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;}
+ .poem div.i2 {margin-left: 2em;}
+
+ </style>
+ </head>
+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Turning of the Tide, by Elijah Kellogg
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
+
+
+Title: The Turning of the Tide
+ Radcliffe Rich and His Patients
+
+Author: Elijah Kellogg
+
+Release Date: May 23, 2017 [EBook #54772]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TURNING OF THE TIDE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Edwards, Martin Pettit and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+book was produced from scanned images of public domain
+material from the Google Books project.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="center"><a name="cover.jpg" id="cover.jpg"></a><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="cover" /></div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<div class="box">
+<p class="center">By GEORGE MAKEPEACE TOWLE.</p>
+
+<p>Heroes and Martyrs of Invention.<br />Vasco da Gama; His Voyages and Adventures.<br />
+Pizarro; His Adventures and Conquests.<br />Magellan; or, The First Voyage Round the World.<br />
+Marco Polo; His Travels and Adventures.<br />Raleigh; His Voyages and Adventures.<br />Drake; The Sea King of Devon.</p>
+
+<p class="center">By CAPT. CHARLES W. HALL.</p>
+
+<p>Adrift in the Ice Fields.</p>
+
+<p class="center">By DR. ISAAC I. HAYES.</p>
+
+<p>Cast Away in the Cold; An Old Man's Story of a Young Man's
+Adventures.</p>
+
+<p class="center">By W. H. G. KINGSTON.</p>
+
+<p>The Adventures of Dick Onslow among the Redskins.<br />Ernest Bracebridge; or, School Boy Days.</p>
+
+<p class="center">By JAMES D. McCABE JR.</p>
+
+<p>Planting the Wilderness; or, The Pioneer Boys.</p>
+
+<p class="center">By DR. C. H. PEARSON.</p>
+
+<p>The Cabin on the Prairie.<br />The Young Pioneers of the Northwest.</p>
+
+<p class="center">By JAMES DE MILLE.</p>
+
+<p>The Lily and the Cross; A Tale of Acadia.</p>
+
+<p class="center">By F. G. ARMSTRONG.</p>
+
+<p>The Young Middy: or, The Perilous Adventures of a Boy
+Officer.</p>
+
+<p class="center">By R. M. BALLANTYNE.</p>
+
+<p>The Life Boat; A Tale of Our Coast Heroes.</p>
+
+<hr class="smler" />
+
+<p class="center"><i>Sent by mail, postpaid, on receipt of price.</i></p>
+
+<hr class="smler" />
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Lee and Shepard, Publishers, Boston</span></p></div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<div class="center"><img src="images/frontis.jpg" alt="The first Money" /></div>
+
+<p class="bold"><span class="smcap">The first Money.</span> <a href="#Page_29">Page 29</a>.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="bold"><i>THE WHISPERING PINE SERIES.</i></p>
+
+<hr class="smler" />
+
+<h1>THE<br /><br />TURNING OF THE TIDE;</h1>
+
+<p class="bold">OR,</p>
+
+<p class="bold2">RADCLIFFE RICH AND HIS PATIENTS.</p>
+
+<p class="bold space-above">BY</p>
+
+<p class="bold2">ELIJAH KELLOGG,</p>
+
+<p class="bold">AUTHOR OF "LION BEN," "CHARLIE BELL," "THE ARK OF ELM ISLAND," "THE BOY<br />
+FARMERS," "THE YOUNG SHIP-BUILDERS," "THE HARD-SCRABBLE," "ARTHUR<br />
+BROWN," "THE YOUNG DELIVERERS," "THE CRUISE OF THE CASCO,"<br />
+"THE CHILD OF THE ISLAND GLEN," "JOHN GODSOE'S LEGACY,"<br />
+"THE SPARK OF GENIUS," "THE SOPHOMORES OF<br />RADCLIFFE," "THE WHISPERING PINE,"<br />"WINNING HIS SPURS," ETC.</p>
+
+<p class="bold space-above"><i>ILLUSTRATED.</i></p>
+
+<p class="bold space-above">BOSTON 1892<br />LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS<br />
+10 MILK STREET NEXT "THE OLD SOUTH MEETING HOUSE"<br />
+NEW YORK CHAS. T. DILLINGHAM<br />718 AND 720 BROADWAY</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="center">Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873,<br />
+<span class="smcap">By</span> LEE AND SHEPARD,<br />
+In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>PREFACE.</h2>
+
+<hr class="smler" />
+
+<p>A distinguished professor of Mathematics in a New England college was
+wont to remark to the Freshman class when meeting them for the first
+time at recitation, "that every person is as lazy as he can be." However
+we may demur to this sweeping assertion, it is doubtless true that more
+persons fail in life through indolence and the absence of appropriate
+and wholesome stimulus than from lack of capacity to become useful and
+even distinguished.</p>
+
+<p>Misfortune, undesirable as it may seem, nevertheless furnishes an
+effective test of character, for, while the effeminate nature of lax
+fibre crumbles and is disintegrated beneath the pressure, the manlier
+spirit, like Dannemora iron, defies the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> fury of the furnace, and even
+beneath the hammer, gathers both temper and tenacity.</p>
+
+<p>How great the change produced in a Scotch pebble, taken from the banks
+of a Highland lake, when the wheel of the lapidary has brought out the
+hues, and it appears what it really is, a gem; thus the thrill of sudden
+calamity, the sharp anguish that makes the blood spring from the lip
+have often supplied both object and motive to many a spirit that
+(capacious of better things) was fast becoming honeycombed by the rust
+of luxury and indolence, and has developed gifts of which even the
+possessor was unconscious.</p>
+
+<p>The <span class="smcap">Turning of the Tide</span> places before our readers this entire process in
+the person of <span class="smcap">Radcliffe Rich</span>, from the rude awakening, the moment when
+the half-benumbed faculties rally for the mastery, to the stern conflict
+and the hard-won victory.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<hr class="smler" />
+
+<table summary="CONTENTS">
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER I.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td></td>
+ <td><span class="smaller">PAGE</span></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="left"><span class="smcap">The Smith of the Wilderness.</span></td>
+ <td><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER II.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="left"><span class="smcap">The First Money.</span></td>
+ <td><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER III.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Experience the best Teacher.</span></td>
+ <td><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER IV.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Hammer and Tongs.</span></td>
+ <td><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER V.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Drew sore and savage.</span></td>
+ <td><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER VI.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Patient, but determined.</span></td>
+ <td><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER VII.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="left"><span class="smcap">He finds the Clue.</span></td>
+ <td><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2" class="center"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>CHAPTER VIII.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="left"><span class="smcap">A Trade the best Inheritance.</span></td>
+ <td><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER IX.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Blood will tell.</span></td>
+ <td><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER X.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Dead Low Water.</span></td>
+ <td><a href="#Page_125">125</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XI.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="left"><span class="smcap">A striking Contrast.</span></td>
+ <td><a href="#Page_134">134</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XII.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Did not come to see the Wreck.</span></td>
+ <td><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XIII.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Morton's Business.</span></td>
+ <td><a href="#Page_150">150</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XIV.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Winning Golden Opinions.</span></td>
+ <td><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XV.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="left"><span class="smcap">How Dan took his Medicine.</span></td>
+ <td><a href="#Page_170">170</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XVI.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Peril of being out Evenings.</span></td>
+ <td><a href="#Page_180">180</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2" class="center"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>CHAPTER XVII.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="left"><span class="smcap">The Young Samaritans.</span></td>
+ <td><a href="#Page_192">192</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XVIII.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Dan wants to know Himself.</span></td>
+ <td><a href="#Page_205">205</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XIX.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Dan traps large Game.</span></td>
+ <td><a href="#Page_214">214</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XX.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Goes for Wool, and gets shorn.</span></td>
+ <td><a href="#Page_222">222</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XXI.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Progress and Prejudice.</span></td>
+ <td><a href="#Page_231">231</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XXII.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Suiting Means to Ends.</span></td>
+ <td><a href="#Page_244">244</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XXIII.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="left"><span class="smcap">The Turn of the Tide.</span></td>
+ <td><a href="#Page_260">260</a></td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2"> </td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XXIV.</td>
+ </tr>
+ <tr>
+ <td class="left"><span class="smcap">The Young Flood.</span></td>
+ <td><a href="#Page_278">278</a></td>
+ </tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="bold2">THE TURNING OF THE TIDE.</p>
+
+<hr class="smler" />
+
+<h2><span>CHAPTER I.</span> <span class="smaller">THE SMITH OF THE WILDERNESS.</span></h2>
+
+<p>With Rich, the chum and friend of Morton, and who, animated by the
+contagion of a noble example, became his rival in rank as a scholar and
+in all athletic sports, his companion in labor, and between whom, though
+neck and neck in the pursuit of those college honors that each most
+highly prized, there was never a shadow of jealousy or distrust, while
+their sympathies met and mingled like fibres of a kindred root, drawing
+their nutriment from a common soil,—with Rich, refined in all his
+tastes, of delicate sensibilities, and a playful humor that never stung,
+sunny tempered, generous, companionable, yet firm in principle as a
+granite shaft, and whom all Radcliffe idolized, our constant readers are
+already well acquainted; but the exigencies of this story, and the
+necessity of imparting information both to them and others, render it
+imperative that we should speak<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> more definitely respecting his family
+and home life, to which we have heretofore barely alluded; indeed, we
+are not aware that we have ever distinguished him by any other name than
+that of Richardson, and much more frequently made use of the college
+term, Rich.</p>
+
+<p>His grandfather, with ten other young married men, first broke ground in
+our hero's native town, then a wilderness, and built their camps on the
+borders of a stream heavily timbered, soon after the formation of the
+federal government with Washington as president. They were, with a
+single exception, poor, having taken up their abode in the wilderness
+because they wanted a home, and could buy the wild land for ten cents
+per acre. Full of enterprise, and strong in limb, this little community
+felt themselves equal to the struggle. They had as yet neither sawmill
+nor gristmill, though a noble stream fell over the rocks close to their
+doors, but pounded the corn they raised on burns in large mortars, or
+went in canoes eleven miles to mill, to a village farther down the
+stream, where they likewise procured salt. There were neither roads nor
+horses in the clearing, and at first everything was brought through the
+woods, in the winter on men's shoulders, walking on snow-shoes, and in
+summer in canoes or on rafts up the river.</p>
+
+<p>They were accustomed to put the grain and corn belonging to several
+neighbors into a large canoe,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> and thus take it down the river to the
+mill. At length a road was spotted through the woods to the
+village—that is, a piece of bark and wood was taken off the side of
+trees with an axe, for a guide to the traveler. The path was crooked,
+going through those portions of the forest that were thinnest, and
+winding around obstacles. Occasionally a tree that stood very much in
+the way was cut, and a log flung across some gully, brook, or mire.</p>
+
+<p>In the early part of winter, when the brooks and swamps were frozen, and
+the snow deep enough to cover, in some measure, the windfalls, and fill
+the ravines, and at other times in the latter part of it, when the crust
+would bear light cattle, they went through the woods with oxen to mill,
+improved the occasion to obtain articles of absolute necessity, and
+whenever their stock of bread-stuff fell short, had recourse to the
+mortar.</p>
+
+<p>At first it was a bitter struggle for existence; the land was covered
+with a dense forest, and there was neither pasture for cattle in the
+summer, nor hay to keep them through the winter. In this condition of
+things, they managed to keep a few cattle by cutting the wild grass that
+grew in the swamp and along the banks of the river, and felling yellow
+birch and maple trees in summer for browse. By dint of patient labor,
+their circumstances improved from year to year; more land was cleared,
+their stock of cattle increased with the increase of hay and pasture,
+and they began<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> to keep sheep and horses, to make staves and shingles,
+cut logs and drive them down the river in spring, and beech withes to
+bind loads and rafts were exchanged for chains.</p>
+
+<p>Cattle and horses were now to be shod, and they began to feel greatly
+the need of a blacksmith. If a chain or axe was broken, a horse or yoke
+of oxen to be shod, there was no smith nearer than eleven miles, and no
+road except a bridle-path through spotted trees. Previous to this, they
+had worked their oxen without shoes, and horses were only shod forward.
+But now they wanted to haul logs and shingles on the ice of the river,
+and they must be shod. They were in great need of a smith, and yet there
+was not work sufficient to afford a blacksmith constant employment, and
+consequently, a living. But there was money in the logs and shingles,
+and necessity sharpens invention. They hired John Drew, the smith at the
+village, to come in the fall, just before the river shut up, bringing
+horse-shoes, ox-shoes, nails, and his tools. He went round from house to
+house, the oxen were cast on the barn floors, and the shoes put on. Thus
+they managed, feeling more and more the want of a smith. Richardson was
+possessed of remarkable mechanical ability, and was what is termed a
+handy man—a great thing in the woods. He had a few carpenters' tools,
+made ox-yokes, and sleds for himself and neighbors. At length a cart
+road was made<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> through the woods, and Richardson built the first, and
+for some time the only, pair of wheels in the clearing. Surrounded by a
+young and rapidly increasing family, necessity led him to improve to the
+utmost every talent he was conscious of possessing.</p>
+
+<p>On the 10th of January, some two years before the road was made, he
+went, in behalf of himself and the little community, to the village,
+through the woods, with an ox-team, carrying corn and grain to be
+ground. He also carried plough-irons to be new laid, chains to be
+mended, axes to be new "laid" or "upset," and orders for some to be
+manufactured. In order to get the large grist ground, and the iron work
+done, he was obliged to remain three days. While watching the smith at
+his work, the idea occurred to him that he could work with iron as well
+as wood. All the way home he brooded over it, till the idea took entire
+possession of him, and that long wilderness road never seemed so short
+before. After a while he opened his mind to his wife, who encouraged him
+to make the attempt. But he had no money to buy either iron or tools,
+and iron in those days was difficult to obtain, and high in price, being
+nearly all imported. It seemed a hopeless undertaking; still he could
+not banish the thought from his mind. It haunted him; lay down with him
+at night, and rose up with him in the morning. One day he broke a chain
+in the woods; he had but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> two. The next day came a snow storm, affording
+leisure. The smith was eleven miles off. He could not do his work
+without the chain, and resolved to try to mend it by welding again the
+broken link he had saved. He made a great fire in the kitchen, and put
+in the iron. The kitchen tongs served to hold, a nail hammer to work it,
+and a flat stone for an anvil. To his great mortification, he found that
+although he could heat it to redness, he could not make it hot enough,
+with a wood fire, to weld. He put wood in the oven, stopped the draft,
+and burnt it to coal; but even with charcoal he did not succeed at first
+in obtaining a welding heat. His wife, who was looking on with the
+greatest interest, suggested the use of the kitchen bellows, and by
+their aid he partially succeeded.</p>
+
+<p>His next attempt was to mend the staple of an ox-yoke. This was much
+more difficult, as the iron was larger, and he had nothing to bend it
+over. But after several trials, he at length accomplished his purpose.
+It was supper time when William Richardson struck the last blow upon the
+staple, and put it into the yoke. When the meal was finished, and Mrs.
+Richardson had washed the dishes, and put the children to bed, she sat
+down to her cards, with a basket of wool beside her, while the father of
+the family, having taken off his shoes, and hung his buskins in the
+corner to dry, sat with folded arms, looking intently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> upon the glowing
+coals. No sound was heard save the crackling of the fire, the rasping of
+a solitary wood-worm that was boring into a log of the walls, and the
+sound of the cards as the good wife plied her labor.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, wife," said Richardson, at length, starting from his reverie, and
+flinging fresh fuel on the fire, "what do you think of it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Think of what, William?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, of my day's work, and this blacksmithing. Don't you think I'd
+better fling the stone into the river and give it up? All I have done
+this blessed day, besides taking care of the cattle, is to mend that
+staple—a thing John Drew would have done in fifteen minutes."</p>
+
+<p>"No, he wouldn't, for if he had no better tools than you, he wouldn't
+have thought he could do it at all. I think it is the best day's work
+you ever did in your life."</p>
+
+<p>"O, Susan, how do you make that out? You just say that because you know
+I feel a little down in the mouth; not because you really think so."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, husband, I really think so; and you will, if you look at it right.
+You must expect to creep before you can walk. You couldn't have got
+along without that chain, and would have been obliged to travel
+twenty-two miles through the woods on snow-shoes, with that chain on
+your back, in order to get it mended, and a half bushel of corn besides
+on your shoulder to pay John<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> Drew for doing it; for we've got no money.
+It would have been the same with the staple. You couldn't have worked
+your oxen without it, and would have been forced to leave your work in
+fair weather, for you could not have gone in a storm. Now, you have done
+it yourself, in stormy days, when you couldn't have done much else,
+saved your corn, yourself all that travel, and, more than that, found
+out that you can work iron whenever you can get the tools to do it
+with."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know but you are right, wife; but how am I to get either the
+tools or the iron without money? I can't barter corn for iron, and John
+Drew has so much produce brought to him now that he is loath to take any
+more; says his house is full of corn, grain, meat, potatoes, and cloth,
+butter and eggs, and he can't get <i>money</i> enough to pay his taxes."</p>
+
+<p>"I think there will be some way provided. We had nothing when we came
+here but the clothes on our backs and twenty dollars in money; had to
+run in debt for our land. Now we've nearly paid for the land, we cut
+hay, keep quite a stock of cattle and sheep, have but seldom been put to
+it for bread, and have a warm, comfortable house, if it is a log one,
+and the children are warm clothed."</p>
+
+<p>"You always look on the bright side, Sue."</p>
+
+<p>"I think that's the best side to look on."</p>
+
+<p>We would inform our readers that the house<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> Sue thought so comfortable
+was built of rough logs, the crevices stuffed with moss and clay, had
+but two rooms in it, the partition between them being blankets hung up.
+The fireplace and oven were built of rough stones, and the chimney of
+sticks of wood laid in clay (to prevent their taking fire from sparks),
+that, as it fell off, was renewed from time to time.</p>
+
+<p>"I could buy tools with the money I shall get for logs that I cut this
+winter, didn't I want every cent of it to turn in towards paying for the
+land. I'm half a mind to take a little. If I only had a hammer, a punch,
+something to cut iron with, and a pair of tongs to hold it, I could mend
+my own chains and other things, save something, be learning all the
+time, and, after we pay for the land, I could get more tools."</p>
+
+<p>"I never would do that, husband. If we must take that money for
+anything, let us take it for the school. They are going to have a school
+at Montague's the latter part of the winter."</p>
+
+<p>This man had three rooms in his house, and it was built of hewn timber,
+in one of which the school was to be kept. Richardson and his wife had
+received a good common school education, and were anxious that their
+children should not grow up in ignorance.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span>CHAPTER II.</span> <span class="smaller">THE FIRST MONEY.</span></h2>
+
+<p>From the preceding chapter our readers will perceive the value of iron,
+and also the importance to the community of the mechanic who is able to
+work it. We would invite them to reflect upon some facts that may seem
+incredible to them at first view. A boy who has no disposition to
+reflect is not much of a boy, and when grown, will only be a servant to
+those who do.</p>
+
+<p>Iron is far more valuable than gold, and the blacksmith than the
+jeweler, for the same reason that bread is worth more than diamonds, and
+water than silver. Gold has a very great representative value in
+civilized society, where iron is abundant, and it will buy iron, and is
+an equivalent for the work of the smith; but it is only because men have
+agreed to make it so. Whereas iron has a value in itself considered. It
+fells the forest, tills the soil, annihilates time and distance, and
+underlies the whole economy of domestic life; for our readers will bear
+in mind that steel is only another form of iron.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p><p>The value iron acquires under the hammer is something wonderful. It is
+said that a bar of iron worth $5 is worth $10.50 when made into
+horse-shoes, $55 when made into needles, $3,285 made into penknife
+blades, $29,480 in shirt buttons, and $250,000, in balance springs of
+watches. Boys may, from this, see what labor is worth, and learn to
+value and respect it, for it is the labor the mind put into the iron
+that so increases its value. Consider what would be the result if there
+were no iron.</p>
+
+<p>A boy might search long to find a better subject for his theme than iron
+and its uses, or one the treatment of which would be more instructive to
+himself. The showers of sparks you see pouring out of a blacksmith's
+chimney, at times, of an evening when he is pressed with work, and
+forgets the ten-hour system, have a language to a reflecting mind; they
+mean power, progress, the plough, the telegraph, the mariner's compass,
+and the sword.</p>
+
+<p>We have taken advantage of a pause in the conversation, during which
+William Richardson resumed his reverie, and his wife plied her cards, to
+make this digression. At length the mother laid her cards into the
+basket of wool, and folding her hands in her lap, remained a few moments
+wrapped in thought. She then said,—</p>
+
+<p>"Husband, I feel so sure that good will come of this, that it will be,
+in the end, the best thing for us all (for I know you can do whatever
+you put your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> hand to), that I am willing to undergo almost anything to
+bring it about. There are three articles that will always sell at the
+store for half cash and half goods—butter, woollen cloth, and linen
+yarn. I will sell what we have to get your tools, and, perhaps, a little
+iron."</p>
+
+<p>"Susan, what did you make this cloth for, and what shape is it in?"</p>
+
+<p>"There's a piece of fulled cloth that I meant to make clothes of for you
+and the boys, some that I wove for a gown for myself and the girls, and
+some blanket stuff."</p>
+
+<p>"I won't take it; I won't take the clothes from your back and the
+children's if I never have any tools: the butter, I suppose, you have
+laid down for winter, and the blankets are needed for the children's
+beds."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you must take it; if you can work iron, we shall have the house as
+full of butter, meat, and cloth as John Drew's is."</p>
+
+<p>"But we can't get along without these things."</p>
+
+<p>"We can if we only <i>think</i> so. We can put some brush on the children's
+beds, over the clothes,—hemlock brush over a few clothes is real
+warm,—then, when it is very cold, we can leave a large fire when we go
+to bed, and you can get up at twelve o'clock and put on wood. The
+children can get along with their old clothes, and I with mine; there's
+nobody to look at us here. We have pork enough, and can do without
+butter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> till we can make some. One of the cows calves in March. I meant
+to have made some towels of the linen yarn, but tow will do just as
+well."</p>
+
+<p>"Susan, I think a man must be made of poor material who could be
+discouraged with a wife like you."</p>
+
+<p>"Mother always used to say, 'Think you can do a thing, and it's half
+done.'"</p>
+
+<p>The sledding was now good, and Richardson, engaged in hauling logs to
+the river, had no leisure to meddle with iron; he, however, at odd
+moments, when the cattle were eating, and on stormy days, made
+preparation in anticipation of the future.</p>
+
+<p>Near to his house stood the stump of a pine tree that had been cut when
+the snow was deep, and was higher than usual. Around this he built a log
+camp, in such a manner as to bring the stump on one side of the camp.
+The water was low in the river, and where it fell over the rocks, and by
+shovelling away the snow, he found a stone of sufficient size, hardness,
+and the right shape, for an anvil. Levelling the top of the stump, he
+made a cavity in it to receive the stone, and secured it firmly in its
+bed. This was much superior to a stone on the kitchen hearth, and would
+bear any blows that could be given with a hand-hammer. There was not a
+board or plank within eleven miles by land, and thirteen by the river.
+He flattened some pine saplings, and built up a pen, nearly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> square, for
+his forge, found a place in the swamp where the soil was not frozen, and
+obtained earth to fill it. By cutting through the frozen ground at the
+bank of the river, he obtained clay for mortar, and with stones built up
+a little abutment at one end of the forge, to lay his coal and build the
+fire against. There was no chimney, a hole being left in the roof for
+the escape of the gas and smoke. He then put a trough at the end of the
+forge, in which to cool his iron. The floor cost no labor, as it was
+supplied by mother earth. There was no window, but light came in at the
+smoke-hole in the roof between the logs and through the chinks of the
+door, made of joist hewed from small trees, treenailed together and hung
+on wooden hinges. All this was done little by little, as opportunity
+offered, and his wife and the children made charcoal by charring wood in
+the oven, as he could not obtain turf to burn a kiln out of doors in the
+winter. In mending his chain and staple, Richardson had felt very much
+the need of something to turn his iron around. One end of a smith's
+anvil terminates in a point, called the horn, and around which, whenever
+he wishes to make a hoop, ring, or link of a chain, he can bend it.
+Richardson had brought into the forest with him a large crowbar. At the
+expense of much labor with his nail-hammer, he rounded the extremity of
+the largest end, leaving the rest square; then boring a hole in the
+stump on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> right side, he drove the bar into it. This served as a
+very good substitute for a horn to his stone anvil, as he could turn a
+chain link on the round part, and bend iron at right angles on the
+square edge; and he was not a little proud of it when done.</p>
+
+<p>Richardson's ability to work in wood was well known to his neighbors,
+but he had carefully concealed his attempts in the blacksmith line, as
+he did not wish to attract attention till he could obtain tools, and had
+made some progress. But a matter of such general interest could not long
+be hid. The children told about their father's mending the chain and the
+staple, and it was soon known, to the great satisfaction of the
+neighbors.</p>
+
+<p>This little community, secluded from society and embosomed in the
+forest, most of them having emigrated from the same neighborhood, and
+enduring like hardships, were extremely social in their habits, much
+attached to one another, and ready to make sacrifices for the common
+good. David Montague was especially beloved by his neighbors, being a
+man of good abilities, and most open and affectionate disposition. In
+better circumstances than the rest, he was able to hire help to clear
+his land, and also kept a horse and a large stock of cattle.</p>
+
+<p>A few days after Richardson had made his preparations, he came in of an
+evening with his wife, and bringing a chain in his hand, that he flung<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>
+down at the door. After greetings were exchanged, and they had drawn
+together around the fire, Montague observed,—</p>
+
+<p>"Neighbor, I hear that you have turned blacksmith, and do your own iron
+work."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure," said Mrs. Montague, "it is going to be a great thing for the
+place if we have got a smith among us."</p>
+
+<p>"They say," replied Richardson, "that stories never lose anything by
+going, and I think this is a pretty good proof of it, for it all grew
+out of this: I went to the village, you know, a while since, to mill,
+for all hands, and to get some iron work done. While I stood watching
+Jack Drew, and blowing the bellows for him, I said to myself, 'I could
+do that work, or I could learn to do it, if I only had his tools and
+fire, just as well as I can make a pair of wheels, or an axletree, or
+frame a building, or make a cider-press.' I used to do that kind of work
+sometimes before I came here. I thought it over going home, and the next
+time I broke a chain, I set to work with a flat stone before the fire,
+and mended it, and then I mended a staple; that's the way it came about.
+I made up my mind then I'd mend my own things, if I could, and save the
+expense and the long tramp. As we've got only these two rooms, and there
+isn't much room round the fire, I built a hovel to work in."</p>
+
+<p>"I can tell you, Mr. Montague, he made out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> firstrate. Husband, show Mr.
+Montague the chain you mended."</p>
+
+<p>Richardson went to the barn and brought in the chain and the staple.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said his visitor, after examining the work with great interest,
+"if you can mend my chain as well as that, I'll never carry another one
+to Drew, and I'll pay you in cash just what I should have to pay him,
+and be greatly obliged, besides."</p>
+
+<p>"That's just what I've been telling husband," said his wife; "if he
+would give his mind to it, get a few tools, and begin in a small way, at
+first, it would give him work in stormy weather, and times when he
+couldn't do anything else, be a great accommodation to the neighbors,
+help the place, and be a good thing all around."</p>
+
+<p>"That's it, Mr. Richardson. Your wife's got the right of it, neighbor.
+The place is settling, people moving in, and taking up land, stumps
+rotting, and ground getting fit to plough; and work will grow as fast as
+you can grow to be able to do it."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll mend your chain, neighbor, in the best fashion I can; but I have
+to work in such a roundabout way, that I must have my time. Have you got
+the broken link?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; it flew into the snow, and I couldn't find it."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I shall have to cut one of the links, put the next link in, and
+weld it."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p><p>"I hate to have that done, because it will shorten the chain; and it's
+barely long enough to bind a load of logs and 'fid' now."</p>
+
+<p>"Haven't you any links lying round?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not I, indeed. Iron is as scarce as money with me, as with all the
+neighbors. Every link of a chain, piece of a horse or ox shoe, old
+spike, and every scrap of iron, is worked up. There is one thing,
+though, I remember now, though I don't know as it's of any use to you."</p>
+
+<p>"What is that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I got Drew to make me a plough-colter, more than a year ago, and found
+the iron. There was a piece left, a bar about a foot long."</p>
+
+<p>"If I could heat it, and contrive any way to cut it, I could make a link
+of it."</p>
+
+<p>"I will leave the chain, and send Andrew over with the bar, and if you
+find that you can't do anything with the bar, why, cut a link and make
+the chain shorter, for I am determined you shall mend that chain."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Montague and his wife now took their leave, and in the course of an
+hour Andrew Montague brought over the bar of iron.</p>
+
+<p>It was the wife's turn to be discouraged now.</p>
+
+<p>"William," she said, "you never can cut that great bar of iron. Why,
+it's almost as thick as my press-board, and you haven't one single tool
+to do it with. I'm sorry, but you will certainly have to shorten the
+chain."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p><p>"No, I won't shorten the chain, and I'll find some way to split it and
+forge a link out of it, if it takes from now till' next spring: that is,
+if you'll help me. Montague hates to have the chain shortened. It's the
+first job of work, and I'll do it as he wants it."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll do anything I can; anything in the world, to get bread for the
+children."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll help you, father; I'm real strong," said Clem, a boy of twelve,
+afterwards the father of Radcliffe Rich.</p>
+
+<p>"And I, too," said Robert, who was eighteen months younger. Two girls,
+still younger, would have doubtless volunteered, but they were abed, and
+not much could reasonably be expected of the baby in the cradle.</p>
+
+<p>William Richardson, in addition to his mechanical ability, was a
+resolute, powerful man. The encouragement afforded by the visit of
+Montague, and the prospect of abundance of work, if he could do it, had
+effectually roused all his energies. His wife, by no means ignorant of
+her husband's capacities, dismissed her anxieties, for she knew that he
+would find some way to accomplish whatever he had determined to do.</p>
+
+<p>After sitting a few moments buried in thought, he took a brand from the
+fire, and his axe, and, followed by Clem, started for the woods, where
+he soon found a hornbeam tree, the wood of which is very firm and heavy.
+The boy held the brand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> while he cut it down, and took off a cut three
+feet in length. With axe, saw, and auger, by the light of the kitchen
+fire, he soon made a beetle, that, during the time it lasted,—for he
+had no iron to hoop it with,—would enable him to strike a harder blow
+than even a blacksmith's sledge, for it was much heavier, indeed, too
+heavy for constant use; but a very strong man could swing it for a
+while, and upon an emergency. He then went down to a brook about an
+eighth of a mile from the house, for an old axe, kept to save a better
+one, and to cut ice, in order that the cattle might drink. The axe, by
+frequent grinding, had become very thick on the edge, and the bitt was
+rounded.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning Richardson started the fire on his forge with plenty of
+coal, and put in the bar, while Clem and Rob plied the kitchen bellows
+by turns, the two little girls looking on with the greatest interest.</p>
+
+<p>To cut iron, less heat is required than to weld it.</p>
+
+<p>"Clem," said Richardson, "call your mother."</p>
+
+<p>The boy returning, said,—</p>
+
+<p>"Mother says one of the girls must come in to watch the cradle."</p>
+
+<p>It was now, "Nan, you go," and "Sue, you go," when the indulgent father,
+who knew just how the children felt, compromised the matter by bringing
+the cradle, with the baby sound asleep in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> it, and setting the sleeper
+as far as possible from the forge, in order that the noise of the blows
+might not awaken him.</p>
+
+<p>Richardson, now taking the iron from the fire with the kitchen tongs,
+placed it on the anvil, and gave it in charge to the boys to hold. He
+then put the axe-edge down on the iron where he wished to split it, and
+told his wife how to hold it; then with the beetle he struck heavy blows
+upon the axe, forcing it into the iron at every stroke, while his wife,
+after every blow, drew the axe to a new place. The old axe, of excellent
+temper, and thick edge, that would neither turn nor break, being dipped
+in water when it became heated, answered the purpose of a chisel
+admirably, and the beetle was <i>superb</i>. Indeed, they would have nearly
+finished that heat, but the baby waked, screaming, and would not be
+pacified without his mother. Richardson clapped the iron in the fire,
+one of the children got a chair, and the mother sitting down, nursed the
+babe while the iron was heating. After this it became quiet, and the
+little girls took care of it, while the others cut the iron so nearly
+through that by bending it back and forth a few times, it fell apart.</p>
+
+<p>He now found that the strip he had cut off was sufficient to make two
+links by drawing it some. He therefore made two. But it was a deal of
+work to heat the iron hot enough to weld, because the hand-bellows were
+single, and only operated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> by short puffs, the iron cooling in the
+intervals, whereas a blacksmith's bellows, being double, one part fills
+while the other is discharging, thus keeping up a steady current of air.</p>
+
+<p>Montague was much pleased when he found that his chain, instead of being
+made shorter, was lengthened, and now sufficient for all purposes, paid
+Richardson liberally, and brought another chain that was too short, and
+had the remainder of his iron put into that.</p>
+
+<p>"There, wife," said Richardson, as he placed the money his neighbor had
+paid him on the table, "is the first money earned by the hammer. You
+were just right when you said that mending that staple was the best
+day's work I ever did, and I'm sure I never earned any money so sweet as this."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span>CHAPTER III.</span> <span class="smaller">EXPERIENCE THE BEST TEACHER.</span></h2>
+
+<p>The morning succeeding the events we have related, David Montague sent
+over the chain, into which, he wished the rest of his bar of iron
+worked. Richardson kindled his fire, put in the iron, and began to blow
+with the hand-bellows; but when he recollected how difficult it was to
+make iron hot enough to weld in that way, he flung down the little
+affair, and gave up the undertaking. Convinced that he needed a pair of
+bellows even more than a hammer or anything else,—for if he could only
+get a good heat, he could manage to hold the iron with the kitchen
+tongs, and work it with the claw-hammer,—he resolved to have them,
+especially as he felt that he could obtain them by his own efforts,
+without paying out money.</p>
+
+<p>He knew that John Bradford, with whom he was on terms of greater
+intimacy than any other of his neighbors, had a large lot of logs to
+haul, and that he was the owner of a whip-saw. Leaving the shop, he went
+over to John's and said to him,—</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p><p>"John, I suppose by this time you've heard all about my blacksmithing."</p>
+
+<p>"Reckon I have, and everybody else in this place. They say you hammer
+the iron on a lapstone, same as a shoemaker his leather."</p>
+
+<p>"Not quite so bad as that; but I find I must have a pair of bellows, and
+I want inch-and-a-half stuff to make the 'woods.' I have got a pine log
+at the door, and I can't go eleven miles to a sawmill; indeed, I don't
+think I could get there with cattle, the snow is so deep. Will you take
+your saw, and help me saw out the stuff? and I'll take my oxen and haul
+logs for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Won't I? I'll be right glad to do it."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I'll go home, and get my log on the saw-pit and come over in the
+morning."</p>
+
+<p>Two men accustomed to the work will saw out boards and plank with a
+whip-saw as well as they can be sawed in a mill, only it takes more
+time. Richardson had a place fixed near the bank of the river, where the
+ground fell off abruptly. Here stringers were laid on uprights set in
+the ground, on which the log to be sawed was rolled, and the descent of
+the ground afforded room to work the saw, which is nearly as large as a
+mill-saw, one man standing on top of the log, and the other on the
+ground below.</p>
+
+<p>With the aid of his neighbor, Richardson not only sawed out plank enough
+for the woodwork of his bellows, but one to make a bench, and boards<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>
+enough to make a door to replace the rude one of poles, and to close a
+window he meant to make over the bench.</p>
+
+<p>Having procured the material for the woods, the next article needed was
+leather to cover the woods. Putting on his snow-shoes, he tracked and
+killed a moose, took the hair off with strong lye, then tanned it with
+salt and alum, and pounded it upon the anvil with a stick, kneaded it in
+his hands, and greased it with the marrow of the moose till it was as
+limp as a rag.</p>
+
+<p>He now made the woods of the bellows, and bows, and as he had neither
+nails nor tacks, fastened the skin to the woods with wooden pegs. All
+this he accomplished without much difficulty; but without iron how was
+he to make the nose, which must enter the fire, or at least must
+approach within a few inches of it? The nose of a smith's bellows is of
+iron, and enters what is called the tuyere pipe, which is in these days
+quite a complicated affair, and communicates with the fire.</p>
+
+<p>"It's no sort of use, William," said his wife; "it must be iron, and
+you'll have to go to John Drew, and get him to make it."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll sleep a night on it," was the reply, "before I give it up."</p>
+
+<p>Whether he received any information in dreams, or not, I am unable to
+say; but this much is evident—that he rose in a hopeful frame of mind,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>
+and, to the great surprise of his wife, whose whole soul was in the
+matter, set to work without the least hesitation.</p>
+
+<p>Our readers will recollect that swamps in the forest do not freeze to a
+great depth, and often, when the snow comes before the cold is severe,
+not at all. Richardson found clay that he could get at in the swamp, and
+by cutting the ice obtained sand from the bottom of the brook. He now,
+with a hoe, broke up all the lumps in the clay, put water to it, and
+worked it with the hoe till it was fine and tough; then he worked in the
+sand, made a box a foot square, without ends (by nailing four pieces of
+boards together), and three feet in length. In the middle of this box he
+set a pine plug, larger at one end than the other, and tapering to the
+size he thought requisite, and filled the space between it and the sides
+of the box with the mixture of clay and sand, ramming it hard with his
+hammer-handle, in order that there should be no hollow places; put it in
+the kitchen, where it might dry gradually without freezing; made the
+frame, and hung his bellows on wooden pins, in default of iron; made the
+pole to blow with, while a strip of moose-hide served instead of a chain
+to lift the "wood" of the lower bellows; and then went into the woods to
+haul logs while his clay was drying, which required time, as the box
+excluded, in a great measure, the air.</p>
+
+<p>In the mean while, work accumulated on his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> hands. Reuben Hight brought
+a chain to be mended, John Bradford a kitchen shovel, the handle of
+which was broken in two. These shovels were very large, the handle as
+long as a broom-handle, and the blade nearly as wide as that of a barn
+shovel. James Potter brought the bail of a Dutch oven; John Skillings
+wanted a hook made to a chain, and brought a harrow tooth to make it of.
+Richardson promised to do the whole when he got his bellows done, if he
+could, of which he felt by no means assured.</p>
+
+<p>The clay was now thoroughly dried, being kept near the fire, and
+Richardson put the box on the kitchen hearth, and built a very moderate
+fire. This he gradually increased, till the box was burnt, the plug of
+pine consumed, and the clay brought to the condition of brick. He then
+permitted the fire gradually to burn out, and, when the operation was
+over, he had, as the result, a complete cone, thoroughly burnt. He made
+a square hole in his butment, put the pipe through it, with the smaller
+end towards the forge, and bedded it in clay mortar.</p>
+
+<p>Into the large end of this brick cone he put the wooden nose of his
+bellows. It being a great deal smaller than the cone, he filled around
+it with clay mortar; his object in giving this shape to the passage
+being to admit filling, in order to prevent burning the wooden nose of
+the bellows. The length of the cone prevented its heating <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>sufficiently
+to burn the bellows-nose by reason of its great distance from the fire,
+being out of the stone butment, in the cool air; and the clay mortar
+around the nose was, he thought, a poorer conductor of heat than the
+brick cone itself.</p>
+
+<p>Richardson completed his work about noon, and it was a good deal of
+self-denial to him to abstain from making a coal fire at once, and going
+to work; but he thought it best to let his mortar dry. He, however,
+satisfied himself that there would be no difficulty in raising all the
+wind he needed, and he made a small wood fire to dry the clay before it
+should freeze.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning the shop presented much the appearance of a jubilee.
+The children had obtained a promise from their father that he would not
+kindle the fire till they were up. They were out of bed before a ray of
+light streaked the sky, and the moment breakfast was despatched, the
+whole family, even to the dog and cat, hastened to the shop. It was
+Saturday, and Richardson, knowing that Bradford's wife would want to
+bake, and need the shovel, began with that, putting the two parts in the
+fire, after having made them ready to weld, or, as he termed it, "shut."
+He resolved to have a heat this time; put on the coal, and plied the
+bellows; but by and by he noticed that the iron began to send off
+sparks, and saw little black specks of charcoal sticking to the iron.
+Pulling it out of the fire, he found it was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> all burnt to a honeycomb:
+that the little black specks of charcoal had burnt into the very
+substance of the iron, and yet they were black, and the iron came to
+pieces the moment he struck it. The anvil was covered with scales, and
+he found it would not weld.</p>
+
+<p>He was sadly puzzled, and most of all, that the charcoal that stuck to
+the iron, and burnt into it, did not get red hot itself: and he found
+there was such a thing as getting iron <i>too hot</i>. Little Clem had been
+to John Drew's with his father in the canoe, and now came to the rescue.</p>
+
+<p>"Father," he said, "why don't you do like as Mr. Drew did?"</p>
+
+<p>"How did he do, child?"</p>
+
+<p>"I seed him stick the iron into sand, and once I seed him poke the coal
+away, and fling the sand right into the fire."</p>
+
+<p>The father now recollected that he had often seen the blacksmith put his
+iron into sand, but did not know what he did it for. He got some sand,
+and put the iron into it, then put it into the fire, found the iron did
+not burn, and he welded it without any more trouble.</p>
+
+<p>He now got along bravely, being able to heat his iron so that it would
+draw easily. Even the harrow-tooth presented no obstacle; for, after
+bringing it to a white heat, he got his wife to hold it with the tongs,
+and using the old axe as a sledge, soon brought the tooth to a size that
+he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> could work with his nail-hammer, and finished his job. As to the
+bellows, they were a great success, afforded a strong blast, and he
+found the constant current of cold air passing through the cone kept it
+from becoming hot enough to burn the nose of the bellows.</p>
+
+<p>"William," said his wife, "I'll never say you can't do anything again."</p>
+
+<p>It may seem strange to our readers that Richardson should be able to
+heat iron sufficiently to be drawn and cut with an axe, and still should
+have so much difficulty in making it hot enough to weld. They may
+likewise wish to know what good the sand does.</p>
+
+<p>Iron can be cut and hammered when red hot; but, in order to weld, it
+must be brought to a white heat—almost melted. When in this state, the
+two pieces of iron to be united are laid one upon the other, and made to
+unite by a few smart blows with a hammer. If the operation is rightly
+performed, the two pieces of iron will become perfectly united, and be
+as strong at the place where they are welded as elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>It is, however, quite a nice operation to weld thoroughly. Iron, when
+highly heated, inclines to oxidize rapidly. This forms a scale similar
+to that which you perceive on iron when it is rusty. If the two pieces
+of iron are put together in this condition, these scales that are loose
+on the iron will prevent the union of the parts. That is the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> way iron
+burns up. It oxidizes, and the iron flies off in sparks that are scales
+red hot. When the smith sees the iron begin to sparkle, he takes it out
+of the fire, and rolls it in sand, and then puts it in again, or opens
+the fire, and sprinkles sand upon it. The sand melts, combines with the
+oxide of iron, and forms silicate of iron, spreads over the surface of
+the iron, protects it, prevents the formation of scales, and when it is
+struck with the hammer, leaves the surface clean, and the iron unites
+perfectly, and forms a solid junction. The smith also leaves the surface
+of the two pieces to be welded highest in the middle, in order that they
+may touch there first, and then, when struck with the hammer, the melted
+sand or oxide will be squeezed out.</p>
+
+<p>The possession of a pair of bellows, with which he was enabled to heat
+his iron thoroughly, and soften it to such a degree that he could work
+it with his nail-hammer, proved of the utmost service to our persistent
+smith, and he was enabled, by the aid of his wife and the children, to
+mend chains, staples of yokes, domestic utensils, and most of the
+articles his neighbors brought to him, and, as we have seen in the last
+chapter, was gaining knowledge even by his mistakes.</p>
+
+<p>But there was a good deal of work that would be more profitable than any
+he had hitherto done that he was compelled to lose for the want of
+tools. There were oxen to be shod. Four of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> neighbors now kept
+horses. These they worked before their oxen, and therefore wanted them
+shod all round, and were obliged to pay John Drew an exorbitant price to
+leave his shop, and come through the woods on snow-shoes to do it. It
+was quite as important that he should have iron as tools, in order to
+learn by practice, as he could not expect his neighbors to find iron for
+him to spoil in learning. To this end he laid by every cent he earned by
+his blacksmith work, in order with that, the cloth, butter, and linen
+yarn, to obtain both.</p>
+
+<p>The tools for the lack of which he was the most crippled in his work
+were a pair of smiths' tongs, a hammer, and a punch. The kitchen tongs
+were wretched things to hold iron with. It required all his strength to
+hold a small piece of iron, and the jaws were so short that it was
+constantly slipping; whereas, the handles of a smiths' tongs, being
+crossed like scissor-blades, act as a lever, and the jaws are long, to
+hold the iron; while a smiths' hammer, being much heavier, and with a
+larger face, deals a more effective blow, and is, by its form, adapted
+to the work. In addition to all this, he had but one pair of kitchen
+tongs, and when he had to weld two pieces of iron, he made a pair of
+wooden ones, with which his wife took out one of the pieces of iron, and
+held it till it was "stuck."</p>
+
+<p>He longed—O, how he longed!—for a little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> iron that he could call his
+own. It consumed him—this desire—even as does the greed of gold a
+miser. He reckoned with a piece of charcoal on the top of the bellows
+the amount of money he had on hand, the cost of getting Drew to make him
+the tools, and the probable proceeds of the articles he had to sell. To
+his dismay he found, after purchasing even the few tools he must have,
+there would remain but a mere trifle with which to buy iron.</p>
+
+<p>"I must," he said to himself, "either go without the iron or the tools.
+No, I won't; I'll <i>make</i> the tools.—I <i>will</i> do it, and save the money
+to buy iron."</p>
+
+<p>Just then his wife came in to call him to supper, and overheard the
+remark, but did not, as before, say, "William, you never can do it."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span>CHAPTER IV.</span> <span class="smaller">HAMMER AND TONGS.</span></h2>
+
+<p>Most persons accompany the act of close thought with some physical
+effort; some whittle, smoke, or chew tobacco furiously. William
+Richardson was not an exception. When he had fed the cattle for night,
+brought in the night's wood, a turn of water, and renewed the fire, he
+placed the long handle of his wife's frying-pan across a tub, and began
+to shell corn.</p>
+
+<p>His wife, who knew there was corn enough shelled for a long time, made
+no remark, but noticed, while she sat spinning at her flax-wheel, that
+he dropped a good many ears of corn into the tub half shelled, and some
+untouched. He was evidently thinking of anything but shelling corn.</p>
+
+<p>Thus they sat an hour or more; not a word spoken. On the other hand, it
+was whir, whir, whir; scrape, scrape, scrape. At length his wife saw, as
+the cobs he had been from time to time flinging into the fire caught and
+blazed, the muscles of his face relax, and a smile flit across it.</p>
+
+<p>"Sue?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p><p>"Well, William."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think you could get along without the tongs?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do get along without them; they are out to the shop the greater part
+of the time; I haven't had 'em in my hands, except out there, this three
+weeks."</p>
+
+<p>"But could you do without 'em altogether?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I can make a pair of blacksmith's tongs of 'em."</p>
+
+<p>"Take 'em, husband."</p>
+
+<p>"Could you get along without the fire-shovel?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; because I couldn't clear out the oven."</p>
+
+<p>Whir, whir, whir; scrape, scrape, scrape, for half an hour more.</p>
+
+<p>"Sue!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well."</p>
+
+<p>"Could we get along without one of the andirons?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't kno-o-w. What in the world can you want of that?"</p>
+
+<p>"To make a hammer."</p>
+
+<p>"We could get along as well without both as without one."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want the whole of it, only part of the end that's in the fire;
+we could put a rock under that, and the rest of it would keep the wood
+from the hearth, and from rolling out."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I would take it, William. We can get<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> along very well, I dare say.
+Haven't you got corn enough shelled?"</p>
+
+<p>"Haven't you spun long enough?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Then we will go to bed."</p>
+
+<p>The sledding was good, and it was sometime before Richardson put his
+designs into execution. But the sledding broke up, work came in, and he
+felt the need of the tongs more than ever, as the children were at
+school, and it was oftentimes impossible for his wife to leave the baby,
+that was cutting its teeth, and began to be fretful.</p>
+
+<p>He placed a block beside his anvil, knocked the handle out of the old
+axe, and mortised it into the block, edge up: upon this he could lay hot
+iron and cut it without calling his wife to assist him.</p>
+
+<p>It was with great reluctance that our smith proceeded to take the tongs
+and the andiron, when the time came for doing it. "I feel," said he to
+his wife, "as though I was sheep-stealing: it seems real mean to strip
+the fireplace, and take your tongs and andirons, especially as we are so
+miserably off for household stuff."</p>
+
+<p>"I wouldn't feel so, William. The first two years we got along without
+them; then we thought we needed the tongs, and got John Drew to make
+them; and now, if you need the hammer more than the tongs, I don't see
+why you shouldn't take them."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p><p>The kitchen tongs were huge affairs; there was more iron in them than
+in three pairs of light smith's tongs, such as Richardson needed at
+present, only it was not in the right place, but just the reverse, as
+the legs of the house tongs were shaped like the human leg and thigh,
+largest at the fork, and tapering towards the feet, where they
+terminated in a large, oval lip, very thick and broad, adapted to seize
+and hold the great brands in the old-fashioned fireplaces; whereas
+forge-tongs have the most iron in the jaws, and at the cross, and taper
+from thence to a small size.</p>
+
+<p>To his great delight, Richardson found that he did not need more than
+half of the legs of the tongs.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll save the body of them," he said, "and when I get some new iron,
+put on new legs, and Susan can have her tongs again."</p>
+
+<p>He put them into the fire, and cut off the lips, drew down the small end
+to half its size, in order to save iron, and that the handles might
+occupy less room in his hand. A new difficulty now presented itself.
+Indeed, our smith, who was in want of everything but brains and
+perseverance, trod a brier-planted path. He had no punch to make a hole
+for the rivet, and without it all his previous work was useless. Punches
+are made of steel, or, at least, pointed with it; but he had no steel,
+except his tools and a file, that he needed to sharpen his saws and
+augers, and could not do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> without. He knew that an iron punch would
+answer the purpose; but where should he get the iron to make it of, for
+he had now discovered that he needed two pairs of tongs, in order to
+take two pieces of iron from the fire at the same time, to weld, and
+could spare none from the legs of the fire-tongs for a punch. He took
+the two oval buttons that had formed the lips of the house-tongs, welded
+them together, and made his punch. To be sure, at every three or four
+blows it bent; but he straightened it again, and, by heating the iron as
+hot as it would bear, succeeded in punching the holes in both pairs of
+tongs, and then took part of the punch to make the rivets.</p>
+
+<p>So delighted was he when the whole matter was accomplished, that the big
+man capered around the shop for joy, and ran in to tell the good news to
+his wife.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Sue," he said, "let us have a thanksgiving to-day, for I have two
+pairs of tongs; let us have pea-soup."</p>
+
+<p>There was not much left of the house-tongs, only the head, and about two
+inches of each leg, below the fork, just enough to weld to. The great
+benefit of the tongs was instantly apparent. Returning to the shop,
+William took up what remained of the punch, and exclaiming, "A
+blacksmith has the advantage of a carpenter, for he can work up his
+chips," made a hook. This he fastened to a belt around his waist. Of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>remainder he made a clasp that he could slip over the handles of the
+tongs, thus holding the iron and liberating his hand.</p>
+
+<p>Now, if he wanted to use his left hand to hold a punch or cutter, he
+could put a clasp over the handles of the tongs, and drop them into the
+hook at his waist; the iron, also, was not slipping out of the tongs and
+dropping on the ground, every three or four blows. He could now work
+alone to very good advantage, as he had no large iron to draw, and his
+wife was not compelled to take her hands out of the dough to help him.</p>
+
+<p>"Wife," said William, when he came in from his work that night, "I am as
+tired as a dog. It's hard work trying to make something out of nothing."
+After resting his brain a while, and doing the new work his neighbors
+had brought, he began to think about making a hammer; so he cut off
+sufficient iron from one of the andirons, lapped it over, welded it, and
+formed the body of the tool. But in this a large hole was to be punched
+to receive a handle. It was necessary that he should have more than one
+punch, a small one to make the hole, and another to enlarge it, as he
+could not, with his nail-hammer, strike with sufficient force to drive a
+large punch through so thick a piece of iron.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure, wife," he said, "I don't know what I shall get to make
+punches of. I have a good mind to take one of the teeth out of your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>
+flax-comb—they are <i>steel</i>—to make the small punch, and cut a piece
+off the crowbar to make the big one."</p>
+
+<p>"I wouldn't cut the crowbar, William. Take part of the other andiron; we
+might as well have a stone under the ends of both as under one. There's
+an old wheel spindle will make the small one."</p>
+
+<p>He acted upon his wife's advice, and made the hammer. Hammers are faced
+with steel, whereas this was all iron; but Richardson knew that, like
+his iron punches, it would answer a temporary purpose, and that when it
+was battered up, he could hammer it back again. He now was able to do
+all the work his neighbors brought, and in half the time required
+before. While he was congratulating himself upon his success, David
+Montague came to the shop, bringing the chain he had mended first; the
+link had straightened when put to a severe test.</p>
+
+<p>"I know the reason," said Richardson. "I couldn't get a proper heat with
+the house-bellows." He mended it, and this time there was no failure.</p>
+
+<p>William Richardson, during all these struggles and make-shifts, had
+learned much, and, in a way that insured its being remembered; had
+learned the value and use of sand, found that it protected the iron,
+kept the outside from burning, while the inside was heating; that, if he
+put two pieces<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> of iron in the fire, and one of them became hot before
+the other, he could take it out, roll it in sand, and put it back, and
+the sand would keep it from burning up, while the other was getting
+ready. He likewise perceived that there was a great difference in the
+effect of heat upon the different kinds of iron brought to him by his
+neighbors: some was fine-grained, tough, and would bear a great heat;
+another kind was coarse, brittle, and, if made too hot, would fly under
+the hammer, and fall to pieces. Every mistake added to his experience,
+and he was every day acquiring dexterity in the use of the hammer.</p>
+
+<p>His neighbors, who watched his progress with the greatest interest, were
+as much delighted as himself, since they were no longer obliged to go
+through the woods to the village for every little job. They now told him
+he must learn to shoe oxen and horses, work steel, make axes and
+plough-irons.</p>
+
+<p>You may well think Richardson was as anxious to be able to do this work
+as they were to have it done; and the way for the gradual attainment of
+it came about in the natural order of events.</p>
+
+<p>David Montague had, during the winter, got out the timber for a barn,
+and employed Richardson to frame, board, and shingle it. This increased
+his stock of money very sensibly, and he felt that he could now, with
+the money he had saved by making his tools, the proceeds of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> butter,
+and other matters, and that which he had earned by working for Montague,
+buy some iron and steel. He had also in the distant future, visions of
+an iron anvil, that he foresaw he must one day have.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span>CHAPTER V.</span> <span class="smaller">DREW SORE AND SAVAGE.</span></h2>
+
+<p>It was now past the middle of March. A copious rain was succeeded by a
+sharp frost, making excellent going on the river, and Richardson
+resolved to improve it; the only drawback being that the river was one
+glare of ice, and his oxen had lost many of their shoes. He had saved
+part of the shoes, borrowed some more of John Bradford, and could have
+put them on himself, as Moody Matthews had a shoeing-hammer, but there
+were no nails in the neighborhood.</p>
+
+<p>Richardson, however, knew that by taking time and by careful driving, he
+could get the cattle to the village, and determined to carry the shoes
+with him, and hire Drew to sharpen and nail them on. He put on the sled
+half a cord of hemlock bark, his own grist, the butter, cloth, and yarn,
+together with some corn and grain for his neighbors.</p>
+
+<p>About eight o'clock in the evening his wife went to bed; but William
+made up a warm fire in the stone fireplace, fed the cattle, and lay<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>
+down before it. At twelve o'clock he went out, fed the cattle again, and
+called his wife, who got his breakfast, and he set out. He carried in a
+basket doughnuts, baked beans, cold boiled pork, Indian bread, and
+butter, and a jug of coffee, also hay for the oxen. His plan was to stop
+for the night at Hanson's, who put up teams, paying fifty cents a night
+for barn-room for the cattle and a bed for himself, Hanson's wife
+warming his beans, and making tea or coffee for him, as the coffee he
+carried was to drink on the road. This expense was paid by the neighbors
+whose errands he did.</p>
+
+<p>At his arrival, he found John Drew, who before had always received him
+very cordially, in a most surly humor. He was making axes. Tom Breslaw,
+an apprentice, nearly out of his time, was striking, and blowing the
+bellows. Barely nodding, in response to the greeting of Richardson, he
+took an axe, into which he had stuck the steel, from the fire, flung it
+savagely on the anvil, crying to Tom, "Strike!" and after the heat put
+it in the fire again, taking not the least notice of Richardson, but
+giving all his attention to his iron. Finding he was not noticed, and at
+a loss to know what this strange conduct of the smith meant, he at
+length said, "Mr. Drew, can you put a few shoes on my oxen?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I can't. I've got this axe and another one to make for a man that's
+waitin' for 'em."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p><p>"Perhaps you could do it in the morning. I shall be obliged to stay all
+night to get my grist ground. It would be a great accommodation to me if
+you could. I had hard work to get the cattle here, and if I am obliged
+to drive them home as they are, I shall lame them."</p>
+
+<p>"Can't do it, I tell you, and that's the long and short of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you could make some nails, lend me a shoeing-hammer, and I
+would try and nail them on myself. If you don't, I am sure I don't know
+what I shall do. I had hard work to get the cattle here with no load of
+any amount. I must haul more back, and I don't know how I can get home."</p>
+
+<p>"And I don't care how you get home, Bill Richardson; nor whether you get
+home at all. Here I've slaved myself for years, going up to your place
+through the woods on snow-shoes once or twice every winter, and hauling
+my tools and shoes on a hand-sled, leaving work here in the shop just to
+accommodate you folks up there, and took my pay in white beans and all
+sorts of trash, when I left cash jobs at home and lost 'em; and here you
+come smelling round, and palavering, as though butter wouldn't melt in
+your mouth; watch and sneak round, and steal the trade, and then go
+back, cut off my custom, and take the bread right out of my mouth. Now
+I've got you where the hair is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> short. You may shoe your own cattle,
+you're such a great smith. I won't make you a shoe, nail, lend you a
+tool, or obleege you in any way, name, or natur'. Strike, Tom
+Breslaw—what are you gaping at?"</p>
+
+<p>Waiting patiently till the din of blows had subsided, and the iron was
+returned to the fire, Richardson replied,—</p>
+
+<p>"As for stealing your trade, Mr. Drew, and coming here for the purpose,
+it is certainly a mistake of yours. I never thought of trying to work a
+piece of iron till the last time I was here, when the thought came into
+my mind. You surely can't think it strange, when you know what great
+labor and expense it is for myself and neighbors to come here, that we
+should try to do somewhat for ourselves. You would do the same were you
+in our place. If you complain so bitterly of coming to our place twice a
+year, what do you think it must be for us to come to you all the time?
+You must remember, also, that at those times you charged a corresponding
+price, that was cheerfully paid. I can't well see how you could lose any
+work by going, as there is no other smith anywhere round, and you must
+have found the work waiting when you came back. I have never been
+reputed a thief among my neighbors, or made a practice of stealing. I
+did wish to obtain some information of you, before I went home, about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>
+working and tempering steel, but expected to pay for it. As for taking
+bread out of your mouth, you have all the work you can do right here,
+without doing a stroke of work for us."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, all the knowledge you'll worm out of me you may put in your eye,
+for you won't get any."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't expect, or even desire to, after what has passed between us;
+but, as I have given you full opportunity to free your mind, and express
+your opinion of me, any more talk of that kind before my face or behind
+my back will be at your own risk. I suppose you understand me."</p>
+
+<p>Drew hung his head, and made no reply; for, though a patient and
+good-natured man, William Richardson was by no means a safe person to
+provoke.</p>
+
+<p>It was now the dinner hour, and as Richardson left the shop he was
+followed by Breslaw, who said,—</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Richardson, where are you going?"</p>
+
+<p>"First, Tom, to your father's, with this bark. He is tanning a couple of
+hides for me, and told me he would take part of his pay in bark. I was
+going to buy some iron and steel at the store; but I shall have to give
+that up; for, as Drew won't shoe my cattle, I shan't be able to haul one
+pound more than my grist."</p>
+
+<p>"He's a mean wretch, and I don't see how you kept your hands off him.
+But he's been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>drinking; that's part of it. Give me your shoes. I'll run
+into Aunt Sarah's, and get my dinner; it won't take me so long as to go
+home; and before Drew gets back I'll fit the shoes and make the nails,
+and this evening we will put them on. Most of the shoes have been on the
+cattle before. I'll fit the others by them, and if there's any of them
+too far gone to sharpen, I'll make new ones."</p>
+
+<p>"But where will you get iron? Shan't I run to the store and get some?"</p>
+
+<p>"I keep a little of my own, and do small jobs out of shop time. Any
+little scraps will do for that."</p>
+
+<p>Richardson hauled his bark to the tan-yard, and Breslaw's father invited
+him to stop to dinner. As he was passing Drew's shop on his return, Tom
+came out.</p>
+
+<p>"I've made the shoes and nails, Mr. Richardson; and I'll tell you what
+I've been thinking of. I suppose money is none too plenty with you."</p>
+
+<p>"You may well say that, Tom; for I'm paying for my land, and every cent
+counts."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, now, you can, while you are waiting for your grist, go round the
+village, and pick up old iron, and perhaps some steel, that won't cost
+you one quarter what it would to buy new at the store, and be just as
+good, and better, for your use, as it will be smaller, and save
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>hammering. Only look out that it is not too rusty. Perhaps you remember
+Bosworth, the stone-mason."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well. He made the stones in the grist-mill, and built the piers of
+the great bridge."</p>
+
+<p>"He died this last winter, and his widow has his drills and other tools,
+and wants to sell 'em. The drills are all steel, and the best of steel,
+too; and I've no doubt you could buy 'em for half what the same amount
+of steel would cost you at the store, and perhaps for even less."</p>
+
+<p>In accordance with this advice, Richardson went to the place, and bought
+four hand-drills, a foot or more in length, used for splitting stone,
+and two dozen steel wedges. The latter, he thought, would, at some
+future time, serve to make toe-calks for horse-shoes. The purchase that
+delighted him most of all, however, was a churn-drill. This was four
+feet in length; but only four inches of each end was steel, being much
+worn, the remainder iron, shaped like the stalk of a seed onion, with a
+bulb of iron in the middle, three inches in diameter. He also bought a
+light stone-hammer. This was likewise a great acquisition, as it would
+serve the purpose of a sledge. Clem could now strike with it for a short
+time, and would, in a few months, be able to handle it easily; for he
+was large of his age, and muscular. He could likewise get one of his
+neighbors to strike, upon an emergency. Pursuing his search, he found
+several old axes,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> beetle-rings, three mill-files, the handle of a
+kitchen shovel, one leg of a pair of kitchen tongs, and an old crane
+(the latter was a large piece of iron), and some old ox-shoes. At the
+mill he obtained some of the mill-stone picks that had become too short
+for use.</p>
+
+<p>Just as he had finished his supper that night, Tom made his appearance
+at Hanson's with the shoes, nails, and his tools. A rope was procured,
+and the oxen were cast on the barn floor. Richardson held a candle,
+stuck into a potato, while Hanson assisted Tom. The latter put on the
+new shoes, clinched up all the old ones that were loose, and, with a
+smith's large file, sharpened the dull calks.</p>
+
+<p>He not only refused to take any pay for his work, avowing that Jack Drew
+was hog enough for one small place, but, sitting down before the fire
+with Richardson, gave him a great deal of valuable information
+respecting working iron.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning Richardson rose early, and prepared to start. After
+paying his expenses at Hanson's, he was able to buy considerable iron at
+the store, and still had a little money left. The wind was north-west, a
+bright sun, the ice smooth and hard, and the cattle, sharpshod, were
+able to travel. Thoroughly rested, and eager to get home, they seemed to
+regard the load no more than though it had been feathers. Snorting with
+eagerness, proud of their new shoes,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> and perhaps elated with the idea
+of having been to the village, they could at first scarcely be kept from
+breaking into a run.</p>
+
+<p>Was not Will Richardson a happy man that bright, sunny morning! The keen
+air braced his limbs, and his heart throbbed with joy. Things had turned
+out so much better than he anticipated. He feasted his eyes upon the
+iron and steel—the great bar, the nail rods—he had bought at the
+store, or rather the thin bar he had purchased to be split into nail
+rods; for at that day iron did not come from the forges in shapes to
+suit the smiths, but in large bars, and there was a vast deal of work to
+be done with the sledge and hammer.</p>
+
+<p>Never did a boy gloat over a ripe plum as did Will Richardson over the
+great bunch of iron in the middle of that churn-drill. He couldn't keep
+his eyes off of it, and had already decided in his own mind what use he
+would make of it.</p>
+
+<p>Thanks to the noble spirit of Tom Breslaw, the cattle travelled so fast
+that he arrived home long before his wife expected him. The children had
+come half starved—as children always do in the country—from school,
+and were screaming, "Do, mother, give me something to eat."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll give you a luncheon, because you'll want to eat with your father
+when he comes, and you'll want to tie up the cattle, and get the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>
+night's wood in, and a turn of water, so you can have time to see him."</p>
+
+<p>This being assented to by Young America, the mother, taking half of a
+loaf of rye-and-Indian bread, began to spread butter on the loaf, and
+then cut off and distribute huge slices to the hungry expectants. She
+had cut off the last slice when the sound of Richardson's voice,
+shouting to the oxen, came through the half-open door.</p>
+
+<p>"Father—father's come!" screamed the children; and, followed by their
+mother, they ran to the river. Down the slope they rushed, pell-mell,
+and, just as the cattle put their fore feet on the edge of the bank, and
+taking advantage of a momentary pause occasioned by the steepness of the
+grade, piled on to the sled, the two girls holding on to their father's
+legs, who, standing on the hinder end of the sled, and holding by one
+hand to a stake, with the other waved his hat to his wife, shouting, "O,
+Sue, the best of luck! 'Lashings' of iron and steel; and I've brought
+back the fulled cloth, and the stuff for your and the children's
+clothes, and money—only think of it, wife, brought money home with me!
+You can have your tongs, and your andirons, and I can have all the tools
+I want? and won't we go ahead?"</p>
+
+<p>His wife was too full to speak; but happiness beamed from every feature,
+as standing half-leg<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> deep in the snow, she drank in the words of her
+husband, who, taking her in his arms, seated her upon a bag of meal,
+and, while the cattle went on, narrated the incidents of his journey,
+the surliness of Drew, and how nobly it was offset by the generous
+conduct of Breslaw.</p>
+
+<p>"Ain't it glorious, wife? I tell you what it is, Sue, it's better to be
+born lucky than rich."</p>
+
+<p>To which we might add, that it is better to be born with brains and
+energy than rich; for the riches may be lost; but the former are an
+enduring possession, and when under the control of virtuous principles,
+a source of unfailing happiness and self-respect.</p>
+
+<p>William Richardson was by no means a talkative man. On the contrary he
+was by nature reserved and thoughtful. But now his tongue ran like a
+mill-clapper, and ceased not till the cattle stopped of their own accord
+before the door.</p>
+
+<p>In the meanwhile his wife remained, listening to the excited narration
+of her husband, in a sort of silent rapture; but when, after the oxen
+stopped, he began to show her the iron, and expatiate, saying, "Only see
+this churn-drill, wife; both ends steel; and what a great bunch of iron
+in the middle—Swedish iron, too; and three picks, and drills, and
+wedges—all steel; and that crane—see what a great junk of iron <i>that</i>
+is!—didn't cost me much of anything,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> either; and that big bar, to make
+axes; and the thin iron for horse and ox shoes, and nail-rods;"—I say,
+as he thus ran on, showing and explaining the value of one piece of iron
+after another, tears of joy ran down the cheeks of the faithful wife,
+and after that she found her tongue.</p>
+
+<p>Now you needn't laugh, boys, and say, "What a fuss over a little old
+iron!" It was worth a great deal more to that family than though it had
+been so much gold; and you needn't say, "O, what a whopper!" Just see if
+it don't come out so before we have done with the Richardsons. That
+amount of gold might, and probably would, have ruined them; but on every
+grain of that rusty metal were written encouragement, inspiration,
+opportunity; and God Almighty had given to William Richardson the
+ability to read for himself and his neighbors what was written on those
+iron leaves.</p>
+
+<p>"Father," cried Clem, seizing the stone-hammer, "what is this awful
+great hammer for?"</p>
+
+<p>"For you, my son, to help me draw these great bars of iron with—at any
+rate, by and by, if you can't handle it now."</p>
+
+<p>"I can swing it now, father, just like anything. See here"—swinging it
+over his head, and bringing it down with considerable force on the iron.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span>CHAPTER VI.</span> <span class="smaller">PATIENT, BUT DETERMINED.</span></h2>
+
+<p>Perhaps our readers would like to know what were the first words Susan
+Richardson uttered after she found her tongue.</p>
+
+<p>"The first thing I'll do, when I get up to-morrow morning, shall be to
+spin some linen yarn as fine as I can spin it, scour and bleach it the
+best I know how, weave it, and if I don't make Tom Breslaw as handsome a
+pair of linen shirts as any man in this state ever had to his back, it
+will be because I can't."</p>
+
+<p>The children all had to take a turn at the stone-hammer. Rob could
+strike with it, but could not swing it over his head; besides being
+younger, he was much less muscular than Clem, who was very large of his
+age. Sue could lift it to the height of her shoulders, Sally but a few
+inches. They now began to carry the iron to the shop. Clem and Rob took
+each an end of the churn-drill, but the girls insisted on taking hold in
+the middle, and entirely monopolized the conveyance of the drills,
+wedges, and smaller things,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> notwithstanding the boys told them they
+should think it would look a great deal better for them to go into the
+house and help their mother get supper. All the satisfaction they got
+was, "It's nothing to you; mam said we might."</p>
+
+<p>The first work William Richardson did in the shop was with the remnants
+of the kitchen shovel and tongs he had bought to repair his wife's
+tongs, and cutting a piece off the old crane, he repaired the andirons.</p>
+
+<p>Sitting on the anvil, he now looked over the iron and steel spread in
+imposing array by the children over the shop, as a militia captain makes
+his company take open order on muster-day for the sake of show,
+reflecting in what way he should make the most of his treasures, when
+Clem, who had been examining the drills with great interest, striking
+one upon the other, and listening to the clear, sharp ring thus
+produced, so different from the dull sound emitted by the iron, said,—</p>
+
+<p>"Father, what is steel?"</p>
+
+<p>The parent, occupied with his reflections, neither heard nor heeded the
+question.</p>
+
+<p>"Who don't know that, Clem?" replied Robert. "It's what makes father's
+axe and draw-shave cut: iron won't cut."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess I know that as well as you do. But what makes steel cut any
+more'n iron? It looks just like it."</p>
+
+<p>"'Cause it's steel."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p><p>"You know a great deal about it—don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, boys?" said the father, rousing up.</p>
+
+<p>"What is steel, father?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's made out of iron refined and hardened, so as to give it temper."</p>
+
+<p>"What do they do to it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know; it's done in England."</p>
+
+<p>"Will the temper stay there forever?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; you can draw it most all out if you heat it, but if you put it in
+cold water it will come back again."</p>
+
+<p>"What makes you, when you want to burn the handle out of your axe, put
+wet cloths all over the edge of it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I don't want to heat the steel and start the temper."</p>
+
+<p>"What if you did? couldn't you put it into cold water and make it come
+back?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps I shouldn't get the same temper: if the axe cuts well, I prefer
+to let well enough alone; if I spoiled it, I should have to go clear to
+the village to get John Drew to temper it over."</p>
+
+<p>"But, father, I seed you take and put the new broad axe in the fire with
+no cloth on it, nor nothing, and heat it real hot, so when I spit on it
+it sissed."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my son; but I didn't do that to take the handle out, but to draw
+the temper. It was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> so high tempered it broke, and I couldn't do
+anything with it; so I thought, as it was of no use as it was, I might
+as well try to draw down the temper, and if I got too much out, it would
+only be going to Drew after all. Do you understand now, my son?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, father; but I heard you tell mother you meant to try to temper an
+axe."</p>
+
+<p>"I mean to try, dear. That's what I got the iron and steel for."</p>
+
+<p>"Won't you spoil it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I expect I shall, a good many, before I learn."</p>
+
+<p>"Father, I want to see you learn. Can I see you spoil the axes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, child, I shall want you to help me."</p>
+
+<p>"Think you can learn, father?"</p>
+
+<p>"I guess so."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I can learn too. Perhaps there's a man in the steel what lives
+there and makes it cut."</p>
+
+<p>"If there is, he must have a pretty warm berth sometimes."</p>
+
+<p>"Father, when you learn and I learn, can I make me a hatchet?"</p>
+
+<p>"And me too?" said Robert.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I guess so."</p>
+
+<p>Now we intend as briefly as possible to answer Clem's first question. It
+would be very ridiculous, if a good-looking, nice-feeling boy in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> the
+high school, being asked what made his knife cut, should have to stick
+his thumb in his mouth, look like a dunce, and say, "I don't know."</p>
+
+<p>We must begin with and say a few things in relation to iron, from which
+steel is made.</p>
+
+<p>The iron ore is put into the furnace, a layer of iron ore and another of
+coal, together with lime, either in the shape of oyster-shells or stone
+lime. It is there melted and run into large junks called <i>pigs</i>. The
+lime causes all the flint, sand, and earthy matters to melt and separate
+from the iron, which, being heaviest, drops to the bottom of the
+furnace, while the slag, that is lighter; floats on top, and is taken
+off. This is <i>cast</i> iron; you see pigs of it piled up on the wharves in
+seaports, the outside incrusted with the sand in which it was run, and
+looking as rough, some of it, as the cinders of a smith's forge. It is
+highly charged with carbon, coarse, hard, and brittle; can neither be
+filed, welded, nor worked, under the hammer; is more or less filled with
+slag and other impurities, and fit only, when melted again and purified,
+to be cast into pots, pans, stoves, wheels, and various articles. It is
+now melted two or three times more, and slightly hammered, to beat off
+some of the slag. Then it is made red hot, and put under steam-hammers.
+In old times it was hammered by water power, or by men with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> sledges.
+This is done in order to take out the carbon, that renders it hard and
+brittle.</p>
+
+<p>Probably by this time you wish to know what carbon is, to extract which
+from the iron has cost so much labor. Should I give you the definition
+of the books, you would probably want that definition defined.</p>
+
+<p>Many boys have seen a diamond: that is carbon in a solid form: pit coal
+is solid carbon mixed with sulphur, phosphoros, and other elements.
+Charcoal is solid carbon in a nearly pure state. Carbon has so strong an
+affinity for oxygen, that when any of the substances that contain it are
+burned, they give up their carbon, that instantly mingles with the
+oxygen of the air.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, when iron is heated, its pores are opened, the carbon on the
+outside is carried away by the air, and more is liberated from within,
+to pass off in the same way; the object of the frequent meltings and the
+hammering is to expose new surfaces to contact with the oxygen of the
+air, and get rid of the carbon, just as the farmer turns his hay, and
+brings new surfaces to the sun, to dry off the dew.</p>
+
+<p>As the result of this we have wrought iron, soft, tough, of close and
+fibrous, instead of a crystalline or granular texture, that may be made
+red hot and quenched in water without hardening or becoming brittle; may
+be welded, split, punched,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> made into wheel-tires, hoes, shovels, axes,
+hammers, pitchforks, knives, or razors. But there is one grand defect in
+this iron, although it is so tractable that it may be worked under the
+hammer into a thousand different shapes at the will of the smith; may be
+drawn into wire so fine as to be woven in a loom or made into a watch
+spring that weighs only the tenth of a grain, and rolled into leaves as
+thin as paper, insomuch that a pound of raw iron costing a cent affords
+steel sufficient for seventy thousand watches, worth one hundred and
+seventy-five thousand dollars. It is, however, too soft to form a
+cutting edge that will stand. Make a pitchfork of it, it is harder work
+to stick it into the hay than it is to pitch the hay, as we know from
+experience; an axe, it will take all your strength to cut through the
+bark, and you must grind it every hour; a razor, you can shave but once,
+and then with tears of agony. Make a hammer of it, and it batters up
+forthwith; a punch, it bends; a drill, at the first stroke of the sledge
+it turns.</p>
+
+<p>What next?</p>
+
+<p>Troughs are made of fire-brick, from eight to sixteen feet in length,
+and two or three feet in depth. The troughs are placed in a furnace, and
+on the bottom of each of them a mixture of powdered charcoal, ashes, and
+salt. Bars of wrought iron are laid upon this mixture half an inch
+apart, to the amount, perhaps, of twelve<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> tons, and covered with
+charcoal; then another layer of iron and more charcoal, till the trough
+is full. The top is covered with cement that has been used before, and
+damp sand. The fire is then made in such a manner that the heat passes
+all around the troughs, and is kept up from six to ten days, according
+to the size of the bars and the purposes for which the contents of the
+troughs are wanted.</p>
+
+<p>The heat of the furnace opens the pores of the iron, and sets free the
+carbon contained in the charcoal; and as the cement prevents it from
+escaping and uniting with the oxygen of the air, it enters the pores of
+the iron and impregnates it. The fire is now suffered to die out, and
+the metal is taken from the troughs. It is no longer iron, but steel. We
+now have that which is the "king of metals," and by the aid of which the
+skilful mechanic can do what would once have been thought miraculous.</p>
+
+<p>The surface of this material is covered with blisters, hence it is
+called blistered steel. It resounds when struck. Iron once bent remains
+so; but steel is so elastic that it may be bent to an angle of
+forty-five degrees, and will spring back to its original position. It is
+said that Andrew of Ferrara manufactured swords so elastic, that the
+point of the blade would bend to touch the hilt, and spring back again
+uninjured. The quality of steel depends upon the quality of the iron
+from which it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> is made. The English have carried the art to great
+perfection, nevertheless are obliged to import the iron from which their
+razor-steel is made from Sweden. This blistered steel is the kind that
+lay upon the floor of William Richardson's shop, and in the possession
+of which he so exulted.</p>
+
+<p>Now you have an article that gives to the axe its temper, the fork its
+point, the mainspring of the watch its elasticity, and to all tools an
+enduring edge that may be so attempered as to pierce the hardest rocks
+and crush the hardest stones; that may be welded to iron, and thus
+economized. Do you think it strange that Will Richardson rejoiced at the
+acquisition in his circumstances, or reflected long and seriously in
+respect to the manner in which he should use his treasures to the best
+advantage?</p>
+
+<p>And now, perhaps, some thoughtful boy may say,—</p>
+
+<p>"Why be at so great expense of labor and material to take carbon from
+iron, and then set right at work to put it back again?"</p>
+
+<p>Because there is too much in the cast iron, and so it is all taken out,
+and just the right amount put in.</p>
+
+<p>"Why not, then, when decarbonizing the cast iron, leave just enough in,
+and save the labor of three processes?"</p>
+
+<p>This has been attempted, but the results have not given satisfaction. It
+is not so easy to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> ascertain when the right amount is left in as when it
+is put in. The latter can be determined very accurately by means of
+try-bars, the ends of which are left protruding from the troughs. When,
+upon drawing one of them out, it is found to be blistered, the process
+is done. Although blistered steel be so superior to iron, it has
+imperfections, that impair the quality of edge tools manufactured from
+it—the result of imperfections in the iron of which it is made. At
+times there will be differences even in the same bar; one portion will
+be softer than another, or there will be flaws and shelly places.</p>
+
+<p>When the steel made from such iron is wrought into a tool and ground,
+the edge is uneven, serrated, softer in one place than another. This
+amounts to a fatal defect in those articles where great and uniform
+hardness is required, as in screw-taps, wire-drawers, plates, dies, and
+stamps for coining and engraving. It is evident, as the carbon is
+introduced from the surface, that there will be less in the middle than
+at the outside of the bars; thus the steel is not of a uniform
+character. In order to obviate this, the bars of steel are made into a
+fagot heated in a great forge, welded together with a hammer worked by
+machinery, and drawn into bars, which closes up all the fissures and
+renders it tough and compact. It is now called shear steel, because
+shears for dressing cloth were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> made of it, and it will take a better
+polish than blistered steel. But the process is not yet completed. Bars
+of blistered steel that have been the most highly charged with carbon,
+and are therefore the hardest, are broken into short pieces,—those
+being put together that are of a like hardness,—and placed in pots of
+fire-clay, about thirty pounds in a pot, with covers fitting perfectly
+tight. The pots are placed in a furnace, and the steel in them melted,
+when it is poured into cast iron moulds, and made into ingots. These are
+under a tilt-hammer drawn into bars of all sizes. This is cast steel,
+and it is evident, must be of uniform quality and hardness. This process
+was discovered in 1750, by a citizen of Sheffield, and for many years
+kept a secret. It is of this steel that the best tools, swords, knives,
+and instruments of all kinds are manufactured. But not even shear steel
+was within the reach of most of the smiths at the date of our story,
+very little being imported, save in the form of tools.</p>
+
+<p>There is another property pertaining to steel. When heated to a white
+heat or cherry red, according to its quality, and quenched in water, it
+becomes hard as glass, and very brittle. The higher the temperature, and
+the more suddenly it is cooled, the harder and more brittle it becomes.
+It is this quality that renders steel the "king of metals," and has
+given to the smith<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> power over all material substances. Even the diamond
+is forced to yield the palm, for recently steel has been tempered to
+take its place in cutting glass.</p>
+
+<p>The result of William's reflections was, that, in order to draw and work
+the large iron now in his possession, he must have better tools and a
+heavy sledge, as he could upon occasion get one of his neighbors to
+strike for him. John Bradford lived nearest: he knew that John would be
+glad to accommodate him, and take his pay in blacksmith work; besides,
+by employing the same person all the time, that individual would acquire
+facility, and learn to strike fair.</p>
+
+<p>Commencing with the churn-drill, he cut it off just below the great bulb
+in the middle, "upset" the end by striking it endwise upon the anvil,
+and by the aid of Clem, with his stone-hammer, formed it into something
+like the proper shape for the face end of a sledge. He then partially
+formed the "pean," or top portion, that in a smith's sledge is
+wedge-shaped. He wished to punch the hole for the handle before cutting
+off the rest of the drill, in order to hold it by that part, as he had
+no tongs that were large enough. To make this hole in so thick a piece
+needed, he thought, a steel punch, or at least a steel-pointed one. The
+material was at hand in that part of the drill he had just cut off, only
+wanting to be pointed.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p><p>There was more length than was either necessary or convenient; but he
+resolved to point first, and shorten it afterwards. Ignorant of the
+nature of steel, or the degree of heat it will endure, he supposed, as
+it was very hard, it should be made all the hotter, blew up the fire,
+and treated it just as he would a piece of wrought iron. The drill had
+been imported from England,—as were nearly all the tools in that
+day,—was pointed with the best of double shear steel, and hardened all
+that it would bear. The result was, that the moment he struck it with
+his hammer, it crumbled and fell to pieces, like so much brick, till, as
+there was but about four inches of the steel, nothing remained except
+the iron to which it had been welded.</p>
+
+<p>Richardson stood looking at the fragments in utter despair. To lose that
+steel was almost like losing a limb; but it was gone past redemption. It
+had cost him something to learn that steel will not bear so much heat as
+iron. Afraid to meddle with the other end of the drill, he resolved,
+since it needed very little alteration, to take off the corners and
+square the end on the grindstone; but it proved so hard that he soon
+gave up the attempt, and felt that he must run the risk.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll try it," he said; "no doubt John Drew spoiled plenty of steel when
+he was apprentice, and had a master at his back, to boot."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p><p>Well aware that the other steel was burned, he watched it narrowly, put
+on plenty of sand, and before it was white hot, worked it without
+difficulty.</p>
+
+<p>All he knew in regard to tempering was, that steel becomes hard by being
+quenched in water while red hot, and if plunged in water after that
+period, less so; while if suffered to cool of itself, it is not so much
+harder than iron. He was ignorant of a fact most important to a smith,
+and by the knowledge of which he is enabled to produce any degree of
+temper he pleases, after practice and experience of the different
+qualities of the various kinds of steel; to wit, that the gradations
+from extreme hardness to extreme softness are denoted by the different
+colors it assumes while cooling.</p>
+
+<p>Trying with a file the punch that had now cooled on the forge, he found
+that it was quite soft, and supposed it needed hardening. Heating it as
+hot as he dared, he plunged it in water, held it there till cold, and
+then twisted a withe around it for a handle.</p>
+
+<p>He now took a welding heat on his iron, that it might punch the more
+easily, and set Robert to hold it, while Clem held the punch. So much
+time was occupied in placing the iron and punch, and instructing the
+boys how to hold both, that it had cooled, and become harder to punch;
+nevertheless, he resolved to try it, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> lifting the great beetle,
+struck with all his might upon the punch. At the second blow it broke in
+two, as short as a pipe-stem.</p>
+
+<p>Clem, who had followed every motion, seeing the blank look of his
+father, began to cry; while Rob ran to tell his mother.</p>
+
+<p>"Jackass that I was," he said, "to make that punch so hard. Didn't I
+know that I could punch hot iron with an iron punch, and have done it?"</p>
+
+<p>Finding that there was still a little steel left, he put it in the fire
+again, let it cool to a black heat before he quenched it, then punched
+his hole, and finished the sledge. By patient perseverance, and after
+many ineffectual attempts, he succeeded in learning to weld steel to
+iron, and made himself several pairs of tongs of different shapes and
+sizes, also flat punches of files, but of low temper, also chisels. He
+did not dare to make them hard, as he did the punch; so he let them
+become almost cold before quenching.</p>
+
+<p>He shod Montague's horse, making all the nails and two new shoes; but he
+was all day about it, and had nothing better to pare the hoof than a
+jack-knife. No matter for that—the thing once done, and done right:
+facility is the result of practice.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span>CHAPTER VII.</span> <span class="smaller">HE FINDS THE CLUE.</span></h2>
+
+<p>Thus far our smith had by no means realized the benefits anticipated
+from the possession of steel. He had, indeed, ascertained what degree of
+heat it would bear, learned to weld it to iron, made some punches that
+were a little better than iron ones, and yet he was as far removed from
+a knowledge of tempering that would enable him to forge and finish a
+reliable tool of any kind as before; since to heat a piece of steel and
+plunge it in water, making it so hard and brittle as to be useless, or
+quenching it when nearly cold, thus rendering it about as soft as iron,
+did not amount to anything practically.</p>
+
+<p>And yet this man aspired to make an axe; yes, even had dim visions of
+plane-irons, draw-shaves, chisels, and gouges manufactured by William
+Richardson, edge tool maker. Aspired, did I say? The expression is too
+feeble. The idea absorbed his thoughts, and, ever present to his mind,
+assumed the character of a passion.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> It was not a mere whim, but based
+upon solid grounds.</p>
+
+<p>There were but few ploughs in the place, and not many horses, and they
+were not shod all round except in the winter. But the axe was in
+universal use, subject to continual wear, and frequently broken. John
+Drew was celebrated for giving to his axes a high temper, that rendered
+them liable to break in frosty weather; one cause of which probably was,
+that he made up a lot of axes, and then tempered the lot. Upon tempering
+days he was always more or less under the influence of liquor. Indeed,
+he thought he could not temper an axe properly, unless he was half
+drunk; and it must be allowed that many of his neighbors were of the
+same opinion, while others said, he wanted them to break, in order that
+he might have a job of repairing. It was too early in the season to
+plough; the ice had broken up in the river, and having first driven the
+logs, cut and hauled in the winter, to the mill, he gave his undivided
+attention to the work, and employed John Bradford to help him cut up and
+draw the large bar of iron purchased at the store, while Clem and Robert
+mounted on a block—not being tall enough to reach the handle
+without—and blew the bellows. John had not struck through two heats
+with the large sledge when the stone anvil broke in two. This mishap,
+however, was soon repaired, as there was no lack of stones.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p><p>While they were placing another stone on the stump, David Montague came
+in.</p>
+
+<p>"Neighbor Richardson," said he, "it is too bad that a man who is
+possessed of the industry and ingenuity you are, should be so put to it
+for tools, and be obliged to work iron on a stone. Now I tell you what
+I'll do with you. I mean to get out timber and boards in the course of
+next year to build me a frame house the year after; 'twill take two
+years to make the shingles and clapboards, hew the frame, and put the
+house up. Now I'll advance you money to buy an anvil beck (beak) horn,
+stake, tools to head nails with, and you may pay me in work, shoe my
+horse and oxen, and make all the nails for my house. I shan't want a
+nail under a year, and not many under fourteen months, so that you can
+make them next winter, and at odd jobs."</p>
+
+<p>Nails were then made by hand, of wrought iron. The stake was a species
+of anvil of small size, and used to point horse-nails on. The beak horn
+was a very necessary thing at that day, used for welding hollow
+articles, and for work upon plough irons.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure, neighbor, you couldn't do me a greater favor, for I need an
+anvil sadly, though I can get along without the stake and the beck
+horn."</p>
+
+<p>"You can, perhaps, at present, but you will soon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> need them both. I
+don't think you ought to feel under the least obligation to me, for in
+advancing this money, I am benefiting myself and the whole neighborhood
+more than you. It will save me and all of us many a hard tramp through
+the woods. Besides, I don't like to get down on my knees to John Drew,
+beg him to work for me, and then pay him twice as much as it is worth."</p>
+
+<p>"So I say, neighbor," said Bradford, "though—to give the devil his
+due—Drew is as good a blacksmith as ever stood behind an anvil, but
+mighty uncomfortable. But where are you going to get the bricks,
+neighbor, to build your chimneys?"</p>
+
+<p>"Make them, John; there's sand and clay both in my pasture. So you see
+there's work enough for two years to hew the frame, make the shingles
+and clapboards, cut logs for boards, and make and burn the bricks."</p>
+
+<p>Richardson improved the opportunity, while assisted by Bradford, to
+forge the polls or iron portion of two axes, and split up iron for
+nail-rods and also for horseshoes. He had never seen any one temper a
+tool, but he had often struck for Drew to forge axes; had seen him weld
+the steel to the iron, and knew he could do that. Although he had hired
+John to help him draw the large iron, because he could not do it, even
+with the aid of the boys, without great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> outlay of both time and labor,
+he didn't care to expose his awkwardness before him. In short, he
+preferred to be alone while adventuring upon this portion of the work,
+in order that he might study out the matter as he went along with no
+witness to his mistake but the boys, and as for tempering, we have seen
+how little he knew in respect to that.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning he made his steel in the shape of a wedge, and split a
+corresponding crevice in the blade of the axe, and not quite so wide as
+the steel was thick, in order that it might bind on the sides as it
+entered, to hold it while heating, and put the whole in the fire for a
+weld. At the first trial the steel fell out on the ground the moment he
+struck it, and he lost his heat. He now shut the slit together so that
+the steel did not quite reach to the bottom, closed it up on the steel a
+little harder, put the axe in the fire, and before striking, struck the
+edge of the steel against the side of the anvil, to drive it home to the
+bottom of the slit, and thus succeeded in making a perfect weld.</p>
+
+<p>But now came the crisis—to temper it. All depended upon this. So
+important a tool was an axe at that day, men wouldn't hesitate to travel
+twenty miles additional to a smith who had the reputation of excelling
+in the art, and no excellence of form or finish could compensate an
+axe-man for its absence.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p><p>He was well aware the reason the punch broke was on account of its
+hardness, and also that if he had, after putting it in water, let it
+cool some, it would have been less brittle; but he also knew the harder
+a tool is, the keener it cuts, and, forgetful of the fault in Drew's
+axes, imagined he could not get it too hard to cut wood. He thought
+there must be a vast difference between wood and iron, and that the
+harder the better; it would never break in wood.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore, after finishing as well as he could, he made it as hot as he
+could without burning, and quenched it, put in a handle, and set to work
+grinding. The axe proved so hard, although he had made the blade very
+thin by hammering, that it was almost impossible to grind it, though he
+put a liberal allowance of sand on the stone. Susan and the boys took
+turns at the stone, the father encouraging them by declaring that it
+would cut like a ribbon, for it was harder than Pharaoh's heart.</p>
+
+<p>The implement was ground at length. Richardson whet the edge and
+forthwith proceeded to a large hemlock that grew near, to try it. If
+unskilled in making, he was very far from being a novice in the use of
+an axe.</p>
+
+<p>At the first blow he cried to his family, who were all gathered at the
+foot of the tree, his wife with the babe in her arms,—</p>
+
+<p>"It's going to cut; I know it is."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p><p>Leaving the keen instrument buried in the wood, he pulled off his outer
+garments. The blows now fell thick and heavy.</p>
+
+<p>"Cuts like a razor. Throws the chips well. Never saw an axe work easier
+in the wood," broke from him at intervals, while the children clapped
+their hands and capered around the tree till it came crashing to the
+ground.</p>
+
+<p>The hemlock was scrubby, and one of the lower limbs was dead. Richardson
+struck the axe into it with all his might; but when he pulled it out,
+there was a piece of steel out of the middle of the bitt as large as a
+half-dollar.</p>
+
+<p>Greatly to the surprise of his wife, he manifested no symptoms of
+discouragement at this disappointment in the moment of victory; he
+merely said, as with one foot on the butt of the tree, he looked at the
+shining and crystalline surface of the fracture,—</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I've found out the temper that will shave the wood. I must now
+find out the highest temper that will stand hemlock knots."</p>
+
+<p>The next thing Richardson did was to try with a file his saw and a
+draw-shave that cut well. He found they bore no comparison in hardness
+with the axe he had just broken, yet they were both wood tools, and good
+ones. He then tried a chopping axe made by Drew. It was softer still,
+but it cut well and stood hemlock, fir, and spruce knots. He now
+understood<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> that tools for wood, especially where blows were given, did
+not admit of a very high temper.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish," he said, "I did know how it is that blacksmiths tell when
+steel cools down to a right temper. How I wish I had asked Tom Breslaw!"
+He sat down on the butt of the tree to reflect. Clem seated himself by
+his side, while Robert, standing on the tree, wiped the drops of sweat
+from his father's brow.</p>
+
+<p>"Father," said Clem, at length, clambering into his parent's lap, "what
+you going to do with the axe now?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going," said he, putting his arm fondly around the little
+questioner, "to try and make it just hard enough to cut, and not break
+or turn."</p>
+
+<p>"How will you know, father, when you've got just enough out?"</p>
+
+<p>"Guess at it. I can't do any better. If I only had a watch or clock, I'd
+let it cool two minutes, then four, and see what that would do. Do you
+understand, my little man?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, father; ain't it just like when mother takes a candle,
+makes a mark on it with her knitting needle, and says, 'When the candle
+burns down to that mark, 'twill be half an hour, and then you'll have to
+go to bed, Clem?'"</p>
+
+<p>"Something like it; but I want something that will tell the minutes."</p>
+
+<p>"Then it would be two minutes hard, father,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> cried Clem, who, with both
+arms around his parent's neck, had almost got into his mouth. "How
+funny! Shall I go borrow Mr. Montague's watch?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not now, dear."</p>
+
+<p>Taking the boy by the hand, and the axe in the other hand, he walked
+thoughtfully towards the shop.</p>
+
+<p>After heating to a cherry red, he laid it on the forge to cool, began to
+count, and continued counting till the axe was cool. He then chalked
+down the number on his bellows.</p>
+
+<p>"Father?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't bother me now, dear;" and he began to think aloud.</p>
+
+<p>"This axe was as hard as glass before I het it; now the temper's all
+out. It has taken while I could count sixty-four to come out. Now, if
+sixty-four takes out the whole, thirty-two ought to take out half,
+sixteen a quarter, eight an eighth. The temper is put into steel when
+it's put into water; and the hotter the steel, and the quicker the
+chill, the harder it is. What made that axe so hard was, that I het it
+so hot, and chilled it quick. If I had made it only half as hot, and
+then put it in water, the temper wouldn't have begun but half as soon,
+and then it would have been only half as hard. I guess that axe's about
+an eighth too hard. I'll heat it just as hot as I did before, and count
+eight, then put it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> in water. I wonder if that'll be the same thing as
+though I hardened it at full heat, and after that found some rule by
+which to reduce the temper. I'm afraid it won't. Let me think of it." He
+sat down on the forge, while Clem, not daring to speak, stood with his
+great round eyes staring anxiously in his father's face.</p>
+
+<p>"I had an axe of John Drew once that was too hard—kept breaking; but it
+cut like a razor. I was afraid to touch it to draw the temper; but one
+day I put the 'poll' of it in the fire to burn the handle out, and the
+wet cloths I had on the steel to keep it cool got dry while I was
+talking with a neighbor, and the poll got red hot. I thought I'd drawn
+all the temper out and spoilt it, but after that it was just hard
+enough. Now I'll just do the same thing again."</p>
+
+<p>He heated the whole axe, steel, and all, then quenched the whole of the
+steel in water till it was cold, leaving the rest of the axe red hot.</p>
+
+<p>"Now I'll let that hot iron draw on the steel while I count eight."</p>
+
+<p>He did thus, then quenched the whole; tried it in the knot; it broke,
+but very little; put it in again, and counted sixteen. It was too soft;
+the edge turned.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe but that red-hot iron draws too savage on the steel;
+takes the temper out too fast. I'll draw it more gradual and count the
+same number of times."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p><p>He now dipped the whole axe in water, edge first, took it out directly,
+put the poll only on the outside of the fire to keep up a gradual heat,
+counted sixteen and quenched it. The axe cut much better and neither
+broke nor turned. He thought he would heat it, count but twelve, and
+thus see if it wouldn't bear a little higher temper. Just as he was
+about to take it from the fire little Sue came to call him to dinner.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell your mother I can't come yet; don't know when I can come; to eat
+dinner, and not wait for me."</p>
+
+<p>"Nor me, nuther," said Clem. "I ain't coming till father comes."</p>
+
+<p>He quenched the axe, put the poll on the fire, and while looking at it
+and counting, thought he noticed a flaw in the steel. Rubbing it in the
+sand and coal-dust of the forge till it was bright, he found it was only
+the edge of a scale raised by the frequent heats. But his attention was
+instantly arrested by seeing the bright steel change under his eye to a
+pale yellow, commencing at the point where the steel joined the iron,
+and gradually extending over it; while he looked, it changed to a darker
+shade, became brown, almost purple. He had now counted twelve, and
+quenched it. When he took the axe from the water, the same tinge was on
+the steel. The axe now cut better and stood well. But he had got hold of
+an idea he meant to follow out.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p><p>"I wonder what those colors are," he said. "Who knows but they may be
+the temper? Just as fast as the temper was let down they changed—grew
+darker. Wonder what they would have come to, if I hadn't quenched the
+steel. I'll know." Heating the axe once more, he rubbed it bright, and
+looked for the colors. For a little time the steel was white; then the
+pale straw color appeared again, growing darker, till it became brown,
+with purple spots, then purple, light blue, pigeon blue; then darker,
+almost black.</p>
+
+<p>"O, father, what handsome colors!"</p>
+
+<p>No reply. Much excited, he quenched the steel, and determined to
+ascertain whether the colors represented different degrees of hardness.
+When he found, by careful experiment, they did, he caught the wondering
+boy in his arms, ran into the house crying,—</p>
+
+<p>"Now, my boy, we've got something that's a better regulator than David
+Montague's watch, your mother's candle, or counting, either."</p>
+
+<p>Entering the house he shouted,—</p>
+
+<p>"Sue, I've got it! I've found how the blacksmith's do it, or, if I
+haven't, I've found a way just as good."</p>
+
+<p>His progress was now rapid; he soon ascertained the proper temper for
+all kinds of tools. The steel of the axe he had experimented with had
+been through the fire so many times that the life of it was all gone. He
+therefore put new<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> steel in it, improved the shape somewhat, ground the
+whole surface of it before tempering, to take off the hammer marks,—for
+he had not learned to hammer smooth,—tempered it carefully, and hid it
+away in the shop.</p>
+
+<p>The next week he procured his anvil, beak-horn, stake, and tools for
+nails. They came from Boston to Portsmouth, from thence to
+Kennebunkport, by water; on an ox team to the village, and from there up
+the river in a canoe.</p>
+
+<p>His land joined Bradford's, and they had appointed a day to build a
+piece of log fence together. Richardson took his new axe with him,
+having ground it sharp. Watching his opportunity while Bradford was
+putting some top poles on the fence, he took Bradford's axe, putting his
+own in the same place. Bradford, without noticing the difference, took
+it up and began to chop into the side of a tree.</p>
+
+<p>"Whew! How this axe cuts! Gnaws right into the wood. It ain't my axe;
+it's William's. Will, where'd you get this axe?"</p>
+
+<p>"Made it."</p>
+
+<p>"The dogs you did."</p>
+
+<p>"It is one of those you helped me forge."</p>
+
+<p>"It's worth two of that axe you are using that John Drew made me. Will
+you sell it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; that's what I made it for."</p>
+
+<p>"May I put it into the knots?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; try it in any fair way, and if it breaks or turns, you needn't
+take it."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p><p>Bradford, after making a thorough trial, took it. It was soon noised
+round that William Richardson had made an axe for John Bradford that
+beat Drew's all hollow. Every body wondered at the ease with which he
+took up anything, little knowing the struggle it cost him.</p>
+
+<p>His farming work now came on; but at intervals he made axes that found a
+ready sale. He made a small pair of bellows in the fall, and a little
+forge in the chimney corner. The boys learned to make nails, and made
+nearly all Montague's nails in the winter evenings. He paid less and
+less attention to farming, and more to working in iron, paid for his
+land, and built him a frame house. In the autumn of the year that he
+made the first axe, he found that he could not well make ox and
+horse-shoes without a vice, and resolved to make something that would
+answer the purpose.</p>
+
+<p>He began by taking two wide, flat bars of iron, and turned the edge of
+them over the edge of the anvil, like the head of a railroad spike, in
+order that, when the flat surfaces came together, these edges might make
+a face to the vice. To the other ends of each of the bars he welded
+pieces of the old crane, rendering that portion of the vice that was to
+fasten to the bench long enough to reach to the ground, and rise eight
+inches above the edge of the bench, and welded an old horse-shoe on the
+back side to fasten it to the bench.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> The other he made but two-thirds
+as long, and by making a slot in one, with a hole for a pin, and
+punching an eye in the other, he contrived both to connect them, and
+form a hinge joint on which the outer leg of the vice might traverse.
+Two holes were now punched to receive a bolt that was designed to answer
+the purpose of a screw, one end of which terminated in a head; the
+remaining portion was punched at short distances with eyes very long and
+wide, to receive broad, thick keys or wedges that would endure hard
+driving.</p>
+
+<p>He now set up the permanent portion of his vice, put the lower end into
+a flat rock set in the ground, and fastened the upper part to the bench,
+brought up the other side, and put the bolt through both. The hinge at
+the bottom permitted the outer jaw of the vice to play back and forth on
+the bolt in order to open or close it. By means of tapering wedges
+driven into the eyes in the bolt, he could wedge a piece of iron firmly
+into his vice to file it, could turn the calks of a horse-shoe or set
+them at any angle he wished. Whenever the vice did not come up to the
+eye, and the wedge would not draw, he slipped washers—iron rings—over
+the bolt to fill the space, and then entering the point of his key,
+drove it with great force. It was not very convenient, but it answered
+the purpose effectually, for it was substituting the power of the wedge
+for that of the screw.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p><p>"Mother," said Clem, one morning, "will you let me have a piece of your
+tongs?"</p>
+
+<p>"My tongs, child? What do you want of my tongs?"</p>
+
+<p>"To make some bow-pins—iron ones—for my steer's yoke; father's gone,
+and said we might play."</p>
+
+<p>"No, child; you're crazy."</p>
+
+<p>"You let father have 'em."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that was because he wanted a pair of tongs to hold his iron."</p>
+
+<p>"So I want the bow-pins."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I shan't have my tongs spoilt for nonsense."</p>
+
+<p>"Mother, is that red and white rooster mine?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Mine to do what I'm a mind to with?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>In the course of half an hour, Clem, with his rooster under his arm,
+presented himself at David Montague's door.</p>
+
+<p>"Good morning, Clem. What are you going to do with that rooster?"</p>
+
+<p>"I want to sell him. Andrew said you wanted one."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; mine froze last winter. What do you ask for him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll sell him for that horse-shoe what's hanging on your barn-yard
+fence."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p><p>"What on earth do you want of that horse-shoe?"</p>
+
+<p>"I want to make some bow-pins for my steers."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you may have it, and after you have made 'em, I want to see 'em."</p>
+
+<p>As William Richardson came home, he saw smoke coming out of the chimney
+of the shop, and heard the sound of the hammer and sledge. Looking
+through a chink, he saw the boys busy enough. Clem was behind the anvil.
+They had flattened out the heel calks of the horse-shoe, straightened
+it, and lapped one part over the other. Just as he looked in, Clem was
+putting sand on it; in a few moments he took it from the fire, welding
+hot: Robert struck with the sledge, and they soon drew it out into a
+thin, square bar.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you ain't wasting my iron, boys."</p>
+
+<p>"No, father," said Clem, "it's mine. I sold my rooster to Mr. Montague,
+and bought it. We are going to make some bow-pins, and we don't want
+anybody to help nor show us; we want to do it."</p>
+
+<p>At this hint Richardson walked into the house. When Clem took the
+bow-pins to Mr. Montague, the latter told him to make two pairs, and he
+would buy them of him.</p>
+
+<p>Settlers now began to flock in; a carriage road was made through the
+woods; wagons and carts<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> came into use. Montague and others built a
+sawmill and a grist-mill; the town was incorporated, and Richardson made
+the mill-chain. This was a wonderful advance from mending the ox-chain
+before the kitchen fire on a flat stone.</p>
+
+<p>"Neighbor Richardson," said Montague, as he came to get his horse shod,
+"I was coming home from the village last Tuesday, and met Sam Parker
+going to get screw-bolts made. Now, it always galls me to have work go
+out of this place. I think you'd better send to Boston and get tools, so
+that you can cut screws whenever they are wanted; there will be more
+call for them every day, for the town is growing fast."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, neighbor. I'll think of it."</p>
+
+<p>He resolved to see if he could not make something that would cut screws,
+before sending to Boston.</p>
+
+<p>It is said that the idea of the principle of gravitation was suggested
+to Sir Isaac Newton by seeing an apple fall from a tree. He wondered
+what made it drop to the earth, rather than go in the opposite
+direction. However that may be, it is certain that a thoughtful man will
+receive suggestions from things that make no impress upon the stupid and
+careless.</p>
+
+<p>As William Richardson sat before the fire that night reflecting upon the
+conversation with Montague, he noticed Clem putting powder into a horn.
+The boy had rolled a leaf of his last year's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>writing-book into the form
+of a tunnel, fastened it with a pin, and was pouring the powder through
+it.</p>
+
+<p>When the boy had finished, he said,—</p>
+
+<p>"Clem, hand me that paper before you unpin it."</p>
+
+<p>After looking attentively at it for some time, he said to the boy, who,
+interested in whatever attracted his father's attention, was looking
+over his shoulder,—</p>
+
+<p>"Clem, the lines on that paper are a screw."</p>
+
+<p>"Be they, father?"</p>
+
+<p>"Unpin the paper."</p>
+
+<p>Clem did so, and they were all straight again.</p>
+
+<p>"How funny, father!"</p>
+
+<p>"Get my square, and you, Robert, go to the wood-pile and get a piece of
+birch bark—white birch."</p>
+
+<p>After stripping the bark to a thin sheet, he cut it square. He then set
+off an inch at one corner, and drew a line from that mark to the corner
+of the paper on the same side, making an oblique line.</p>
+
+<p>"You see that is up hill, boys—don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, father."</p>
+
+<p>He then wrapped the bark round the broom-handle.</p>
+
+<p>"Now it climbs right up the broom-handle; that's the way a screw does;
+it's just getting up hill by going round."</p>
+
+<p>"What's the good of it, father?" said Clem,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> who was altogether of a
+practical turn, but had never seen a screw.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going to try to make one in the morning; then you'll see."</p>
+
+<p>The next day he made a steel bolt, or blank, tapering, and of the size
+of the screws he thought would be generally needed, leaving the head
+square, and sufficient length of steel to hold it by in the vice. The
+next thing to determine was, the pitch or inclination of the thread, and
+its size. On the edge of a piece of birch bark he set off quarter of an
+inch, and drew a line from that mark to the edge of the bark, and cut it
+off, giving the rise or pitch. It was the time of year when boys make
+whistles. He cut an elder sprout just the size of his bolt, spit on it,
+and pounded it on his knee with the handle of his knife till the bark
+came off; this bark he slipped over the bolt, pounded up and boiled some
+pieces of moose horns, made glue and glued it on solid, put the strip of
+birch bark around the lower part of the bolt, its straight edge in line
+with the lower edge, and glued it on. There was now a perfectly true
+spiral round the bolt, the quarter of an inch offset determining the
+inclination, and also the size of the thread. He now filed out a fork
+from a thin piece of iron just a quarter of an inch in width, the two
+points, chisel-edged, one sixteenth of an inch in width each, leaving a
+space of two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>sixteenths between them. Commencing at the narrow end of
+the birch bark, he followed along its edge, cutting the bark sheath as
+he went, till he came again to the point from which he started, having
+cut two spirals through to the steel, with a ridge of bark between them
+two sixteenths of an inch wide. Putting one side of his fork in the
+furrow already made, he followed round till he came to the head of the
+bolt. Placing it in the vice with a three-cornered file, he cut out his
+thread, the ridges of bark on each side forming a guide for a true
+thread. With file and cold-chisel he cut out segments in the middle of
+his bolt, the whole length, leaving the thread on the corners unbroken,
+thus forming a cutting edge at each corner where the thread was broken.
+He now hardened and tempered it.</p>
+
+<p>As the next stage of the process, he forged a steel plate,—the ends
+terminating in handles,—in which he made round holes of various sizes,
+corresponding to the size of the two ends of his bolt. Into these holes
+he put this hardened steel screw-tap with plenty of bear's grease,
+turning it forcibly round with a wrench till the sharp edges at the
+squares cut a thread on the inside of the hole, and then hardened the
+plate. With this plate he could cut a screw on the head of a bolt, and
+with the screw could cut a thread on the inside of a nut. Seizing his
+broadaxe, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> hewed a great spot on one of the logs of the shop, and
+wrote on it with chalk,—</p>
+
+<p class="center">"SCREW BOLTS CUT HERE."</p>
+
+<p>Having paid for his land, and being able to buy iron, and in the
+possession of suitable tools to work with, he resolved to make a proper
+vice with a screw, instead of a bolt. He made the vice-body, taking
+pattern from John Drew's, of English make; but the screw of a vice must
+be square threaded, not a diamond thread, like those he had hitherto
+made; since, being in constant use, the thread would wear off in a short
+time. He laid out the screw in the same manner as before, except that
+instead of sheathing it in bark, he dipped it in beeswax till it was
+coated, and cut the thread with a file and cold-chisel, and instead of
+putting the screw through both parts of the vice, made a box for it to
+work in. It is evident he could not cut a thread in the box, that must
+be square, like that of the screw, with a screw that was
+square-threaded; neither could he do it with a chisel or file. He did it
+in this way: he hammered out some steel wire large enough to more than
+fill the thread of the screw, and wound it around it; then he drove the
+screw with the wire on it hard into the box, filling it completely, and
+fastened the ends of the wire. He then turned the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> screw carefully back,
+and took it out, leaving the hole lined with the wire.</p>
+
+<p>Richardson had in the house a brass plate that had been on a soldier's
+belt, and procured from Montague the brass top of a fire-shovel; these
+he cut up and filed up, putting the filings and pieces into the box
+between the coils of wire with borax. He wrapped the whole box in clay
+mortar, and dried the mass; then put it in the fire till the clay was
+red hot, and the brass melted, which soldered the coils of wire fast to
+the sides of the box, forming a thread.</p>
+
+<p>With the two springs of a broken fox-trap welded together, he made a
+spring to throw back the jaw of his vice when the screw was turned.
+After accomplishing all this, he built a frame shop with a brick
+chimney, paying Montague in work for the bricks, laying them himself;
+and now he considered himself entitled to wear a leather apron.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span>CHAPTER VIII.</span> <span class="smaller">A TRADE THE BEST INHERITANCE.</span></h2>
+
+<p>The boys standing, as it were, upon their father's shoulders,
+sympathizing with and aiding him to the utmost of their ability, early
+obtained a knowledge of working iron far beyond their years, and
+contracted a love for the occupation, especially Clem, who seemed to
+inherit all the patience, energy and originality of his father, together
+with an amiable disposition and strength of limb. Until Clem was
+nineteen they lived at home, doing nearly all the farming work, and at
+the same time helping their father in the shop. They were then desirous
+of going where a better quality of work was demanded than in their
+native place.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, boys," said Richardson, "I'm entirely willing you should go. I
+began too late—had too little to do with, no tools, and poverty to
+struggle with—to accomplish much. I've done the best I could; but I
+want you to have a better chance. I think you've both got the mechanical
+principle in you, and had better go where you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> can work it out, have
+tools to work with, and learn all that comes up."</p>
+
+<p>They went to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where their father had
+relatives, and after working a week on trial, were both hired as
+journeymen. Clem never wanted to meddle with anything but edge tools,
+displaying remarkable ability for that kind of work, while Robert proved
+an excellent shoer, and had but few equals in wheel-tiring and all kinds
+of carriage work. He could also make a wheel as well as iron it, and
+manifested his father's ability for working in wood. Learning the use of
+hammer and file when mere children, and growing up to it, their work had
+a finish about it that is seldom attained by those who commence work in
+manhood, and when their habits are formed.</p>
+
+<p>After perfecting their trade, they hired a shop and set up business for
+themselves, Clem devoting the greater part of his time to making edge
+tools, while Robert attended to the other portion of the work. Business
+was good, and they accumulated property, and frequently sent money to
+their parents, and cherished a strong affection for their native place,
+going home every year to Thanksgiving.</p>
+
+<p>When the boys had been a year from home, their father went to visit
+them. At his leaving, the boys would have loaded him with
+tools,—"swages," "fullers," "screw-taps," "drills,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> and "shears," to
+cut iron,—but he refused to take them.</p>
+
+<p>"You know, boys," said he, "I like to make things myself, and think as
+much again of anything I make myself. I'm just as much obliged to you as
+though I took them. I've seen all the tools you have here, and been
+round among the shops and seen all the ways they do their work, and I'll
+go home and make every one of these tools; and I think I can improve
+upon some of them. I've got help now, for Henry Bradford, John's boy, is
+coming to work with me, and learn the trade—that is, learn what little
+I know."</p>
+
+<p>Finding he did not incline to take the tools, they put a lot of iron and
+steel on board the sloop in which he started to return by the way of
+Kennebunk, or, rather, Cape Porpoise, which was the landing-place then.</p>
+
+<p>There was a little girl, Lucy Armstrong, who went to school with Clem
+when it was kept in David Montague's house, and they formed a childhood
+liking for each other which continued and strengthened as they grew
+older. Lucy was a girl of excellent abilities, the best scholar in the
+school, and as she grew up manifested qualities that are not often
+united. She possessed great energy of character, a robust constitution,
+and most affectionate disposition. Everybody loved and pitied Lucy; for
+her girlhood was embittered by many trials and sorrows.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p><p>Her father she never saw to recognize; he was killed by a bear when she
+was a babe, and her mother was taken away when she was four years old.
+Lucy, after her mother's death, went to live with an uncle—her father's
+brother. He was a hard, penurious man, and his wife resembled him, being
+a morose, griping woman, with no children of her own to draw out her
+affections and sweeten her disposition. She made poor Lucy serve with
+rigor. She was poorly clad, poorly fed, went barefoot in the summer and
+till late in the fall, was obliged to work both out doors and in. When
+dropping corn and potatoes in the spring, her feet were red as a
+pigeon's with cold, and in the fall they bled from being pricked with
+the stubble. In the cold nights of November she must sit in the barn and
+husk corn. The old folks did not intend to be cruel; but they had been
+hardly dealt by themselves in childhood and youth, and hard treatment
+renders people hard and callous in their treatment of others.</p>
+
+<p>In one respect they faithfully discharged their duty—in sending her to
+school every day so long as it kept, which was at first but six weeks in
+the winter, but by the time Lucy was thirteen increased to fourteen
+weeks; and after the town was incorporated and the ordinances of the
+gospel established, she went to meeting every Sabbath. School days and
+Sundays were the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> green spots, and all the green spots, in Lucy's
+cheerless life of incessant toil, save the few moments when sent to hunt
+eggs; and hidden in the haymow from the eagle eye of her aunt, she read
+Clem's letters for the hundredth time. Clem seldom came to the house; a
+visit from him put her aunt into a perfect fury, as she was unwilling to
+lose so good a drudge.</p>
+
+<p>"Get married!" she would say, "yes, that's all girls nowadays think of.
+Wonder what they expect to live on. Better get something ahead first."</p>
+
+<p>Although how she was to get anything ahead while spending her youth and
+strength in their service did not appear, especially as her uncle had
+made his will, and left all his property to a nephew as close-fisted as
+himself. He often remarked "that he meant to leave what he had got by
+hard knocks to somebody who knew how to take kere of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Clem," said Robert, when the time during which they had hired as
+journeymen had nearly expired, "if ever you mean to marry that girl, why
+don't you do it? What do you let her stay there for, suffer everything
+but death, slave herself, and dry up, working for that old skinflint and
+his woman? They'd move into a mustard seed, and then have rooms to let.
+If you don't, I'll go and court her myself."</p>
+
+<p>"I mean to the moment I feel that I can <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>support her comfortably. You
+know I'm like father—one of the kind to cut my garment according to the
+cloth. I don't want to make her worse off than she is now."</p>
+
+<p>"That's impossible. Get along with you; go hire two rooms somewhere, and
+then go and get her. I'll board with you. Nothing comes amiss to her;
+she's a treasure of a girl, smart as steel, and pleasant as a May
+morning. What did father and mother have when they set up, and see where
+they are now."</p>
+
+<p>Clem took his brother's advice. Lucy's aunt raved like a mad woman at
+first; but when she found that it was no use, and the neighbors were all
+against her, she calmed down, gave Lucy a bed and pillows stuffed with
+turkey feathers, and said they would be on the town before two years.
+She proved a false prophetess. In two years they were blessed with a
+nice baby. Clem and Robert had all the work they could do, the hammer
+going every evening till nine o'clock in the winter months, though they
+still lived in two rooms, with the privilege of another for occasional
+use. They continued to thrive till the war of 1812, when the brothers
+took a contract from the government to bore cannon, which, proving a
+very profitable job, left them with abundant means. Robert still
+continued to board with his brother, and, remaining single, put all his
+money into the firm.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p><p>William Richardson, accumulating property by his trade, bought a piece
+of timber land every year, and let it lie. In the latter part of his
+life the rise in the value of this land made him affluent. At his
+decease this portion of his property fell to the sons, his wife having
+died some years before him, and the daughters receiving their portion in
+money. The shop remained as it was; Clem would have nothing touched. It
+was not, to be sure, the original log hovel; but it was the same forge,
+and the building stood on the same spot. The old pine stump still formed
+the anvil block, and the hammer fashioned from the andirons still lay on
+the anvil, just as his father had left it after his last day's work.
+There also were the tongs made from the legs of the kitchen tongs, and
+the sledge forged from the churn-drill.</p>
+
+<p>After the war business revived, and there was a great demand for lumber.
+The Richardsons sold out at Portsmouth, returned to their native place,
+bought the old mill privilege, and went to lumbering. Strange to say,
+Clement Richardson and his wife, although retaining their simple and
+industrious habits, felt that they did not want their children to work
+as hard as they had; and going to the other extreme, while affording
+them all the advantages of education and culture their altered
+circumstances enabled them to bestow, trained them up in a way<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> that
+rendered them in all matters of practical life absolutely helpless.</p>
+
+<p>This, as our readers know, was the character of Rich when he entered
+college; he could scarcely tie his own shoes. The good fortune of
+stumbling upon Morton for a while roused the energies that lay buried
+beneath this effeminate training; but after separating from his mates,
+he relapsed gradually into his former habits.</p>
+
+<p>Thus passed the first year after leaving college; but with the
+succeeding spring came something that, like to the shock of an
+earthquake, effectually roused Rich from his poetic reveries and visions
+of high art, rent with a rude hand the tissue of the dream-robe fancy
+had woven, and set him face to face with the bitter, stern realities of
+life.</p>
+
+<p>Clement Richardson was naturally a prudent man, averse to incurring risk
+of any kind; but uninterrupted success in all his plans for thirteen
+years had rendered him sanguine. He found, soon after engaging in
+lumbering, that very little was to be realized from small operations;
+that, to accumulate, a person must either possess the capital and risk
+it, or hire money and run the risk of losing that. He and his brother,
+stimulated by the high price of lumber at that time, and intoxicated by
+good fortune in lesser adventures, hired money largely, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> expended
+every dollar of their own in land and logs. They had a good drive, early
+in the spring the logs were in the booms, and the mills running night
+and day to manufacture them, in order to meet demands that were fast
+maturing. The price of lumber was still high, future prospects were most
+flattering, and the Richardsons felt that a fortune was within their
+grasp, when rain began to fall while the water was still almost at
+freshet pitch, and there was much snow in the woods at the head waters
+of the river.</p>
+
+<p>Clement concealed his anxiety from his children, and in some measure
+from his wife, who, although she knew that great loss would follow the
+breaking of the booms, was utterly ignorant of the extent of her
+husband's liabilities and of the crisis at hand.</p>
+
+<p>Directly after supper the two brothers went out. Rich occupied a good
+portion of the evening in reciting to his mother and sisters a poem he
+had spent weeks in composing. After the children had retired, Lucy
+Richardson sat sewing, wondering at the continued absence of her husband
+and his brother, and listening to the roar of water. At length there
+came a crash; she with difficulty suppressed a scream. In a few moments
+a servant came to tell her one of the mills had gone.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is my husband, Henry?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p><p>"He and Mr. Robert are watching the boom."</p>
+
+<p>Another weary hour passed, when Clement Richardson came in; he was pale,
+haggard, and dripping with water.</p>
+
+<p>"Lucy," he said, "I am <i>ruined</i> and <i>Robert</i> with me. All the money we
+had outside of our real estate was in those logs, and they have gone
+into the Atlantic, the mills with them, and it will take all our real
+estate, furniture, and the house over our heads to pay the money we've
+borrowed." In those days creditors made a clean sweep, took everything
+worth taking, and the wife's property was held for the husband's debts.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a great misfortune, husband; but it might have been much worse."</p>
+
+<p>"Worse, Lucy? How can a man lose more than all?"</p>
+
+<p>"It would have been worse to lose health,—worse to lose our love for
+each other, if such a thing could be,—worse to have a wicked,
+disobedient, or deformed child; and I am sure it would be worse to lose
+character, which you won't if you have property enough left to pay all
+you owe. It would certainly have been worse had it come when we were
+past labor; and I'm sure we were happier before we moved into this
+house, and when you were working at your trade, than we have ever been
+since."</p>
+
+<p>"But the children, Lucy. I see it all now as one sees everything when it
+is too late. We<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> thought we had enough for them and us, and have taught
+them everything except how to take care of themselves."</p>
+
+<p>"They will learn that. They are not too old to learn."</p>
+
+<p>The property of the brothers, very valuable, was sold, and the proceeds
+divided among the creditors, who all relinquished voluntarily the
+interest on their demands. This left the brothers, after paying
+everything, one hundred and fifty dollars, as the remnant of a large
+property. David Montague was dead; but his son Andrew inherited not only
+his father's property, but his principles. One of the creditors, he bid
+off the old Richardson homestead, house, shop, and outbuildings. As soon
+as the business was settled, he offered Clement Richardson money to go
+into business again. The latter thanked him for the offer, but said he
+intended, as soon as he could find a place to work, to go back to his
+anvil.</p>
+
+<p>"Clem," said Andrew Montague, "our fathers come here and cut the first
+trees together, and lived and died fast friends; you and I have grown up
+together, and been just as good friends. I know you are proud-spirited,
+and I love you all the better for it; but I beg of you, let me do this
+much. There is the old shop; nothing has been disturbed; and there are
+the tools your father <i>began</i> with, and those more modern ones he used
+in his latter days. Take<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> it, rent free, and I'll bring you a
+fortnight's work to-morrow morning. I will let you have the house as
+soon as Coleman, whose family are sick, leaves it."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll take it, Andrew, in the spirit in which it is offered, and may God
+bless you. There's luck in that old hammer that lies on the anvil where
+father left it. The first blow I ever struck on iron I struck with that,
+and the first work I ever did was to make a pair of bow-pins for your
+father."</p>
+
+<p>As soon as Morton could leave the scholars he was instructing in
+private, he set forward in the stage to see Rich, and well aware, by
+letters received, of what had occurred, made inquiries, on arriving, for
+the shop. Peering into the door around the corner of another building,
+he saw a tall, strong-built man, past middle age, fitting a horse-shoe
+at the anvil. Another person, of about the same age, but more slightly
+built, was tearing the shoe from a horse's foot. A bar of iron was
+heating in the fire, apparently to make a new shoe, and at the bellows
+stood Rich, the glory of Radcliffe, class poet, elegant scholar; those
+finely-cut and delicate features, that no one could look upon without
+interest, begrimed with smut, save where partially streaked with streams
+of sweat; for it was a warm afternoon in May. As he turned towards the
+fire, to look at the iron, Morton slipped behind him and laid his hand
+upon the shoulders of Rich.</p>
+
+<div class="center"><img src="images/i112.jpg" alt="Illustration" /></div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span>CHAPTER IX.</span> <span class="smaller">BLOOD WILL TELL.</span></h2>
+
+<p>The mingled expression of heart-felt delight, surprise, and
+consternation that pervaded the features of Rich, when, upon turning, he
+looked Morton in the face, was quite ludicrous.</p>
+
+<p>"Mort!" he gasped.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Mort," replied his visitor, grasping fervently the hand that was
+timidly extended to meet his own; "ain't you glad to see me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Glad!" shouted Rich, grasping both the hands of Morton in his own,
+while the tears ran down his cheeks; "I hope you don't think I am not;
+but—"</p>
+
+<p>"But you are in a working dress, and not in a state to receive me, who
+never cleaned out the president's barn, milked his cow, or dug his
+potatoes, and you are smutty."</p>
+
+<p>Thus saying, Morton rubbed his hand on the top of the bellows, and made
+an awful smut spot across the whole side of his face.</p>
+
+<p>"Will that remove your scruples, old chum? How are you?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p><p>"O, Mort, I'm so glad to see you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Expected you'd be; that's what I came for; didn't come for anything
+else; 'kalkerlated,' as Uncle Tim would say, to make you glad."</p>
+
+<p>Rich now introduced Morton to his father and uncle, who received him
+without any of the embarrassment that had overwhelmed Rich, and in a
+most hearty manner.</p>
+
+<p>"You must excuse, Mr. Morton," said Clement, "my son's constraint upon
+first seeing you; it was occasioned by the recollection of the change in
+our circumstances, in consequence of which he cannot entertain as he
+would wish the friend he loves so dearly, and whom we have all learned
+through him to love, even before meeting. If we have been unfortunate,
+it is no more than has overtaken more deserving persons than ourselves,
+and our losses have neither chilled our hearts nor discouraged us from
+effort."</p>
+
+<p>"We think," said Robert, "that as we earned all we have lost by our own
+industry, we can, by the same means, better our condition."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry, Mr. Morton," said Clement, "to be obliged to keep my son
+till this horse is shod, as the owner is waiting, and there is a new
+shoe to make; but after that he will be at liberty.—Strike, Robert."</p>
+
+<p>Rich, eager to be released, struck with good will; the sparks flew all
+over the shop, and a second heat put the iron in such shape that Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>
+Richardson required no further help. Rich flung off his leather apron,
+washed himself in a bucket, and wiped the smut from Mort's cheek with a
+towel that did not put on much more dirt than it took off, when they
+left to cleanse themselves more effectually at the house.</p>
+
+<p>The dwelling was old, out of repair, and consisted of three rooms on the
+ground floor, but two of them plastered, and a low attic. If Morton felt
+depressed by finding his friends in such wretched quarters, he could not
+but admire and wonder at the energy and cheerfulness with which Rich,
+his father, mother, and uncle bore up under their reverses. The girls,
+however, appeared chagrined and depressed, and seemed to him completely
+heart-broken. They were considerably older than Rich, some children
+having died between them. Rich, and Morton, after supper went to walk,
+the former observing that by reason of their limited accommodations
+there was no opportunity for conversation in the house. Following a
+footpath that led along the bank of the river, they entered a noble
+orchard, just commencing to blossom. It lay upon a declivity sloping to
+the river. Passing through it, they came to a swale sprinkled with elms,
+and commanding a fine view of the river, and flung themselves on the
+grass side by side.</p>
+
+<p>"Rich," said Morton, "do you know what has surprised me more than
+anything else I have met with here?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p><p>"I should think the pickle you found me in when you came into the
+shop."</p>
+
+<p>"No; it is to find yourself and your parents in such good spirits. Most
+men, after having met with so great and sudden a reverse, would have
+become entirely disheartened, and I expected to find <i>you</i> completely
+prostrated."</p>
+
+<p>"The cheerfulness is not assumed for the occasion, Mort."</p>
+
+<p>"I know that, you could not deceive me in such a matter."</p>
+
+<p>"Believe me, as far as I am concerned, and were it not for my sisters,
+and seeing my parents compelled to renew in their old age the hardships
+of their youth, I should be happier to-day than for the last year and a
+half, for I have now a clear conscience."</p>
+
+<p>"What have you done? What crime have you committed to set your
+conscience in arms?"</p>
+
+<p>"The crime of doing nothing; of wasting myself. You know what fine
+speeches I used to make in college about effort, setting the standard
+high, and all that sort of thing, and how pat at my tongue's end I
+always had '<i>per angusta ad augusta</i>' (I'm in a way to realize one part
+of it now, I think); and as long as I was neck and neck with you and
+Hill, I did do somewhat; but after I came home, I just fell right back
+into the old ruts; could not make up my mind in regard to a profession;
+didn't really want<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> to. I was too comfortable; but I felt mean, felt
+guilty. When I went to Portland, and heard you argue that case, and saw
+how much labor it had cost you, and how nobly you came out of it, I felt
+meaner still, and was half inclined to return without seeing you, and
+resolved when I got home I would go to work; but I took it out in
+thinking so, till the trouble came like a flash of lightning; since
+then, I trust, I've done something, and been of some little use."</p>
+
+<p>"Was it, then, so sudden? I knew that your father's difficulties came in
+consequence of his lumber and mills being carried away; but even a
+freshet gives some warning."</p>
+
+<p>"None of us knew that father had every dollar invested in logs that were
+like to go down stream. He and uncle were anxious enough, but kept it to
+themselves; and the very night it came, when every man about the mills
+was out in the pouring rain watching for trouble, I was
+fooling—reciting a poem that I was going to deliver to a company of our
+young folks; and I'm ashamed to say, that what I am now going to tell
+you I had from Henry Alden, one of the men who was where I ought to have
+been, with my father at the time. You see that smooth, perpendicular
+ledge that makes out into the river?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes,"</p>
+
+<p>"And that stake driven into a crack in the ledge?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p><p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"When the water is up to that stake it is freshet pitch. All the morning
+and afternoon the water had been rising; in the evening, it was the same
+till it reached a fearful height, when one of the mills went. My father
+and Uncle Robert stood under that ledge with a lantern, watching the
+marks they had made on it with chalk. The rain had stopped, and for the
+last hour the water had not risen, the clouds had broken away overhead,
+and the stars came out. Every one of the men (all old river-drivers)
+thought the danger was over. 'Robert,' said my father, 'I think the
+booms will hold; the rain is over, and the river will soon fall.' The
+words were scarcely out of his mouth before there was a great cry from
+the bank above that the logs were coming. Henry said father turned pale,
+but never opened his mouth, or turned to look, but went straight home.
+When I came to the breakfast table the next morning, father was sitting
+there, a little paler than usual, but just as calm as ever, and told us
+what had taken place. You see now how sudden it must have been to me,
+mother, and the girls, and almost as much so to him, for he thought the
+crisis had passed."</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't the boom break before? and how came it to break after the
+water was done rising?"</p>
+
+<p>"About two miles above this place is a large<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> intervale, where a great
+quantity of hay is cut. Upon this flat stood a large barn, with no
+cattle in it, used for storing hay; half a mile below this was a
+toll-bridge. The water undermined the barn, and started it from its
+foundations, and down it came against the bridge with an awful crash.
+The toll-house stood on piles outside of the bridge. It struck the
+bridge within ten feet of the house, in which the toll-keeper, his wife,
+and three children, one a babe in arms, were sound asleep, they
+supposing, as did my father, that the danger was over. Awakened by the
+shock, and thinking, in their fright, the house was going, they ran out
+on to the bridge, the mother with the babe in her arms, all in their
+night clothes, and were swept off, with about twenty-five feet of the
+bridge. If they had staid in the house they would have been all right,
+for there it remained on its own foundation. The barn, bridge, a parcel
+of fences and drift stuff, all came down into our upper boom together,
+broke that and then the lower one. One mill had gone before. This vast
+mass, borne on the raging torrent, carried away another, half the grist
+mill, and a carding mill."</p>
+
+<div class="center"><img src="images/i120.jpg" alt="The breaking of the Boom" /></div>
+
+<p class="bold"><span class="smcap">The breaking of the Boom.</span> Page 119.</p>
+
+<p>"What became of the family on the bridge?"</p>
+
+<p>"The barn, being so big, and taking so much wind, went ahead of the
+bridge, that was low in the water, and when they got down where the
+river was narrower, some men went off in a canoe and took them ashore."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p><p>"Rich, I am going to hazard a supposition. Will you tell me if I am
+correct in it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you anything I know."</p>
+
+<p>"You belong to a strong, resolute breed of men. Any person looking at
+your father as he stands at the anvil, and your uncle, can see where you
+came from. It is not in accordance with the make-up of persons having
+such blood in their veins to live without effort or object. It causes
+them to despise themselves—the meanest of all feelings, because the
+rugged nature craves hardship. When you exerted yourself to the utmost
+in college studies, chopped wood and hewed timber, although there was no
+necessity for it; when in that tremendous race at Brunswick, through
+gullies, thorns, coal kilns, dogs, and mires, you gave me, who had the
+advantage of years of training, all I could do, and distanced all the
+rest, that was the true nature asserting itself. I can understand why it
+was that, after crossing the Alps, settling down in Capua, and becoming
+effeminate, you lost your own self-respect, and were unhappy, and also
+how these feelings were all intensified when you found that while ruin
+was impending, your father's mind racked with agony, you were writing
+verses to school girls, wasting time and talents, and throwing away
+opportunities that would never come again. I can understand, likewise,
+why, when you took your portion of the load and felt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> that your father
+was encouraged by your aid and sympathy, you regained self-respect, and
+experienced relief and comparative happiness. But there is much more I
+cannot fathom."</p>
+
+<p>"What is that, Mort?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, there is a light in your eye, and an expression of quiet,
+trustful happiness in your face, that were never there before, and that
+are not to be accounted for by anything you have yet told me, or that I
+have observed here. It seems to me that while summoning all your own
+resources to meet this exigency, you have gone out of yourself for aid;
+and that, to my mind, accounts perfectly for all the results, and
+renders happiness in untoward circumstances no mystery."</p>
+
+<p>"Mort, I am going to answer your question, but not directly, because I
+don't feel quite sure of myself yet. When we were in college there was
+perfect sympathy between us. Perk, Hill, Savage, and the rest, had their
+ups and downs, fallings out and makings up; but between you and me there
+was never a shadow or a chill. We were as completely one in sentiment
+and affection as that mist that's rising over the river; but after you
+went to hear Mr. Sewall, and wrote me about it, there seemed to be a
+dark shadow between us. I couldn't tell what it was, and I didn't love
+you any the less, but somehow there was a difference. Mort, since<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> this
+trouble came I've read your letters over, and understand them as I never
+did before. That shadow is gone, and the sun shines all over."</p>
+
+<p>"I know what you mean, Rich; you need say no more."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Mort, this orchard, the swale, and all this land to the river,
+were part of our place. You have seen where we live now, and I suppose
+you would like to see the spot we left; if so, we had better go before
+it gets dark."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you don't care to go."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do. I don't dislike to go. Father might have put it into
+somebody's hands to cheat his creditors, and still lived there, as many
+have done; but he paid his debts with that and other property, and went
+behind the anvil; and every time I go there I consider what a temptation
+he resisted, and feel proud of him. I don't know how others may feel,
+neither do I care; but I had much rather have for my father a poor man
+of principle, than a wealthy rascal; blood-blisters on every finger, and
+earn my bread by hard blows on hot iron, than to feel the very clothes I
+wore, and the luxuries I enjoyed, were swift witnesses against me."</p>
+
+<p>It was plain enough to Morton that the grindstone grit of poverty was
+fast cutting away the iron that overlaid the steel, and bringing out the
+true temper. So delighted was he, that he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> could not forbear shaking
+Rich. A playful scuffle followed, in which Morton by no means attained
+the usual advantage.</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you what it is, Mort," said Rich, "let me work at the anvil and
+you study law a while longer, and I'll lay you on your back, and mud
+both shoulders."</p>
+
+<p>"It is always a pleasure to me to see a young man ambitious, for even if
+he places his standard beyond the measure of his capacity, he is likely
+to make the most of himself. I've got something in view when I go back
+that will offset your sledge-hammer. See if I don't make your backbone
+crack the next time we take hold, old fellow."</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to know what kind of exercise it is. I'm sure you can't
+hew timber there."</p>
+
+<p>"A churn-drill, my boy. What do you think of that? Ain't that a good
+deal like work? Won't there be some misery to that? There's a man by the
+name of Noble, who blows rocks on Oak Street. He has two churn-drills. I
+am going to use one of them as soon as he gets it steeled."</p>
+
+<p>"You please yourself with that idea, young man, will you? You can't
+start a hole with a churn-drill as it ought to be. I can tell you, it
+takes a workman to do that. Your drill will bind, and you'll get stuck."</p>
+
+<p>"I know I can't at first, but he'll start the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> holes for me and then I
+can churn; and after a while I shall learn to start my own holes, and
+strike true."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll get sick of it. It is the hardest work that is done."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever know me to get sick of, or give up anything, I undertook?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I have."</p>
+
+<p>"Name it, slanderer, name it. Don't think to escape by dealing in
+generalities. I demand date and place. When and where did I get sick of
+anything, and give it up?"</p>
+
+<p>"On the twenty-fifth of December, Christmas night, quarter before seven,
+you got sick of eating pork pie at Uncle Tim Longley's, and Granny
+Longley gave you a dose of thoroughwort tea, and made you <i>give it up</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"If we are going to see that house, it is time we were about it, for it
+is almost sundown, and will soon be dark."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span>CHAPTER X.</span> <span class="smaller">DEAD LOW WATER.</span></h2>
+
+<p>They ascended the rising ground, passing along the edge of the orchard,
+till, upon gaining the height of land, they entered upon a broad, level
+field of twenty-five acres, smooth as a lawn, green in all the verdure
+of spring, and giving promise of an abundant yield of grass. A variety
+of forest trees were scattered over it, among which the walnut and white
+oak predominated. Here and there a clover head was seen, and bobolinks,
+balancing on spears of herd's grass, were exhibiting themselves to the
+best advantage, while now and then a forward apple tree on the warmer
+ground was covered with white and red blossoms.</p>
+
+<p>"Your father never planted these trees," said Morton, gazing at the
+massive trunks, covered with moss and rough scaly bark; "who did?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I don't know whether it was the wind, the crows, bears, or
+squirrels, but they were here when the white men came."</p>
+
+<p>In the centre of the field stood the mansion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> house. It was painted
+white, with green blinds, and, seen through the mass of foliage by which
+the house was surrounded, the color produced a very pleasing effect,
+being scarcely more prominent than the streak of white peeping through
+the green folds of an opening rose-bud.</p>
+
+<p>Several very large white birches were scattered in front of the
+buildings among other trees, that beautiful green peculiar to the leaves
+of this tree in the spring contrasting pleasantly with the white bark of
+the trunk and branches. The house, fronting the river, stood endwise to
+the main road, from which a broad avenue led to it, approaching by a
+gradual curve the front, a less spacious one conducting to the back
+portion and the out-buildings. Both of these avenues were lined with the
+Lombardy poplar, then highly prized throughout New England as an
+ornamental tree. They still linger, a few in nearly every town, often
+rising with decaying branches over some grass-grown cellar—sole memento
+of a departed generation.</p>
+
+<p>The mansion, standing in the midst of this vast green, large on the
+ground, and high studded, without a fence to belittle the effect and
+obstruct the view, with abundant out-buildings, well arranged and in
+perfect repair, as seen through the mass of foliage, produced an
+impression better felt than described.</p>
+
+<p>Morton, enraptured with the sight, stood long<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> before the main entrance
+silent, his arm in that of his friend. At length his eyes moistened as
+he said,—</p>
+
+<p>"Rich, I never saw anything like this spot; so grand and beautiful!
+Everything is fresh, in perfect repair, and yet these oaks and birches
+seem two hundred years old. I never saw such trees, except in the
+forest. I shouldn't be in the least surprised to see a black bear
+acorning in one of them."</p>
+
+<p>"I've no doubt they have done it. I've heard my grandfather say that the
+whole of this land between us and the river was a heavy growth of such
+trees as you see here, except the low ground, where it was yellow birch,
+white maple, and elm; that a man by the name of Dingley, who was well
+off, came here from Salem, built this house, cleared the land, all but
+about two acres in front of the house; but his wife died, and his two
+boys didn't want to stay here—wanted to go to sea. He went back to
+Salem just before the embargo, and let the place to the halves. Then a
+friend of his—another Salem captain, who had made money going to the
+coast of Africa, when the embargo put a stop to his business—bought it.
+He also spent money at a great rate; made the house almost over, built
+stables, took away the fences, and as he was determined to have just
+what trees he wanted, and didn't mind expense, selected those he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> wished
+to remain, cut down the rest, and all the underbrush, and hauled the
+trunks and brush off, because he knew, if he put fire into it, he should
+kill the whole. That's the way, grandfather said, these old trees came
+to be left here.</p>
+
+<p>"While Captain Norris was building, planting, clearing, and turning
+everything upside down, and making improvements, after some models he
+had seen abroad, and while the embargo and the war of 1812 lasted, he
+was contented; but when he had made about all the improvements his purse
+would allow, and maritime business began to revive after the war, he was
+as uneasy as a fish out of water, and sold the place to my father, with
+all his improvements, for half what it had cost him, and went back to
+Salem, and to sea again."</p>
+
+<p>"It must have been a sad day to you, when you came to take leave of this
+home, and—"</p>
+
+<p>"And go to the place where you found us, you mean. Well, it was a bitter
+day to all of us, but there were some reasons that made it especially so
+to me. Father and mother had known sorrow, and so had my sisters. I had
+a little brother and sister, neither of whom I ever saw. They died
+within a year of each other, and my sisters were old enough to realize
+it. But never since I can remember has there been a cloud in our sky
+till now. Father was prosperous, I was petted and indulged, had all I
+wanted, loved my books and my parents (never knew how much I did love<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>
+them till now), and never had a sorrow, except when some pet animal
+died; but those tears were soon dried, and when I awoke the next morning
+the sorrow was all forgotten in some new pleasure, or some new pet. It
+seems to me now that I was just like one of the humming-birds that
+always come to the honeysuckle that hangs over that western window.—By
+the way, that was my room, Mort."</p>
+
+<p>"I see it all, Rich; and now, let me tell you, I wasn't in a very
+cheerful frame when, on my way to college, I met you at Portland. I had
+left home, and was looking forward to a four years' course at college,
+with hardly any funds, and the prospect for the future was gloomy
+enough, when you came across my path, just like a gleam of sunshine, and
+appeared so buoyant, happy, and trustful, that I said to myself,
+'There's a boy that's grown up in some happy home, without a care or
+sorrow.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Just so, Mort. But there was another thing which gave to this place a
+charm for me that it did not possess for the rest of our family."</p>
+
+<p>"What was that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you. The girls were born in Portsmouth, and their earliest
+associations were there. My father and mother also have had homes at
+other spots; but if I was not born here, I grew up among these great
+trees, and, I can tell you, the very roots of them were in my heart, and
+it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> was hard parting. One of the very first things I can remember is,
+crawling out of the front door, when mother's attention was turned, and
+making for dear life towards that birch with the hang-bird's nest on it.
+Sometimes in my haste, I'd tumble down the steps—roll from the top to
+the bottom. If it half killed me, I wouldn't cry, for fear mother would
+come and get me before I reached the tree; and when she did, O, didn't I
+yell some? Here I made my little gardens, dug wells, and put water in
+'em; here I had my pets, hens and ducks, pigeons, and kittens, and
+birds; and when any of them died, I buried them under that walnut with
+the drooping branches, because I thought it felt sorry for me. I didn't
+have many playmates, for I was a shy boy, and so I loved the trees,
+birds, and flowers all the more, and played with them, and my sisters,
+and Uncle Robert. You see that large maple that stands next to the
+hemlock—the biggest tree in the field?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it is almost as large as the great pine in the glen at Brunswick."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you think, when I was a little thing, wore long clothes, red
+stockings, and red morocco shoes, my father tapped that tree, and used
+to give us the sap to drink. One washing day, when they were all busy, I
+got away, ran for the maple, and got down on my hands and knees to drink
+out of the trough. I was having the nicest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> time, putting down the sap,
+when a bee came whiz in my face, struck me on my upper lip, and ran his
+stinger in the whole length. I suppose he thought I was going to drink
+up all the sap, and he shouldn't get any. The girl was hanging out
+clothes, heard an outcry, and saw me flat on my back, kicking and
+screaming. She ran, and mother ran, and my sisters, and such a time as
+there was when mother pulled the stinger out. I tell you, Mort, no other
+place ever seems like the one where you played when you were little."</p>
+
+<p>"That's so, Rich. The corn in the dish on the table don't taste half so
+good as that you roast out doors, and down with it, all over smut and
+ashes, and half raw; and the apples they carry round in the evening at
+home don't begin with the ones you've hid in the haymow, and eat when
+they are so full of frost it makes your teeth ache."</p>
+
+<p>"We might have staid in the house through the summer. It is empty, and
+like to be; but father and mother said they had rather go at once than
+be dreading it. The neighbors were very kind, and helped us move (what
+little we had to move), as everything of any value went to the
+creditors, with the exception of my books and stock of tools; that
+father didn't give up, because he said they were my tools, with which to
+earn my bread. They had been given to me by him when he was solvent, and
+the creditors could not touch them.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p><p>"During the labor and excitement of moving, and before the neighbors,
+we strove to appear as cheerful as possible; but when all was over, and
+we came out on to this platform where we are sitting, each bearing
+something that had been forgotten,—I my violin and a pair of andirons,
+mother her press-board and a coffee-pot, the girls knives, forks, and
+spoons, father shovel and tongs,—I tell you, the sound of the bolt
+going into its place when he locked the door gave me a heartache.</p>
+
+<p>"After we got off the steps, and turned round to take a last look at the
+old home, that never seemed half so lovely before, we couldn't any of us
+keep the tears back. I don't know but you will think it weak, but it
+made me feel real bad to see my dog, Fowler, wagging his tail, and
+frisking as though it was a holiday, and I almost wished I was a dog."</p>
+
+<p>"Weak, Rich? A boy that could leave a home like that, where all his
+associations were formed, as he would leave an inn, or get out of a
+stage-coach, and never look back, could not be a friend of mine."</p>
+
+<p>"The old cat would not go. She came and rubbed up against my legs, then
+went back, sat on the steps, looked after us, and mewed when we called
+her, but would not come.</p>
+
+<p>"'Give me your things, my son,' said father, 'and go and get her.'</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p><p>"I took her up, and carried her with us, but she went back the next
+day."</p>
+
+<p>"I see a black and white cat now," said Morton, "sitting on the spur
+root of yonder big white oak."</p>
+
+<p>Rich called, "Puss, Puss." The cat came running, jumped into his lap,
+and put her fore paws on the collar of his vest, opening and shutting
+her claws, lifting her feet up, and putting them down in the same place,
+as cats do when they feel happy, rubbing the side of her face against
+his chin, and shoving her nose between his vest and shirt bosom, and
+purring all the time.</p>
+
+<p>"She loves me," said Rich, "but she can't bear to leave the old
+place.—We must go, Mort. Our folks won't know what has become of us. I
+do wish you could have come up here to thanksgiving, as you were going
+to do when we were in college, and the place was ours. To see it now is
+very much like looking at persons after they are dead—the house all
+shut up, and nothing alive but a homesick, heart-broken cat."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span>CHAPTER XI.</span> <span class="smaller">A STRIKING CONTRAST.</span></h2>
+
+<p>They walked along some time, each busied with the reflections excited by
+the previous conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"Mort," said Rich at length, "I'm sorry, but you'll have to sleep in a
+poor place to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"We've slept together in David Johnson's barn, in Peleg Curtis's
+fish-house, on a pile of wet menhaden nets, and in the woods on Great
+French. Didn't we make a fire and warm the ledge on the north-west side
+of Hope Island, sweep off the coals, and lie down—in November too?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but when folks go to visit their friends, they expect a little
+better treatment than when camping out. Don't you remember when we used
+to walk down to Maquoit of an afternoon in June, just before anything
+had faded, and it was high water, how beautiful everything looked? the
+sharp line of color, where the points fringed with the bright green of
+the thatch parted the blue water, the bolder outlines of the gray<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>
+rocks, and the trees reflected in the calm water; and yet go down there
+two or three days after, at low tide, and there would be only a hundred
+acres of steaming flats, the shores and the grass on their edge strown
+with kelp, dead clams, horse-shoe crabs, dead limbs of trees, dead fish,
+chips, and rotten eel grass; no water to be seen nearer than a mile and
+a half!"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed I do; and the contrast was so great that one must be possessed
+of a most devout spirit not to arraign the order of nature, and wish it
+was high water all the time."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I can't imagine what should put Maquoit Bay in my head
+to-night, unless it was meeting with you, and thinking of old times; but
+it seems to set forth my condition exactly. Six weeks ago it was high
+water with us, a spring tide, up over everything, clear to the grass
+ground, filling every cove and creek, the mouths of the brooks kissing
+the birch roots on the edge of the cliffs, and lifting up the strawberry
+leaves. Now it is dead low water, bare flats, angry sky, and to me the
+voyage of life seems 'bound in shallows and in miseries.'"</p>
+
+<p>"That's one side, old chum" (putting his arms around Rich's neck), "but
+the tide only ebbs to flow again. The farther it runs off, and the more
+it drains out at one time, the higher it flows the next."</p>
+
+<p>It was the first manifestation of anything like<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> depression that Morton
+had noticed in his friend. Rich, however, shook it off, as the bird
+shakes the dew from its plumage, saying, with a smile,—</p>
+
+<p>"You are right, Mort; and that's the way I look at it generally; but I
+can't yet visit the old home, and come away again, without stirring up
+something that had better be kept down; especially when the cat puts her
+head in my bosom, as she did to-night, and says, 'Do stay here with me,
+I am so lonesome.'"</p>
+
+<p>Morton, as they came in sight of the house now occupied by the
+Richardsons, was most forcibly struck with the contrast between this
+abode and the one they had just left. Their present habitation stood in
+a tan-yard; indeed it had, in the days of his poverty, been the
+residence of the owner of the tan-yard, who being pinched for room, had
+crowded his house into the smallest possible limits.</p>
+
+<p>It was placed very near the line of the street, leaving barely space for
+a single doorstep, which was a pasture stone. The tan-pits at one side
+approached within two feet of the cellar wall. On the other was a
+currier's shop, leaving just space enough between the two buildings for
+a narrow cart road. Beneath the back windows of this shop were old oil
+barrels and heaps of curriers' shavings, stewing and simmering in the
+sun.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p><p>Directly behind the house a garden spot twenty-five feet by thirty was
+fenced out. It had not been ploughed for some years; the Richardsons did
+not care to cultivate it, as their stay was but temporary, and it was
+overgrown with weeds, and strewn with old boots and shoes, broken
+pottery, pots and pans that had outlived their usefulness, heaps of
+ashes, and the bleaching bones of cats that had come to an untimely end.</p>
+
+<p>Abutting on this lot was a large shed, open on the side facing the
+dwelling in which was the "beam" house, where the green and bloody hides
+were received and "fleshed." Here were heaps of horns, and the pith or
+marrow that comes out of them when they taint. The roof of this shed was
+covered with glue skins, that is, the trimmings of the hides saved to
+make glue, spread to dry, and which attracted swarms of green flies; add
+to this a stagnant mill pond that supplied water for the pits, and to
+propel a bark mill, fences, and walls hung with sides of leather spread
+out to dry, and smeared, or, in technical language, dubbed, with tallow
+and rancid fish oil, and you have a faithful description of the
+surroundings of this delightful abode. But aside from actual experience,
+imagination cannot conceive or tongue describe the combined odors
+furnished by these various substances when operated upon by sun and
+wind.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p><p>The house was in perfect keeping with the site upon which it stood. The
+walls were covered with shingles, two courses of which had rotted away
+near the foundations, in consequence of banking up the walls with earth;
+part of the top of the chimney had fallen off, and lay on the roof that
+in places was bare of shingles and covered with moss.</p>
+
+<p>Upon entering the house, a door on the left opened into the kitchen, the
+plastering of which was the color of milk and molasses, and appeared to
+have been flung on, and then clawed in by cats, affording in the furrows
+lodgments for smoke and secure harbors of refuge for flies. At the back
+of this room was a small bedroom, finished in the same manner, with the
+exception of being sealed to the height of a chair, and the wood work
+painted with a color intended, probably, for red; it, however, looked
+very much as though a hog had been killed on it. In this apartment the
+parents slept. Another door, on the right, admitted to an unfinished
+room, with a rough floor. Here were Rich's lathe and tool chest, a pair
+of cart wheels finished, except smoothing up, and a wheelbarrow that
+only required ironing.</p>
+
+<p>"This is my workshop," said Rich. "My mechanical genius, that used to
+expend itself on flower-pots and vases, in turning canes and cups, tops
+and nine-pins, balls and drum-sticks, is now<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> directed by stern
+necessity, into a more useful channel; and, believe me, when I have made
+a pair of wheels, got my money for them, and bought provisions for the
+family, I feel a great deal better satisfied with myself than I used to
+after spending two or three days making something that was a mere
+plaything, or at best only served the purpose of ornament."</p>
+
+<p>At each end of the garret was a window, and there two bedrooms were
+made, with rough board partitions, one of which was occupied by the two
+daughters, the other by Rich. Here was his library, that was quite
+extensive, his father having indulged his fondness for books, among
+which was a German edition of the classics.</p>
+
+<p>The room was small, and the roof of a low pitch. The book-cases,
+writing-desk, bureau, and chairs all occupied so much of the room that
+the bedstead was necessarily pushed far under the eaves in order to
+afford space enough in the middle to move around and stand upright.</p>
+
+<p>"It is quite convenient," said Rich, as they entered, "for you can reach
+everything without getting out of your chair."</p>
+
+<p>"And then to consider," replied Morton, in the same vein, "that the most
+celebrated philosophers and poets have meditated and sung in garrets."</p>
+
+<p>"True," said Rich; "but I suspect it would be far more pleasant to
+meditate about than it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> will to occupy it come next dog days. Now, Mort,
+you must sleep on the front side, for the shingle nails come through the
+boards of the roof, and if you should forget, and jump up on end, they'd
+stick right into your skull."</p>
+
+<p>"They are not long enough to go through."</p>
+
+<p>"Probably not through a skull so thick as yours, but they would draw
+blood, and might give you a headache."</p>
+
+<p>When they awoke in the morning, Rich said, "Mort, I can spend the whole
+forenoon with you, but in the afternoon they will need me at the shop.
+In the evening we can be together again."</p>
+
+<p>When breakfast was over, Morton said, "Rich, what are your plans for the
+future? Have you decided in respect to a profession? for I don't suppose
+you really intend to pass your life at the anvil, after spending so many
+years and so much money getting an education."</p>
+
+<p>"It would not be so much of a sacrifice as you may suppose, and if I had
+not been through college, I would do so, for I love to work iron; it
+comes as natural as water to a duck. Do you go up and look over my books
+while I split up some oven wood, and then I'll tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll help you split the wood."</p>
+
+<p>"Come on."</p>
+
+<p>"Rich, who was that old lady at the breakfast table?"</p>
+
+<p>"Aunt Blunt, mother's aunt. Didn't they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>introduce you? She came last
+night, before we came home, and went to bed."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought your mother's name was Lucy; but this morning the old lady
+called her Mary."</p>
+
+<p>"Mother's name is Mary L.; Mary Lucy. The Lucy is for my great aunt, and
+she always calls her so, but we call her Lucy. One of my sisters is
+named Mary B., after mother and the Blunts."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span>CHAPTER XII.</span> <span class="smaller">DID NOT COME TO SEE THE WRECK.</span></h2>
+
+<p>Returning to the garret, Rich said, "About a profession—is it?"
+flinging himself on the bed, while Morton, seated in a chair, thrust his
+feet out of the window. "Just have the goodness to open that volume on
+the table."</p>
+
+<p>It was Bell's Operative Surgery.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you are going to study medicine?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is registered on leaves of brass."</p>
+
+<p>"When did you decide?"</p>
+
+<p>"I've been trying to decide ever since I left college; but I did decide
+before I left the breakfast table the morning father told me the boom
+and mills had gone. I borrowed these books of our doctor, and at night,
+when I'm not too tired, I read them once in the while; when work permits
+I go with him to visit some patient. I went with him a week ago when he
+amputated a man's hand at the wrist. He is very kind, has large
+practice, and rides long distances, as he has the practice of this and
+the next town."</p>
+
+<p>"You won't accomplish much in this way."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p><p>"I don't expect to; but I can't leave father now, as I find that my
+taking hold has been a great help and comfort to him and my uncle. They
+have a good deal of work, and it is increasing every day; and I don't
+mean to leave them till I see the family in more comfortable quarters.
+The shop and house adjoining was my grandfather's, and when my father
+failed, passed into the hands of a Mr. Montague. He gives my father the
+use of the shop and tools, and in the fall, when the family now in it
+moves out, will let him have the old house, which is an excellent one,
+built by my grandfather after he acquired property. My father and uncle
+are living in this old shell, working incessantly. When no other work
+comes in, my uncle, who can work in wood as well as iron, makes wheels.
+My father puts on the tires. They sell them. Mother takes in spinning,
+and saves every cent. I do all I can in order to be able, at the end of
+the summer, to buy back grandfather's tools, that we may have something
+of our own. Besides, they are dear to father. He helped make most of
+them when he was a boy, and says there's a history to every one of
+them."</p>
+
+<p>"How long is it going to take to do all that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not longer than September or the middle of October, if we are all well.
+In the mean time I shall read what medicine I can, go round with Dr.
+Jones occasionally, and when I see the family in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> the new house and
+comfortable, take an academy somewhere or high school, and teach till I
+can earn money enough to go on with my studies."</p>
+
+<p>"You're a good boy, Rich."</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you tell me some news?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going to. That <i>academy</i> is all ready."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Did you think I would leave my studies and come way up here just to
+look at the wreck? Put my arm round your neck, whimper, and say, What a
+pity!"</p>
+
+<p>"Explain, Mort, please, that's a good fellow."</p>
+
+<p>"Who said I wasn't a good fellow? Well, Perk's got an academy for you in
+the next town to his whenever you're ready to take it, salary two
+hundred a year. He fitted for college there, knows all the trustees, and
+everybody in town; and he's cracked you up sky high; told all the boys
+what a nice fellow you are, the most lovable man ever God made, the
+trustees what a splendid classical scholar you are, and all the young
+ladies how handsome. So I advise you, as a sincere friend, to take unto
+yourself nitre and much soap, and wash off that smut, which seems to me
+to be under the skin."</p>
+
+<p>"O, Mort, this is all <i>your</i> work!"</p>
+
+<p>"No,'tain't; it's all old Perk's. I only came to tell the news."</p>
+
+<p>"But you were the <i>means</i> of it."</p>
+
+<p>"No; it was that good Being whom you, after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> so many years of
+prosperity, couldn't afford to think about or thank till he sent the
+river to put you in mind of him."</p>
+
+<p>"How can I ever thank you enough?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think a man ought to be thanked for helping himself?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, of course not."</p>
+
+<p>"Are not you and I one? Didn't you say only last night we were one, and
+that there never was a shadow between us? What are you talking about?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't understand how they can wait my leisure. There must of course
+be a definite time when the term begins."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly; Perk will send you a catalogue; but he will take the school
+till you come. I told him I knew something about your affairs, and
+thought it doubtful if you could come at the first part of the term."</p>
+
+<p>"This is a kind of joyous time, Mort; makes this old attic seem real
+pleasant."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; the architecture is simple in design; but the atmosphere is most
+exhilarating."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose I can tell father and mother?"</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure. A good story is no worse for being twice told."</p>
+
+<p>"What is Perk doing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just what you were doing all last year."</p>
+
+<p>After dinner Rich went to the shop, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> Morton, first taking a long
+walk, called there on his way back, and found Mr. Robert alone.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Rich?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, a man came here to get a 'clevis' pin made, and let them take his
+horse and wagon to haul a load of coal, while I made the pin. You seem
+to think a good deal of Rich, as you call him, Mr. Morton."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know how I could love him any more than I do."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he's a boy that deserves to be thought of. He never was brought
+up to do the leastest individual thing, 'cept to study a book and make
+some little gimcrank with tools; and yet to see how he took hold the
+moment his father's misfortunes came—went right to the anvil, never
+murmured or complained; and though he's my nephew, I <i>will</i> say that
+he's worth as much to-day in this shop as the general run of apprentices
+that have worked two years; and as for working in wood, he always took
+to that. 'Twas born in him."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you think, Mr. Richardson, that a boy whose grandfather and
+father were blacksmiths is more likely to be handy in a shop?"</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose these things are kind of handed down. I know there's a good
+deal in the blood; I know it by our girls. They are all broken down, sit
+and sigh, think what they used to have, and let their mother do all the
+work."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p><p>"Are they not own sisters to Rich?"</p>
+
+<p>"The same father and mother; but they take back after the Armstrongs;
+they don't take after the Richardsons, who are a resolute, stirring
+breed of folks. Their old grandmother Armstrong was a dreadful
+slack-twisted, shiftless woman; had to be helped by the town; and when
+the selectmen gave her a cord of wood, she'd put about two foot into the
+great fireplace, declare she'd have one fire if she died for it, and
+then sit, fold her hands in her lap, and enjoy it. Her children took
+after her, 'cept my brother's wife, and she's smart as steel; took after
+her mother's people, the Blunts. But that old woman that's been dead and
+buried this twenty years has come out in the grandchildren. It is not
+the way, Mr. Morton, to bring up children. This twenty years past I've
+been saying to Clem and Lucy that they were doing wrong by their
+children. Says I, 'Bring them up to work as we were. If they don't need
+to, it's the easiest thing in the world to leave off; but it's hard to
+learn.' Then Lucy would say, 'Uncle, I don't want them to have to work
+as hard as I have.' Says I, 'Perhaps they may be obliged to. What then?'
+Then Clem would laugh, and say that old maids' and old bachelors'
+children were always brought up right."</p>
+
+<p>"But I'm sure Rich has come out well."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed he has; but he is a remarkable boy,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> and is no rule to go by.
+Besides, we must thank you, and do thank you, for a good part of that:
+you did a parent's duty by him. Don't you think he is in better shape to
+keep the 'cademy, for teaching school in college, and wasn't he in
+better shape, and would he have had the pluck to go so willingly to the
+anvil if he hadn't been broke in by you in college?"</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you are right, Mr. Richardson; but in respect to the young
+ladies."</p>
+
+<p>"Call 'em girls, Mr. Morton; and they are not very young at that."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, girls, then. Would any training their parents could have given
+taken the thin blood (the <i>Armstrong</i>, as you call it) out of them."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't suppose it would; but it would have helped it amazingly. You
+see if I get a bar of Swedish iron, first rate, stamped 'Hoop L,' I put
+it into the fire, and work it without fear; but if I have a bar of
+English iron, brash and coarse, can't get any better, and must work it
+up, why, by taking great pains, heating it just right, and working it
+just right, I can, by coaxing, make it answer—not so good a purpose as
+the other iron, but can make it very useful. That's the way with
+children; you've got 'em, and got to work 'em up, and must make the best
+of 'em, as I do with 'brash' iron. These girls were partly on our side
+the house, and if they had been put right to it, it would have helped
+the better part, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> kept the other back, just as the saw-makers put
+the nature into a saw by hammering when it has been softened in
+grinding. Now all they do is to put the dishes on the table, sweep up
+the hearth and look In the glass, wring their hands, and tell about what
+<i>used</i> to be. They might teach school if they only had 'sprawl' enough."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Richardson then told Morton that his brother would take an
+apprentice when they moved into the old homestead and had room, after
+which Rich would be able to leave home.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span>CHAPTER XIII.</span> <span class="smaller">MORTON'S BUSINESS.</span></h2>
+
+<p>Morton set out for Portland the next morning, leaving Rich glad and
+grateful, and in the best of spirits himself, arising from the
+conviction that better days were in store both for Rich and his parents.
+He took his seat on the box, and was still more confirmed in this
+opinion by the conversation with the driver, of whom he had inquired the
+way to Mr. Richardson's shop the afternoon of his arrival.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you didn't have any trouble finding Richardson's shop t'other day:
+git, git, git along there, you white horse."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I found it without the least difficulty."</p>
+
+<p>"Thought you would. Belong in these parts? What you 'bout there, old
+Dick?" Crack, crack, crack!</p>
+
+<p>"No, I belong up back of Portland."</p>
+
+<p>"Buxton, praps."</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe you're from Conway."</p>
+
+<p>"Thereabouts."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p><p>"Fine men them ere two Richardsons."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but they have met with a great misfortune."</p>
+
+<p>"That's so; and it's made a great stir and talk, and a great feelin';
+for they was two men that was master sot by in this place, and desarved
+to be; folks are both glad and sorry."</p>
+
+<p>"I shouldn't think people would be glad if they were generally liked."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that's what I call a kernondrum. Ha, ha!—Whey there, Tom; what
+you foolin' for?—People ain't glad that they lost their property; no,
+no; everybody's sorry for that, and they could hire any amount of money,
+and go on again, if they would; but you see they're the greatest
+blacksmiths; there never was anybody in these parts could temper any
+kind of an edge tool like as Clement Richardson, 'cept his old dad afore
+him; and he, they said, took it up in his own head. You take notice 'tis
+born in 'em, same as a cat carries her navigation in her head. So people
+say, 'Now Clem Richardson has gone to work agin, we shall have good
+tools;' and so they feel kind of glad about that ere. They'll have a
+master sight of work as soon as it's known round, and they'll rise agin.
+Squire Walker says 'they're bound to.' I heard him tell Dr. Jones.
+'Quainted with Dr. Jones?"</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't that pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>"First-rate man. I heard him say with my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> own ears (that is, the
+squire), says he, 'Doctor, you can't kill one of them Richardsons, not
+if you cut their head off;' and the doctor, he says, 'The young sprig,
+that's been thought to be a sort of baby, is jest as good grit as the
+old ones, and comes right up to the collar.' Them isn't jestly his
+words, but that's the upshot on 'em. Then there's two of 'em, and they
+can carry on both parts of the work. There's only one family to support,
+'cause Bob's an old bach, and they're not only brothers in name, but in
+natur, are well matched, and step alike, jest like them ere leaders of
+mine; about as good going horses as a man need wish to drive. Reckon
+you're some kin to the Richardsons."</p>
+
+<p>"No, none at all."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe you're sparkin' one of the gals."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I never had the courage."</p>
+
+<p>"Reckon you're a college-larnt man, like young Richardson; praps you're
+a doctor or lawyer, or some sich."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I'm in a <i>business</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Du tell. What kind of a business?"</p>
+
+<p>"One that pays the best the closer it's followed."</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon that's so with most all business."</p>
+
+<p>"I've invented something—something that will make my fortune."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe you'd be willing to tell a feller what it is."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span></p><p>"It is a hog-sty that will fat hogs without corn."</p>
+
+<p>"Massy sakes! How does it do it?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's the secret."</p>
+
+<p>"On course you'll make a lot; that's the master. How many on 'em you
+sold in this town?"</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't got to work yet."</p>
+
+<p>The next day the story was all over town that the stranger who was
+visiting at Richardson's was worth a mint of money, that he had invented
+a hog-sty to fat hogs without corn, and came to offer himself to Mary
+Richardson, but his courage failed, and he went off without doing it.</p>
+
+<p>What a pity! people said: it would have been such a nice thing for the
+Richardsons, just as they were situated.</p>
+
+<p>A good many thought Rich would write to the young man, and invite him to
+come again.</p>
+
+<p>At this period the country around the head waters of the rivers was one
+unbroken forest. The lumbering operations, previous to this, had
+extended but a short distance from the sea-coast; but now vast numbers
+of men and teams were sent into the woods in all directions. The
+character of Clement Richardson as a superior axe and edge-tool maker
+was well known everywhere, and the news that he had resumed work soon
+spread among the lumbermen who were laying their plans and arranging to
+put teams into the woods the coming winter.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p><p>As early as the tenth of July orders for axes began to pour in upon the
+Richardsons. The mills formerly belonging to them, shattered in the
+freshet, were repaired, and new ones built upon the sites of those
+entirely destroyed, occasioning a good deal of blacksmith work, as new
+mill-chains, dogs, hooks, bands, bolts, and pintles were to be made.
+Horse and ox-shoeing, and carriage work, also increased with the
+increase of business.</p>
+
+<p>The result of this was, that Andrew Montague enlarged the shop, built
+two new chimneys and forges, and the Richardsons not only bought the old
+tools, but also two pairs of bellows, anvils and other tools, for the
+new forges. They now moved into their father's old house, vacated by
+Coleman, hired journeymen and took two apprentices, Clement giving his
+attention entirely to the manufacture of edge tools, and Robert to
+horse-shoeing and carriage work, ox-shoeing and tiring of heavy wheels.
+The Richardsons now found themselves in comfortable circumstances; they
+had a good house rent free, as Montague absolutely refused to receive
+any rent, either for the house or shop, until the expiration of a year
+from the time of occupancy, saying that they would want one year to get
+fairly started, and all their money to buy coal, iron, and tools.</p>
+
+<p>In consequence of this increase of work, Rich was able to leave home
+sooner than he had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>supposed possible at the period of Morton's visit,
+and accordingly wrote to Perk that he would be with him in a week after
+the commencement of the fall term.</p>
+
+<p>He found Perk at the public house, waiting to welcome him, as the stage
+drove up about sundown. It was the first time they had met since the
+morning they left Radcliffe Hall. Our readers, who are apprised of the
+relations existing between these two boys in college, and the
+temperament of each, can imagine the nature of the greeting. It is
+sufficient to say that it was not remarkably formal. This, however, was
+not in the least objectionable to a band of academy boys (who, in
+expectation of his arrival, had assembled to have a look at their new
+teacher, and whom Perk now presented to Rich as a portion of his
+scholars), if we may judge from the talk among themselves as they went
+away, arm-in-arm, a boy every now and then breaking rank, and walking
+backwards, those at the end of the file keeping about two steps in
+advance, in order to face the rest, and impress their own sentiments
+more forcibly upon their companions of less sanguine temperaments.</p>
+
+<p>They were scarcely out of ear-shot, when Dan Clemens, breaking with a
+jump from the midst, and walking backwards, with one hand on the
+shoulder of Ned Baker, and the other on that of Frank Merrill, shouted
+as though he was afraid some other would get the start of him,—</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p><p>"Ned, Frank, all of you! I know I shall like that man; can't help
+liking him. I'm <i>bound</i> to like him."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm the same way!" shouted Horace Williams from the extreme right.
+"Didn't you see, boys, how he and Mr. Perkins caught hold of each other?
+That's what took me down. There's some soul in that man, I tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"O, he's a bully man!" roared Clinton Blanchard from the extreme left;
+"a fellow can tell by the looks of him; he shows it right out in his
+face."</p>
+
+<p>"You might know he's a first-rate man," cried Phil Greely; "else Mr.
+Perkins wouldn't love him so. I thought I never should like anybody else
+as Master Perkins; but I guess this man is just like him, and I mean to
+tell all the fellows I know."</p>
+
+<p>By this time, as boy after boy kept stepping out, they had got into a
+circle, and further progress was necessarily arrested: not so, however,
+the expression of opinions.</p>
+
+<p>"He has not a very scholarly look," said Edward Randolph, who was a very
+proper boy; "not at all the air of a close student. His hands are rough
+and hard; he hurt me when he shook my hand."</p>
+
+<p>"You shut up,—will you?" retorted Dan. "You've got the dyspepsy."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I haven't, neither."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p><p>"Well, you want to have it," said Frank Merrill.</p>
+
+<p>It was evident that in respect to popularity among these boys, the star
+of Rich was in the ascendant, and before nine o'clock the next morning
+they had brought the rest of the school to the same opinion.</p>
+
+<p>First impressions go a great way with all persons, especially with the
+young. Had Rich gone deliberately to work to win the hearts of his
+future scholars, he could have devised no method so effectual as this
+unconscious manifestation of his true nature in their presence.</p>
+
+<p>"The first thing for me to do, Perk," said Rich, "is to look up a
+boarding-place; till that is done I shall stay here."</p>
+
+<p>"No, you won't stay here; you are not going to stop here; you are going
+home with me to stop, to-night, at my boarding-place, and I think you
+will conclude to remain there."</p>
+
+<p>When they reached the house, Perk introduced Rich to the mistress of it,
+who he at the same time informed him was his aunt.</p>
+
+<p>A few minutes after they sat down to supper, her son came, in whom Rich
+recognized Dan Clemens, one of the boys Perk had introduced to him at
+the <i>tavern</i>. Hotels were not in fashion in that section of Maine.</p>
+
+<p>After the repast they went to Perk's room. The first thing that
+attracted the attention of Rich was a large picture hung over the
+mantle-piece.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p><p>"I should like to know, Perk, where you got that."</p>
+
+<p>"Stole it out of Mort's desk. I was afraid if I didn't he'd give it to
+you; but I told him of it, and he gave it to me afterwards. Isn't that
+something to call up old friends and old associations?" It was the
+original sketch of James Trafton as a negro, drawn at midnight by Morton
+in Radcliffe.</p>
+
+<p>"It is so, Perk. How that brings the whole thing back! It seems to me I
+can see you scrubbing his face, that was as white as your own, with soap
+and ashes, and hear him say, 'Does it come off, Perk?'"</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you what tickled me most, Rich—to see Savage spreading ink on
+that poultice, and Trafton thinking it came off his own face."</p>
+
+<p>"Those were pleasant days, Perk; but they can come back only in
+recollection; and I feel like applying to that production of Mort's the
+language of Burns,—</p>
+
+<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<div>'Thou mind'st me of departed joys,</div>
+<div class="i2">Departed never to return.'"</div>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>"Rich, kick off your boots and put on these slippers." Rich obeyed. "Now
+put on this study-gown."</p>
+
+<p>Perk then pulled a lounge up to the fire, and they sat down to talk.</p>
+
+<p>After reviewing the past, which old class-mates<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> are as sure to do as is
+an old sailor to overhaul his chest, and take everything out of it
+(sometimes a very light job), as soon as he gets to sea, Perk said,—</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't expect you so soon, Rich."</p>
+
+<p>"I was able to leave sooner than I expected when I wrote you. Might,
+indeed, have come before; but it took me a week to clean up. Look at
+these." He spread out his hands, that were hard, the palms and the edges
+of the forefingers and thumbs a rusty brown, and cracked.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not dirt, but stains from iron and from coal dust; and that, too,
+after using on them a quart of linseed oil, not to mention vinegar,
+soap, and rye meal."</p>
+
+<p>"How are you pleased with my aunt, Rich?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very much indeed. The boy at table is one of those I met at the stage
+tavern. Is he your cousin?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and a downright good boy he is, too, and a real comfort to my
+aunt, who is a widow. He is dead in love with you."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps he will change his mind; boys are not wont to cherish a very
+fervent love for teachers."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll find yourself mistaken in that respect. Dan, and a crony of his,
+Horace Williams, will take to you, and cling to you, just as Ned Austin
+and Will Montgomery did to you and Mort. You can stimulate them, and
+they will leap under it as a high-spirited horse catches the excitement
+of its rider, especially if he loves him."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span>CHAPTER XIV.</span> <span class="smaller">WINNING GOLDEN OPINIONS.</span></h2>
+
+<p>"In the morning, Perk, I want you to help me about finding a
+boarding-place, or some room that I can hire cheap, and board myself. I
+should prefer a garret, as that will be the cheapest. There"—laying a
+two-dollar bill on the table—"is every cent of money I possess in the
+world; and if I study medicine I must have books, that come very high,
+instruments by and by, and instruction from an experienced physician. I
+am, to be sure, well clothed. I have clothing sufficient, with economy,
+to last for years, but money I have none."</p>
+
+<p>"I know I am not capable of giving you advice, and cannot expect that
+you will receive it from me as you would from Mort; but I beg of you,
+whatever you do, don't go to starving yourself; it will be a losing game
+in the end. If you are going to work hard all day in school, and then
+study when out of it, you need, and must have, good, nourishing food,
+and plenty of it. There was Eckford, of our class, lived on water<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> gruel
+and molasses, and roast potatoes, and made out to graduate. But what did
+he ever amount to, more than sweetened water?"</p>
+
+<p>"He never was more than half alive, to begin with. I am in good case,
+and must economize the last cent."</p>
+
+<p>"Economize, with a vengeance! Saving at the tap, and spilling at the
+bung-hole. A precious doctor you'll make. Going to dry up the juices,
+both of body and brain, by starvation. Now let me plan. My aunt has
+considerable land and other property, and needs some one to aid her in
+the care of it. Dan is a mere boy, and it brings a good deal of care
+upon her. If you will see to her affairs, cut the wood, take care of the
+garden in the summer (Dan milks, and takes care of the cow and horse),
+keep her accounts, and just do what pertains to the house (if there is
+anything beyond that, she will hire other help), you can stay in this
+room, have your board, fuel, and a horse to ride occasionally, you can
+borrow medical books of Dr. Ryan, practice on my aunt, who is in
+delicate health, dearly loves to take medicine, wears a Burgundy pitch
+plaster between her shoulders, reads Buchan's Domestic Medicine, and
+Parson Meek will pray for you. I think this will be a great deal better
+than your starvation plan, unless you think it would be derogatory to
+your character, and injure your <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>influence as principal of the academy,
+if it should be known that you cut wood and did chores."</p>
+
+<p>"Derogatory!" cried Rich, jumping up. "I don't value the opinion of any
+who think honest labor derogatory <i>that</i>," snapping his fingers. "If
+they don't like it, they may dislike it. I can earn as much at the anvil
+as I can here, and all the reason I prefer it is, I can study when I
+have done my day's work here; and after I have been at work in the shop
+all day I am tired and sleepy. I will most gladly fall in with the offer
+of your aunt, and do all or anything she wants done."</p>
+
+<p>"Rich, you are no more like a fellow we used to call <i>Rich</i> in
+Radcliffe, than chalk's like cheese."</p>
+
+<p>"I've been through a 'discipline,' as President Appleton would say.
+Then, I used to dip my fingers in rose water of a morning, and dress my
+hair with pomatum. Since that, I've had to wash in an iron-hooped
+bucket, and wipe on a tow towel cousin german to a nutmeg grater. Sweat
+and coal dust have taken the place of pomatum. It didn't last, however,
+longer than the first term of the freshman year. I caught an expression
+on Mort's face one day, when I was fixing up before the glass, that made
+me, as soon as his back was turned, fling the rose water and pomatum
+into the slop pail. I tell you, Perk, there's no tonic equal to iron. I
+mean to give lots of it when I am a doctor."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p><p>"So I think; but I like to take it best in the shape of a gun barrel, a
+fish-hook, or a pair of skates."</p>
+
+<p>The number of pupils in the academy was quite large, and, as was
+customary in those days, they consisted of both sexes, ranging in age
+from ten to nineteen, and even twenty years. There were boys fitting for
+college, and others pursuing English studies. Some of the older scholars
+studied surveying, book-keeping, and navigation.</p>
+
+<p>Rich gave himself wholly to his work, and speedily created among his
+scholars not merely an attachment to himself, but enthusiasm in study,
+and desire to excel. It was soon evident, both to the trustees and more
+advanced scholars, that their present teacher was greatly superior in
+every department, not only to Perk, but any instructor who had preceded
+him.</p>
+
+<p>The fact that he did chores, and attended to business matters, in order
+to defray the expense of his board, so far from proving derogatory, as
+Perk had hinted, operated in precisely the opposite manner. Had he
+resorted to this method of reducing his expenses from penuriousness, and
+an overweening desire to accumulate, such, doubtless, would have been
+the result, and the proceeding would have excited both ridicule and
+contempt.</p>
+
+<p>The instincts of the boys, however, divined that this was not his
+character. They felt <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>themselves drawn towards him by that magnetic
+influence that his college mates confessed, and were proud of his
+scholarship and commanding ability, that even those who could not
+appreciate felt. In addition to this they were not long in discovering
+that, although he did chores, and even cleaned out the pig-sty, he was
+the best dressed man in the town on the Sabbath, which was to them a
+sore puzzle. But when it leaked out, probably through Perk, that he had
+been reared in affluence, was now flung upon his own resources,
+struggling to obtain a professional education, and that his style of
+dress was merely the remnant of better days, and not occasioned by mere
+love of display, the knowledge produced universal sympathy and respect,
+the whole community vying with each other in the manifestation of it.</p>
+
+<p>Although practising the most rigid economy, husbanding every moment of
+time, and performing a great deal of labor, the noble nature of Rich
+manifested itself in a thousand ways; and strange it is how this
+unwritten, unspoken language of the heart is generally felt and
+understood. He was patient with the dull, encouraged the industrious,
+and stimulated to the utmost those scholars possessed of superior
+ability, while the mere desire to merit his esteem and affection roused
+indolent and wayward boys to persevering effort, and inspired them with
+a love of study and spirit of emulation they had never felt before.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p><p>But when Granny Fluker (after he went into the blacksmith's shop, made
+a new crank to her flax wheel, mended the cover of her Dutch oven, that
+was broke in two, by drilling holes in it, and putting wrought iron
+cleats across, fastened with rivets, and made a new bail to the oven)
+exclaimed, "God bless the young gentleman for condescending to sich a
+poor old worn-out critter as I am, that have to be helped by the town.
+Well, it's allers the way, in this world; them what's got the biggest
+hearts to do allers have the least to do <i>with</i>. But if the prayers of a
+poor old lone body like me can do him any good, he'll sartain have 'em."</p>
+
+<p>She expressed the universal sentiment of the whole community.</p>
+
+<p>To increase still more the estimation in which Rich was held, it was
+ascertained that he was an excellent singer. The parish choir was in a
+most wretched condition. A maiden lady, who had long been distinguished
+as a singer, began to show unmistakable signs of age, and her voice
+cracked. She received from the younger members sundry hints to leave.
+These she took in high dugeon, and left, together with a brother and two
+sisters, who were fine singers, and who espoused her quarrel. Before the
+new members who were introduced upon their leaving could be drilled, the
+chorister, who had made a great part of the disturbance, left town,
+taking his bass-viol with him.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p><p>In this condition of things, Rich was invited to take the lead of the
+choir, and accepted, established choir meetings, and soon put matters to
+rights; while the refractory brother and his two sisters, finding that
+they were not necessary, got over their huff, and came back.</p>
+
+<p>The younger portion of the choir, ascertaining from Dan Clemens that
+Rich played the violin, persuaded him to bring it to church the next
+Sunday. The moment Rich drew the bow across the strings, Deacon
+Starkweather got up, slamming the pew door after him, left the church,
+and going into the pasture, out of sight and sound of the ungodly thing,
+sat down on a stump, in a snow-storm, till he judged it was time for the
+sermon to begin, when he returned, as he had no quarrel with Parson
+Meek, and merely wished to show his displeasure, and enter a protest
+against the fiddle. Rich, however, smoothed all asperities, and
+reconciled the worthy deacon, by persuading the members of the parish
+most interested in music to purchase a bass-viol, upon which he
+performed to the satisfaction of all; Deacon Starkweather inviting Rich,
+and all the members of the choir, to tea, when he explained to them that
+he had never cherished the least hardness against any member of the
+choir, but that his action was in reference to the <i>instrument</i>, and the
+associations connected with that exponent of folly, and concluded with a
+most generous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> contribution toward the purchase of the bass-viol. Thus
+was the affair that at one time threatened to break up the parish most
+happily settled. Rich earned the reputation of a peacemaker, and young
+man of excellent judgment, and the deacon, through his device delivered
+from an uncomfortable position (as his conduct by no means met with
+general approbation), became the staunch friend of Rich, declaring, upon
+every proper occasion, that "he was a young man that had the root of the
+matter in him."</p>
+
+<p>The period at which Rich began the study of medicine was the
+commencement of a great revolution in medical theory and practice, both
+in relation to the treatment of disease and surgery; young and earnest
+men were struggling in every direction for light; new discoveries were
+made, reverence for the past was gradually wearing off, and the old
+theories of practice were subjected to a most searching and often
+irreverent scrutiny.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Ryan by no means belonged to that class of mind sometimes designated
+by the term, "The sword frets out the scabbard." On the other hand, he
+was hale and hearty, possessed of a noble frame, hair slightly tinged
+with gray, but ruddy cheeks, a fine set of teeth of pearly whiteness,
+and a frank, hearty manner, betokening real goodness of heart.</p>
+
+<p>Though possessed of very moderate abilities, the doctor was a man of
+sterling worth, great integrity, and kind and sympathizing nature. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>
+enjoyed a large practice, being the only physician in the place. The
+poor loved him, because he was ever as ready to attend to their wants as
+to those of his more wealthy patients, often put shoes on the feet of a
+barefooted child, and did not hesitate to bestow flannels and fuel, when
+he felt that they were more necessary than medicine. The utmost
+confidence was reposed in him, as his more intelligent patients, if
+disposed to doubt his skill in difficult cases, knew perfectly well that
+he would not hesitate a moment in calling in more competent persons,
+when he felt their aid was required.</p>
+
+<p>At this period the spirit of inquiry was abroad. There were rumors in
+the air, and forebodings of a radical reform in medical practice.
+Practitioners of the doctor's age, who were either too indolent,
+prejudiced, or too far advanced in life to receive and act upon new
+ideas, were by no means to be envied, being somewhat in the position of
+one upon a ledge in the sea, cut off by the tide, that, constantly
+rising, rendered his passing into oblivion merely a question of time.</p>
+
+<p>The old physicians stigmatized these disturbers of the peace of
+antiquity and their own as quacks, new lights, upstarts, and utterly
+unsafe as experimenters with human life. The advocates of the improved
+practice, on the other hand, were by no means backward in denouncing
+their seniors as fossils, petrifactions, enemies to all progress,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> and
+only desirous of retailing drugs at ninety per cent. profit, and
+fattening the graveyards; of promoting gangrene, and needless
+amputations, through their ignorance of the first principles of surgery;
+multiplying cripples by malpractice and ignorance of anatomy; that they
+had one mode of treatment for all disorders; and the time-honored
+allusion to "Procrustes' bed" was lavishly applied to their opponents.</p>
+
+<p>The good doctor, firmly wedded to the ancient practice, felt all the
+animosity his genial nature permitted him to indulge in respect to the
+new lights; and when he heard that a young man thoroughly impregnated
+(as he could not doubt) with radical notions, was about to take the
+academy, and had already commenced the study of medicine, he felt very
+much as an old crower, who has walked in state, and lorded it over his
+dames, might be supposed to feel when he sees a young rooster suddenly
+flung down in the barn-yard, and inwardly resolved that the young
+upstart should receive neither aid, comfort, nor countenance from him.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span>CHAPTER XV.</span> <span class="smaller">HOW DAN TOOK HIS MEDICINE.</span></h2>
+
+<p>While in this irritable and pugnacious temper it chanced most
+fortunately that the doctor did not happen to fall in with Rich; and
+when he did, being in a different state of mind, matters wore quite
+another aspect.</p>
+
+<p>The doctor was remarkably fond of music, and no mean performer himself
+upon the clarionet. Being at meeting for the first time since the
+arrival of Rich on the Sabbath when Deacon Starkweather made his exit,
+he was mightily tickled with the whole proceedings; said the deacon
+ought to have his head shaved, and a blister drawn on it, and was
+consequently inclined to feel more kindly disposed towards Rich. While
+his prejudices were thus somewhat weakened, he was introduced to the
+latter by Perk, and was so much charmed with the modest appearance,
+intelligence, and address of Rich, that he received him with all the
+cordiality of a parent.</p>
+
+<p>"This young gentleman, Mr. Perkins," said the doctor to Perk the next
+morning, "is a very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> different person from the great majority of those
+who profess to study medicine, having some respect for age and
+experience, and as amendable to counsel as he is intelligent and refined
+in his manners."</p>
+
+<p>The doctor was not dependent upon his practice for a living, having
+inherited an ample property from his grandfather. His library was large,
+consisting of all the medical works then esteemed, and a complete set of
+the instruments then used in this country. It is safe to say that the
+doctor consulted the length of his purse in the choice of books, rather
+than his mental needs, as Rich, after looking over, found a great
+portion of them with the leaves still uncut, although they had been ten,
+and some of them twenty, years in the doctor's possession.</p>
+
+<p>Most physicians at that period were provided with more or less bones for
+the study of anatomy, generally of the limbs, as they were most liable
+to be broken or dislocated: very few went beyond this. Dr. Ryan,
+however, had not even all these—only the bones of the lower
+extremities; but the deficiency was in some manner supplied by plates
+contained in the anatomical works in his library; indeed, he felt very
+little interest in surgery, dreading nothing so much as being called to
+set a bone, amputate a limb, or reduce a dislocation, and frequently
+advised his patients to send for Dr. Slaughter, who excelled as a
+surgeon.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p><p>In the course of his long practice, he had rendered many cripples for
+life by sheer carelessness in bandaging limbs that had been properly
+set, and once made a blunder that would have proved fatal to one less
+beloved.</p>
+
+<p>He was called to a man who had recently moved into the place, who was
+afflicted with a tumor in his ham; the doctor, after examining, shoved
+his lancet into it. To his terror and astonishment, the blood spurted in
+his face; he had cut an artery! The new lights represented that he was
+so frightened the patient bled to death while he sent for his
+instruments. It was not so; yet not much better. The doctor clapped his
+thumb on the artery, and instructed the family to arrest the blood, in
+the meanwhile sent for his instruments and took up the artery; but the
+coats of the artery, where he applied the ligature, being diseased,
+sloughed in the night; and in a short time the ligature came away, and
+the man bled to death.</p>
+
+<p>It was an old false aneurism, in which so many concentric layers of
+coagulum had accumulated that no pulsation could be perceived. Had the
+doctor inquired into the history of it, he would have found that it had
+pulsated in the past; but neglecting to do this, and unable to perceive
+the throb of the artery, he mistook it for an abscess. Notwithstanding
+his lack of surgical skill, he was versed in the properties and
+operation of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>medicines, a close observer, could detect the nature of
+disease, and had acquired a great amount of experimental knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>He made an agreement with Rich to superintend his studies, permit him
+the use of his library, with opportunities to visit patients, for thirty
+dollars a year.</p>
+
+<p>It was now that Rich began to realize the deep-seated affection
+cherished for him by his scholars. There were many young men, the sons
+of farmers, from nineteen to twenty-one, who attended the academy in the
+winter term; in March they came together, and cut up the whole year's
+stock of wood for Mrs. Clemens, and put it under cover, thus relieving
+Rich, and affording him time for study. Dan Clemens and his mates also
+performed their part in smaller matters, so that Rich had really no more
+to do than sufficed for exercise.</p>
+
+<p>There could not be a greater contrast than existed between Rich,
+earnest, ambitious, still farther stimulated by the pressure of poverty,
+and the genial old doctor, who loved a good story and a good joke, had
+an abundance of this world's goods, and cared very little whether his
+practice increased or decreased, so that it was not intruded upon by the
+new lights.</p>
+
+<p>Yet they were great friends. Rich loved the doctor, though soon made
+aware of his deficiencies, and treated him with the greatest deference;
+while the latter obstinately shut his eyes to the fact,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> often brought
+to view by his fellow-physician, Dr. Slaughter, that he was nourishing a
+most thorough-going radical and new light in his own bosom, although
+never obtruding his heresies; for if ever there was a boy bound to go to
+the root of principles, that boy was Rich.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Clemens was a lady after the doctor's own heart. She was
+intelligent, refined, benevolent, and universally esteemed. Like most
+persons in delicate health, she was fond of having a physician round
+her, consulted the doctor in respect to every trifling indisposition,
+and was very conservative in her notions. She had one weak point, as who
+has not. This was a perfect passion for reading medical works and
+practising upon herself and the members of her family—a sentiment
+fostered by her delicate state of health.</p>
+
+<p>This rendered it quite difficult for her to keep a hired girl, for
+though they liked her, and received good wages, they were not fond of
+the medicines she insisted upon their taking to keep them from being
+sick. Next to the Holy Scriptures, she reverenced Buchan's Domestic
+Medicine,—a copy of which, elegantly bound, lay on her table beside the
+Bible,—abhorred innovations in medical practice, and would much rather
+have died under the hands of a regular physician than been cured by a
+quack.</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor," she said, one day, "how mysterious it seems, that my dear
+husband, who was a great,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> stout, healthy man, the very picture of
+health, and used to take care of me just like a baby, should be in his
+grave, and I still spared!"</p>
+
+<p>"Invalids, ma'am, live the longest of any people in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"How can that be, doctor?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because they take care of themselves."</p>
+
+<p>The good lady, indeed, took excellent care of herself; but she was sadly
+tried in regard to taking care of her son Dan.</p>
+
+<p>Dan was a robust, red-cheeked boy, sound to the core, of fearless,
+sanguine temperament, and it was the hardest work in the world for Dan
+to sit on a bench and apply himself to study. Nothing but their
+attachment to Rich would have induced him and his sworn friends, Ned
+Baker and Frank Merrill, to attempt and accomplish it. But much as Dan
+loved his mother, he did abhor medicine, and to be coddled up.</p>
+
+<p>Richardson was often placed between the two horns of a dilemma, as Mrs.
+Clemens invariably appealed to him when Dan proved refractory.</p>
+
+<p>One morning his mother insisted that he had taken cold, and Dan as
+stoutly maintained the negative.</p>
+
+<p>"Daniel, you must wear your great coat to school; your face is flushed,
+and I think you are feverish."</p>
+
+<p>"It's always flushed, mother. I haven't one mite of cold, and I can't
+stand it to wear a coat this pleasant morning."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p><p>"Yes, you must, dear; your tongue is coated. I'll ask Mr. Richardson."</p>
+
+<p>But Rich, who had overheard the conversation, made a bolt for the door,
+and escaped that time. In the course of an hour, Betty Gookins, the
+help, came in, bringing in her hand a garment.</p>
+
+<p>"Only look here, ma'am. I went to pump a pail of water, and I couldn't,
+cause Dan's coat was in the pump-nose."</p>
+
+<p>"O, dear, how that boy does try me! Well, I shall soon be in my grave."</p>
+
+<p>But as the good lady had said the same for the last thirty years, there
+was evidently hope in the case. Dan, however, was not to escape so
+easily the watchful care of his mother. That night, when he came in to
+supper, he was regaled with the odor of salts and senna simmering in the
+corner.</p>
+
+<p>"O, dear!" he said to himself; "have I got to take that awful, sickish,
+nasty stuff?"</p>
+
+<p>The next morning, about half an hour before school-time, Rich wanted
+Dan.</p>
+
+<p>"The poor child is not well, Mr. Richardson, and has gone into the
+unfinished room to take some medicine. He says he can take it better if
+he is alone, and nobody looking at him. I wish he didn't dislike to take
+medicine so much; if it was not such a trial to him, I should give him
+'picra.'"</p>
+
+<p>When Rich entered the room, Dan had got up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> a brick in the hearth, and
+was administering the salts and senna to the cross-sill beneath. He
+started like a guilty thing when the door opened, but, seeing who it
+was, completed his purpose.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you about, Daniel?"</p>
+
+<p>"Taking salts and senna, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that the way you always take them?"</p>
+
+<p>"I never took any so before; but this is the way I mean to take them for
+the future. I expect to pour gallons into this hole."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you well enough to get me a big log out of the wood-pile?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, Mr. Richardson. I never was weller in my life."</p>
+
+<p>"But your mother said yesterday that your tongue was coated."</p>
+
+<p>"So it was. I had been breaking a pan of cream. Mother don't like to
+have her cream disturbed after it is set. I licked the cream off my
+lips, but left it on my tongue."</p>
+
+<p>"I think your mother'll have the best of it if she gives you salts and
+senna. She thinks highly of assafœtida, and may give you that."</p>
+
+<p>"I never will take that; I'll leave home first."</p>
+
+<p>The next evening, as Rich was passing through the kitchen with an armful
+of wood for his evening fire, he noticed Mrs. Clemens seated before the
+fire, in her lap a pair of old-fashioned kitchen bellows, on a chair
+beside her a skillet full of hot coals, a roll of sheep-skin, a junk of
+Burgundy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> pitch, and a knife. After cutting from the skin a piece of the
+right size for a plaster, she placed on it a piece of the pitch, put
+both on the flat side of the bellows, made the knife hot in the coals,
+and spread the plaster; while Dan, with no very joyous expression of
+countenance, sat awaiting the result.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to put this plaster between Daniel's shoulders, Mr.
+Richardson," said she; "it is a sovereign remedy for a cold; doesn't
+open the pores like a sweat, and expose one to take more cold."</p>
+
+<p>The next morning the good lady declared the plaster had worked wonders;
+that Daniel's cold was very much better, and would soon be well.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps I had better take it off, my son, wipe it, and wipe the
+perspiration from your back. The plaster will draw better, and it will
+prevent its itching and annoying you in school."</p>
+
+<p>"O, no, mother; I shall be late. It don't itch one mite."</p>
+
+<p>And he rushed from the house.</p>
+
+<p>"It is very singular," replied his mother, looking after him, "<i>my</i>
+plasters always itch, and are very troublesome. I think they don't do
+much good except they itch."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Clemens would have been less surprised had she known that the
+plaster began to itch the moment Dan was warm in bed. After enduring it
+awhile, he pulled it off and tucked it up <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>chimney. So he told Frank
+Merrill, with whom, on the way to school, he shared some guava jelly
+given him by his mother, after taking the salts and senna, to take the
+taste out of his mouth.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span>CHAPTER XVI.</span> <span class="smaller">PERIL OF BEING OUT EVENINGS.</span></h2>
+
+<p>Directly upon commencing the study of anatomy, Rich began to feel the
+need of something more than the plates contained in the books.</p>
+
+<p>It was some distance to go, for the study of bones, to the doctor's
+house, and he wanted something that he could keep in his room, and have
+at hand to refer to; besides, the doctor had none of the bones of the
+trunk—only the skull and part of the limbs. He likewise wished to
+dissect and study muscles, tendons, the structure of skin, bone, veins,
+arteries, and internal organs, in their natural state, since for him to
+procure a human subject was at that time out of the question, as he was
+without means to purchase even a skeleton.</p>
+
+<p>In these circumstances he conceived that much might be learned by a
+careful study and dissection of the bodies of animals in connection with
+the plates found in the books.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Clemens, the husband of Rich's landlady, owned and worked a large
+breadth of land, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> necessitated the keeping of many horses, as he
+did all his farm work with horses; but after his decease the greater
+part of the land, and all the horses except one, were sold. On the lower
+floor of the stable was a small room, once devoted to storing and oiling
+harnesses, in which was a fireplace, and at one corner, a large closet
+without shelves, and very broad, where the more valuable riding
+harnesses, not in constant use, were hung, to defend them from dust.
+There were also some harness-maker's tools, old straps, thorough-braces,
+and a large leather boot, that had survived the vehicle to which it was
+once attached.</p>
+
+<p>Fire-wood in those days was made but small account of, especially by
+Mrs. Clemens, who could not consume half of the decaying and downwood on
+her land.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Clemens," said Rich, "are you willing I should clear out the old
+harness-room, and make a fire there occasionally?"</p>
+
+<p>"What for, Mr. Richardson? If you want more room in the house you can
+have it. It will certainly be more comfortable than the barn; besides, I
+am afraid you will take cold."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, Mrs. Clemens, I need not hesitate to tell a lady of your
+respect for and appreciation of the medical profession, that as I
+proceed in my studies, I shall want to dissect and experiment upon the
+bodies of animals. You know that, although the courts and the community
+are ever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> ready to prosecute a physician to the extent of the law for a
+mistake in setting a bone, they throw every obstacle in the way of his
+obtaining any accurate knowledge of the machine he is expected to
+repair." The law in respect to this matter was more stringent then than
+at present.</p>
+
+<p>"But, Mr. Richardson, if you should lose a mother, sister, or dear
+friend,—Mr. Perkins, for instance,—and had placed them in the earth,
+with all the respect nature dictates, could you bear to feel that they
+were taken from the grave, exposed upon a table, and cut to pieces by
+students smoking cigars, and laughing, and jesting, as though to fit and
+harden them for their profession by driving every spark of feeling and
+humanity out of their bosoms?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I could not. I don't believe, however, that there is the least
+necessity of this hardening process you have referred to; if I believed
+that, by devoting myself to the study of medicine, I should lose one
+particle of kindly feeling that I now possess, should harden my heart
+and curtail my sympathies, or change in any respect, except in obtaining
+self-command that I might discharge more efficiently my duty, I would
+relinquish study and go back to the anvil to-morrow. If a doctor is
+rough and unfeeling, it is to be attributed to his natural temper, and
+want of culture, not to his profession."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I suppose you are just the one who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> ought to be a doctor, though I
+think it is strange that you should choose that profession. As I was
+telling Mrs. Merrill the other day, I observed you was so sensitive you
+never <i>could</i> do some of those dreadful things doctors were obliged to
+perform. But as for the harness-room, you may do whatever you like with
+it; there's a padlock in the house belongs to the outside door, and a
+key to the lock on the closet. If there is anything there worth saving,
+put it in the loft, and any old rubbish you can burn up."</p>
+
+<p>"But the wood, I will pay for that."</p>
+
+<p>"By no means, there's wood enough."</p>
+
+<p>After clearing out the place, and cleansing it thoroughly, Rich made a
+table, and put iron rings into it, in order that he might fasten any
+animal that he wished to operate upon. He then procured buckles and
+waxed ends, and from the boot of the old chaise made straps of different
+lengths for the same purpose, and put a lock on the door in lieu of the
+padlock. As the stern, patient smith of the wilderness, amid the
+melancholy moan of pine forests, and the roar of the stream, wrought out
+by sheer pluck and perseverance, a mechanical trade, so his earnest
+grandson, completely absorbed in his chosen pursuit, strove to verify,
+by experiment upon the bodies of such animals as he could procure, the
+theories he studied.</p>
+
+<p>In short, under the intoxication of a dominant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> impulse, he did things
+that, had they come to the knowledge of Mrs. Clemens, she would no
+longer have doubted of his adaptedness to the medical profession on the
+score of sensitiveness; so impervious to emotion in certain directions
+will an absorbing idea render a person otherwise most impressible.</p>
+
+<p>He dissected frogs to observe the muscles of the thigh, and irritated
+the muscular tissue of animals, thus creating inflammation, in order to
+watch its progress. Though there are striking differences between the
+composition of man and the animal, still there is correspondence enough
+to admit of much being learned; and in default of a human subject, he
+resorted to this method, as his grandfather, unable to procure an anvil,
+made a stone answer the purpose. The lungs of a hog are very similar to
+those of a man, and he found no difficulty in procuring these. If a
+stray dog came along, he was most kindly welcomed by Rich; but it was
+observed that no stray dog, having once entered Mrs. Clemens's yard, was
+ever seen to come out again.</p>
+
+<p>Marvelous was the industry of Rich, only equalled by his ingenuity. He
+soon had the large closet in the stable filled to overflowing with the
+skeletons of various animals he had dissected and wired together with
+great skill. He was much attached to Dan, who procured him animals to
+operate upon, while he, in turn mounted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> birds and squirrels for Dan—a
+matter in which Rich was very skilful.</p>
+
+<p>He had been for a long time desirous of examining the structure of the
+eye, but could not procure a suitable subject. Mrs. Clemens possessed a
+cat of beautiful color and proportions, affectionate disposition,
+intelligent, and perfectly trained. Between this member of the family
+and Dan the affections of the good lady were about equally divided.
+When, as occasionally happened, Gertrude was unwell, the good lady was
+at her wits' end, as she would have nothing from Buchan, and eschewed
+Burgundy pitch plasters, salts, and senna. Indeed, she had much rather
+Dan would be sick, than Gertrude, for she knew what to do for Dan, while
+Gertrude would have nothing but catnip. At every meal she sat beside
+Mrs. Clemens in a high chair, and never offered to take anything from
+the table, waiting the leisure of her mistress. Dan also loved Gertrude
+dearly, and had taught her a great many tricks. Rich likewise conceived
+a fondness for the cat, being naturally fond of pets.</p>
+
+<p>Gertrude was exceedingly social in her disposition, rejoiced in a
+numerous circle of friends, and was not in the least stuck up.</p>
+
+<p>There was a large Thomas cat—an enormous creature—that often came to
+call upon Gertrude, in a friendly way, and spend a sociable evening.
+Silver-gray along the back, annular stripes on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> tail, white feet,
+snow-white breast, large, lustrous, prominent eyes, and a magnificent
+pair of <i>whiskers</i>; in short, this Thomas cat was a splendid creature,
+and, as Rich thought, would afford him, if in his possession, an
+excellent opportunity to observe the structure of the eye. Dan, Frank
+Merrill, and Horace Williams, did their best to take the creature, dead
+or alive, but in vain.</p>
+
+<p>A door opened from the wood-shed into the stable, and a passage was left
+to this door in piling the wood that was tiered up on either side to the
+height of five, and on one side seven, feet. Several times the boys had
+got the Thomas cat in this passage; but the wily creature either went
+over the top of the wood, or ran through a small hole beside the door,
+that it would seem no cat <i>could</i> get through. Rich nailed the mouth of
+a meal-bag to this hole on the stable side, and placed a board on the
+other, ready to put up to prevent the cat's return.</p>
+
+<p>One Wednesday Horace Williams came over to spend the afternoon and take
+tea with Dan. Just before the tea hour, Dan, coming in, whispered to
+Rich, "The cat's in the passage. I can see his eyes shine just like
+balls of fire." Armed with sticks of wood, they approached the end of
+the passage, gave a fearful howl and let the wood fly; the globes of
+fire vanished, and they knew by the sound the cat had not gone over the
+wood-pile.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p><p>"He's in the bag, I know," said Dan. "I heard him squeeze through the
+hole. O, crimini!" and he ran to put up the piece of board. Rich and
+Horace lost no time in putting a string round the bag in which the cat
+was struggling, tearing it from the hole, and immersing it in a tub of
+water. Just as the struggling ceased the bell rang for supper, and
+flinging the bag and its contents into a horse-stall to drip and dry,
+they sat down to eat.</p>
+
+<p>Dan sat on his mother's right hand, next to him Horace, and on her left
+was Gertrude's high chair; but it was empty.</p>
+
+<p>"Where can Gertrude be?" said Mrs. Clemens, after pouring out the tea;
+"for seven years she has never before been absent from my side at meals
+unless sick."</p>
+
+<p>A fearful suspicion crossed the mind of Rich, and catching the eye of
+Dan, he saw that he was similarly affected.</p>
+
+<p>Hastening to the stable when the meal was over, with a light, they
+turned out the contents of the bag, and lo! it was poor Gertrude, that
+in the dark they had mistaken for the Thomas cat and drowned. Rich was
+very much distressed; so was Dan, as, aside from his sorrow for his
+mother, the cat was a favorite pet of his, and had grown up with him.</p>
+
+<p>Placing the dead body of Gertrude upon the dissecting table, they locked
+the door for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>consultation. At first they thought of owning up, but
+finally concluded to keep the secret, and, as long as she was dead,
+thought they might as well make the remains of some advantage to
+science. Richardson possessed already one skeleton of a cat, and only
+cared for the eyes. Dan therefore persuaded him to mount Gertrude for
+him. This Rich did, making a small incision, turning the body through
+it, and replacing the skull and leg bones, after removing the brains and
+flesh, supplying the rest of the skeleton, so far as was needed, with
+wire.</p>
+
+<p>Having already mounted several birds for Dan, he made a tree, put the
+birds in the branches, and having furnished Gertrude with eyes of
+colored glass, placed her under the tree in a natural attitude, as
+though watching a squirrel, the wire in the limbs enabling him to bend
+them in any direction. A red squirrel was also placed half way up the
+tree, as though alarmed by the cat. Dan was delighted, and thought he
+had much rather have his pet dead than alive.</p>
+
+<p>All these operations were performed with closed doors, and the birds and
+animals placed under lock and key in the closet.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Clemens mourned for her cat, and refused to be comforted.
+Gertrude's empty chair was always placed beside her; at table she often
+recounted the virtues of the departed, considered and spoke of the event
+as one of those mysterious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> dispensations of Providence, to which,
+though we cannot fathom, it is our duty to submit.</p>
+
+<p>"I do wish my mother would bury that cat," said Dan. "I'm sick and tired
+of hearing about her—should think she might pick up another kitten."</p>
+
+<p>Month after month passed, and still Mrs. Clemens mourned the loss of her
+pet. At the expiration of this period, Fred Evans, a cousin of Dan, came
+to visit him. One afternoon Dan persuaded Rich to put all the things on
+the table, make a grand show, and let Fred see them. To this Rich
+consented; the door was locked, and Fred sworn to secrecy.</p>
+
+<p>On the table was placed the tree set in a block, with birds in its
+branches; half way up the trunk a red squirrel looking down and
+chattering at the cat, crouched at the roots as in act to spring.</p>
+
+<p>Disposed around the tree that occupied the centre were the skeletons of
+various animals, wired together, and in an upright position, fastened to
+blocks—rabbits, dogs, a cat, wood-chuck, rooster, and pig. The tree was
+formed with great ingenuity, by placing a real branch in a thick block
+of pine, carving the spur roots from the substance of the block, and
+covering with moss, dried leaves, and twigs, confined with glue, while
+Gertrude, seated on the moss, seemed actually alive.</p>
+
+<p>Horace Williams was invited, being already in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> the secret, to help
+entertain Fred, and as an intimate friend of Dan.</p>
+
+<p>Rich wanted a shingle to put under one leg of the table, the floor being
+uneven, and sent Horace after it, who forgot to lock the door at his
+return.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Clemens, having occasion for Dan, and not finding him in the house
+or yard, sought him in the harness-room, where she knew he spent much of
+his leisure time.</p>
+
+<p>Opening the door upon the startled group, the first object that arrested
+her attention was the long lost and bitterly lamented Gertrude, as she
+verily thought, alive, and in the act of springing upon a squirrel.
+Exclaiming, "Gertrude! <i>my</i> Gertrude! where have you been?" she clasped
+the effigy to her breast. Alas! there was no answering caress; there was
+no "speculation" in those eyes of stained glass, and the dried skin
+rattled in her fond embrace. It was a <i>stuffed</i> cat. "What does this
+mean?" she cried, permitting the imposture to drop on the floor,
+thoroughly overcome and faint with this sudden blasting of new-born
+hopes. She would have fallen to the floor; but Rich and Dan conveyed her
+to the house, where, after seeing her safely placed in the easy-chair,
+Rich took to flight, feeling that <i>Dan</i> could settle the affair far
+better than himself.</p>
+
+<div class="center"><img src="images/i192.jpg" alt="Gertrude My Gertrude" /></div>
+
+<p class="bold">"<span class="smcap">Gertrude! My Gertrude!</span>" Page 190.</p>
+
+<p>It required all Dan's eloquence and power of argument to convince his
+mother that Gertrude was killed by mistake.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p><p>"But why did you not tell me at once, Daniel, that I might have had her
+properly interred, instead of making an exhibition of the remains?"</p>
+
+<p>Dan at length convinced his mother that it was his affection for
+Gertrude that led him to take this method of keeping her in remembrance.
+But never after this did Mrs. Clemens deem Rich unfitted for his
+profession by over-sensitiveness.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span>CHAPTER XVII.</span> <span class="smaller">THE YOUNG SAMARITANS.</span></h2>
+
+<p>Richardson, who had thus far performed his operations upon animals with
+a common pocket-knife, a carpenter's fine saw, and some instruments he
+made in the shop of the village blacksmith,—making sleight of hand and
+mechanical skill supply the place of suitable tools,—was now able to
+purchase a pocket case of surgical instruments, that economized time,
+and greatly facilitated his labors. They were also of a better pattern
+than those he at times borrowed of the doctor.</p>
+
+<p>Instead of going home in the vacations, he devoted the leisure afforded
+by the close of the academy to medical studies and experiments.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Richardson," said the doctor, one day, after they had been enjoying
+a sing together, "it seems strange to me that you are not more inclined
+to go with me to visit patients. It is the very thing you need,
+especially when bones are to be set, or dislocations reduced. It is only
+occasionally that you go."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p><p>"Indeed, doctor, I hope you will not feel that I do not appreciate your
+kindness in so often inviting me, or that I am not sensible of the
+benefit to be thus obtained; but I look at it in this light, which
+perhaps is not the right one. I am young enough, and do not intend to
+commence practice till thoroughly fitted; and it seems to me there can
+be no correct practice without a thorough knowledge of first principles,
+and that the practice should be based upon, and grow out of, that
+knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>"I have therefore resolved that I would, while here, endeavor to attain
+a knowledge of principles; operating, as I go along, on animals; going
+with you occasionally; economizing my means; and by and by attend
+lectures at Brunswick, or some place where I shall have ample
+opportunity for dissection, or go somewhere for hospital practice."</p>
+
+<p>"I think you are correct there; but still I feel that you might, without
+neglecting your studies, obtain a great deal more practical knowledge as
+you go along, and that it would be time excellently well spent; for the
+human body, and not that of the animal, is the one you will have to deal
+with, and all you can learn from the brute will be only an approach,
+require to be modified a great deal, and much of it won't apply in
+actual practice."</p>
+
+<p>"I have not the least doubt, doctor, but the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> course you advise is the
+best, but in my circumstances I cannot avail myself of it.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps it would come with a better grace from some one else, but the
+people in this town have expressed great attachment to me, and estimate
+me far above my deserts. Now, if I should go much with you to visit
+patients, bleed, and pull teeth, and reduce dislocations, as you would
+have me, every academy scholar who wanted a tooth pulled, or a gum-boil
+lanced, would be running to me, because they would think I should not
+hurt them so much as you.</p>
+
+<p>"People who wanted a sore opened, others, who are personally attached to
+me, would come for slight complaints. Many persons who are ashamed to
+send for you, because they owe you, would think, 'Perhaps Mr. Richardson
+will do just as well; he's been studying a good while with the doctor.'
+And thus all my time would be frittered away, and nothing to show for
+it."</p>
+
+<p>The doctor broke into a hearty laugh, and said, "I will yield the point,
+Mr. Richardson. I must acknowledge you have made out a strong case."</p>
+
+<p>"That is the way I look at it. I am wheeling two wheelbarrows
+now,—studying medicine, and teaching,—and I don't mean to wheel
+three."</p>
+
+<p>At the close of a long, hot day, the latter part of May, Clement
+Richardson and his brother, wearied with toil, were seated, one on the
+anvil, the other on the forge.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p><p>Somewhat more than a year had passed since their misfortune. During
+that period their condition had very much improved, owing to the
+following circumstance. Cast steel had been introduced, but only a few
+smiths in the country were able to use it.</p>
+
+<p>More care and judgment were required in working it than the old
+material, and the aid of borax was necessary to weld it with iron. The
+old smiths around Richardson would have nothing to do with "the
+new-fangled stuff," stuck to blistered steel and a sand weld.</p>
+
+<p>But Clement Richardson belonged to a race ever open to new ideas, and
+perceived at a glance the value of the new metal. He had seen his father
+use borax to braze the threads of his vice, as also saw plates, and soon
+learned to use the steel, and consequently monopolized all the work in
+his vicinity. For there is no comparison between blistered and cast
+steel for an edge tool.</p>
+
+<p>Their business, however, received a still greater impulse about a month
+before the period to which we refer. There had been little improvement
+in farming tools in that vicinity; the old iron pitch and manure forks
+were everywhere used. Clement Richardson went to Massachusetts to buy
+steel and iron, and there saw a patent spring steel pitchfork. He came
+home, and made forks with an improvement that did not infringe on the
+patent, and the operation proved very profitable.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p><p>"Clem," said Robert, "our year during which we were to have this shop
+free will soon be out. What say you for buying the old homestead back?
+We can pay a few hundred down, give a mortgage back, and what we should
+pay for rent will go towards shrinking the debt."</p>
+
+<p>"The rent of the shop won't be much, Robert, and you know we were to
+have the rent of the house free from the time of occupancy. Suppose we
+wait till then."</p>
+
+<p>"What if Montague should sell it over our heads?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll speak to him, and get the refusal of it."</p>
+
+<p>When the brothers got home, they found a letter from Rich, containing a
+portion of his hard earnings, that he had sent to aid his parents. His
+father, however, sent the money back, informing Rich of the success of
+the new forks, and telling him they were getting money much faster than
+he was.</p>
+
+<p>Waiting till his wages for the next term fell due, Rich expended the
+whole in the purchase of books more modern than those found in the
+collection of his patron, and containing principles the latter would by
+no means have approved.</p>
+
+<p>Rich was seated in his room, earnestly engaged in study, when he was
+roused by a great rumpus on the stairs. In a moment the door was flung
+violently open, and Dan and Frank Merrill rushed into the room.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p><p>Dan had evidently been crying, for the tears stood in his eyes then,
+and Frank was not far from it.</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse us, Mr. Richardson, for coming in so, but—"</p>
+
+<p>"But you couldn't help it. What is the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"O, Mr. Richardson, don't you think! Frank, and Horace, and me were
+going down to the river, to go in swimming, and there was Ned Baker,
+Clinton Blanchard, and a whole lot of boys, had got his dog Rover, the
+prettiest dog you ever did see, and they'd got a rope round his neck,
+and were going to drown him."</p>
+
+<p>"What were they going to drown him for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because they were at play with him, and pushed him under a cart; the
+wheel went over his hind leg, and ground it all up."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't know how pitiful he looked, Mr. Richardson," said Merrill;
+"there they were, dragging him along on three legs, his broken leg
+hanging down, and he whining enough to break your heart. I never will
+like Clin Blanchard after this, to treat his dog so, that he pretended
+to love so much! I think it's real mean."</p>
+
+<p>"So we got 'em to give him to us," said Dan; "and we've brought him to
+you, Mr. Richardson, for you to doctor him, and make him well. Will you,
+Mr. Richardson? Don't kill him. O, don't, please don't. You won't kill
+him; will you?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p><p>And Dan, who was as noble-hearted a boy as the sun ever shone upon,
+could hold in no longer, and burst into tears.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not so bloodthirsty as you may suppose," said Rich, half offended
+at the implied distrust.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't mean that, Mr. Richardson. We all love you, and know you are
+just as kind and good as can be. But—"</p>
+
+<p>"But you know I like to experiment upon animals. Well, I'll do all I can
+for Rover, just as though he was my brother. So don't cry any more.
+Where is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Horace has got him at the door."</p>
+
+<p>Rover indeed presented a sorry sight. His tongue was hanging out of his
+mouth, the broken leg hung dangling, covered with dust and blood. He
+whined piteously when any one even looked at it, appeared frightened,
+the water ran from his eyes, and he from time to time looked up
+beseechingly in the face of Horace, who held him by the collar.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor fellow! he's crying," said Frank; and with his handkerchief he
+wiped the tears from his eyes. "I suppose his leg hurts him."</p>
+
+<p>"Give him some water," said Rich.</p>
+
+<p>The dog drank eagerly, and seemed revived.</p>
+
+<p>"Now give him something to eat."</p>
+
+<p>He ate but sparingly, and, evidently feeling assured, wagged his tail in
+acknowledgment.</p>
+
+<p>"See how grateful he is," said Horace.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p><p>"He knows he's among friends," replied Rich.</p>
+
+<p>"Better kill him at once," said Mrs. Clemens, "and put him out of
+misery. He will die."</p>
+
+<p>"Kill him!" howled Dan; "kill him! O, mother, I shouldn't think you
+would talk so. He's worth forty old cats. We're going to make him get
+well. What's the use of studying so much to be a doctor, if you can't
+help anybody?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well spoken, Dan," said Rich. "Take him to the barn."</p>
+
+<p>Rich cut off the leg of one of Dan's old boots, and drew it over Rover's
+nose, to prevent him from biting them. They placed him on the table, and
+strapped him down.</p>
+
+<p>"Boys," he said, after examination, "this is a compound fracture. The
+bones of the foot are all ground up, the skin broken, and the muscles
+bruised, and filled with gravel. The limb can't be set; it will rot off,
+this warm weather, before it will heal. The only way to save him is to
+amputate below the hock, and save the hock joint. Which would you
+prefer, kill him, let him alone to die himself, or amputate, and have a
+dog with three legs?"</p>
+
+<p>The boys were a unit in favor of amputation. He therefore, having
+previously instructed his young assistants in what manner to hold the
+arteries and the limb, took it off, and tied the blood-vessels, sponged
+and bound up the wound.</p>
+
+<p>Dan made him a bed by putting some straw in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> a corner, and covering it
+with a horse blanket, and, cutting some wide leather straps from the old
+chaise boot, they fastened him in such a manner that he could not move
+to his own injury. Rover whined terribly during the operation, but when
+it was finished, and the leg bound up in cold water, he became quiet,
+licked Dan's fingers when he took off the muzzle, and wagged his tail,
+no doubt sensible that he was handled gently, and that no harm was
+intended.</p>
+
+<p>Dan got his mother to make a pillow-case. He stuffed it with chaff, and
+placed the wounded leg on it to keep it up (as it was shorter than the
+other), and make Rover as comfortable as possible. They then patted him,
+told him to lie still, and leaving the stable, got their lessons
+together in Dan's house.</p>
+
+<p>When Dan got up the next morning, he found, sitting on the door-step, a
+little dog. His eyes were so bright they sparkled; and his back was
+black, also his ears and head; there was a ring of white around his
+neck, and his breast, legs, and feet were white. The black was jet
+black, and the white as white as white could be; his tail was black, and
+curled up so crisp over his back that it seemed as though it would lift
+him up behind; looking, with his erect, sharp-pointed ears, and fine,
+glossy coat, as though he came right out of a bandbox.</p>
+
+<p>Dan recognized him in a moment, and running<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> to Rich, told him "that
+Carlo—Ned Baker's dog, who lived in the next house to Clinton
+Blanchard, Rover's former master—was sitting on the door-step, and he
+didn't believe but he had come to see Rover, for they had been great
+friends, always playing together, and there were never two dogs agreed
+as well as they."</p>
+
+<p>When they went to the door, Carlo was scratching and whining at the
+stable door, and Rover whining within. They let him into the
+harness-room, when Carlo jumped on his friend's bed, licked his face,
+licked the stump of his leg, and smelt him all over. Rover licked
+Carlo's face in return, wagged his tail, and seemed delighted.</p>
+
+<p>The new comer then rolled himself into a ball, and lay down at Rover's
+nose, shutting first one eye, and then the other, as though he would
+say, "I have come to spend the day, and I <i>mean</i> to."</p>
+
+<p>"That is capital," said Rich. "He has come on a visit of consolation.
+The patient will recover a great deal faster for having him here."</p>
+
+<p>The two dogs took their breakfast together, and great was the surprise
+of Horace and Frank when they called, on their way to school, to know
+how Rover did, and found Carlo nursing him.</p>
+
+<p>Another boy afterwards told them, "that when he first got up in the
+morning, he saw Carlo running along the road, with his nose to the
+ground." It was evident that, missing his companion, he had scented the
+track, and followed on till he found him.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p><p>About the middle of the afternoon Carlo went home; but at seven o'clock
+the next morning he returned, accompanied by three more dogs; one a
+great Newfoundland—Neptune. They all went up and smelt of Rover, sat
+round a while, and then disappeared, one after another, Carlo remaining,
+as before.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose," said Dan, "he went and saw all these dogs, told them what
+had happened to Rover, and so they came to see him."</p>
+
+<p>The patient recovered rapidly; the stump healed, the ligatures came
+away, and it was evident the ends of the bones were well covered. Rich
+permitted both the dogs to lick it, which hastened the process of
+healing very much. Dr. Ryan came to see it, had a hearty laugh,
+congratulated Rich upon his success in this maiden effort, the fine
+appearance of the stump, and told him "He ought to give his patient a
+wooden leg."</p>
+
+<p>Rover was now permitted to get up. The boys washed him with soap suds,
+rubbed him dry, and permitted him to walk out every day, and lie in the
+sun, on the grass. He was a beautiful dog—a spaniel, with a fine silky
+coat.</p>
+
+<p>Carlo frisked around, barked, lay on his back, rolled over, and
+expressed his joy in every imaginable way.</p>
+
+<p>Rover soon began to run about the yard, and follow Dan round the
+premises, going (till he became tired) as well on three legs as four.
+One noon,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> Dan came home from school, and found neither of the dogs at
+home. He was greatly disturbed, for Rover had now become very dear to
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"I expect," said Mrs. Clemens, "he has gone back to his old home and
+master."</p>
+
+<p>"Mother, I don't believe Rover is such a fool as that. Go back to the
+fellow who was going to murder him! I know he loves me better than
+that."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess," said Rich, "he has gone to return some of the calls that have
+been made on him." So it proved. For when Dan came home at night, both
+dogs had returned, bringing two more with them.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Clemens gradually became attached to Rover, till at length he
+completely won her heart, and filled the void left by the loss of
+Gertrude.</p>
+
+<p>The boys were apprehensive that other dogs would pick upon Rover, now
+that he was disabled, and no longer able to defend himself or make his
+escape; but it was just the reverse. He found the warmest sympathy
+everywhere. When, in company with other dogs, he became tired and fell
+behind, they would stop and wait for him to come up; and if any strange
+dog had imposed upon Rover, they would have torn him to pieces in a
+moment.</p>
+
+<p>Rich made him a wooden leg, carved to match one of his own. At first he
+held it up altogether, but after a while would use it to stand upon,
+and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> put it down when he became tired, and walk a little; then hold it
+up and run. He soon found that by its aid he could jump up on Dan.</p>
+
+<p>It improved his looks wonderfully, as it prevented his hip from
+dropping, and Dan said "that he always wanted it on when they or he had
+company." Rover was a water spaniel, and Dan had to take the leg off
+when he went into the water, as it buoyed up his hinder parts, and
+interfered with swimming.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span>CHAPTER XVIII.</span> <span class="smaller">DAN WANTS TO KNOW HIMSELF.</span></h2>
+
+<p>Dan Clemens had taken at the first very little interest in the peculiar
+studies and experiments of his teacher; indeed, they were to him, a
+kindly-affectionate boy, rather revolting; but after the successful
+operation upon Rover, his feelings underwent a complete change; he was
+enraptured with the skill, firmness, and tender feeling manifested by
+Rich, spent a great deal of time at the dissecting table, and manifested
+a strong desire to obtain, at least, some general knowledge in respect
+to the mechanism of his own frame.</p>
+
+<p>One evening he was seated in the harness-room, watching Rich, who was
+examining the stump of Rover's leg, that had become sore from the
+pressure of the wooden substitute, and devising some way to remedy it,
+when he suddenly exclaimed,—</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Richardson, how do they cut off a man's leg?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very much as I did that dog's; only they use a tourniquet to compress
+the vessels and stop the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> circulation, then cut through the flesh, saw
+off the bones, and put ligatures on the ends of the arteries."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it makes the great difference between the arteries and the
+veins, so that folks say, if you cut an artery, you'll bleed to death in
+no time. But they never speak so about veins; it's always arteries."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't explain it to you, without telling you something about the
+heart, to start with."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, tell me. O, do tell me, please."</p>
+
+<p>"You saw the hog's heart I had the other day. Do you remember how it
+looked?"</p>
+
+<p>"It looked something like an egg little end up."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, a hog's heart is very much like a man's, so that one will do to
+represent the other. You noticed that it was smooth, and stood out about
+its whole bigness clear from everything, except at the base, where it
+joined the body?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"On each side of the base are two appendages, wrinkled, and shaped like
+an ear, denoting cavities within called from them the auricles, and into
+these cavities run several tubes that connect them to the parts
+adjacent. They are called auricles because they look so much like an
+ear."</p>
+
+<p>"I know what they are. I saw the butcher cut them off, when he trimmed
+our hog's harslet: he called them deaf ears, and said they were poison."</p>
+
+<p>"The heart is a hollow muscle, that contracts<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> and dilates with great
+force. It is not dependent upon the will, but operates in virtue of a
+natural law. Through the middle of the heart, from the base to the
+summit, runs a partition, leaving a chamber on each side, between which
+there is no direct communication: they are distinguished by the terms
+right and left auricles. In addition to this, there is a cross parting
+on each side, thus making four chambers, the two upper retaining the
+name of auricles, the two lower denominated ventricles.</p>
+
+<p>"I will now explain to you the use of all this. The right auricle opens
+into the large trunk vein of the body, that, in connection with the
+others, brings back the blood from the extremities, after the arteries
+have distributed it. It has also another opening into the right
+ventricle below it. The auricle on the other side of the partition (the
+left) is pierced by four veins that enter the lungs, called pulmonary
+veins, and also by another passage communicates with the ventricle
+beneath it. Now let us talk about ventricles. The right ventricle is
+entered by the great pulmonary artery that carries all the blood in the
+body through the lungs. The left ventricle is penetrated by the great
+artery, called the great aorta. In each of these cross partitions, there
+are valves that will permit blood to pass from the auricles into the
+ventricles, but not to return. There are also valves at the roots of the
+arteries that permit the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> blood to go from the heart into the arteries,
+but not to return. There are no valves at the roots of the veins that
+enter the auricles, nothing to obstruct the flowing of the blood from
+them into the auricles. Thus the roots of the veins arise from the
+auricles, and the roots of the arteries from the ventricles. Do you
+understand this description, because it is the foundation of all that
+follows—understand what a valve is?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir; the clapper in our pump-box is a valve; it lets the water
+come up out of the well into the pump, but it won't let a drop go back."</p>
+
+<p>"Well said; just so the valves in the partings of the heart permit the
+blood to pass from the auricles into the ventricles, but not to go back;
+thus, also, the valves placed at the roots of the arteries permit the
+passage of the blood from the ventricles into the arteries, but not the
+return of it to the heart. Do you understand this?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>To make it more evident, Rich drew the heart, the veins, and the
+arteries entering it, with chalk, and the main branches of both.</p>
+
+<p>"Now let us, for the clearer perception of what you wish to know,
+consider the march of the blood: and we might as well begin at the heart
+as anywhere."</p>
+
+<p>"I think I can understand it better to commence there."</p>
+
+<p>"From the right ventricle of the heart, springs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> the pulmonary artery,
+which, separating into several branches, some of them not larger than
+hairs, carries the blood into all portions of the lungs, where they
+communicate with the terminations of the pulmonary veins, which,
+receiving the blood from the arteries, bring it back to the left
+auricle, uniting, as they approach the heart, into four large veins,
+called the pulmonary veins. From the left ventricle rises the main
+artery (or great aorta), which, receiving all the blood of the body
+poured into it by the pulmonary veins, distributes it over the trunk and
+limbs, branching in every direction, the divisions gradually becoming
+smaller and smaller as they approach the extremities: here they
+communicate with the extremities of the veins which bring back the blood
+to the right auricle. So much for the aqueducts; now we will look at the
+action of the force-pump itself. The heart is a hollow muscle. All the
+valves and division walls we have been talking about are muscular in
+their texture, and moved by a network of muscles and minute tendons,
+tough and elastic, like the gizzard of a fowl, and capable of
+contraction and expansion. We will suppose the right auricle to be full
+of blood that has been brought by the veins from the fingers, toes, the
+substance of the heart itself, the lungs, and the liver, and poured into
+it. This blood is dark-colored; called black blood. It has washed the
+whole body. The instant it enters the auricle, that organ contracts and
+forces<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> it into the ventricle below it; the valve holds it there: then
+the ventricle contracts and forces it into the pulmonary artery; the
+valve of the artery holds it there: the auricle expands, fills, again
+contracts, fills the ventricle, that, in its turn, forces the blood into
+the artery, and thus, by successive leaps, it passes into and through
+the lungs, enters the pulmonary veins, and is by them brought back to
+the left auricle. It is now no longer black blood, but bright, red,
+arterial blood: before it was venous."</p>
+
+<p>"What makes it red?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. It is supposed by being brought in contact with the air
+in the cells of the lungs. When the auricle receives this red blood, it
+contracts, forces it into the left ventricle beneath, then the ventricle
+in its turn contracts, forces it into the main artery, and by this and
+its branches it is carried to the extremities, to come back in one
+continual round, as long as life lasts. It <i>is</i> life; for the moment the
+heart ceases to contract and dilate, insensibility takes place, and
+death instantly follows."</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to me that the left side of the heart has a great deal more
+work to do than the right, for the left has to force the blood into the
+main artery, and all over the body, to the toes, the fingers, the brain:
+but the right ventricle only has to force it through the lungs that are
+close by, touch the heart, and it is a short route."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p><p>"True, and for this reason, the muscles of the left ventricle, which
+force the red blood of the great circulation through the main artery,
+are much more numerous and stronger than those of the right, which has
+so much less work to perform. It is the powerful contraction of the
+muscles of the left ventricle, causing the point of the heart to strike
+the fifth or sixth rib, that creates the throb you can feel; they exert
+power enough to send all the blood of the body through the heart
+twenty-three times in an hour."</p>
+
+<p>"I had no idea matters were going ahead inside of me at that rate."</p>
+
+<p>"You must bear in mind that I have described these things separately,
+but in the order of nature, it is quite another matter. The red blood
+from the lungs arrives at the left, and the black blood from the veins
+at the right auricle at the same instant; both auricles contract at
+once, and force the blood into their respective ventricles; both
+ventricles contract together and force the blood into the arteries; and
+thus it goes on in a person of the feeblest pulse; these alternate
+motions occupy, when in a state of health, but a second; the pulse at
+your wrist is the throb of the artery, the stroke of the heart. What do
+you suppose now is the force of that stroke, when the left ventricle
+contracts?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I don't know."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, the blood has been known to spurt more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> than five feet from the
+artery of the neck (carotid) when first cut. You see, now, why it is so
+dangerous to wound a large artery: the blood spurts at every stroke of
+the heart, while in the veins there is no such pressure or direct
+connection; besides, as the veins are designed not to carry the blood
+from the heart, but to bring it back, they are also furnished with
+numerous valves that favor the flow of blood towards the heart, but not
+from it."</p>
+
+<p>"There is one thing I can't understand. When a man's leg is cut off, all
+the arteries and veins cut, how does the blood get back to the heart
+when the ends of the arteries are tied, and there is no communication
+between them and the veins?"</p>
+
+<p>"By a provision of nature, there are many minute twigs and branches
+given off by the arteries all along their course, scarcely observable
+when the circulation is in its normal state, that are connected with
+veins equally small; those become enlarged by pressure, and renew the
+connection."</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to me, Mr. Richardson, that the heart is like two pumps in two
+wells, side by side, only one throws a bigger stream than the other, and
+with more force."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, Daniel; but your mother's pump bears no comparison to the heart.
+During the time I have been with her, the spear has worn off, the boxes
+have been new leathered, and the cracks in the pump that sucked air have
+been covered with putty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> and lead; but <i>this</i> pump runs eighty, and
+sometimes a hundred years without the pause of a second."</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't the muscles of the heart get tired, just as my legs do, and
+want to rest?"</p>
+
+<p>"They do rest, and just as long as they work; rest a second, and work a
+second, day and night. The other muscles are in a state of tension all
+day, and then rest at night."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I mean to know how I am made up, before I am much older."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span>CHAPTER XIX.</span> <span class="smaller">DAN TRAPS LARGE GAME.</span></h2>
+
+<p>The industry of Rich was something remarkable. He was well fed, his work
+for Mrs. Clemens gave him abundant exercise, and kept him in vigorous
+health, and the habit of thorough study he had performed in college
+enabled him to make rapid progress.</p>
+
+<p>In connection with the study of text-books he had performed a great
+number of operations upon animals, obtained practice in the use of
+instruments, and now felt disposed to comply, to a certain extent, with
+the doctor's advice in respect to actual practice. It was not long
+before an opportunity offered.</p>
+
+<p>Dan Clemens had the toothache, and in spite of all the remedies his
+mother applied,—and they were by no means few in number—laudanum,
+gunpowder, pepper, cloves, the stem of a pumpkin smoked in a pipe, hot
+salt, camphor, and new rum,—was half crazy with it.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Richardson," said Dan, "will you please pull my tooth? I don't want
+to go to Dr. Ryan. I know he'll hurt me awfully."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span></p><p>"Nobody can pull a tooth, Daniel, without inflicting pain. They are
+designed to stay in—the second crop."</p>
+
+<p>"But you won't hurt me as much as he will. He won't care if he does hurt
+me. Besides, you haven't got such an awful-looking thing to pull 'em
+with as his is." Rich had purchased, with his other instruments, forceps
+of a modern pattern, while the doctor used the huge old corkscrew
+instruments. "Do, please, Mr. Richardson. I won't tell anybody; so you
+won't have your time taken up by boys running to you."</p>
+
+<p>Rich put the instrument on the tooth Dan indicated, and took it out in a
+moment. Dan gave a fearful yell, and ran to the fire-place.</p>
+
+<p>"I told you it would hurt you."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care. Dr. Ryan would have hurt me more."</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding Dan's promise of secrecy, it got wind somehow, and Rich
+soon had considerable practice of that kind. But, as he had now made
+good progress in study, and the money was very acceptable, he became
+reconciled to it.</p>
+
+<p>An opportunity was soon after this presented that Rich did not fail to
+improve. The people of the neighborhood were engaged in hauling a barn,
+and a young man, in attempting to fling a skid under the building while
+in motion, received a compound fracture of the thigh. Dr. Ryan was
+called. He sent for Dr. Slaughter, and took Rich<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> with him, who required
+no solicitation, as it was the first opportunity he had enjoyed of
+witnessing an important operation.</p>
+
+<p>The limb was taken off some distance above the knee, leaving that joint
+entire, it having escaped injury by being pressed into the mud. Weary of
+dissecting animals, Rich longed to obtain this limb. There it lay, a
+well-developed leg and part of the thigh of a young man. He took it in
+his hands after the operation was performed, and gloated over it as an
+antiquarian over a rare coin. His fingers itched, and he felt an intense
+desire to possess it.</p>
+
+<p>"Dr. Ryan," he whispered, "won't you ask for this leg, and then give it
+to me?"</p>
+
+<p>"It would be of no use, Mr. Richardson; they would think the leg must be
+buried, or the man would not do well. It would cost me my practice. They
+are that superstitious. But if I were you, I would find out where they
+bury it, and dig it up to-night."</p>
+
+<p>The doctor took up the limb, and carrying it into the kitchen, said,
+"This leg must be put in a box and buried."</p>
+
+<p>"That it must," replied the father of the young man; "for I've heard
+say, ever since I can remember, if a dog or any critter got hold of any
+part of a person what had been cut off, that person would feel it just
+as though the limb was still on."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll make the box, and help bury it," said Rich.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p><p>"I should be much obliged if you would, Mr. Richardson. Neighbor
+Pollard, here, will help you. Where ought it to be buried, doctor?"</p>
+
+<p>"In the graveyard with his relatives, to be sure. It is part of a
+Christian, and the rest of him will go to keep it company some time."</p>
+
+<p>A daughter of the family had died some years before, and Pollard
+proposed that the leg should be buried beside her grave, which was done.</p>
+
+<p>The doctor had proposed that it should be put in a box, in order to keep
+it clean, and in a good state for Rich to dissect, and be placed in the
+cemetery, because that lot was in a retired spot.</p>
+
+<p>That night Rich dug up the limb, and hid it in the haymow, meaning to
+dissect it the next night, in order to escape the sharp eyes of Dan
+Clemens, and then keep the bones in the doctor's study, where there was
+a closet.</p>
+
+<p>Rich was detained at school that afternoon by a boy who had failed to
+get his lesson. When he reached the house he found a man in the barn
+floor loading hay on a cart from the very mow in which he had concealed
+the leg, while Dan was on the mow pitching down the hay.</p>
+
+<p>"I am so glad you have come, Mr. Richardson! Mr. Bangs wants a ton of
+hay, and I told Daniel he had better be doing what he could till you
+came."</p>
+
+<p>Rich was terribly frightened. His color went and came.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p><p>"Daniel," he cried, flinging off his coat, "run into the house quick,
+and get me a drink; I am very thirsty."</p>
+
+<p>Leaping upon the mow, he beheld one corner of the box already uncovered.
+Another fork full would have done the business. Before Dan returned with
+his water, he had put it in a safe place. There was but one window in
+the harness-room, and while Dan was gone after the cow, Rich nailed the
+horse-blanket over it, in order that no one passing might observe a
+light, as he intended to dissect after the family—or at least Dan, of
+whom he was the most apprehensive—were asleep.</p>
+
+<p>Having accomplished his purpose, he was passing from the stable to the
+house, when Dr. Ryan, who was riding by in his gig, called to him, and
+said,—</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Richardson, Coolbroth is dead."</p>
+
+<p>"Dead!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; died about an hour ago. Very strange. Never was more surprised in
+my life. Thought he was doing well. Sank all at once. Going to be buried
+to-morrow forenoon. Hot weather—they can't keep him. Good night."</p>
+
+<p>"Good night."</p>
+
+<p>Rising from supper as soon as possible without attracting attention,
+Rich made the best of his way to Coolbroth's. He met Pollard there, and
+found the family in great affliction.</p>
+
+<p>"We don't any of us know what's afore us, Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> Richardson," said
+Pollard; "'cause, if we had, we might have saved ourselves the trouble
+o' buryin' that leg, for we've got to dig it up ag'in in the mornin'."</p>
+
+<p>"What are you going to dig it up for?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Cause they want to lay him in that spot, side o' his sister; and then
+they want to put the leg in the coffin with the rest of him, as rights
+they should, poor feller."</p>
+
+<p>"What time to-morrow will the funeral take place?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ten o'clock. I shall have to be stirring 'arly, and begin by sunrise to
+dig the grave, 'cause they've nobody 'cept myself to call on, and I've
+got a master sight to see to."</p>
+
+<p>Rich inquired no further, but went home in no little perturbation. He
+sat up in his room till twelve o'clock, then crept down stairs in his
+stocking feet, with his shoes in his hand, and without a light. Since
+the death of Gertrude, rats had multiplied on the premises. They had a
+regular road from the stable, through the porch, which they entered from
+beneath, through a hole in the floor. The night previous to the
+occurrences now to be narrated, one of these vermin had gnawed his way
+into the flour barrel. Dan had set a steel trap at the hole in the shed,
+where the rats came up, and quite out of the track of any one going to
+the stable. But Rich, fumbling along in the dark, put his foot in it.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p><p>The trap was one of the old-fashioned rat traps, made to <i>kill</i> and
+<i>hold</i>, with a smart spring, and the jaws on the inside armed with
+teeth, like a saw.</p>
+
+<p>The pain and surprise combined caused Rich to utter an involuntary
+scream, that, breaking on the stillness of midnight, alarmed the
+household.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Clemens lay in bed, screaming alternately, "Murder," and "Thieves,"
+at the top of her voice. Dan rushed down stairs in his night-gown, when
+Rich called to him, and explained matters.</p>
+
+<p>By the time Dan had procured a light, Rich had drawn his foot out of the
+trap, and Mrs. Clemens and the hired girl made their appearance.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Richardson," said Mrs. Clemens, "you have hurt your foot terribly.
+The blood is oozing through your stocking. Let me make a slippery elm
+poultice, and put on it."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a mere scratch, Mrs. Clemens—only skin deep."</p>
+
+<p>"There is some water in the tea-kettle that must be blood-warm now.
+Betty, bring a small tub, for Mr. Richardson to bathe his foot, and a
+sponge."</p>
+
+<p>"There is no need of it, Mrs. Clemens. Cold water is better. I can wash
+it in my chamber."</p>
+
+<p>The night was fast spending. It would be daylight by the time he reached
+the cemetery. Rich had no time to spare, and wished Mrs. Clemens was in
+another hemisphere.</p>
+
+<p>"At least, Mr. Richardson, let me get you some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> bandages, and some new
+rum and wormwood, to bathe it in. Daniel will take the things up
+stairs."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, Mrs. Clemens, I thank you very much; but I have some
+sticking-plaster in my chamber."</p>
+
+<p>And Rich, hastily bidding them good night, went to his room.</p>
+
+<p>When there, he found that the jaws of the trap had cut deeper than he
+supposed, and the wound began to be stiff and painful. He bound it up,
+and taking an old boot, cut out the vamp, and was by this means enabled
+to wear it.</p>
+
+<p>"What shall I do?" said Rich to himself. "I ought to be at the graveyard
+<i>now</i>. It will be two hours before that old lady will go to sleep, and I
+never can get out of the house without her knowledge."</p>
+
+<p>Rich's room was in the second story of the L, and the water-spout ran
+near the window. After waiting half an hour, and finding all was still,
+Rich, raising the sash as gently as possible, descended by the conductor
+to the ground, and taking the box from the barn, went limping along in
+the bright moonlight, the box under one arm, and a shovel in the other
+hand. The jaws of the trap had bruised the numerous tendons that run
+along the top of the foot, and every step was a pang.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I had never seen this confounded leg," said Rich. "If I can only
+get it where it came from, it's the last thing I'll ever dig up."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span>CHAPTER XX.</span> <span class="smaller">GOES FOR WOOL, AND GETS SHORN.</span></h2>
+
+<p>The graveyard to which Rich now directed his steps was the original
+burying-place of the town; but another having been provided, in a more
+central location, it had been little used for years, and was overgrown
+with bushes and sweet fern, an occasional spruce or hemlock assuming
+almost the dimensions of a tree.</p>
+
+<p>Narrow, in proportion to its breadth, one end of the lot approached the
+main road, the intervening space being level, and clear of obstructions,
+except near the gate, where the wall was fringed with spruce, sumach,
+and hazel bushes, a very dense clump of spruce and dwarf birch growing
+just beside the main entrance.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the lonely situation and neglected aspect of the place,
+there were many very handsome monuments scattered over its surface. But
+the hands that reared them were mouldering in the dust, and their
+descendants, becoming interested in the new cemetery, the ancient
+graveyard seemed likely to return to its original state of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>forest, and
+that indeed at no distant period, being already enclosed on three sides
+by a growth of majestic pines, whose roots, in several places, had flung
+down the wall. A few rods beyond the main entrance, the road, making a
+sharp turn, led up a hill.</p>
+
+<p>Far removed from any habitation or sound of busy life, this
+resting-place of the departed lay reposing in the clear moonlight that
+seemed to embrace it, silvering with its wavy light the rough walls, the
+monuments of the dead, and the foliage, bathed in dew. So deep was the
+stillness, that the slow and painful tread of Rich on the hard-beaten
+road was distinctly audible.</p>
+
+<p>He was about half way from the road to the gate, when all at once rang
+out with startling effect upon the still air,—</p>
+
+<p>"Come here to me. What are you hangin' off there for, old Bright? Come
+here to me, or I'll put the cold iron into your liver."</p>
+
+<p>The next moment his ears were greeted with that peculiar slat and jingle
+that ensues when the tongue cattle on the top of a hill throw up their
+heads in order to hold back a heavy load.</p>
+
+<p>"Good heavens!" thought Rich; "I am beset indeed. It is Sam Waterhouse,
+with his four-ox team."</p>
+
+<p>Regardless of his lame foot, he crept into the bunch of bushes near the
+gate, with the box and shovel. In a few moments a large dog came up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> the
+hill, followed by Sam, who stopped his cattle opposite the gate, to let
+them breathe. The dog, in the mean time running along the road, came
+upon Richardson's track, and following it up to the bushes, began to
+bark furiously. Fearing discovery, Rich crept along through the
+scattering bushes, into the thicker growth, still proceeding in a line
+parallel with the main road, and not far from it. The dog, however,
+continued to follow, barking so furiously, that Rich, afraid that
+Waterhouse would come to see what the dog was barking at, stepped out
+into the road without attracting the notice of Sam, till he was within a
+few feet of him, who, supposing him to have come by the road from the
+village, exclaimed,—</p>
+
+<p>"Good evenin', Mr. Richardson; or, ruther, mornin'; for I reckon it's
+mighty near daybreak. I was jest thinkin' of goin' ter see what the dog
+was barkin' at; thought may be 'twas a coon; they're apt to be out these
+moonlight nights; but I s'pose 'twas you he hearn. Didn't 'spect ter run
+foul o' you, this time in the mornin'. S'pose you had a sudden call.
+Doctors and teamsters, they must kalkerlate to be broke o' their rest,
+and folks say you're gettin' ter be quite a doctor, and Dr. Ryan speaks
+master well o' you."</p>
+
+<p>"Sick and dying time, Mr. Waterhouse," said Rich, wishing to turn the
+conversation from himself, and not heeding the question of the other; "I
+wonder you should be going away with a team<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> when young Coolbroth is to
+be buried to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Wouldn't have gone for anything. 'Tain't to save money, nor 'arn money,
+but I'd 'greed to deliver these ere shooks, and was 'bleeged ter. Seems
+to me you limp. I can't see quite so well as I used ter, 'specially in
+the night, but I thought you favored that left foot somewhat."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I have a sore foot."</p>
+
+<p>"Jammed it? Jammed the nail off? 'Cause, if ye have, there's nothin' so
+good to take the soreness out as mullein leaves, steeped in new rum."</p>
+
+<p>"I stepped into a rat trap in the dark."</p>
+
+<p>"My songs! that's dreadful bad. Might give you the lockjaw. There's
+nothin' 'll take that ere iron rust out o' the flesh like the marrer
+(marrow) of a hog's jaw."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't doubt it," said Rich, to whom this prosing was perfect agony;
+"but I must go on."</p>
+
+<p>"So must I. Back, Bright! Her, Buck, up! Stan' up there, old Star."</p>
+
+<p>Rich made as though he would have gone on, and soon enjoyed the
+satisfaction of hearing the sound of Sam's wheels die away in the
+distance; but when he again recovered his box and shovel, the gray light
+was streaking the eastern sky.</p>
+
+<p>Flinging off both coat and vest, he strained every nerve to dig a hole
+in which to deposit the box at the same depth, and in the same place as
+before. In momentary expectation of seeing Pollard arrive,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> he exerted
+himself till the sweat trickled down his cheeks, for, whenever he
+stopped to take breath, the early birds were singing in the trees around
+him.</p>
+
+<p>He had scarcely time to deposit the last shovelful, and congratulate
+himself upon his success, when the sound of wheels was heard rapidly
+approaching, and Pollard, accompanied by another person, drove up to the
+graveyard gate.</p>
+
+<div class="center"><img src="images/i232.jpg" alt="In the Graveyard" /></div>
+
+<p class="bold"><span class="smcap">In the Graveyard.</span> Page 226.</p>
+
+<p>Crouching behind tombstones and bushes, he crept on his hands and knees
+to the back wall, and not daring to clamber over for fear of being seen,
+pushed out the stones, and made his way through the gap into the woods,
+as Pollard and his assistant reached the spot he had just left.</p>
+
+<p>Hiding his shovel in the woods, not daring to take it, lest he should
+meet some early riser, Rich, in pain and perturbation, limped through
+fields and pastures, till he at length, to his great delight and relief,
+reached his boarding-place.</p>
+
+<p>But his troubles were not ended. Every door was fastened. He could not,
+with his lame foot, and entirely exhausted, clamber up the spout to his
+room, and Rover began to bark in the porch, where he slept, with a
+violence that Rich knew would soon awaken the whole family.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Clemens was very particular—extremely so—in respect to fastening
+the doors at night, and there was no outbuilding to which Rich could
+obtain access except the pig-sty. That was merely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> buttoned on the
+outside. But this was too far from the house to suit his purpose, and
+moreover, exposed to the observation of Dan, while milking, who was
+always the first one up in the house.</p>
+
+<p>Dan was full of energy. His custom was to wake early, go directly to the
+barn-yard, milk, bring the milk in, call the girl to strain it, and then
+start off with the cows to pasture, returning by breakfast time. Rich
+was familiar with the habits of Dan, and while deliberating with respect
+to some place of concealment, was startled by hearing him shove back the
+bolt of the end door. Close to the steps grew a large lilac bush, and
+near that was a pile of apple-tree brush that had been hauled out of the
+orchard. Rich ran behind the pile, and crouched to the ground, watching
+Dan as he came out, rubbing his eyes, and the moment he saw him sit down
+to a cow, crawled through the lilac bush, and stole quietly to his room.
+Pulling off the boot, he washed the gravel and dust from his foot, flung
+himself upon the bed, and sank into a slumber so profound that Dan,
+unable to arouse his teacher, at breakfast time, by knocking on the
+door, was compelled to enter, and shake him.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed, indeed, as though the complications connected with this
+fruitless undertaking were never to have an end. Scarcely were they
+seated at the breakfast table, when Mrs. Clemens observed—</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Richardson, you look pale and worn out. I fear you passed a
+sleepless night. Daniel said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> you were lying on the outside of the bed,
+with your clothes on, when he went to call you. Will you not have an
+alum curd on your foot this morning? It is so cleansing."</p>
+
+<p>"I think there is no need, Mrs. Clemens. A bruise in that place must be
+more or less painful for a time. I slept very soundly indeed this
+morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I shall insist upon Daniel's taking you to school with the horse.
+He is in the barn."</p>
+
+<p>"You are very kind, and I shall esteem it a great favor; and if you
+please I will take a luncheon, and Daniel can bring me back at night;
+for I scarcely feel equal to the walk."</p>
+
+<p>No sooner was this offer disposed of than Dan said,—</p>
+
+<p>"Mother, did you hear anybody prowling round the house last night?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, my dear: why do you ask?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because the shovel is gone; somebody must have stole it."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps it is mislaid."</p>
+
+<p>"No, it ain't; I have looked everywhere. I wanted it to clean the barn."</p>
+
+<p>"I heard Rover barking dreadfully this morning; it waked me up. Did you
+hear anybody round the house, Mr. Richardson? Being kept awake by your
+wound, you would be more likely to hear any strange noise."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Mrs. Clemens,—ahem!—indeed, I think<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> there was some one went
+out of the yard last night."</p>
+
+<p>"That's it, mother; and that's who Rover was barking at."</p>
+
+<p>"But how could they get into the barn?"</p>
+
+<p>"They might have a key, and unlock the padlock. Most anything will
+unlock a padlock. But you must get another shovel, mother."</p>
+
+<p>"We will wait awhile. It may come to light,—might get into that load of
+hay I sold,—be pitched up out of the floor with the hay. Mr.
+Richardson, your face seems flushed; does your foot pain you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am; it is quite easy now."</p>
+
+<p>The excessive soreness of Richardson's foot was occasioned by his use,
+or rather abuse of it. But it recovered rapidly as soon as he began to
+afford it rest, and make the proper applications. After enjoying a good
+night's sleep, he told Mrs. Clemens he would like the loan of the horse,
+to ride over to the next town after school at night, call on Perk, and
+return in the evening. The next morning, when Dan went to feed the pigs,
+the shovel was lying in the pig's bed, half covered in straw.</p>
+
+<p>"I told you it would come to light, Daniel. You used it to clean the
+pig-pen, and left it there. The pigs threw it down, and rooted the straw
+over it."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't, mother. Haven't cleaned the pig-pen. Mr. Richardson does
+that; I am afraid of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> the pigs. Somebody stole it, and brought it back."</p>
+
+<p>"Borrowed it, you mean, my dear. You should never make such
+accusations."</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Ryan laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks when, some time
+afterwards, Rich told him the result of his efforts to obtain the leg.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the first time I ever attempted anything of the kind," said Rich;
+"it shall be the last. I'll stick to dogs, cats, and rabbits till I have
+money to procure what I need."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span>CHAPTER XXI.</span> <span class="smaller">PROGRESS AND PREJUDICE.</span></h2>
+
+<p>There was a mystery connected with Richardson's lameness that the
+village gossips could never fathom. He was too important a personage to
+escape comment. It was well known that he was so lame as to be compelled
+to ride to school on three consecutive days; and yet Sam Waterhouse
+declared he met him and talked with him at the old graveyard at three
+o'clock on the morning he put his foot in the trap, and that he did not
+appear to be much lame. Sam, however, was in the habit of drinking too
+freely of New England rum, and always took a jug with him when on the
+road; thus the majority, after a while, concluded Waterhouse had made
+too free with the contents of his jug, and imagined it all.</p>
+
+<p>Rich, after this, assisted in several important operations in which the
+two doctors were engaged. He likewise, when he could do it and not
+interfere with his school, opened sores, administered medicines, let
+blood, and dressed wounds, at the request of Dr. Ryan, who lost no
+opportunity of bringing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> him forward, and became more and more attached
+to him every day.</p>
+
+<p>When bones were to be set, Dr. Ryan, if the fracture was in any respect
+a bad one, sent for Dr. Slaughter; but, as his own practice was large,
+often relinquished the subsequent care of the fracture to Rich, and paid
+him for it. In this manner, and by rigid economy, he was enabled to lay
+by a considerable sum, besides purchasing some necessary instruments and
+books.</p>
+
+<p>The good doctor was well aware that whenever he left the care of a
+patient to Rich, whether it was a case of disease, or a wound, or broken
+bone, that he practised a treatment quite different from the established
+method; but as the patients generally did well, he made no troublesome
+inquiries, and even turned a deaf ear to the hints of Dr. Slaughter in
+respect to innovations upon the good old substantial practice.</p>
+
+<p>It was very hot weather, the middle of August, and a lad of seventeen
+received a terrible cut in his thigh, by coming too near his father
+while he was mowing oats. Dr. Ryan was away from home, attending the
+funeral of a near relative in a distant town; the family instantly sent
+for Rich. The wound, fortunately, was worse in appearance than reality,
+as no artery was severed, though the gash presented a most formidable
+appearance to inexperienced persons, and the parents were very much
+alarmed.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p><p>Rich quieted their fears, stopped the bleeding, cleansed, bound up, and
+dressed the wound. It was several days before the doctor returned. The
+first time he rode out to visit his patients, he encountered on the road
+an old acquaintance, but by no means a favorite of his, Miss Nelly
+Buckminster. Miss Nelly was a spinster, lived by herself in a small
+house left to her by her parents, and gained a livelihood by taking in
+spinning, weaving, and plain sewing; occasionally kept house for anybody
+who could endure her tongue, for she was an inveterate talker, and held
+very decided opinions upon all subjects. In other respects she was an
+excellent housekeeper, neat, industrious, economical, and an excellent
+cook.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Nelly was very religious, exceedingly so; but her piety was of the
+vociferous, rather than of the introspective cast. She was the recipient
+of many presents. Some gave her because they thought her a very good
+though rather peculiar woman, some because they were afraid of her
+tongue, others because they knew she would tell of it from Dan to
+Beersheba. We think it must have been the reasons assigned that
+influenced so many persons to make presents to Nelly, because there was
+not the least satisfaction to be derived from the act itself, as Nelly,
+in expressing her gratitude and sense of obligation—which she never
+failed to do—always ignored second causes, and paid her respects to the
+Most High.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span></p><p>This might have been—undoubtedly was—good theology, but it was of the
+nutmeg-grater variety, and altogether corrosive in both quality and
+operation; for when persons bestow gifts, influenced by the purest
+motives, some manifestation of gratitude is pleasant, and generally
+expected; but no person ever received any from Nelly; her gratitude was
+ever directed over the heads of the <i>instrumentalities</i> to the
+<i>efficient</i> cause, which was not merely sound doctrine and
+<i>conservative</i>, but did away at once with all troublesome sense of
+obligation or return in kind.</p>
+
+<p>Squire Dresser once sent her by the hand of his son a bushel of Indian
+meal. Henry knocked at the door, and gave her the bag of meal, saying,—</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Buckminster, here is a bushel of flour my father sent you, and
+he'll call some time when he's going by to mill, and get the bag."</p>
+
+<p>"No thanks to Squire Dresser; thanks to the Lord; 'twas the Lord sent
+it, and not the squire."</p>
+
+<p>Henry had made the interview as brief as possible, in order to escape an
+exhortation on the subject of personal piety, that Nelly was in the
+habit of administering to him whenever he came to her house of an
+errand, and which altogether failed of producing any good impression,
+because he did not like her, and by reason of the snappish way in which
+she flung it at him.</p>
+
+<p>Finding he had in his haste made a mistake, he went back and said,—</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p><p>"Miss Buckminster, I made a mistake. 'Tis Indian and not wheat meal
+that father sent you."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Indian!</i> I should like to know what he sent <i>Indian</i> for!"</p>
+
+<p>This curt reply made a good deal of sport among the neighbors.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe the <i>Lord</i> will send her anything again very soon,"
+said Squire Dresser.</p>
+
+<p>"The old proverb is, 'Never look a gift horse in the mouth;' but she
+presumes to find fault with the gifts of the Lord, tells what <i>he</i>
+should send and what not."</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Ryan, who dearly loved good living, tempted by her unrivalled skill
+as a cook, and confiding in his good temper and the soundness of his
+nerves, once employed Nelly to keep house for him. She was possessed of
+a very vivid imagination, and in the habit of cautioning people against
+doing things they never entertained the thought of doing.</p>
+
+<p>It was cold, sharp weather, and the doctor had a small dog that was very
+fond of stretching out on the hearth before the andirons. One day the
+doctor came in, chilled from a long ride and stood warming himself; the
+dog lay stretched at full length between him and the fire.</p>
+
+<p>"There! you'll kick that dog into the fire—I know you will!" screamed
+Nelly.</p>
+
+<p>"So I will, then," said the doctor, and kicked him under the forestick.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p><p>Nelly never cautioned the doctor any more.</p>
+
+<p>In some respects it was difficult to reconcile her professions with her
+practice: for instance, she always said in the prayer-meeting that it
+was a great cross for her to rise and speak; whereas it was the settled
+opinion of all who knew her that it would be a much greater cross for
+her to hold her tongue, and Captain Motley said,—</p>
+
+<p>"If you nailed her down to the bench with ten-penny nails, she'd rise
+and take it up with her."</p>
+
+<p>She always disliked people whom everybody else loved and respected,
+called it <i>man-worship</i>, therefore didn't like Rich, couldn't bear him.
+Dr. Ryan said, it was a good thing for Richardson; he ought to have one
+ill-wisher, to take the curse off.</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor, good mornin'."</p>
+
+<p>"Good morning, Nelly."</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor, you never should ought to step your two feet out of this
+village. Dreadful works, dreadful, since you've been away. Doctor, what
+do you think this wicked world is comin' to? Errors in doctrine, new
+lights rampaging round, turnin' things upside down; errors in doctorin,'
+as though folks couldn't die fast enough themselves. Destruction to soul
+and body both."</p>
+
+<p>"I expect it is coming to an end, Nelly."</p>
+
+<p>"When, doctor? Any ways soon? 'Cause we ought to be on our watch guards,
+a girdin' up our loins and preparin'."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p><p>"O, no; I guess 'twill outlast you and me, and a good many other
+people. But what is the trouble now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Trouble enough. Do you know, David Ryan, what a viper yer a nourishin'
+in yer buzom? Do you know it, David Ryan? 'Cause if you don't, it's high
+time you did. Do you know what that young snipper-snapper of a
+Richardson is, that's allowed for to lead the singin' in the Lord's
+house? The gals is all taken with his good looks, and the men with his
+'ily tongue. But I tell you he's a—"</p>
+
+<p>Here Nelly thrust her tongue into her cheek, and looked unutterable
+things.</p>
+
+<p>"I know he's a young man of true piety, most affectionate disposition,
+and remarkable ability, and I won't hear a word said against him by you
+or anybody else."</p>
+
+<p>"Jist like Deacon Starkweather; he's deceived yer both, pulled the wool
+over both yer eyes. I tell you he's a—"</p>
+
+<p>"A what? Come, out with it. I don't like this stabbing in the dark.
+Speak out."</p>
+
+<p>"He's a <i>new light</i>, a pestilent, pizen, <i>new light</i>," shouted Nelly,
+with an emphasis she expected would throw the doctor from his horse. But
+he stood the shock unmoved, and merely laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"It's no laughin' matter. There's John Tukey's boy cut hisself awful
+with a scythe, and that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>snipper-snapper, don't you think, did it up in
+<i>cold water</i>, nothin' else, instead of wrappin' it up in new rum, or rum
+and wormwood, or salve, as you would have done, and keepin' it warm.
+Enough to make him ketch his death a cold!"</p>
+
+<p>"Is he not doing well enough?"</p>
+
+<p>"Doin' well enough! The awfullest sight of <i>proud</i> flesh; it was a sight
+to behold. I was there when old Granma'am Tyler put on her specs and
+looked at it. She exclaimed right out. Says she, 'That wound will never
+heal in this varsal world, with all that ere <i>proud</i> flesh in it,
+Matilda,' says she (that's the boy's mother). 'Let me put on some burnt
+alum, to eat out that proud flesh.' Matilda made answer, 'I should like
+to have you, granma'am.' Then the boy up and says, 'No, she shan't.'
+'Some red precipitate, then, dear, and hog's lard.' No, he wouldn't have
+that. 'Some spruce gum, then.' No, he wouldn't have anything; nobody
+should consarn with it or touch it but Mr. Richardson; he knew more than
+Granny Tyler and all the old women in town."</p>
+
+<p>"I rather think the boy was right."</p>
+
+<p>"Right! That little <i>snipper-snapper</i>, that brought an ungodly <i>fiddle</i>
+into the <i>sanctuary</i> on the <i>Lord's</i> day, know more'n <i>Granny Tyler</i>, an
+experienced woman in sickness, and that's brought up a large family of
+children! What do you s'pose he said when he came the next day, and
+Matilda told him what Granny Tyler said? He jist laughed, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> said all
+the proud flesh there was wouldn't hinder it from healing. Much he
+knows, to say proud flesh wouldn't hinder a cut from healing! Them's the
+very identical words he used. I'll stan' to it till my <i>dyin' day</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"I have not the least doubt he said so."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, doctor, I hope you'll go right in there, and put things to
+rights, 'cause the old folks'll hear to you, and the boy'll hear to you;
+and if you don't, perhaps the proud flesh'll grow worser and mortify;
+'cause granny said a sore never would heal as long's there was one mite
+of proud flesh in it; and if the boy should die, you'll be 'countable,
+sartainly."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't go in; I've a long ride to another part of the town before me."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you'll see, mark my word for it, there'll be trouble grow out of
+this."</p>
+
+<p>The doctor had lost, in the course of his practice, several patients
+from gangrene occasioned by the load of poultices, ointments, and
+bandages it was then customary to apply, and he had some suspicions
+whether there might not be some mistake in the old practice, and
+resolved to permit Rich to manage matters as he thought best, having so
+much confidence in his judgment and discretion that he felt sure he
+would come to him for advice and consultation if the wound was
+manifesting any unfavorable symptoms.</p>
+
+<p>We have no doubt our young readers share to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> the full the confidence of
+the doctor in both the ability and discretion of Rich; still it seems as
+though it were well to say a few words in his behalf, and in
+explanation.</p>
+
+<p>Clean cuts, when the two sides of the wound can be brought together
+directly, sometimes heal without any inflammation or suppuration; as it
+were, stick right together. But when the parts cannot be brought
+together at once, and are exposed to the external air, even if bandaged,
+there will be inflammation, and then the wound heals by a natural
+process, called by physicians "granulation."</p>
+
+<p>It was thus in the present instance. The boy and his father had taken a
+field of oats to mow and harvest, a long distance from home, and the
+wound had been some time exposed to the air, and by reason of the part
+of the body in which it was situated could not be brought together so
+closely as to cause it thus to heal by what surgeons call the "first
+intention," and adhesive inflammation occurred, as is always the case
+when wounded surfaces are not brought in contact at once.</p>
+
+<p>The process is this. In consequence of the inflammation which then takes
+place, a yellow jelly-like substance is effused, covering the surfaces
+of the wound, called fibrin; veins and arteries from the sound flesh
+shoot into this, it becomes organized, another layer is thrown out,
+which in its turn passes through the same process; but now begins
+another step in the progress. From this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> organized fibrin spring
+innumerable little pointed cones, similar to the kernels of rice corn,
+at first of a pale red, becoming more florid as they increase in age,
+into which arteries and veins thrust themselves. These are the
+granulations. They have nerves and blood-vessels, are therefore alive,
+and when healthy, sensitive; and they likewise possess a disposition to
+unite, and when the two surfaces of a wound covered with granulations
+come in contact, the blood-vessels of one penetrate the other, they
+amalgamate and form flesh.</p>
+
+<p>As they increase they contract, thus both filling the cavity and drawing
+the lips of the wound together, till, when it heals, the scar occupies
+much less space than the original cut. This process takes place when the
+granulations are healthy, and almost, but not completely, fill the
+wound, being a grain lower than the surface of the skin, and manifesting
+a disposition to glaze over.</p>
+
+<p>At other times they are coarse, of large size, the points blunt, are
+spongy, pale, or blue, show no tendency to skin over, and puff up above
+the surface of the sound flesh, which swells and is inflamed. Physicians
+denominate these granulations fungus, it being found from experience
+that whenever granulations rise higher than the level of the surrounding
+surface they are not likely to form skin. This, among people in general,
+from the appearance, probably, goes by the name of <i>proud</i> flesh.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p><p>The old matrons cherished a mortal dread of proud flesh. They would put
+on their spectacles, look carefully at the wound, hold up both hands,
+and exclaim with alarm, "<i>Proud</i> flesh!" often times when only the
+proper amount of granulations was present, and they had numerous
+specifics for its removal—spruce gum, burnt alum, the ashes of oak
+bark, nutgalls, and red precipitate. But in their zeal to extirpate
+proud flesh, and, as they termed it, <i>do</i> something, they sometimes used
+little discrimination, and made war upon healthy material.</p>
+
+<p>The particular thing that seemed to lie with the greatest weight upon
+the minds of the ancient dames and Miss Buckminster was, that, according
+to them, Rich was <i>doing nothing</i> for the poor lad. He was neither
+bleeding him, physicking him, putting on salves and heavy bandages, nor
+anything to kill the <i>proud</i> flesh. They made such a fuss that at last
+the boy, who had hitherto reposed the greatest confidence in his young
+physician, became a little <i>nervous</i>, and told Rich what the matrons
+said.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear boy," said he, "there is very little <i>to</i> be <i>done</i>. What these
+good women call <i>proud</i> flesh is a <i>healthy</i> growth, the rudiments of
+new flesh, and without it your wound would <i>never</i> heal. It is no more
+in my power, or that of any other person, to heal your flesh than to
+make one hair white or black. Nature and time will do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> that. The
+inflammation has passed off, and the wound is healing. All that can be
+done is to keep the parts cool, defend them from the air, sustain your
+strength by a proper diet, and keep you quiet. The less you move, the
+faster your leg will heal; and as for bleeding, you have lost too much
+blood already from the cut."</p>
+
+<p>The lad, after this, dismissing his anxieties, concerned himself no more
+about the proud flesh or the fears and prognostications of the matrons.</p>
+
+<p>The patient in due time recovered, greatly to the satisfaction of Dr.
+Ryan. It also increased the reputation of Rich, though Miss Buckminster
+declared that "the boy should ought to have died of mortification or
+lockjaw, but the <i>Lord</i> overruled it and spared him for some good end,
+spite of the new-fangled doctor."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span>CHAPTER XXII.</span> <span class="smaller">SUITING MEANS TO ENDS.</span></h2>
+
+<p>The early frosts had now commenced. The glory of summer was succeeded by
+the maturity of autumn, and in the valleys here and there the white
+maples and ash began to assume their yellow and crimson hues. The
+diseases incident to the period of the year were prevalent, and Dr. Ryan
+was riding night and day.</p>
+
+<p>As Richardson was passing the doctor's house on his way from school in
+the afternoon, the latter called to him, and said,—</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Richardson, I wish you would do me a favor. I am just about to step
+into my gig to visit a person taken with the bilious colic, in great
+distress, and a man has this moment gone from the door who wants me to
+go to see Mr. Jonathan Davis, who has cut off the tendon Achillis
+(heel-cord) with an adze; a clean cut. Can't you get on the back of the
+other horse, and take care of Mr. Davis?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir. I'll leave my books in your office, and be right off."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p><p>"But you'll want some supper."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll eat there after I get through."</p>
+
+<p>Davis kept a good stock of tools, made his wheels, harrows, yokes, and
+other farming tools, and some for his neighbors. In working with an adze
+between his feet, the instrument glanced, and the corner of it severed
+the tendon of his left leg.</p>
+
+<p>The Achillis tendon is large, and connected with a very strong muscle,
+as it sustains a great strain when the foot is thrown forward, and the
+weight of the body, perhaps with the addition of some burden on the
+shoulder, raised by it; and when broken or cut, the strong muscles of
+which it is a prolongation, cause it to contract very much.</p>
+
+<p>Farmer Davis was a member of the choir, much attached to Rich; and,
+though he was somewhat disappointed at not seeing Dr. Ryan, his old
+physician, yet there was probably not a person in the town to whom Rich
+could have been sent upon such an errand where he would have found less
+of prejudice to contend with, either in respect to his youth, lack of
+experience, or any new-fangled notions he might have the reputation of
+entertaining.</p>
+
+<p>"Good afternoon, Mr. Davis. I am sorry for your injury, and also that
+Dr. Ryan could not come. I expect you will hardly care to see so poor a
+substitute; but I feared there might be some artery cut, and knew you
+needed prompt attention."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span></p><p>Farmer Davis was quite a different person from Miss Buckminster in many
+other respects besides gender, being a most skilful mechanic, and an
+intelligent, clear-headed man.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Mr. Richardson," he replied, "you know very well you're as
+welcome to my house as flowers in May; and as for this business of the
+leg, I don't believe that Dr. Ryan, who's doctored my family and my
+father's afore me, would have sent you if he hadn't known you was
+capable; and if he had, I don't believe, if you hadn't thought you knew
+what was to be done and how to do it, you'd have come."</p>
+
+<p>"I have come to do the best I can, which is very little, as this is a
+case where art can do but little to assist nature; but if you feel any
+hesitation, say so; the horse is at the door; I'll go get Dr.
+Slaughter."</p>
+
+<p>"Won't have him; he's no better than a <i>butcher</i>. Go ahead, Mr.
+Richardson. There must be a first time with every man. I believe the
+first pair of wheels I ever made were as good and well finished up as
+any I've made since, 'cause I took more pains; and I've heern old
+Captain Deering say that 'a green hand that's just learning to steer a
+vessel will oftentimes steer better'n an old sailor, 'cause the old
+fellow is careless; but t'other's scared to death all the time, and puts
+his whole soul into it.'"</p>
+
+<p>After examining the wound, Rich said,—</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p><p>"There are two methods of treating this injury, the old method and the
+new. I will explain both of them; you may then take your choice, and I
+will follow your directions."</p>
+
+<p>"That's fair. Let's hear."</p>
+
+<p>"You see all the tendons play in a sheath, which is fixed, and the
+tendons play back and forth in it."</p>
+
+<p>"Just like a spyglass, one part shoves into the other."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. And they are all on the stretch, like a piece of rubber drawn out,
+and when they are cut, the contraction of the muscles draws the two ends
+apart. The muscles in the upper part of the leg have drawn one end of
+this heel-cord up into its sheath, and the muscles on the forward part
+of the leg, by bending the foot back, have drawn the other end down into
+its sheath. Now, the old method, that which Dr. Slaughter and Dr. Ryan
+both would pursue, is to search in the sheath, get hold of the ends of
+the cord, and sew them together, which in your case would involve the
+necessity of cutting to accomplish it."</p>
+
+<p>"I understand that. Now what is the new fashion?"</p>
+
+<p>"The old physicians thought a tendon could not unite unless the ends
+touched, and so used to sew them together. But it has been since proved
+by experiment that although it is well to bring the ends of the tendon
+as near to each other as can well<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> be done, they will unite even if they
+are half an inch or an inch apart."</p>
+
+<p>"How can they grow together if they don't touch?"</p>
+
+<p>"A liquid substance exudes from the surrounding vessels, fills the
+sheath, thickens into a jelly, then becomes a callous, grows to the two
+ends, forms a bunch, and in time shrinks up and becomes just like the
+rest of the tendon."</p>
+
+<p>"How did they find that out?"</p>
+
+<p>"Men have broken the tendon and wouldn't have their leg cut open to
+stitch the ends together, but kept still, had splints put on, and the
+ends brought as near as possible in that way, got well, and recovered
+the use of the limb. If there's no need of cutting a hole in a sound leg
+to sew a tendon together, there's no need of sewing one when a hole is
+already cut, or of cutting it larger to get at it."</p>
+
+<p>"That stands to reason. So go ahead. I don't see why there shouldn't be
+improvements in doctoring as well as in everything else. My father
+winnowed his grain in a half a bushel, and had to wait for the wind. I
+winnow mine when I get ready, and raise my own wind with the machine."</p>
+
+<p>Rich bent the leg on the thigh, so as to relax the muscles in the calf
+of the leg as much as possible, then with his hands worked down the
+calf, bringing the upper end of the tendon down, and put a bandage
+around to confine the muscles and keep them from retracting; brought the
+foot forward<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> in order to bring the lower end of the tendon up, and
+employed an assistant to keep it so.</p>
+
+<p>In the mean time he went into Mr. Davis's shop, where he found tools,
+selected a sweeping piece of wood, and in a very few moments made a
+splint of sufficient length to extend from just below the knee to the
+toes, and that by its elliptical form partially filled the angle made by
+the foot and leg; he then padded the space between it and the flesh,
+fastened it to the leg and toes in such a manner as to keep the foot
+extended and prevent the patient from involuntarily moving the muscles.
+He now could feel the ends of the tendon, and ascertained, much to his
+satisfaction, that they were very nearly in contact. He now said,—</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Davis, the space between the extremities of this tendon is very
+small, consequently there is so much less new matter to be formed. You
+will not suffer much pain, but you will sustain a great trial of your
+patience, more than though your leg was broken, for then you would feel
+compelled to lie still. The rapidity and thoroughness of your cure will
+be in proportion to the patience you exercise, and the degree of care
+you take in respect to those motions absolutely necessary. It will be
+six weeks or more before this new substance I have been speaking of will
+form between the ends, and many months before you can place much strain
+upon the tendon."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span></p><p>"Shall I have to lie in bed long?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; but you must keep perfectly still for a while. You will not be able
+to wear this splint long. It is only extemporized for the occasion. I'll
+make something better to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>The second day, after school hours, Richardson visited his patient
+again, and directed Mrs. Davis to make a shoe of carpeting,
+slipper-fashion, leaving the toe a little open, to prevent galling, and
+sewing a strap to the heel of it. This he fastened to a bandage around
+the leg above the calf, which took the place of the splint, kept the
+heel back, the foot forward, and the ends of the tendon in their place,
+and was much more comfortable for the patient.</p>
+
+<p>Farmer Davis in eight weeks was relieved from the slipper, strap, and
+bandage during the night, putting them on in the daytime, and began to
+walk with a cane. There was a bunch on the tendon the size of a robin's
+egg, which gradually disappeared; and in four months the limb was as
+serviceable as ever.</p>
+
+<p>When, a fortnight after the event, Dr. Ryan ascertained that Rich had
+merely brought the ends of the tendon within half an inch, and let it go
+at that, he shook his head, looked anxious, but said nothing. Dr.
+Slaughter was not so reticent, and declared the parts would never unite,
+but grow to the sheath, and the man be lame for life.</p>
+
+<p>Richardson now pursued the even tenor of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> way, without the least
+interruption till the middle of the winter, when he was called to old
+Mr. Avery, a shingle weaver, who had cut himself with his draw-shave.
+The wound bled a great deal before Richardson arrived, and the patient
+being an old man, it healed very slowly. Avery became impatient, and
+thought his physician was not doing enough. Rich, unable to convince
+him, as he was a very ignorant and obstinate man, that the process of
+healing must necessarily be slow, on account of his age, and that nature
+must do the work, called in Dr. Ryan, who confirmed the judgment of Rich
+and approved his method, but the patient not convinced, fussed and
+fretted, said Rich "was <i>doing nothing</i>," and talked about "sending for
+Dr. Slaughter." Rich, at his wits' end, and not relishing the idea of
+having a patient taken out of his hands, cast about for some way of
+keeping him quiet.</p>
+
+<p>At length, in a wakeful hour of the night, he bethought himself of a
+means of relief, suggested by something he had read in one of the old
+romances while in college, and the next day proceeded to put it in
+practice.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Avery," he said, "I think I have discovered something that will be
+just the thing you need, and answer the purpose completely."</p>
+
+<p>"Do let me know it, then, right off. I ought to be at work in the shop
+this minute."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think the draw-shave that you cut<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> yourself with has been used
+since? Because if it has, nothing can be done, and the charm will be
+broken."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I know it 'tain't; 'cause I laid it across the horse, and the
+shop's been locked up ever sence. Then you can charm; that's something
+like. There was a woman in this town could charm; but she died four year
+ago; and she didn't give her power to anybody. They say they kin, if
+they like, give it to anybody else, that is, if they're a seventh son or
+darter, not without."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't believe that nonsense, I hope."</p>
+
+<p>"Sartain sure I do. I <i>know</i> that woman could charm. But you doctors
+never believe anything you don't do yourselves, or don't read in a book;
+but that's nuther here nor there. What is it you've found out?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Mr. Avery, the ancient wise folks, a great many hundred years
+ago, had a custom of applying the rust of the weapon or tool that made
+the wound to it; or, if there was no rust, of making the applications to
+the instrument; and by some secret, mysterious influence, as they held,
+the wound was healed."</p>
+
+<p>"There, now, that stan's to reason. You've said somethin' to the p'int
+now. I believe in them ere things what's handed down from the old
+forefathers. I tell you they forgot more'n we ever knew. These things
+what's handed down, they're sperience, they ain't guesswork. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>
+Indians can cure cancers, but the white doctors can't. Mercy Jane, you
+git the key out of my westcoat pocket, and bring in that ere draw-shave;
+it's laying across the horse."</p>
+
+<p>When the draw-shave was brought; to the great satisfaction both of Rich
+and his patient, considerable rust was found on the edge. Avery had
+ground it the afternoon he cut himself, and only drawn a few strokes
+before he inflicted the wound, and the water from the grinding, still on
+the edge, caused it, after lying, to rust. Rich, carefully scraping the
+rust from the tool (about enough to cover the point of a penknife),
+applied it to the wound. He next produced several large plasters of
+different colors, red, black, green, blue, and yellow.</p>
+
+<p>"What are them plasters spread with?" said the patient.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, Mr. Avery, that is an affair of my own."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll warrant it. That's allers the way with doctors."</p>
+
+<p>"Neither will I apply it, or go one step farther, unless you will
+solemnly promise me that you will observe strictly my directions as to
+diet, and stay in your bed or your chair, and keep the limb still."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I will, I sartainly will. I'll do jist zactly as you tell me to."</p>
+
+<p>"See that you don't forget it the moment I am out of the room; if you
+do, it will be the worse for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> you, that's all, for those are plasters of
+tremendous power, and if you do not, you will have something horribilis,
+aspectu horridus, detestabilis, abominandus."</p>
+
+<p>Rich held up his hands in horror and made an awful face. They were
+indeed of tremendous power, and had they been applied to his flesh
+instead of to the draw-shave, would soon have put him beyond the cares
+and trials of this stormy life. One, the green, was made of hog's lard,
+beef tallow, and verdigris; the blue, of beeswax, linseed oil, and
+Prussian blue; the black, of the same materials, colored with lampblack;
+the red, with vermilion, a mercurial compound, quicksilver, and sulphur;
+and the yellow with gamboge. Rich now produced several large rolls of
+bandages, and, after strewing the plasters with brick dust, applied them
+to the knife, and then enveloped the whole in fold over fold of the
+bandage, till the knife was as large as a man's thigh.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," he said to Mrs. Avery, "this must be put where no rat, mouse,
+cat, or any other creature can get at it."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure," said she, "I don't know of any safer place than the oven.
+We've got two; and one I don't use often."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, put it in the oven."</p>
+
+<p>After Rich left, Avery said,—</p>
+
+<p>"Wife, Mr. Richardson knows a lot; he'll make a great doctor."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p><p>"I expect he will. But, husband, you must keep still, and do jist as he
+told you, and mustn't hanker after pork and beans. You know what he
+said—'if you didn't, it would be worser for you.' And what them awful
+outlandish words meant I don't know; but I expect they meant you'd die
+right off if you didn't do everything jist as he said."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I mean to keep as still as a mouse. You must tell me when I
+don't."</p>
+
+<p>When Rich again visited his patient, he said,—</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Avery, there has been a very marked improvement in your leg, and it
+will soon be well, if you continue to follow implicitly my directions."</p>
+
+<p>"I knew that would do the business. It begun to feel better the minute
+you put them ere plasters on to the draw-shave."</p>
+
+<p>In a short time it was well; and, lest our young readers should
+attribute the cure to the wrong means, we would say that, Mr. Avery
+being in years, his flesh healed slowly, and, as he was of a nervous
+temperament, kept irritating his wound all the time by motion, and
+refused to govern his appetite. This conduct aggravated the difficulty.
+Whereas his faith in the strange remedy appealing to the superstitious
+sentiments of his nature, and fear of the terrible consequences couched
+under the Latin of Rich, kept him quiet, and effected the cure by giving
+nature time to operate.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p><p>Rich had now accumulated a little money, and resolved to visit his
+patients, attend medical lectures at Brunswick, and see Morton on his
+way. He accordingly employed Perk to finish out the term, as part of the
+period of his absence would be during the vacation. As his funds were by
+no means excessive, he made the journey on foot, with the exception of a
+few miles of the first part of the way, over which he was carried by Dan
+Clemens.</p>
+
+<p>It was near night on the second day, and Rich, weary, hungry, and
+foot-sore, had been for some time expecting to come in sight of a
+village where was a tavern; but none appeared. At length his patience
+was exhausted, and arriving at a substantial-looking farm-house, he
+knocked, and inquired of the farmer, who came at the summons, how far it
+was to the next tavern.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, 'tis good three miles; yes, strong that." But noticing the
+disappointed look of Rich, said, "Young man, you look tired. If you'll
+stop with me, you shall be welcome to such as we have."</p>
+
+<p>Rich gladly accepted the invitation, and was ushered into the kitchen,
+where he found the farmer's family, consisting of his wife, two sons,
+and two daughters. One of the daughters immediately rose, pulled the
+table into the floor, put on the tea-kettle, and, as Rich thought (who
+was very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> hungry, for he had eaten since morning only a luncheon),
+provided a meal about as speedily as he had ever seen it done in his
+life.</p>
+
+<p>"My mother," thought he, "couldn't do better than that."</p>
+
+<p>Rich was at first surprised that neither the mother nor elder sister
+gave any assistance to this young woman in preparing an extra meal, but
+continued their sewing. He afterwards, however, ascertained that the
+thrifty mother brought up her daughters to take their week around in the
+kitchen doing the cooking; and that it was this daughter's week. After
+making ready for Rich, she began to iron at a table in the corner of the
+room, and when he finished, cleared away the dishes, and resumed her
+ironing. He was very much struck with the domestic accomplishments of
+the young woman, and thought her extremely good-looking; but this might
+be owing to the fact, that, being very hungry, he felt grateful for a
+bountiful meal so speedily provided; his habits of thought as a
+physician also led him to notice that she was well-formed and in fine
+health.</p>
+
+<p>His boots off, seated before a cheerful fire, and well fed, Rich forgot
+his fatigue, and passed a most pleasant evening. He endeavored several
+times to draw into conversation Miss Caroline; but she stuck to her
+ironing, and merely replied to his questions politely.</p>
+
+<p>At bed-time he said to the farmer,—</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span></p><p>"Mr. Conant, I will settle with you before I go to bed, as I mean to
+start by sunrise."</p>
+
+<p>"But you will not start on a day's walk without breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>"I will get my breakfast at the next village. That will divide the
+forenoon about right; and after walking three miles I shall be 'sharp
+set' for eating."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Richardson, I can contrive better than that. I shan't take a cent
+for your keeping, and William will put the horse in the sleigh and take
+you to the village. He was going to start early to carry something to
+market there. You will have your breakfast, and be well started on your
+journey, and when you come back, make it in your way to call here. We
+shall be right pleased to see you. I'll give you a lift on your way."</p>
+
+<p>The next morning Rich was up by break of day, and found that William had
+harnessed the horse, and Caroline had the breakfast ready. He now found
+her rather less reserved, and went away with a most favorable impression
+of her intelligence.</p>
+
+<p>After a very delightful visit at home, where he found everything
+pleasant and prosperous, his parents on the original homestead, with
+every prospect of soon owning it, seeing Morton and enjoying a glorious
+time with him, by some singular combination of circumstances he was
+again overtaken by night at farmer Conant's door when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> it never looked
+more like a storm, which indeed came that night, and Rich was obliged to
+stay there two days, which, however, passed very pleasantly.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span>CHAPTER XXIII.</span> <span class="smaller">THE TURN OF THE TIDE.</span></h2>
+
+<p>When Rich returned, shortly after the commencement of the summer term,
+he was joyfully welcomed by his pupils. In the course of ten days he
+received a box by the stage, of quite modest proportions, that was
+instantly transferred to the harness-room, and respecting the reception
+of which Rich seemed very much interested, having been several times to
+the stage tavern to inquire about it.</p>
+
+<p>This box contained all the bones of the human frame; and no wonder that
+Rich was concerned about their arrival, considering his intense interest
+in the study of anatomy, and furthermore, the low state of his funds,
+and that they cost him but five dollars.</p>
+
+<p>It was customary for the lecturer to procure subjects for dissection (in
+what way was best known to himself), for any students who wished this
+opportunity of private study and dissection, at twenty dollars apiece.
+Rich clubbed with three more and bought one. After they had dissected<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>
+and made a study of the different parts in which each felt most
+specially interested, the bones remained. To secure and put these
+together properly, so as to form an entire and perfect skeleton,
+repairing the damages made by the dissecting saw on the skull, to get at
+the brain, was a great deal of work, and required not only anatomical
+knowledge, but great patience and no small degree of mechanical skill;
+and the other students, who were able to purchase skeletons already
+prepared, and possessed neither the patience nor mechanical ability to
+perform the work, and, moreover, liked Rich, gave him their portion of
+the bones.</p>
+
+<p>To prepare, classify, and wire them together was a most congenial as
+well as profitable occupation to Rich; it fixed the arrangement, names,
+and shape of the bones and articulations in his mind, and also gratified
+his mechanical tastes; and he in the course of the summer accomplished
+the work, during the performance of which his practice in working iron
+stood him in good stead, as he replaced the spinal marrow by an iron
+rod, cut a thread on each end, and made thumb-nuts with which to confine
+the vertebral column.</p>
+
+<p>The fact of his having attended medical lectures at Brunswick, coupled
+with his previous success in some cases of minor importance, increased
+very much the confidence of people in general touching his ability as a
+physician, and he had numerous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> calls, to all of which he turned a deaf
+ear, devoting himself entirely to his scholars and studies.</p>
+
+<p>At length circumstances concurred to place him in a position of great
+perplexity, and one where he was, as it were, compelled to assume a
+responsibility from which he would gladly have been excused. Dan
+Clemens, Frank Merrill, and Horace Williams had natural history, in the
+form of ornithology, "on the brain." If these youngsters didn't sit on
+eggs, they dreamed of them. It would be difficult to mention anything
+they would not do for Rich when the remuneration was a <i>rare bird</i>, shot
+and stuffed.</p>
+
+<p>To be soaked to the skin, and so tired they could scarcely put one foot
+before the other, were pastimes when birds were ahead; and to obtain
+eggs they would venture life and limb. The fatigue of soldiers on a
+forced march was trifling in comparison with what they cheerfully
+endured; and their mothers, during the spring and summer months, were in
+a state of chronic anxiety, expecting nothing less than their being
+brought home with broken bones.</p>
+
+<p>One Saturday afternoon they were all in swimming with a crowd of boys
+who took not the least interest in their favorite study; but one of
+them, while undressing under a leafy elm, at whose roots the boys were
+accustomed to put their clothes, espied the nest of a Baltimore oriole,
+and told Dan, who was in the water with Frank and Horace.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> They
+instantly dressed, and began to look with longing eyes at the nest that
+was pendent from the extremity of a slender branch near the top of the
+tree, and on its southern side.</p>
+
+<p>"We can't get that nest," said Horace, "for we can't climb the tree,
+it's so far to a limb. If we could climb it, the limbs won't bear a
+fellow to reach the nest."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we can," said Dan; "we must have those eggs. You give me a boost.
+I'll bet I can climb it."</p>
+
+<p>"If you do, you can't reach the nest."</p>
+
+<p>"I can tell better after I get there."</p>
+
+<p>Dan did his best, but had to give it up; so did Horace. Frank was the
+best climber of the three, though of lighter weight than the others, and
+less plump—an exceedingly agile and sinewy boy. He did not, however,
+relinquish his efforts and slide reluctantly down the trunk till he was
+within three feet of the lowest limb.</p>
+
+<p>"If you could only boost me up that much I fell short, I could go it,"
+said Frank, "after I rest and get breath."</p>
+
+<p>"Let us," said Dan, "pile up a great heap of stones, one of us stand on
+that, and the rest put Frank's feet on his shoulders."</p>
+
+<p>"No; get some nails and a hammer, and nail some pieces of board on the
+tree," said Horace.</p>
+
+<p>"Zuckers! I know how you can git up," said a barefooted, red-headed boy
+of twelve, whose <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>hat-rim was nearly torn off thrashing bumblebees on
+thistle blossoms, and who didn't go to the academy nor any other school,
+save a few weeks in the winter, and who lived on a farm three miles from
+the village, but had the presumption to come there and go in swimming
+with the academy boys, because it was the best place on the river, and
+who could swim like a fish.</p>
+
+<p>"You shut up," said Frank. "How much do <i>you</i> know about it? And what
+business have <i>you</i> there in <i>our</i> swimming-place?"</p>
+
+<p>"Tain't none of <i>your</i> place, nuther; it's Mr. Seth Hardin's pastur.
+I've good right here's you have. If you touch me, I'll heave a stone at
+your head, and I'll tell our Sam, and he'll give you a lickin'."</p>
+
+<p>"What is the way, bub?" said Dan, too anxious to get the eggs to fling
+away any chance of success. "What do you know about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know our Sam would git up that tree quick as a cat would lick her
+ear, I swanny."</p>
+
+<p>"How, bub?"</p>
+
+<p>"Arter plantin', dad allers gives Sam half a day to go troutin' and git
+elum rine (elm rind) to string our corn, and me and Abigail allers go
+too. Sam takes the axe and starts a strip of bark at the butt of a tree,
+till he can git his hands hold; then he gives it a twitch, and rips it
+up clear to the limbs; then he starts another one till he gits enough.
+Arter that he takes hold of one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> on 'em, and climbs up jist like
+nothin', and cuts 'em all off but one rope that he saves to come down
+on. They break off sometimes when there's a knot-hole; they won't run
+over a knot-hole. Abigail and me has jolly times swingin' on the ropes
+afore he cuts 'em off, and strippin' 'em into twine arter he takes the
+outside bark off, and windin' 'em into big balls."</p>
+
+<p>The inner bark of the elm, cedar, bass, and willow is very strong and
+tough; when peeled from the outside layer and soaked in water it makes a
+very good substitute for twine. Our ancestors were taught the value of
+it by the Indians, and used it to string their corn and bind sheaves,
+and some old-fashioned people have not yet abandoned the practice.
+Getting elm rind and cutting withe rods were always popular with the
+boys, as it gave them part of a holiday.</p>
+
+<p>"That's it," said Dan; "I see it all now. Here, bub."</p>
+
+<p>He gave him three cents, upon which little Red-head put his bare feet to
+the ground and went off at a killing pace.</p>
+
+<p>An axe was procured at Seth Harding's, and a strip of bark peeled from
+the butt of the tree to one of the lower limbs.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us all go up," said Horace. "We will stay in the tree and take the
+nest from Frank. He's the lightest to go out on the limb."</p>
+
+<p>Frank, taking hold of the piece of bark, put his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> legs around the tree,
+and pulled himself up, ascending in this way quite easily. Too impatient
+to wait, Dan and Horace followed suit, all three ascending at the same
+time.</p>
+
+<p>In their haste and anxiety to run the bark as far up as possible, in
+order to reach one of the lower limbs easily, they ran it too far,
+within a few inches of the place where the branch joined the tree. The
+result of this was, that when they were pretty well up the trunk, Frank
+incautiously pressing the bark from the tree with his knees, it started
+the second time and ran out on the limb. Away swung the boys, far off
+from the trunk, in mid-air. The bark kept running narrower and narrower,
+as the limb grew smaller, till, its farther progress being suddenly
+arrested by a number of small limbs, it divided up and broke, while the
+boys came down into the water, amid the shouts and laughter of the rest,
+who were either swimming or putting on their clothes.</p>
+
+<div class="center"><img src="images/i264.jpg" alt="A Slippery Elm" /></div>
+
+<p class="bold"><span class="smcap">A Slippery Elm.</span> Page 266.</p>
+
+<p>Frank escaped without hurt, but he gave Dan a bloody nose with the heels
+of his shoes, while Horace, who was undermost, barked both shins on a
+rock that just broke the surface of the water.</p>
+
+<p>Learning wisdom from experience, they stripped the bark at the next
+trial farther from the limb, ascending one at a time, and met with no
+difficulty. The branch on which the nest hung bent over the river.
+Frank, grasping the branch, put his feet on the one directly beneath it,
+and thus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> gradually worked his way till he came very near the nest, and
+the parent birds began to fly around his head.</p>
+
+<p>But the branch now bent so much that Dan, who had been the most anxious
+to obtain the nest and its contents, begged him to desist and give it
+up; so did Horace; but Frank's blood was up and his pride roused, for
+there was a crowd of boys looking at him.</p>
+
+<p>"If I fall," he said, "I shall fall into the water, and I can swim
+ashore."</p>
+
+<p>At length he could touch the outside of the nest with the tips of his
+fingers.</p>
+
+<p>"O, if my arm was only two inches longer!"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't, Frank," said Dan, "go any farther. It frightens me to see the
+limb bend so."</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely were the words uttered, when the limb upon which he stood broke
+as he was holding to the branch above by only one hand. Reaching after
+the nest with the other, he fell feet foremost into the river, catching
+by the limbs as he went. There were boys still in the water, who,
+instantly swam to him, while Dan and Horace, hurrying down the tree,
+plunged in. Frank kept himself on top of the water, after rising, but
+when the boys reached him, said,—</p>
+
+<p>"I can't swim; I believe my leg is broke. I struck something under
+water, and heard it snap."</p>
+
+<p>It was on a Saturday afternoon that this accident occurred, and Rich had
+embraced the opportunity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> to work upon his bones. He was busily engaged
+in the harness-room, with the door fastened, when he was startled by a
+rousing rap, and the voice of Dan clamoring for admittance. Opening the
+door, he beheld Dan pale and excited, and the face of Mrs. Clemens over
+his shoulder, who manifested no less alarm.</p>
+
+<p>"O, Mr. Richardson!" cried Dan, "Frank's fell off a tree and broke his
+leg. Horace and Mr. Harding have carried him home, and Dr. Ryan has gone
+down there, and wants you to come right down. Mr. Harding said be
+expected they'd cut his leg off. Mr. Richardson, don't let 'em cut poor
+Frank's leg off—will you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hope it won't be necessary," said Rich, as he locked the door; "but
+the doctors will do what they think is for the best."</p>
+
+<p>"Just what I have been expecting all the spring, ever since this
+egg-hunting began. I hope it will be a solemn warning to you, Daniel,"
+said his mother.</p>
+
+<p>It happened very opportunely that this was a day fixed upon by Dr. Ryan
+and his friend, Dr. Slaughter, to remove a tumor, the person being one
+of Dr. Ryan's patients. They had returned, having performed the
+operation, and were at the house in a few moments after the boy was
+brought home, and Richardson was not far behind them.</p>
+
+<p>"You had better strip the limb, Mr. Richardson," said Dr. Ryan; "he is
+more familiar with you."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span></p><p>Rich bared the leg by ripping the clothes at the seam, and the two
+physicians commenced their examination. In his fall the boy had struck
+on the end of a sunken log, the remaining portion being imbedded in the
+bank, and both bones were broken. The tibia (or larger bone) was
+fractured obliquely, the sharp point of the upper end protruding through
+the skin; and the fibula (or smaller bone) probably with a pipe-stem
+fracture (square across.)</p>
+
+<p>The physicians now went into a room apart for consultation, and Rich,
+whom they did not invite to accompany them, employed himself in
+examining the leg, and endeavoring to soothe and encourage the boy.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Slaughter gave it as his opinion, that the limb must be amputated at
+once.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Ryan shrank from this, referred to the age and firm constitution of
+the patient, thought "it was a pity that the boy should be made a
+cripple at his time of life; that, though one of the fractures was
+oblique, the bone was not comminuted, and hoped it might be set, and the
+patient do well."</p>
+
+<p>His brother physician, on the other hand, was positive.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a compound fracture, and it was a settled principle in anatomy
+always to amputate in a compound fracture. Air had been admitted, the
+muscles and integuments lacerated and bruised;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> mortification would take
+place, the leg would have to be amputated higher up after all, with
+scarcely a chance for life."</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Ryan, accustomed for years to look to his companion for direction in
+all surgical operations, was obliged to yield the point; and the parents
+were informed it was the opinion of the physicians that amputation was
+necessary. Mr. Merrill, who reposed the greatest confidence in Dr. Ryan,
+and was not aware that he had hesitated in the matter, acquiesced at
+once, though with tears, for Frank was their only child.</p>
+
+<p>But it was very different with the mother, who was a woman of excellent
+judgment, great penetration, and decision of character. She utterly
+refused, divined that Dr. Ryan secretly cherished a different opinion
+and did not act freely, and entreated the physicians to set the bones,
+and bind up the wound. But this Dr. Slaughter refused to do. They then
+informed their son of the doctors' decision.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother," said Frank, "I had rather die than have my leg cut off, and be
+a cripple for life."</p>
+
+<p>They then asked the opinion of Rich, but he declined to advance any.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, wife," said the husband, "we must say something; the doctors are
+waiting. I'll do as you think best."</p>
+
+<p>"I," replied she, firmly, "will not give my consent to amputation."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span></p><p>"Well, abide the consequences, then," said Dr. Slaughter; and he left
+the house in a huff, followed reluctantly by his companion and
+Richardson.</p>
+
+<p>The parents looked at each other, after they had gone, in doubt and
+dread. There lay the boy, nothing done as yet, and every moment of
+delay, increasing the difficulty of cure and augmenting the danger.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I harness up, wife, and go to B. after Dr. Loring, or to M. after
+Dr. Blake?"</p>
+
+<p>"They will probably refuse to do anything but amputate. No, husband. Let
+us send for Mr. Richardson."</p>
+
+<p>"O, do, mother," said Frank; "he's better than all the other doctors in
+this world, and he loves me."</p>
+
+<p>"It is not likely he would do anything," replied the father. "We asked
+his opinion, and he wouldn't give any."</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure he wouldn't before them. I know that he didn't think the
+limb ought to be taken off—saw it in his looks. I don't believe Dr.
+Ryan did, either, only Dr. Slaughter has got him under his thumb."</p>
+
+<p>Rich was eating his supper when Mr. Merrill came for him, and shoving
+back his plate, went with him directly.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Richardson," said the mother, "there is no one here but ourselves.
+Please to speak freely.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> Do you think it is necessary or best to cut off
+Frank's leg?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not. I think there is as great a chance for the boy to live with
+the limb on as off—that the bones may be set, and the limb saved as
+good as ever."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you give me your reasons, and tell me what Dr. Slaughter meant by
+a compound fracture, and why doctors always amputate in that case; and
+do it in language that his father and I can understand?"</p>
+
+<p>"A simple fracture is where the bones are broken, but there is no
+external wound, and when the bones are set they heal for the most part
+readily. But a compound fracture is one in which the bone pushes through
+the skin, the muscles are lacerated, or, by the agent that breaks the
+bone, an external wound made, and air admitted. The laceration of the
+muscles and the admission of air, especially the presence of air, causes
+inflammation, the wound suppurates, sloughs, instead of healing, and
+ulceration is produced; it then becomes necessary to amputate, and the
+patient, being reduced, often dies. The old physicians thought less of
+saving the limb than the modern ones, and in case of compound fracture
+always amputated."</p>
+
+<p>"Is not this a compound fracture?"</p>
+
+<p>"It must be defined as such technically. But the muscles are not
+lacerated; and though the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> bone protrudes, I have not the least doubt
+that it was done by the sharp point of the bone pricking through in
+consequence of the foot's falling back when they took him up, and that
+it was not forced through by the violence of the blow. It is therefore
+so near to a simple fracture that it may be considered and treated as
+one, with a fair chance of success, especially considering the patient's
+age, health, and the time of year (for the weather is not hot as yet),
+and that he is at home, where he will have the best of nursing."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Richardson," said the father, "I know in these matters the state of
+a patient's mind has much to do with the final results. The boy will not
+submit to amputation except by compulsion. That we cannot think of. But
+he loves you, and has the most perfect confidence in your ability. Will
+you set the bones, and do as you think best?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Merrill, I am a young man, without experience to guide me. I have
+no guide other than what I have gathered from books, a few weeks'
+instruction, and practice of dissection at Brunswick, and my own
+unmatured judgment; but I also know that before you can get a physician
+here from another town, swelling will take place, and the chance of
+recovery be greatly diminished. I will do it on condition that you take
+upon yourselves all the responsibility. If a regular physician should
+amputate the limb, and the result be unfavorable, it would be said he
+took the regular<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> steps; he would have the authority of precedent, and
+the approval of other physicians; and the ill success would be
+attributed to the providence of God; whereas in my case it would be
+said, 'He is a rash, ignorant upstart and pretender, puffed up with
+conceit to trifle with human life.' It would destroy confidence in me
+for the future, and prove a poor introduction to practice."</p>
+
+<p>"We will do that, and, moreover, make it public, let the event be what
+it may."</p>
+
+<p>Rich now manifested as much despatch as he had previously displayed
+reluctance.</p>
+
+<p>"Frank," he said, "I shall be obliged to give you some pain, but I will
+not do it unnecessarily, nor to any great extent."</p>
+
+<p>The bone completely filled the wound it had made, the point protruding
+slightly, and a little blood trickled down the leg from a slight flesh
+wound in the upper part of the thigh. Rich in the first place removed
+the protruding point of ragged bone with the saw, and then, dipping a
+bunch of lint in the blood that issued from the flesh wound, gave it to
+Dan to hold. He then gently returned the bone, Dan applying the lint,
+and lightly pressing it to the wound as the bone receded. Rich then
+applied a sticking plaster, spread only at the edges, over the whole,
+sponged, and bound up the flesh wound. Thus, no air having been admitted
+to the wound, the fracture, in that respect, and on account of the
+absence of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>laceration, might be considered as virtually a simple one.
+Then, with the aid of assistants, he flexed the thigh on the abdomen and
+the leg on the thigh, thus relaxing the muscles, by which he was enabled
+to put the bones in place, and, retaining them with his hands, brought
+the leg gently down and straightened it.</p>
+
+<p>One assistant, now taking hold of the heel, extended the leg, while
+another held the thigh, and Rich manipulated the ends of the bones. By
+bringing the heels and toes of both feet in line, and sighting across,
+they assured themselves that the legs were of equal length, and the foot
+in the right position; that there was no twist, no turning of the foot
+out or in. He then applied the splints, and, in order to preserve
+extension, by reason of the contraction of the muscles, put a shoe on
+the foot and attached half of a brick to it with a string. It requires a
+good deal of force to counteract the contraction of a muscle, if exerted
+at once, but much less when applied gradually and constantly.</p>
+
+<p>Although progress was now the watchword among the younger portion of the
+medical fraternity, and a decided improvement had been made in surgical
+instruments, still very few of the appliances now in common use were
+then known in this country (starch and plaster of Paris, and dextrine
+bandages for broken bones, fracture-beds and boxes, cutting-forceps to
+remove bone, &c.,) and Richardson could not have obtained them if they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>
+had been, and, like his grandfather, under the stimulus of a determined
+purpose, invented the appliances he felt to be needful.</p>
+
+<p>"It's all over now, Frank," said Rich, sitting down by him and patting
+his cheek; "the leg is set, and you have borne it like a hero. Remember
+you are <i>my</i> boy after this, and when your leg gets well I shall expect
+you to run all my errands. This dressing is only temporary, because the
+limb will swell, and the bandages perhaps, require to be loosened. It
+will be five or six days before the bones will begin to knit, and then I
+shall put on a permanent fixture. I am going to take care of you myself
+to-night, as to-morrow is Sunday, no school, and I can sleep. After that
+I must be in school."</p>
+
+<p>Having requested the family to retire, he placed the light in the next
+room, administered a sedative to the patient, and resumed his seat
+beside him. Never had Rich such cause for anxiety before. In addition to
+his affection for the lad, who was in truth a noble-minded, lovable boy,
+he felt that he had ventured upon an innovation in surgical practice,
+and taken a bold step, which success alone could justify. The confidence
+reposed in him by the parents in thus placing their only child in his
+hands touched him to the quick, and he felt that it was with him the
+turning-point, the decisive step in professional life.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p><p>Kneeling down by the bedside, he offered a heartfelt petition to God
+for direction and support.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Richardson," said Frank.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, my boy?"</p>
+
+<p>"I begin to feel drowsy, and my leg don't pain me much. I want to kiss
+you before I go to sleep."</p>
+
+<p>Rich bent over him, and the grateful boy, putting his arms around his
+teacher's neck, kissed him, and dropped asleep.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><span>CHAPTER XXIV.</span> <span class="smaller">THE YOUNG FLOOD.</span></h2>
+
+<p>Two or three times before midnight Frank started spasmodically, and once
+would have risen up in bed if Rich had not held him down; as it was, he
+clasped his physician convulsively around the neck with great force.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter, Frank?"</p>
+
+<p>"I thought I was falling out of the tree. I suppose I was dreaming."</p>
+
+<p>In one respect Rich was favorably situated. He had but one patient, and
+every moment he could spare from his school he either spent at the
+bedside of the boy, or in studying his case by the aid of books; he
+availed himself of the experience of Dr. Ryan, who knew the constitution
+of the lad, sympathized with Rich, and, in the exercise of a noble
+generosity, told him he was glad he had taken charge of the case, and
+believed he would succeed.</p>
+
+<p>The means resorted to by Rich to prevent inflammation were crowned with
+success; the swelling of the muscles, never excessive, soon subsided,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>
+and he found the wound was healing by the first intention, which far
+exceeded his most sanguine hopes, as he feared some air might have
+entered, or some splinter of bone be lying loose in the wound that would
+cause suppuration.</p>
+
+<p>It was time for new bone to begin to form, and consequently the shape
+the limb now assumed it would retain through life. Rich knew several
+persons in town whose limbs had been broken and set by Dr. Ryan, and he
+could hardly recall a single instance in which the operation had been
+entirely successful; nearly all walked with a hitch in their gait, many
+used a staff, or wore a peculiarly-shaped shoe. He also noticed that
+most of the persons thus partially crippled lived at a long distance
+from Dr. Ryan, and concluded that it arose in a good degree either from
+a mistaken economy on the part of the patient, anxious to save the cost
+of a visit, or from careless bandaging on the part of the doctor.</p>
+
+<p>Excited to the highest degree by the brilliant success thus far
+attained, and knowledge that the boy's life was safe, he longed, O, how
+ardently! to make a <i>perfect</i> cure, and restore the leg to its original
+form and efficiency.</p>
+
+<p>He reflected that less discretion and regard to future consequences were
+to be expected from a lad like Frank than from a grown person; didn't
+feel satisfied with the old splints, was afraid that, unless he bandaged
+the leg so tight as to impede<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> the circulation, the restless boy would,
+just at the critical period when the bone was forming, get the parts out
+of place.</p>
+
+<p>"I know," said Rich to himself, "that I am mechanic enough to <i>place</i>
+those bones as they should be, and I'll see if I cannot contrive some
+way to <i>keep</i> them there in spite of this wide-awake youngster."</p>
+
+<p>He went to bed in order to think about it, and in the morning at the
+breakfast table said to Mrs. Clemens,—</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you get that blue clay the girl was putting on the floor
+yesterday to take out a grease-spot? It had no more grit than
+tailors'-chalk."</p>
+
+<p>"Daniel got it somewhere."</p>
+
+<p>"I got it down in Milliken's Gully, Mr. Richardson. You might cut it
+with a razor, and not dull the razor; there's not a stone or one mite of
+grit in it. I got it to make marbles."</p>
+
+<p>Richardson procured a quantity of the clay, dried, pounded, sifted, and
+made it into a very thin mortar. He then took the splints from Frank's
+leg, placed the bones precisely as he wanted them, put the leg in a box,
+fastened the upper portion of his body to the bed that he could not
+move, and poured the clay mortar into the box till it completely
+enveloped the leg and foot. He then pulled the bed under the window,
+where the sun shone full on the clay, took hold of Frank's foot, and sat
+down.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span></p><p>"How long are you going to keep me lashed down so, Mr. Richardson?"</p>
+
+<p>"Till this clay dries. And I shall hold your foot just where it is till
+then."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Mr. Richardson," said Mrs. Merrill, "it will take all day for that
+clay to dry."</p>
+
+<p>"No, it won't, with the warmth of the leg on one side, and that of the
+sun on the other, it won't take <i>half</i> a day."</p>
+
+<p>"But the academy bell will ring in about fifteen minutes."</p>
+
+<p>"Parson Meek is going to take my place this forenoon; so you may prepare
+to give me some dinner, for I shall sit here till the clay hardens, if
+it is till to-morrow evening."</p>
+
+<p>The clay was stiff, though not dry, before noon, and Frank's leg
+immovably fixed in the position Rich had placed it.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Frank, you have behaved so well, I am going to put you in a
+chair."</p>
+
+<p>Rich and Mr. Merrill took Frank up, placed him in a chair, and put the
+leg, box and all, on two others.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, my boy, you may sit at the table and eat dinner with us, if you
+will eat only what I prescribe; and you may thank the blue clay in
+Milliken's Gully for that. Blue clay, forever, Frank. Were it not for
+that you would have had to lie on your back twenty days or more."</p>
+
+<p>After the meal was ended, Rich, with a saw,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> cut out a portion of the
+clay, in order to be able to get at that part of the leg the bone had
+penetrated. The box was also lined with paper, that the clay might not
+stick to it, and put together with screws, in order that it might be
+taken to pieces. This was Rich's fracture box, not very elegant, and for
+which he never took out any patent; being made, the sides, of the cover
+of an old herring box; but it answered the purpose completely, fastening
+the limb as firmly in the box as though it grew there, and as
+effectually preventing any motion of the ankle or toes, by which the
+bones might be displaced.</p>
+
+<p>When Rich went to the academy in the afternoon, he returned Frank to his
+bed; and the next morning he was taken up again, and, as the cure
+progressed, sat up more and more. He could now read, play checkers with
+Dan and Horace, and the time passed less tediously. He now importuned
+his physician to take his leg out of the box; but Rich peremptorily
+refused, though he allowed him a more generous diet.</p>
+
+<p>When a full month had elapsed, Rich took the box apart, sawed through
+the coating of clay the whole length, and peeled it off, removed the
+bandage, washed the leg, gave it a smart rubbing, and compared it with
+the other. After examining the limb a long time very carefully, he
+said,—</p>
+
+<p>"If those two legs are not as well matched as they were before, I am
+very much mistaken."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span></p><p>"Shall I be lame any, Mr. Richardson?" said Frank.</p>
+
+<p>"If you are, it will be your own fault. If you are careless now, you
+will rue it as long as you live, for the parts are not consolidated yet,
+and the oblique fracture in the large bone requires a longer time to
+heal than the square break in the other."</p>
+
+<p>Rich put on the clay again, but without the box, and in less quantity,
+confining it by a bandage, slung the patient's leg to his neck, and
+permitted him to take exercise by walking about the house on crutches,
+some one accompanying him; and when he permitted him to put his injured
+leg to the floor, it was found to be of the same length as the other.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Merrill rewarded Rich most liberally, being abundantly able, and
+with expressions of grateful feeling that were more gratifying to the
+recipient than even the money. It was a proud and glad morning to him
+when Frank Merrill came to school with his books under his arm, escorted
+by Dan and Horace Williams, and with as firm a tread as his companions.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely had Frank's case been disposed of, when a younger sister of
+Mrs. Merrill, a member of the choir, and a most lovely girl as far as
+personal attractions, correct principles, and amiability of disposition
+went, was taken down with a lung fever; and the patient, with her
+parents and Mrs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> Merrill, insisted that Rich should manage the case.
+This was more practice than Rich either desired or felt himself
+qualified to assume, and he told them so, and that he should pursue
+quite a different method from the ordinary practice, which was, in that
+disease, to bleed patients till they fainted, give them antimony to
+reduce the action of the heart, till, in reducing the inflammation, they
+often made an end of the patient. The young lady's relatives informed
+him they were not at all concerned about that, and to adopt the course
+his judgment dictated. In so doing, Rich drew no blood, and pursued a
+course calculated to support the strength of the patient as much as
+possible, and was successful in this case also.</p>
+
+<p>At the conclusion of the summer term Rich resolved to make another visit
+to his parents, but felt that in his present circumstances he could
+afford to ride; and, what was very singular, he spent a night at farmer
+Conant's, taking the stage from his door the next afternoon. It
+certainly could not have been from fatigue, as on the former occasion.
+It was probably to thank the hospitable farmer for his kindness then,
+and it was a noble thing in Rich not to forget, in the moment of
+success, those who had been his friends in adversity.</p>
+
+<p>With the fall term commenced another year of the academical course, when
+it was necessary for Rich to make a new arrangement with the trustees,
+who were very anxious to retain him, and offered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> to increase his
+salary. On the other hand, Dr. Ryan wanted him to give up the academy,
+devote himself entirely to the study of medicine, obtain a medical
+diploma, go into practice with him and finally take his place, as he did
+not care to practise any more.</p>
+
+<p>The doctor said he loved him as a son, and that if he did not improve
+the opening, some other young man would certainly come who might be very
+objectionable.</p>
+
+<p>Rich replied that he would at the expiration of two years, and then
+agreed to keep the academy one year longer; thus affording himself a
+year of uninterrupted study, in addition to what he could accomplish
+while teaching, and resolutely refused all invitations to take charge of
+patients.</p>
+
+<p>The fall term had been going on but a week when he received a visit from
+Morton. The inhabitants of the village showed great attention to Morton,
+as a compliment to Rich, and especially Mr. Merrill's family, and that
+of Mr. George Litchfield, the father of the young lady Rich had attended
+during a course of lung fever.</p>
+
+<p>As the two friends were walking one evening, Morton said,—</p>
+
+<p>"Rich, why don't you make up to that Miss Litchfield? She's a beautiful
+girl, intelligent, accomplished, and of most amiable disposition, I
+know, for she shows it in her very looks. You are about to jump into a
+fat practice, that will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> give you a handsome living at once, and it is
+time you were thinking of such matters. I know she likes you, and her
+father is wealthy, which, though I know it would weigh little with you,
+is not to be despised."</p>
+
+<p>"Mort, why did not you take Miss T., whom you used to like to escort to
+exhibitions and commencements, and walk with, and who was more beautiful
+than Harriet Litchfield, and in preference engaged yourself to Eliza
+Longley?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I wanted a wife, not a doll, a woman who would make for me a
+happy home."</p>
+
+<p>"Now you have answered your own question. Miss Litchfield is beautiful
+and of a sweet temper, for I have seen her when sick, and sickness
+developes character. She is well educated, sings finely, plays well, is
+not vain, and is sincerely pious, but has neither industry, energy, nor
+a single domestic trait. She cannot make or mend, get a meal's victuals,
+or tell anybody else how to do it. Her counsel in the emergencies of
+life, which you and I have known something about even at our age, would
+not be worth the asking. Why, Mort, she is as hollow as the stalk of a
+seed onion; no resources in herself, and for all the practical duties of
+life utterly useless. How could I respect a woman who, if she has not a
+piano to amuse, or some gossip to engage her attention, sits and folds
+her hands, and resembles a wooden clock, the face the best part of it?
+You saw how my mother stood<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> up under the load, and took her share of
+it, when father's property was swept into the Atlantic; and it will be a
+long day before a boy who has such a mother marries a doll."</p>
+
+<p>"I rather think, Rich, such a woman as you want is not easily found."</p>
+
+<p>"Neither are diamonds. But you found such a one, and so have I."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed! I congratulate you. But who and where is she? Is she handsome?"</p>
+
+<p>"She is not beautiful, but as handsome as good health, regular features,
+and a perfect form can render a woman."</p>
+
+<p>"Is she accomplished?"</p>
+
+<p>"To the highest degree. She can spin and weave, wash and mend, make
+butter, and make clothes; and when she's tired, or has a leisure hour,
+can sit down and obtain both profit and pleasure from a thoughtful
+book."</p>
+
+<p>"It is little you would have thought of falling in love with such a
+woman when we first knew each other. What has become of all the poetry
+that was in you then, and, I had almost said, the froth on the top of
+the liquor?"</p>
+
+<p>"It went to sea when the boom broke."</p>
+
+<p>"I long to see her."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall Sunday, and eat a dinner of her cooking. We will ride over
+there Saturday. She is a farmer's daughter. There is no <i>property</i> in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>
+the matter, of the kind you referred to just now. It is all in <i>her</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"You know what I told you, Rich, so long ago, when we were sitting on
+the steps of your old house, and the cat shoved her nose into your
+bosom. It was dead <i>low water</i> then; but now the tide has not only
+turned, but it is young flood, and the tide will continue to flow till,
+at high water it will lift the strawberry leaves on the edge of the
+bank."</p>
+
+<p>"True, Mort; but I do not regret the trial. I have gained more than I
+lost by it. Have you heard anything from college lately, or from our old
+class?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. All our acquaintances are gone, and there is a new set in
+Radcliffe. But they are only going to keep it during the fall term;
+after that it is to be made into a dwelling-house. Charlie Longley wrote
+me that the dam at the Glen had washed away in the fall rains, and the
+pond had run out."</p>
+
+<p>Their conversation was interrupted by meeting Dr. Ryan, who invited them
+to go home with him, enjoy a sing, and take tea.</p>
+
+<p>The next volume of the series is entitled, <span class="smcap">A Stout Heart, or, the
+Student from over the Sea</span>.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Turning of the Tide, by Elijah Kellogg
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TURNING OF THE TIDE ***
+
+***** This file should be named 54772-h.htm or 54772-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+ http://www.gutenberg.org/5/4/7/7/54772/
+
+Produced by David Edwards, Martin Pettit and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+book was produced from scanned images of public domain
+material from the Google Books project.)
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
+paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works. See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
+
+1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+ the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+ you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is
+ owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+ has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+ Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments
+ must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+ prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+ returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+ sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+ address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+ the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+ you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+ does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+ License. You must require such a user to return or
+ destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+ and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+ Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+ money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+ electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+ of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+ distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+ Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+ Chief Executive and Director
+ gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+ http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+
+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/54772-h/images/cover.jpg b/54772-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b48061 --- /dev/null +++ b/54772-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/54772-h/images/frontis.jpg b/54772-h/images/frontis.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3dd9205 --- /dev/null +++ b/54772-h/images/frontis.jpg diff --git a/54772-h/images/i112.jpg b/54772-h/images/i112.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ef88ae1 --- /dev/null +++ b/54772-h/images/i112.jpg diff --git a/54772-h/images/i120.jpg b/54772-h/images/i120.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..01f4156 --- /dev/null +++ b/54772-h/images/i120.jpg diff --git a/54772-h/images/i192.jpg b/54772-h/images/i192.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..db3bbf9 --- /dev/null +++ b/54772-h/images/i192.jpg diff --git a/54772-h/images/i232.jpg b/54772-h/images/i232.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a5e0430 --- /dev/null +++ b/54772-h/images/i232.jpg diff --git a/54772-h/images/i264.jpg b/54772-h/images/i264.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f0d0655 --- /dev/null +++ b/54772-h/images/i264.jpg diff --git a/54772.txt b/54772.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bf0e204 --- /dev/null +++ b/54772.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7679 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Turning of the Tide, by Elijah Kellogg
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
+
+
+Title: The Turning of the Tide
+ Radcliffe Rich and His Patients
+
+Author: Elijah Kellogg
+
+Release Date: May 23, 2017 [EBook #54772]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TURNING OF THE TIDE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Edwards, Martin Pettit and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+book was produced from scanned images of public domain
+material from the Google Books project.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE Whispering Pine SERIES
+
+Elijah Kellogg.
+
+THE TURNING OF THE TIDE.
+
+Illustrated.
+
+LEE & SHEPARD: BOSTON.
+
+
+
+
+By GEORGE MAKEPEACE TOWLE.
+
+Heroes and Martyrs of Invention.
+Vasco da Gama; His Voyages and Adventures.
+Pizarro; His Adventures and Conquests.
+Magellan; or, The First Voyage Round the World.
+Marco Polo; His Travels and Adventures.
+Raleigh; His Voyages and Adventures.
+Drake; The Sea King of Devon.
+
+
+By CAPT. CHARLES W. HALL.
+
+Adrift in the Ice Fields.
+
+
+By DR. ISAAC I. HAYES.
+
+Cast Away in the Cold; An Old Man's Story of a Young Man's
+Adventures.
+
+
+By W. H. G. KINGSTON.
+
+The Adventures of Dick Onslow among the Redskins.
+Ernest Bracebridge; or, School Boy Days.
+
+
+By JAMES D. McCABE JR.
+
+Planting the Wilderness; or, The Pioneer Boys.
+
+
+By DR. C. H. PEARSON.
+
+The Cabin on the Prairie.
+The Young Pioneers of the Northwest.
+
+
+By JAMES DE MILLE.
+
+The Lily and the Cross; A Tale of Acadia.
+
+
+By F. G. ARMSTRONG.
+
+The Young Middy: or, The Perilous Adventures of a Boy
+Officer.
+
+
+By R. M. BALLANTYNE.
+
+The Life Boat; A Tale of Our Coast Heroes.
+
+
+_Sent by mail, postpaid, on receipt of price._
+
+
+LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS, BOSTON
+
+
+[Illustration: THE FIRST MONEY. Page 29.]
+
+
+
+
+_THE WHISPERING PINE SERIES._
+
+THE TURNING OF THE TIDE;
+
+OR,
+
+RADCLIFFE RICH AND HIS PATIENTS.
+
+BY
+
+ELIJAH KELLOGG,
+
+AUTHOR OF "LION BEN," "CHARLIE BELL," "THE ARK OF ELM ISLAND," "THE BOY
+ FARMERS," "THE YOUNG SHIP-BUILDERS," "THE HARD-SCRABBLE," "ARTHUR
+ BROWN," "THE YOUNG DELIVERERS," "THE CRUISE OF THE CASCO,"
+ "THE CHILD OF THE ISLAND GLEN," "JOHN GODSOE'S LEGACY,"
+ "THE SPARK OF GENIUS," "THE SOPHOMORES OF
+ RADCLIFFE," "THE WHISPERING PINE,"
+ "WINNING HIS SPURS," ETC.
+
+
+_ILLUSTRATED._
+
+
+BOSTON 1892
+LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS
+
+10 MILK STREET NEXT "THE OLD SOUTH MEETING HOUSE"
+
+NEW YORK CHAS. T. DILLINGHAM
+
+718 AND 720 BROADWAY
+
+
+Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873,
+
+BY LEE AND SHEPARD,
+
+In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+A distinguished professor of Mathematics in a New England college was
+wont to remark to the Freshman class when meeting them for the first
+time at recitation, "that every person is as lazy as he can be." However
+we may demur to this sweeping assertion, it is doubtless true that more
+persons fail in life through indolence and the absence of appropriate
+and wholesome stimulus than from lack of capacity to become useful and
+even distinguished.
+
+Misfortune, undesirable as it may seem, nevertheless furnishes an
+effective test of character, for, while the effeminate nature of lax
+fibre crumbles and is disintegrated beneath the pressure, the manlier
+spirit, like Dannemora iron, defies the fury of the furnace, and even
+beneath the hammer, gathers both temper and tenacity.
+
+How great the change produced in a Scotch pebble, taken from the banks
+of a Highland lake, when the wheel of the lapidary has brought out the
+hues, and it appears what it really is, a gem; thus the thrill of sudden
+calamity, the sharp anguish that makes the blood spring from the lip
+have often supplied both object and motive to many a spirit that
+(capacious of better things) was fast becoming honeycombed by the rust
+of luxury and indolence, and has developed gifts of which even the
+possessor was unconscious.
+
+The TURNING OF THE TIDE places before our readers this entire process in
+the person of RADCLIFFE RICH, from the rude awakening, the moment when
+the half-benumbed faculties rally for the mastery, to the stern conflict
+and the hard-won victory.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+ PAGE
+THE SMITH OF THE WILDERNESS. 9
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE FIRST MONEY. 18
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+EXPERIENCE THE BEST TEACHER. 31
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+HAMMER AND TONGS. 42
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+DREW SORE AND SAVAGE. 51
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+PATIENT, BUT DETERMINED. 63
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+HE FINDS THE CLUE. 78
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+A TRADE THE BEST INHERITANCE. 101
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+BLOOD WILL TELL. 113
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+DEAD LOW WATER. 125
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A STRIKING CONTRAST. 134
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+DID NOT COME TO SEE THE WRECK. 142
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+MORTON'S BUSINESS. 150
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+WINNING GOLDEN OPINIONS. 160
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+HOW DAN TOOK HIS MEDICINE. 170
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+PERIL OF BEING OUT EVENINGS. 180
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+THE YOUNG SAMARITANS. 192
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+DAN WANTS TO KNOW HIMSELF. 205
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+DAN TRAPS LARGE GAME. 214
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+GOES FOR WOOL, AND GETS SHORN. 222
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+PROGRESS AND PREJUDICE. 231
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+SUITING MEANS TO ENDS. 244
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+THE TURN OF THE TIDE. 260
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+THE YOUNG FLOOD. 278
+
+
+
+
+THE TURNING OF THE TIDE.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE SMITH OF THE WILDERNESS.
+
+
+With Rich, the chum and friend of Morton, and who, animated by the
+contagion of a noble example, became his rival in rank as a scholar and
+in all athletic sports, his companion in labor, and between whom, though
+neck and neck in the pursuit of those college honors that each most
+highly prized, there was never a shadow of jealousy or distrust, while
+their sympathies met and mingled like fibres of a kindred root, drawing
+their nutriment from a common soil,--with Rich, refined in all his
+tastes, of delicate sensibilities, and a playful humor that never stung,
+sunny tempered, generous, companionable, yet firm in principle as a
+granite shaft, and whom all Radcliffe idolized, our constant readers are
+already well acquainted; but the exigencies of this story, and the
+necessity of imparting information both to them and others, render it
+imperative that we should speak more definitely respecting his family
+and home life, to which we have heretofore barely alluded; indeed, we
+are not aware that we have ever distinguished him by any other name than
+that of Richardson, and much more frequently made use of the college
+term, Rich.
+
+His grandfather, with ten other young married men, first broke ground in
+our hero's native town, then a wilderness, and built their camps on the
+borders of a stream heavily timbered, soon after the formation of the
+federal government with Washington as president. They were, with a
+single exception, poor, having taken up their abode in the wilderness
+because they wanted a home, and could buy the wild land for ten cents
+per acre. Full of enterprise, and strong in limb, this little community
+felt themselves equal to the struggle. They had as yet neither sawmill
+nor gristmill, though a noble stream fell over the rocks close to their
+doors, but pounded the corn they raised on burns in large mortars, or
+went in canoes eleven miles to mill, to a village farther down the
+stream, where they likewise procured salt. There were neither roads nor
+horses in the clearing, and at first everything was brought through the
+woods, in the winter on men's shoulders, walking on snow-shoes, and in
+summer in canoes or on rafts up the river.
+
+They were accustomed to put the grain and corn belonging to several
+neighbors into a large canoe, and thus take it down the river to the
+mill. At length a road was spotted through the woods to the
+village--that is, a piece of bark and wood was taken off the side of
+trees with an axe, for a guide to the traveler. The path was crooked,
+going through those portions of the forest that were thinnest, and
+winding around obstacles. Occasionally a tree that stood very much in
+the way was cut, and a log flung across some gully, brook, or mire.
+
+In the early part of winter, when the brooks and swamps were frozen, and
+the snow deep enough to cover, in some measure, the windfalls, and fill
+the ravines, and at other times in the latter part of it, when the crust
+would bear light cattle, they went through the woods with oxen to mill,
+improved the occasion to obtain articles of absolute necessity, and
+whenever their stock of bread-stuff fell short, had recourse to the
+mortar.
+
+At first it was a bitter struggle for existence; the land was covered
+with a dense forest, and there was neither pasture for cattle in the
+summer, nor hay to keep them through the winter. In this condition of
+things, they managed to keep a few cattle by cutting the wild grass that
+grew in the swamp and along the banks of the river, and felling yellow
+birch and maple trees in summer for browse. By dint of patient labor,
+their circumstances improved from year to year; more land was cleared,
+their stock of cattle increased with the increase of hay and pasture,
+and they began to keep sheep and horses, to make staves and shingles,
+cut logs and drive them down the river in spring, and beech withes to
+bind loads and rafts were exchanged for chains.
+
+Cattle and horses were now to be shod, and they began to feel greatly
+the need of a blacksmith. If a chain or axe was broken, a horse or yoke
+of oxen to be shod, there was no smith nearer than eleven miles, and no
+road except a bridle-path through spotted trees. Previous to this, they
+had worked their oxen without shoes, and horses were only shod forward.
+But now they wanted to haul logs and shingles on the ice of the river,
+and they must be shod. They were in great need of a smith, and yet there
+was not work sufficient to afford a blacksmith constant employment, and
+consequently, a living. But there was money in the logs and shingles,
+and necessity sharpens invention. They hired John Drew, the smith at the
+village, to come in the fall, just before the river shut up, bringing
+horse-shoes, ox-shoes, nails, and his tools. He went round from house to
+house, the oxen were cast on the barn floors, and the shoes put on. Thus
+they managed, feeling more and more the want of a smith. Richardson was
+possessed of remarkable mechanical ability, and was what is termed a
+handy man--a great thing in the woods. He had a few carpenters' tools,
+made ox-yokes, and sleds for himself and neighbors. At length a cart
+road was made through the woods, and Richardson built the first, and
+for some time the only, pair of wheels in the clearing. Surrounded by a
+young and rapidly increasing family, necessity led him to improve to the
+utmost every talent he was conscious of possessing.
+
+On the 10th of January, some two years before the road was made, he
+went, in behalf of himself and the little community, to the village,
+through the woods, with an ox-team, carrying corn and grain to be
+ground. He also carried plough-irons to be new laid, chains to be
+mended, axes to be new "laid" or "upset," and orders for some to be
+manufactured. In order to get the large grist ground, and the iron work
+done, he was obliged to remain three days. While watching the smith at
+his work, the idea occurred to him that he could work with iron as well
+as wood. All the way home he brooded over it, till the idea took entire
+possession of him, and that long wilderness road never seemed so short
+before. After a while he opened his mind to his wife, who encouraged him
+to make the attempt. But he had no money to buy either iron or tools,
+and iron in those days was difficult to obtain, and high in price, being
+nearly all imported. It seemed a hopeless undertaking; still he could
+not banish the thought from his mind. It haunted him; lay down with him
+at night, and rose up with him in the morning. One day he broke a chain
+in the woods; he had but two. The next day came a snow storm, affording
+leisure. The smith was eleven miles off. He could not do his work
+without the chain, and resolved to try to mend it by welding again the
+broken link he had saved. He made a great fire in the kitchen, and put
+in the iron. The kitchen tongs served to hold, a nail hammer to work it,
+and a flat stone for an anvil. To his great mortification, he found that
+although he could heat it to redness, he could not make it hot enough,
+with a wood fire, to weld. He put wood in the oven, stopped the draft,
+and burnt it to coal; but even with charcoal he did not succeed at first
+in obtaining a welding heat. His wife, who was looking on with the
+greatest interest, suggested the use of the kitchen bellows, and by
+their aid he partially succeeded.
+
+His next attempt was to mend the staple of an ox-yoke. This was much
+more difficult, as the iron was larger, and he had nothing to bend it
+over. But after several trials, he at length accomplished his purpose.
+It was supper time when William Richardson struck the last blow upon the
+staple, and put it into the yoke. When the meal was finished, and Mrs.
+Richardson had washed the dishes, and put the children to bed, she sat
+down to her cards, with a basket of wool beside her, while the father of
+the family, having taken off his shoes, and hung his buskins in the
+corner to dry, sat with folded arms, looking intently upon the glowing
+coals. No sound was heard save the crackling of the fire, the rasping of
+a solitary wood-worm that was boring into a log of the walls, and the
+sound of the cards as the good wife plied her labor.
+
+"Well, wife," said Richardson, at length, starting from his reverie, and
+flinging fresh fuel on the fire, "what do you think of it?"
+
+"Think of what, William?"
+
+"Why, of my day's work, and this blacksmithing. Don't you think I'd
+better fling the stone into the river and give it up? All I have done
+this blessed day, besides taking care of the cattle, is to mend that
+staple--a thing John Drew would have done in fifteen minutes."
+
+"No, he wouldn't, for if he had no better tools than you, he wouldn't
+have thought he could do it at all. I think it is the best day's work
+you ever did in your life."
+
+"O, Susan, how do you make that out? You just say that because you know
+I feel a little down in the mouth; not because you really think so."
+
+"Yes, husband, I really think so; and you will, if you look at it right.
+You must expect to creep before you can walk. You couldn't have got
+along without that chain, and would have been obliged to travel
+twenty-two miles through the woods on snow-shoes, with that chain on
+your back, in order to get it mended, and a half bushel of corn besides
+on your shoulder to pay John Drew for doing it; for we've got no money.
+It would have been the same with the staple. You couldn't have worked
+your oxen without it, and would have been forced to leave your work in
+fair weather, for you could not have gone in a storm. Now, you have done
+it yourself, in stormy days, when you couldn't have done much else,
+saved your corn, yourself all that travel, and, more than that, found
+out that you can work iron whenever you can get the tools to do it
+with."
+
+"I don't know but you are right, wife; but how am I to get either the
+tools or the iron without money? I can't barter corn for iron, and John
+Drew has so much produce brought to him now that he is loath to take any
+more; says his house is full of corn, grain, meat, potatoes, and cloth,
+butter and eggs, and he can't get _money_ enough to pay his taxes."
+
+"I think there will be some way provided. We had nothing when we came
+here but the clothes on our backs and twenty dollars in money; had to
+run in debt for our land. Now we've nearly paid for the land, we cut
+hay, keep quite a stock of cattle and sheep, have but seldom been put to
+it for bread, and have a warm, comfortable house, if it is a log one,
+and the children are warm clothed."
+
+"You always look on the bright side, Sue."
+
+"I think that's the best side to look on."
+
+We would inform our readers that the house Sue thought so comfortable
+was built of rough logs, the crevices stuffed with moss and clay, had
+but two rooms in it, the partition between them being blankets hung up.
+The fireplace and oven were built of rough stones, and the chimney of
+sticks of wood laid in clay (to prevent their taking fire from sparks),
+that, as it fell off, was renewed from time to time.
+
+"I could buy tools with the money I shall get for logs that I cut this
+winter, didn't I want every cent of it to turn in towards paying for the
+land. I'm half a mind to take a little. If I only had a hammer, a punch,
+something to cut iron with, and a pair of tongs to hold it, I could mend
+my own chains and other things, save something, be learning all the
+time, and, after we pay for the land, I could get more tools."
+
+"I never would do that, husband. If we must take that money for
+anything, let us take it for the school. They are going to have a school
+at Montague's the latter part of the winter."
+
+This man had three rooms in his house, and it was built of hewn timber,
+in one of which the school was to be kept. Richardson and his wife had
+received a good common school education, and were anxious that their
+children should not grow up in ignorance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE FIRST MONEY.
+
+
+From the preceding chapter our readers will perceive the value of iron,
+and also the importance to the community of the mechanic who is able to
+work it. We would invite them to reflect upon some facts that may seem
+incredible to them at first view. A boy who has no disposition to
+reflect is not much of a boy, and when grown, will only be a servant to
+those who do.
+
+Iron is far more valuable than gold, and the blacksmith than the
+jeweler, for the same reason that bread is worth more than diamonds, and
+water than silver. Gold has a very great representative value in
+civilized society, where iron is abundant, and it will buy iron, and is
+an equivalent for the work of the smith; but it is only because men have
+agreed to make it so. Whereas iron has a value in itself considered. It
+fells the forest, tills the soil, annihilates time and distance, and
+underlies the whole economy of domestic life; for our readers will bear
+in mind that steel is only another form of iron.
+
+The value iron acquires under the hammer is something wonderful. It is
+said that a bar of iron worth $5 is worth $10.50 when made into
+horse-shoes, $55 when made into needles, $3,285 made into penknife
+blades, $29,480 in shirt buttons, and $250,000, in balance springs of
+watches. Boys may, from this, see what labor is worth, and learn to
+value and respect it, for it is the labor the mind put into the iron
+that so increases its value. Consider what would be the result if there
+were no iron.
+
+A boy might search long to find a better subject for his theme than iron
+and its uses, or one the treatment of which would be more instructive to
+himself. The showers of sparks you see pouring out of a blacksmith's
+chimney, at times, of an evening when he is pressed with work, and
+forgets the ten-hour system, have a language to a reflecting mind; they
+mean power, progress, the plough, the telegraph, the mariner's compass,
+and the sword.
+
+We have taken advantage of a pause in the conversation, during which
+William Richardson resumed his reverie, and his wife plied her cards, to
+make this digression. At length the mother laid her cards into the
+basket of wool, and folding her hands in her lap, remained a few moments
+wrapped in thought. She then said,--
+
+"Husband, I feel so sure that good will come of this, that it will be,
+in the end, the best thing for us all (for I know you can do whatever
+you put your hand to), that I am willing to undergo almost anything to
+bring it about. There are three articles that will always sell at the
+store for half cash and half goods--butter, woollen cloth, and linen
+yarn. I will sell what we have to get your tools, and, perhaps, a little
+iron."
+
+"Susan, what did you make this cloth for, and what shape is it in?"
+
+"There's a piece of fulled cloth that I meant to make clothes of for you
+and the boys, some that I wove for a gown for myself and the girls, and
+some blanket stuff."
+
+"I won't take it; I won't take the clothes from your back and the
+children's if I never have any tools: the butter, I suppose, you have
+laid down for winter, and the blankets are needed for the children's
+beds."
+
+"Yes, you must take it; if you can work iron, we shall have the house as
+full of butter, meat, and cloth as John Drew's is."
+
+"But we can't get along without these things."
+
+"We can if we only _think_ so. We can put some brush on the children's
+beds, over the clothes,--hemlock brush over a few clothes is real
+warm,--then, when it is very cold, we can leave a large fire when we go
+to bed, and you can get up at twelve o'clock and put on wood. The
+children can get along with their old clothes, and I with mine; there's
+nobody to look at us here. We have pork enough, and can do without
+butter till we can make some. One of the cows calves in March. I meant
+to have made some towels of the linen yarn, but tow will do just as
+well."
+
+"Susan, I think a man must be made of poor material who could be
+discouraged with a wife like you."
+
+"Mother always used to say, 'Think you can do a thing, and it's half
+done.'"
+
+The sledding was now good, and Richardson, engaged in hauling logs to
+the river, had no leisure to meddle with iron; he, however, at odd
+moments, when the cattle were eating, and on stormy days, made
+preparation in anticipation of the future.
+
+Near to his house stood the stump of a pine tree that had been cut when
+the snow was deep, and was higher than usual. Around this he built a log
+camp, in such a manner as to bring the stump on one side of the camp.
+The water was low in the river, and where it fell over the rocks, and by
+shovelling away the snow, he found a stone of sufficient size, hardness,
+and the right shape, for an anvil. Levelling the top of the stump, he
+made a cavity in it to receive the stone, and secured it firmly in its
+bed. This was much superior to a stone on the kitchen hearth, and would
+bear any blows that could be given with a hand-hammer. There was not a
+board or plank within eleven miles by land, and thirteen by the river.
+He flattened some pine saplings, and built up a pen, nearly square, for
+his forge, found a place in the swamp where the soil was not frozen, and
+obtained earth to fill it. By cutting through the frozen ground at the
+bank of the river, he obtained clay for mortar, and with stones built up
+a little abutment at one end of the forge, to lay his coal and build the
+fire against. There was no chimney, a hole being left in the roof for
+the escape of the gas and smoke. He then put a trough at the end of the
+forge, in which to cool his iron. The floor cost no labor, as it was
+supplied by mother earth. There was no window, but light came in at the
+smoke-hole in the roof between the logs and through the chinks of the
+door, made of joist hewed from small trees, treenailed together and hung
+on wooden hinges. All this was done little by little, as opportunity
+offered, and his wife and the children made charcoal by charring wood in
+the oven, as he could not obtain turf to burn a kiln out of doors in the
+winter. In mending his chain and staple, Richardson had felt very much
+the need of something to turn his iron around. One end of a smith's
+anvil terminates in a point, called the horn, and around which, whenever
+he wishes to make a hoop, ring, or link of a chain, he can bend it.
+Richardson had brought into the forest with him a large crowbar. At the
+expense of much labor with his nail-hammer, he rounded the extremity of
+the largest end, leaving the rest square; then boring a hole in the
+stump on the right side, he drove the bar into it. This served as a
+very good substitute for a horn to his stone anvil, as he could turn a
+chain link on the round part, and bend iron at right angles on the
+square edge; and he was not a little proud of it when done.
+
+Richardson's ability to work in wood was well known to his neighbors,
+but he had carefully concealed his attempts in the blacksmith line, as
+he did not wish to attract attention till he could obtain tools, and had
+made some progress. But a matter of such general interest could not long
+be hid. The children told about their father's mending the chain and the
+staple, and it was soon known, to the great satisfaction of the
+neighbors.
+
+This little community, secluded from society and embosomed in the
+forest, most of them having emigrated from the same neighborhood, and
+enduring like hardships, were extremely social in their habits, much
+attached to one another, and ready to make sacrifices for the common
+good. David Montague was especially beloved by his neighbors, being a
+man of good abilities, and most open and affectionate disposition. In
+better circumstances than the rest, he was able to hire help to clear
+his land, and also kept a horse and a large stock of cattle.
+
+A few days after Richardson had made his preparations, he came in of an
+evening with his wife, and bringing a chain in his hand, that he flung
+down at the door. After greetings were exchanged, and they had drawn
+together around the fire, Montague observed,--
+
+"Neighbor, I hear that you have turned blacksmith, and do your own iron
+work."
+
+"I'm sure," said Mrs. Montague, "it is going to be a great thing for the
+place if we have got a smith among us."
+
+"They say," replied Richardson, "that stories never lose anything by
+going, and I think this is a pretty good proof of it, for it all grew
+out of this: I went to the village, you know, a while since, to mill,
+for all hands, and to get some iron work done. While I stood watching
+Jack Drew, and blowing the bellows for him, I said to myself, 'I could
+do that work, or I could learn to do it, if I only had his tools and
+fire, just as well as I can make a pair of wheels, or an axletree, or
+frame a building, or make a cider-press.' I used to do that kind of work
+sometimes before I came here. I thought it over going home, and the next
+time I broke a chain, I set to work with a flat stone before the fire,
+and mended it, and then I mended a staple; that's the way it came about.
+I made up my mind then I'd mend my own things, if I could, and save the
+expense and the long tramp. As we've got only these two rooms, and there
+isn't much room round the fire, I built a hovel to work in."
+
+"I can tell you, Mr. Montague, he made out firstrate. Husband, show Mr.
+Montague the chain you mended."
+
+Richardson went to the barn and brought in the chain and the staple.
+
+"Well," said his visitor, after examining the work with great interest,
+"if you can mend my chain as well as that, I'll never carry another one
+to Drew, and I'll pay you in cash just what I should have to pay him,
+and be greatly obliged, besides."
+
+"That's just what I've been telling husband," said his wife; "if he
+would give his mind to it, get a few tools, and begin in a small way, at
+first, it would give him work in stormy weather, and times when he
+couldn't do anything else, be a great accommodation to the neighbors,
+help the place, and be a good thing all around."
+
+"That's it, Mr. Richardson. Your wife's got the right of it, neighbor.
+The place is settling, people moving in, and taking up land, stumps
+rotting, and ground getting fit to plough; and work will grow as fast as
+you can grow to be able to do it."
+
+"I'll mend your chain, neighbor, in the best fashion I can; but I have
+to work in such a roundabout way, that I must have my time. Have you got
+the broken link?"
+
+"No; it flew into the snow, and I couldn't find it."
+
+"Then I shall have to cut one of the links, put the next link in, and
+weld it."
+
+"I hate to have that done, because it will shorten the chain; and it's
+barely long enough to bind a load of logs and 'fid' now."
+
+"Haven't you any links lying round?"
+
+"Not I, indeed. Iron is as scarce as money with me, as with all the
+neighbors. Every link of a chain, piece of a horse or ox shoe, old
+spike, and every scrap of iron, is worked up. There is one thing,
+though, I remember now, though I don't know as it's of any use to you."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"I got Drew to make me a plough-colter, more than a year ago, and found
+the iron. There was a piece left, a bar about a foot long."
+
+"If I could heat it, and contrive any way to cut it, I could make a link
+of it."
+
+"I will leave the chain, and send Andrew over with the bar, and if you
+find that you can't do anything with the bar, why, cut a link and make
+the chain shorter, for I am determined you shall mend that chain."
+
+Mr. Montague and his wife now took their leave, and in the course of an
+hour Andrew Montague brought over the bar of iron.
+
+It was the wife's turn to be discouraged now.
+
+"William," she said, "you never can cut that great bar of iron. Why,
+it's almost as thick as my press-board, and you haven't one single tool
+to do it with. I'm sorry, but you will certainly have to shorten the
+chain."
+
+"No, I won't shorten the chain, and I'll find some way to split it and
+forge a link out of it, if it takes from now till' next spring: that is,
+if you'll help me. Montague hates to have the chain shortened. It's the
+first job of work, and I'll do it as he wants it."
+
+"I'll do anything I can; anything in the world, to get bread for the
+children."
+
+"I'll help you, father; I'm real strong," said Clem, a boy of twelve,
+afterwards the father of Radcliffe Rich.
+
+"And I, too," said Robert, who was eighteen months younger. Two girls,
+still younger, would have doubtless volunteered, but they were abed, and
+not much could reasonably be expected of the baby in the cradle.
+
+William Richardson, in addition to his mechanical ability, was a
+resolute, powerful man. The encouragement afforded by the visit of
+Montague, and the prospect of abundance of work, if he could do it, had
+effectually roused all his energies. His wife, by no means ignorant of
+her husband's capacities, dismissed her anxieties, for she knew that he
+would find some way to accomplish whatever he had determined to do.
+
+After sitting a few moments buried in thought, he took a brand from the
+fire, and his axe, and, followed by Clem, started for the woods, where
+he soon found a hornbeam tree, the wood of which is very firm and heavy.
+The boy held the brand while he cut it down, and took off a cut three
+feet in length. With axe, saw, and auger, by the light of the kitchen
+fire, he soon made a beetle, that, during the time it lasted,--for he
+had no iron to hoop it with,--would enable him to strike a harder blow
+than even a blacksmith's sledge, for it was much heavier, indeed, too
+heavy for constant use; but a very strong man could swing it for a
+while, and upon an emergency. He then went down to a brook about an
+eighth of a mile from the house, for an old axe, kept to save a better
+one, and to cut ice, in order that the cattle might drink. The axe, by
+frequent grinding, had become very thick on the edge, and the bitt was
+rounded.
+
+The next morning Richardson started the fire on his forge with plenty of
+coal, and put in the bar, while Clem and Rob plied the kitchen bellows
+by turns, the two little girls looking on with the greatest interest.
+
+To cut iron, less heat is required than to weld it.
+
+"Clem," said Richardson, "call your mother."
+
+The boy returning, said,--
+
+"Mother says one of the girls must come in to watch the cradle."
+
+It was now, "Nan, you go," and "Sue, you go," when the indulgent father,
+who knew just how the children felt, compromised the matter by bringing
+the cradle, with the baby sound asleep in it, and setting the sleeper
+as far as possible from the forge, in order that the noise of the blows
+might not awaken him.
+
+Richardson, now taking the iron from the fire with the kitchen tongs,
+placed it on the anvil, and gave it in charge to the boys to hold. He
+then put the axe-edge down on the iron where he wished to split it, and
+told his wife how to hold it; then with the beetle he struck heavy blows
+upon the axe, forcing it into the iron at every stroke, while his wife,
+after every blow, drew the axe to a new place. The old axe, of excellent
+temper, and thick edge, that would neither turn nor break, being dipped
+in water when it became heated, answered the purpose of a chisel
+admirably, and the beetle was _superb_. Indeed, they would have nearly
+finished that heat, but the baby waked, screaming, and would not be
+pacified without his mother. Richardson clapped the iron in the fire,
+one of the children got a chair, and the mother sitting down, nursed the
+babe while the iron was heating. After this it became quiet, and the
+little girls took care of it, while the others cut the iron so nearly
+through that by bending it back and forth a few times, it fell apart.
+
+He now found that the strip he had cut off was sufficient to make two
+links by drawing it some. He therefore made two. But it was a deal of
+work to heat the iron hot enough to weld, because the hand-bellows were
+single, and only operated by short puffs, the iron cooling in the
+intervals, whereas a blacksmith's bellows, being double, one part fills
+while the other is discharging, thus keeping up a steady current of air.
+
+Montague was much pleased when he found that his chain, instead of being
+made shorter, was lengthened, and now sufficient for all purposes, paid
+Richardson liberally, and brought another chain that was too short, and
+had the remainder of his iron put into that.
+
+"There, wife," said Richardson, as he placed the money his neighbor had
+paid him on the table, "is the first money earned by the hammer. You
+were just right when you said that mending that staple was the best
+day's work I ever did, and I'm sure I never earned any money so sweet as
+this."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+EXPERIENCE THE BEST TEACHER.
+
+
+The morning succeeding the events we have related, David Montague sent
+over the chain, into which, he wished the rest of his bar of iron
+worked. Richardson kindled his fire, put in the iron, and began to blow
+with the hand-bellows; but when he recollected how difficult it was to
+make iron hot enough to weld in that way, he flung down the little
+affair, and gave up the undertaking. Convinced that he needed a pair of
+bellows even more than a hammer or anything else,--for if he could only
+get a good heat, he could manage to hold the iron with the kitchen
+tongs, and work it with the claw-hammer,--he resolved to have them,
+especially as he felt that he could obtain them by his own efforts,
+without paying out money.
+
+He knew that John Bradford, with whom he was on terms of greater
+intimacy than any other of his neighbors, had a large lot of logs to
+haul, and that he was the owner of a whip-saw. Leaving the shop, he went
+over to John's and said to him,--
+
+"John, I suppose by this time you've heard all about my blacksmithing."
+
+"Reckon I have, and everybody else in this place. They say you hammer
+the iron on a lapstone, same as a shoemaker his leather."
+
+"Not quite so bad as that; but I find I must have a pair of bellows, and
+I want inch-and-a-half stuff to make the 'woods.' I have got a pine log
+at the door, and I can't go eleven miles to a sawmill; indeed, I don't
+think I could get there with cattle, the snow is so deep. Will you take
+your saw, and help me saw out the stuff? and I'll take my oxen and haul
+logs for you."
+
+"Won't I? I'll be right glad to do it."
+
+"Then I'll go home, and get my log on the saw-pit and come over in the
+morning."
+
+Two men accustomed to the work will saw out boards and plank with a
+whip-saw as well as they can be sawed in a mill, only it takes more
+time. Richardson had a place fixed near the bank of the river, where the
+ground fell off abruptly. Here stringers were laid on uprights set in
+the ground, on which the log to be sawed was rolled, and the descent of
+the ground afforded room to work the saw, which is nearly as large as a
+mill-saw, one man standing on top of the log, and the other on the
+ground below.
+
+With the aid of his neighbor, Richardson not only sawed out plank enough
+for the woodwork of his bellows, but one to make a bench, and boards
+enough to make a door to replace the rude one of poles, and to close a
+window he meant to make over the bench.
+
+Having procured the material for the woods, the next article needed was
+leather to cover the woods. Putting on his snow-shoes, he tracked and
+killed a moose, took the hair off with strong lye, then tanned it with
+salt and alum, and pounded it upon the anvil with a stick, kneaded it in
+his hands, and greased it with the marrow of the moose till it was as
+limp as a rag.
+
+He now made the woods of the bellows, and bows, and as he had neither
+nails nor tacks, fastened the skin to the woods with wooden pegs. All
+this he accomplished without much difficulty; but without iron how was
+he to make the nose, which must enter the fire, or at least must
+approach within a few inches of it? The nose of a smith's bellows is of
+iron, and enters what is called the tuyere pipe, which is in these days
+quite a complicated affair, and communicates with the fire.
+
+"It's no sort of use, William," said his wife; "it must be iron, and
+you'll have to go to John Drew, and get him to make it."
+
+"I'll sleep a night on it," was the reply, "before I give it up."
+
+Whether he received any information in dreams, or not, I am unable to
+say; but this much is evident--that he rose in a hopeful frame of mind,
+and, to the great surprise of his wife, whose whole soul was in the
+matter, set to work without the least hesitation.
+
+Our readers will recollect that swamps in the forest do not freeze to a
+great depth, and often, when the snow comes before the cold is severe,
+not at all. Richardson found clay that he could get at in the swamp, and
+by cutting the ice obtained sand from the bottom of the brook. He now,
+with a hoe, broke up all the lumps in the clay, put water to it, and
+worked it with the hoe till it was fine and tough; then he worked in the
+sand, made a box a foot square, without ends (by nailing four pieces of
+boards together), and three feet in length. In the middle of this box he
+set a pine plug, larger at one end than the other, and tapering to the
+size he thought requisite, and filled the space between it and the sides
+of the box with the mixture of clay and sand, ramming it hard with his
+hammer-handle, in order that there should be no hollow places; put it in
+the kitchen, where it might dry gradually without freezing; made the
+frame, and hung his bellows on wooden pins, in default of iron; made the
+pole to blow with, while a strip of moose-hide served instead of a chain
+to lift the "wood" of the lower bellows; and then went into the woods to
+haul logs while his clay was drying, which required time, as the box
+excluded, in a great measure, the air.
+
+In the mean while, work accumulated on his hands. Reuben Hight brought
+a chain to be mended, John Bradford a kitchen shovel, the handle of
+which was broken in two. These shovels were very large, the handle as
+long as a broom-handle, and the blade nearly as wide as that of a barn
+shovel. James Potter brought the bail of a Dutch oven; John Skillings
+wanted a hook made to a chain, and brought a harrow tooth to make it of.
+Richardson promised to do the whole when he got his bellows done, if he
+could, of which he felt by no means assured.
+
+The clay was now thoroughly dried, being kept near the fire, and
+Richardson put the box on the kitchen hearth, and built a very moderate
+fire. This he gradually increased, till the box was burnt, the plug of
+pine consumed, and the clay brought to the condition of brick. He then
+permitted the fire gradually to burn out, and, when the operation was
+over, he had, as the result, a complete cone, thoroughly burnt. He made
+a square hole in his butment, put the pipe through it, with the smaller
+end towards the forge, and bedded it in clay mortar.
+
+Into the large end of this brick cone he put the wooden nose of his
+bellows. It being a great deal smaller than the cone, he filled around
+it with clay mortar; his object in giving this shape to the passage
+being to admit filling, in order to prevent burning the wooden nose of
+the bellows. The length of the cone prevented its heating sufficiently
+to burn the bellows-nose by reason of its great distance from the fire,
+being out of the stone butment, in the cool air; and the clay mortar
+around the nose was, he thought, a poorer conductor of heat than the
+brick cone itself.
+
+Richardson completed his work about noon, and it was a good deal of
+self-denial to him to abstain from making a coal fire at once, and going
+to work; but he thought it best to let his mortar dry. He, however,
+satisfied himself that there would be no difficulty in raising all the
+wind he needed, and he made a small wood fire to dry the clay before it
+should freeze.
+
+The next morning the shop presented much the appearance of a jubilee.
+The children had obtained a promise from their father that he would not
+kindle the fire till they were up. They were out of bed before a ray of
+light streaked the sky, and the moment breakfast was despatched, the
+whole family, even to the dog and cat, hastened to the shop. It was
+Saturday, and Richardson, knowing that Bradford's wife would want to
+bake, and need the shovel, began with that, putting the two parts in the
+fire, after having made them ready to weld, or, as he termed it, "shut."
+He resolved to have a heat this time; put on the coal, and plied the
+bellows; but by and by he noticed that the iron began to send off
+sparks, and saw little black specks of charcoal sticking to the iron.
+Pulling it out of the fire, he found it was all burnt to a honeycomb:
+that the little black specks of charcoal had burnt into the very
+substance of the iron, and yet they were black, and the iron came to
+pieces the moment he struck it. The anvil was covered with scales, and
+he found it would not weld.
+
+He was sadly puzzled, and most of all, that the charcoal that stuck to
+the iron, and burnt into it, did not get red hot itself: and he found
+there was such a thing as getting iron _too hot_. Little Clem had been
+to John Drew's with his father in the canoe, and now came to the rescue.
+
+"Father," he said, "why don't you do like as Mr. Drew did?"
+
+"How did he do, child?"
+
+"I seed him stick the iron into sand, and once I seed him poke the coal
+away, and fling the sand right into the fire."
+
+The father now recollected that he had often seen the blacksmith put his
+iron into sand, but did not know what he did it for. He got some sand,
+and put the iron into it, then put it into the fire, found the iron did
+not burn, and he welded it without any more trouble.
+
+He now got along bravely, being able to heat his iron so that it would
+draw easily. Even the harrow-tooth presented no obstacle; for, after
+bringing it to a white heat, he got his wife to hold it with the tongs,
+and using the old axe as a sledge, soon brought the tooth to a size that
+he could work with his nail-hammer, and finished his job. As to the
+bellows, they were a great success, afforded a strong blast, and he
+found the constant current of cold air passing through the cone kept it
+from becoming hot enough to burn the nose of the bellows.
+
+"William," said his wife, "I'll never say you can't do anything again."
+
+It may seem strange to our readers that Richardson should be able to
+heat iron sufficiently to be drawn and cut with an axe, and still should
+have so much difficulty in making it hot enough to weld. They may
+likewise wish to know what good the sand does.
+
+Iron can be cut and hammered when red hot; but, in order to weld, it
+must be brought to a white heat--almost melted. When in this state, the
+two pieces of iron to be united are laid one upon the other, and made to
+unite by a few smart blows with a hammer. If the operation is rightly
+performed, the two pieces of iron will become perfectly united, and be
+as strong at the place where they are welded as elsewhere.
+
+It is, however, quite a nice operation to weld thoroughly. Iron, when
+highly heated, inclines to oxidize rapidly. This forms a scale similar
+to that which you perceive on iron when it is rusty. If the two pieces
+of iron are put together in this condition, these scales that are loose
+on the iron will prevent the union of the parts. That is the way iron
+burns up. It oxidizes, and the iron flies off in sparks that are scales
+red hot. When the smith sees the iron begin to sparkle, he takes it out
+of the fire, and rolls it in sand, and then puts it in again, or opens
+the fire, and sprinkles sand upon it. The sand melts, combines with the
+oxide of iron, and forms silicate of iron, spreads over the surface of
+the iron, protects it, prevents the formation of scales, and when it is
+struck with the hammer, leaves the surface clean, and the iron unites
+perfectly, and forms a solid junction. The smith also leaves the surface
+of the two pieces to be welded highest in the middle, in order that they
+may touch there first, and then, when struck with the hammer, the melted
+sand or oxide will be squeezed out.
+
+The possession of a pair of bellows, with which he was enabled to heat
+his iron thoroughly, and soften it to such a degree that he could work
+it with his nail-hammer, proved of the utmost service to our persistent
+smith, and he was enabled, by the aid of his wife and the children, to
+mend chains, staples of yokes, domestic utensils, and most of the
+articles his neighbors brought to him, and, as we have seen in the last
+chapter, was gaining knowledge even by his mistakes.
+
+But there was a good deal of work that would be more profitable than any
+he had hitherto done that he was compelled to lose for the want of
+tools. There were oxen to be shod. Four of the neighbors now kept
+horses. These they worked before their oxen, and therefore wanted them
+shod all round, and were obliged to pay John Drew an exorbitant price to
+leave his shop, and come through the woods on snow-shoes to do it. It
+was quite as important that he should have iron as tools, in order to
+learn by practice, as he could not expect his neighbors to find iron for
+him to spoil in learning. To this end he laid by every cent he earned by
+his blacksmith work, in order with that, the cloth, butter, and linen
+yarn, to obtain both.
+
+The tools for the lack of which he was the most crippled in his work
+were a pair of smiths' tongs, a hammer, and a punch. The kitchen tongs
+were wretched things to hold iron with. It required all his strength to
+hold a small piece of iron, and the jaws were so short that it was
+constantly slipping; whereas, the handles of a smiths' tongs, being
+crossed like scissor-blades, act as a lever, and the jaws are long, to
+hold the iron; while a smiths' hammer, being much heavier, and with a
+larger face, deals a more effective blow, and is, by its form, adapted
+to the work. In addition to all this, he had but one pair of kitchen
+tongs, and when he had to weld two pieces of iron, he made a pair of
+wooden ones, with which his wife took out one of the pieces of iron, and
+held it till it was "stuck."
+
+He longed--O, how he longed!--for a little iron that he could call his
+own. It consumed him--this desire--even as does the greed of gold a
+miser. He reckoned with a piece of charcoal on the top of the bellows
+the amount of money he had on hand, the cost of getting Drew to make him
+the tools, and the probable proceeds of the articles he had to sell. To
+his dismay he found, after purchasing even the few tools he must have,
+there would remain but a mere trifle with which to buy iron.
+
+"I must," he said to himself, "either go without the iron or the tools.
+No, I won't; I'll _make_ the tools.--I _will_ do it, and save the money
+to buy iron."
+
+Just then his wife came in to call him to supper, and overheard the
+remark, but did not, as before, say, "William, you never can do it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+HAMMER AND TONGS.
+
+
+Most persons accompany the act of close thought with some physical
+effort; some whittle, smoke, or chew tobacco furiously. William
+Richardson was not an exception. When he had fed the cattle for night,
+brought in the night's wood, a turn of water, and renewed the fire, he
+placed the long handle of his wife's frying-pan across a tub, and began
+to shell corn.
+
+His wife, who knew there was corn enough shelled for a long time, made
+no remark, but noticed, while she sat spinning at her flax-wheel, that
+he dropped a good many ears of corn into the tub half shelled, and some
+untouched. He was evidently thinking of anything but shelling corn.
+
+Thus they sat an hour or more; not a word spoken. On the other hand, it
+was whir, whir, whir; scrape, scrape, scrape. At length his wife saw, as
+the cobs he had been from time to time flinging into the fire caught and
+blazed, the muscles of his face relax, and a smile flit across it.
+
+"Sue?"
+
+"Well, William."
+
+"Do you think you could get along without the tongs?"
+
+"I do get along without them; they are out to the shop the greater part
+of the time; I haven't had 'em in my hands, except out there, this three
+weeks."
+
+"But could you do without 'em altogether?"
+
+"Yes. Why?"
+
+"Because I can make a pair of blacksmith's tongs of 'em."
+
+"Take 'em, husband."
+
+"Could you get along without the fire-shovel?"
+
+"No; because I couldn't clear out the oven."
+
+Whir, whir, whir; scrape, scrape, scrape, for half an hour more.
+
+"Sue!"
+
+"Well."
+
+"Could we get along without one of the andirons?"
+
+"I don't kno-o-w. What in the world can you want of that?"
+
+"To make a hammer."
+
+"We could get along as well without both as without one."
+
+"I don't want the whole of it, only part of the end that's in the fire;
+we could put a rock under that, and the rest of it would keep the wood
+from the hearth, and from rolling out."
+
+"Then I would take it, William. We can get along very well, I dare say.
+Haven't you got corn enough shelled?"
+
+"Haven't you spun long enough?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then we will go to bed."
+
+The sledding was good, and it was sometime before Richardson put his
+designs into execution. But the sledding broke up, work came in, and he
+felt the need of the tongs more than ever, as the children were at
+school, and it was oftentimes impossible for his wife to leave the baby,
+that was cutting its teeth, and began to be fretful.
+
+He placed a block beside his anvil, knocked the handle out of the old
+axe, and mortised it into the block, edge up: upon this he could lay hot
+iron and cut it without calling his wife to assist him.
+
+It was with great reluctance that our smith proceeded to take the tongs
+and the andiron, when the time came for doing it. "I feel," said he to
+his wife, "as though I was sheep-stealing: it seems real mean to strip
+the fireplace, and take your tongs and andirons, especially as we are so
+miserably off for household stuff."
+
+"I wouldn't feel so, William. The first two years we got along without
+them; then we thought we needed the tongs, and got John Drew to make
+them; and now, if you need the hammer more than the tongs, I don't see
+why you shouldn't take them."
+
+The kitchen tongs were huge affairs; there was more iron in them than
+in three pairs of light smith's tongs, such as Richardson needed at
+present, only it was not in the right place, but just the reverse, as
+the legs of the house tongs were shaped like the human leg and thigh,
+largest at the fork, and tapering towards the feet, where they
+terminated in a large, oval lip, very thick and broad, adapted to seize
+and hold the great brands in the old-fashioned fireplaces; whereas
+forge-tongs have the most iron in the jaws, and at the cross, and taper
+from thence to a small size.
+
+To his great delight, Richardson found that he did not need more than
+half of the legs of the tongs.
+
+"I'll save the body of them," he said, "and when I get some new iron,
+put on new legs, and Susan can have her tongs again."
+
+He put them into the fire, and cut off the lips, drew down the small end
+to half its size, in order to save iron, and that the handles might
+occupy less room in his hand. A new difficulty now presented itself.
+Indeed, our smith, who was in want of everything but brains and
+perseverance, trod a brier-planted path. He had no punch to make a hole
+for the rivet, and without it all his previous work was useless. Punches
+are made of steel, or, at least, pointed with it; but he had no steel,
+except his tools and a file, that he needed to sharpen his saws and
+augers, and could not do without. He knew that an iron punch would
+answer the purpose; but where should he get the iron to make it of, for
+he had now discovered that he needed two pairs of tongs, in order to
+take two pieces of iron from the fire at the same time, to weld, and
+could spare none from the legs of the fire-tongs for a punch. He took
+the two oval buttons that had formed the lips of the house-tongs, welded
+them together, and made his punch. To be sure, at every three or four
+blows it bent; but he straightened it again, and, by heating the iron as
+hot as it would bear, succeeded in punching the holes in both pairs of
+tongs, and then took part of the punch to make the rivets.
+
+So delighted was he when the whole matter was accomplished, that the big
+man capered around the shop for joy, and ran in to tell the good news to
+his wife.
+
+"Now, Sue," he said, "let us have a thanksgiving to-day, for I have two
+pairs of tongs; let us have pea-soup."
+
+There was not much left of the house-tongs, only the head, and about two
+inches of each leg, below the fork, just enough to weld to. The great
+benefit of the tongs was instantly apparent. Returning to the shop,
+William took up what remained of the punch, and exclaiming, "A
+blacksmith has the advantage of a carpenter, for he can work up his
+chips," made a hook. This he fastened to a belt around his waist. Of the
+remainder he made a clasp that he could slip over the handles of the
+tongs, thus holding the iron and liberating his hand.
+
+Now, if he wanted to use his left hand to hold a punch or cutter, he
+could put a clasp over the handles of the tongs, and drop them into the
+hook at his waist; the iron, also, was not slipping out of the tongs and
+dropping on the ground, every three or four blows. He could now work
+alone to very good advantage, as he had no large iron to draw, and his
+wife was not compelled to take her hands out of the dough to help him.
+
+"Wife," said William, when he came in from his work that night, "I am as
+tired as a dog. It's hard work trying to make something out of nothing."
+After resting his brain a while, and doing the new work his neighbors
+had brought, he began to think about making a hammer; so he cut off
+sufficient iron from one of the andirons, lapped it over, welded it, and
+formed the body of the tool. But in this a large hole was to be punched
+to receive a handle. It was necessary that he should have more than one
+punch, a small one to make the hole, and another to enlarge it, as he
+could not, with his nail-hammer, strike with sufficient force to drive a
+large punch through so thick a piece of iron.
+
+"I am sure, wife," he said, "I don't know what I shall get to make
+punches of. I have a good mind to take one of the teeth out of your
+flax-comb--they are _steel_--to make the small punch, and cut a piece
+off the crowbar to make the big one."
+
+"I wouldn't cut the crowbar, William. Take part of the other andiron; we
+might as well have a stone under the ends of both as under one. There's
+an old wheel spindle will make the small one."
+
+He acted upon his wife's advice, and made the hammer. Hammers are faced
+with steel, whereas this was all iron; but Richardson knew that, like
+his iron punches, it would answer a temporary purpose, and that when it
+was battered up, he could hammer it back again. He now was able to do
+all the work his neighbors brought, and in half the time required
+before. While he was congratulating himself upon his success, David
+Montague came to the shop, bringing the chain he had mended first; the
+link had straightened when put to a severe test.
+
+"I know the reason," said Richardson. "I couldn't get a proper heat with
+the house-bellows." He mended it, and this time there was no failure.
+
+William Richardson, during all these struggles and make-shifts, had
+learned much, and, in a way that insured its being remembered; had
+learned the value and use of sand, found that it protected the iron,
+kept the outside from burning, while the inside was heating; that, if he
+put two pieces of iron in the fire, and one of them became hot before
+the other, he could take it out, roll it in sand, and put it back, and
+the sand would keep it from burning up, while the other was getting
+ready. He likewise perceived that there was a great difference in the
+effect of heat upon the different kinds of iron brought to him by his
+neighbors: some was fine-grained, tough, and would bear a great heat;
+another kind was coarse, brittle, and, if made too hot, would fly under
+the hammer, and fall to pieces. Every mistake added to his experience,
+and he was every day acquiring dexterity in the use of the hammer.
+
+His neighbors, who watched his progress with the greatest interest, were
+as much delighted as himself, since they were no longer obliged to go
+through the woods to the village for every little job. They now told him
+he must learn to shoe oxen and horses, work steel, make axes and
+plough-irons.
+
+You may well think Richardson was as anxious to be able to do this work
+as they were to have it done; and the way for the gradual attainment of
+it came about in the natural order of events.
+
+David Montague had, during the winter, got out the timber for a barn,
+and employed Richardson to frame, board, and shingle it. This increased
+his stock of money very sensibly, and he felt that he could now, with
+the money he had saved by making his tools, the proceeds of his butter,
+and other matters, and that which he had earned by working for Montague,
+buy some iron and steel. He had also in the distant future, visions of
+an iron anvil, that he foresaw he must one day have.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+DREW SORE AND SAVAGE.
+
+
+It was now past the middle of March. A copious rain was succeeded by a
+sharp frost, making excellent going on the river, and Richardson
+resolved to improve it; the only drawback being that the river was one
+glare of ice, and his oxen had lost many of their shoes. He had saved
+part of the shoes, borrowed some more of John Bradford, and could have
+put them on himself, as Moody Matthews had a shoeing-hammer, but there
+were no nails in the neighborhood.
+
+Richardson, however, knew that by taking time and by careful driving, he
+could get the cattle to the village, and determined to carry the shoes
+with him, and hire Drew to sharpen and nail them on. He put on the sled
+half a cord of hemlock bark, his own grist, the butter, cloth, and yarn,
+together with some corn and grain for his neighbors.
+
+About eight o'clock in the evening his wife went to bed; but William
+made up a warm fire in the stone fireplace, fed the cattle, and lay
+down before it. At twelve o'clock he went out, fed the cattle again, and
+called his wife, who got his breakfast, and he set out. He carried in a
+basket doughnuts, baked beans, cold boiled pork, Indian bread, and
+butter, and a jug of coffee, also hay for the oxen. His plan was to stop
+for the night at Hanson's, who put up teams, paying fifty cents a night
+for barn-room for the cattle and a bed for himself, Hanson's wife
+warming his beans, and making tea or coffee for him, as the coffee he
+carried was to drink on the road. This expense was paid by the neighbors
+whose errands he did.
+
+At his arrival, he found John Drew, who before had always received him
+very cordially, in a most surly humor. He was making axes. Tom Breslaw,
+an apprentice, nearly out of his time, was striking, and blowing the
+bellows. Barely nodding, in response to the greeting of Richardson, he
+took an axe, into which he had stuck the steel, from the fire, flung it
+savagely on the anvil, crying to Tom, "Strike!" and after the heat put
+it in the fire again, taking not the least notice of Richardson, but
+giving all his attention to his iron. Finding he was not noticed, and at
+a loss to know what this strange conduct of the smith meant, he at
+length said, "Mr. Drew, can you put a few shoes on my oxen?"
+
+"No, I can't. I've got this axe and another one to make for a man that's
+waitin' for 'em."
+
+"Perhaps you could do it in the morning. I shall be obliged to stay all
+night to get my grist ground. It would be a great accommodation to me if
+you could. I had hard work to get the cattle here, and if I am obliged
+to drive them home as they are, I shall lame them."
+
+"Can't do it, I tell you, and that's the long and short of it."
+
+"Perhaps you could make some nails, lend me a shoeing-hammer, and I
+would try and nail them on myself. If you don't, I am sure I don't know
+what I shall do. I had hard work to get the cattle here with no load of
+any amount. I must haul more back, and I don't know how I can get home."
+
+"And I don't care how you get home, Bill Richardson; nor whether you get
+home at all. Here I've slaved myself for years, going up to your place
+through the woods on snow-shoes once or twice every winter, and hauling
+my tools and shoes on a hand-sled, leaving work here in the shop just to
+accommodate you folks up there, and took my pay in white beans and all
+sorts of trash, when I left cash jobs at home and lost 'em; and here you
+come smelling round, and palavering, as though butter wouldn't melt in
+your mouth; watch and sneak round, and steal the trade, and then go
+back, cut off my custom, and take the bread right out of my mouth. Now
+I've got you where the hair is short. You may shoe your own cattle,
+you're such a great smith. I won't make you a shoe, nail, lend you a
+tool, or obleege you in any way, name, or natur'. Strike, Tom
+Breslaw--what are you gaping at?"
+
+Waiting patiently till the din of blows had subsided, and the iron was
+returned to the fire, Richardson replied,--
+
+"As for stealing your trade, Mr. Drew, and coming here for the purpose,
+it is certainly a mistake of yours. I never thought of trying to work a
+piece of iron till the last time I was here, when the thought came into
+my mind. You surely can't think it strange, when you know what great
+labor and expense it is for myself and neighbors to come here, that we
+should try to do somewhat for ourselves. You would do the same were you
+in our place. If you complain so bitterly of coming to our place twice a
+year, what do you think it must be for us to come to you all the time?
+You must remember, also, that at those times you charged a corresponding
+price, that was cheerfully paid. I can't well see how you could lose any
+work by going, as there is no other smith anywhere round, and you must
+have found the work waiting when you came back. I have never been
+reputed a thief among my neighbors, or made a practice of stealing. I
+did wish to obtain some information of you, before I went home, about
+working and tempering steel, but expected to pay for it. As for taking
+bread out of your mouth, you have all the work you can do right here,
+without doing a stroke of work for us."
+
+"Well, all the knowledge you'll worm out of me you may put in your eye,
+for you won't get any."
+
+"I don't expect, or even desire to, after what has passed between us;
+but, as I have given you full opportunity to free your mind, and express
+your opinion of me, any more talk of that kind before my face or behind
+my back will be at your own risk. I suppose you understand me."
+
+Drew hung his head, and made no reply; for, though a patient and
+good-natured man, William Richardson was by no means a safe person to
+provoke.
+
+It was now the dinner hour, and as Richardson left the shop he was
+followed by Breslaw, who said,--
+
+"Mr. Richardson, where are you going?"
+
+"First, Tom, to your father's, with this bark. He is tanning a couple of
+hides for me, and told me he would take part of his pay in bark. I was
+going to buy some iron and steel at the store; but I shall have to give
+that up; for, as Drew won't shoe my cattle, I shan't be able to haul one
+pound more than my grist."
+
+"He's a mean wretch, and I don't see how you kept your hands off him.
+But he's been drinking; that's part of it. Give me your shoes. I'll run
+into Aunt Sarah's, and get my dinner; it won't take me so long as to go
+home; and before Drew gets back I'll fit the shoes and make the nails,
+and this evening we will put them on. Most of the shoes have been on the
+cattle before. I'll fit the others by them, and if there's any of them
+too far gone to sharpen, I'll make new ones."
+
+"But where will you get iron? Shan't I run to the store and get some?"
+
+"I keep a little of my own, and do small jobs out of shop time. Any
+little scraps will do for that."
+
+Richardson hauled his bark to the tan-yard, and Breslaw's father invited
+him to stop to dinner. As he was passing Drew's shop on his return, Tom
+came out.
+
+"I've made the shoes and nails, Mr. Richardson; and I'll tell you what
+I've been thinking of. I suppose money is none too plenty with you."
+
+"You may well say that, Tom; for I'm paying for my land, and every cent
+counts."
+
+"Well, now, you can, while you are waiting for your grist, go round the
+village, and pick up old iron, and perhaps some steel, that won't cost
+you one quarter what it would to buy new at the store, and be just as
+good, and better, for your use, as it will be smaller, and save
+hammering. Only look out that it is not too rusty. Perhaps you remember
+Bosworth, the stone-mason."
+
+"Very well. He made the stones in the grist-mill, and built the piers of
+the great bridge."
+
+"He died this last winter, and his widow has his drills and other tools,
+and wants to sell 'em. The drills are all steel, and the best of steel,
+too; and I've no doubt you could buy 'em for half what the same amount
+of steel would cost you at the store, and perhaps for even less."
+
+In accordance with this advice, Richardson went to the place, and bought
+four hand-drills, a foot or more in length, used for splitting stone,
+and two dozen steel wedges. The latter, he thought, would, at some
+future time, serve to make toe-calks for horse-shoes. The purchase that
+delighted him most of all, however, was a churn-drill. This was four
+feet in length; but only four inches of each end was steel, being much
+worn, the remainder iron, shaped like the stalk of a seed onion, with a
+bulb of iron in the middle, three inches in diameter. He also bought a
+light stone-hammer. This was likewise a great acquisition, as it would
+serve the purpose of a sledge. Clem could now strike with it for a short
+time, and would, in a few months, be able to handle it easily; for he
+was large of his age, and muscular. He could likewise get one of his
+neighbors to strike, upon an emergency. Pursuing his search, he found
+several old axes, beetle-rings, three mill-files, the handle of a
+kitchen shovel, one leg of a pair of kitchen tongs, and an old crane
+(the latter was a large piece of iron), and some old ox-shoes. At the
+mill he obtained some of the mill-stone picks that had become too short
+for use.
+
+Just as he had finished his supper that night, Tom made his appearance
+at Hanson's with the shoes, nails, and his tools. A rope was procured,
+and the oxen were cast on the barn floor. Richardson held a candle,
+stuck into a potato, while Hanson assisted Tom. The latter put on the
+new shoes, clinched up all the old ones that were loose, and, with a
+smith's large file, sharpened the dull calks.
+
+He not only refused to take any pay for his work, avowing that Jack Drew
+was hog enough for one small place, but, sitting down before the fire
+with Richardson, gave him a great deal of valuable information
+respecting working iron.
+
+In the morning Richardson rose early, and prepared to start. After
+paying his expenses at Hanson's, he was able to buy considerable iron at
+the store, and still had a little money left. The wind was north-west, a
+bright sun, the ice smooth and hard, and the cattle, sharpshod, were
+able to travel. Thoroughly rested, and eager to get home, they seemed to
+regard the load no more than though it had been feathers. Snorting with
+eagerness, proud of their new shoes, and perhaps elated with the idea
+of having been to the village, they could at first scarcely be kept from
+breaking into a run.
+
+Was not Will Richardson a happy man that bright, sunny morning! The keen
+air braced his limbs, and his heart throbbed with joy. Things had turned
+out so much better than he anticipated. He feasted his eyes upon the
+iron and steel--the great bar, the nail rods--he had bought at the
+store, or rather the thin bar he had purchased to be split into nail
+rods; for at that day iron did not come from the forges in shapes to
+suit the smiths, but in large bars, and there was a vast deal of work to
+be done with the sledge and hammer.
+
+Never did a boy gloat over a ripe plum as did Will Richardson over the
+great bunch of iron in the middle of that churn-drill. He couldn't keep
+his eyes off of it, and had already decided in his own mind what use he
+would make of it.
+
+Thanks to the noble spirit of Tom Breslaw, the cattle travelled so fast
+that he arrived home long before his wife expected him. The children had
+come half starved--as children always do in the country--from school,
+and were screaming, "Do, mother, give me something to eat."
+
+"I'll give you a luncheon, because you'll want to eat with your father
+when he comes, and you'll want to tie up the cattle, and get the
+night's wood in, and a turn of water, so you can have time to see him."
+
+This being assented to by Young America, the mother, taking half of a
+loaf of rye-and-Indian bread, began to spread butter on the loaf, and
+then cut off and distribute huge slices to the hungry expectants. She
+had cut off the last slice when the sound of Richardson's voice,
+shouting to the oxen, came through the half-open door.
+
+"Father--father's come!" screamed the children; and, followed by their
+mother, they ran to the river. Down the slope they rushed, pell-mell,
+and, just as the cattle put their fore feet on the edge of the bank, and
+taking advantage of a momentary pause occasioned by the steepness of the
+grade, piled on to the sled, the two girls holding on to their father's
+legs, who, standing on the hinder end of the sled, and holding by one
+hand to a stake, with the other waved his hat to his wife, shouting, "O,
+Sue, the best of luck! 'Lashings' of iron and steel; and I've brought
+back the fulled cloth, and the stuff for your and the children's
+clothes, and money--only think of it, wife, brought money home with me!
+You can have your tongs, and your andirons, and I can have all the tools
+I want? and won't we go ahead?"
+
+His wife was too full to speak; but happiness beamed from every feature,
+as standing half-leg deep in the snow, she drank in the words of her
+husband, who, taking her in his arms, seated her upon a bag of meal,
+and, while the cattle went on, narrated the incidents of his journey,
+the surliness of Drew, and how nobly it was offset by the generous
+conduct of Breslaw.
+
+"Ain't it glorious, wife? I tell you what it is, Sue, it's better to be
+born lucky than rich."
+
+To which we might add, that it is better to be born with brains and
+energy than rich; for the riches may be lost; but the former are an
+enduring possession, and when under the control of virtuous principles,
+a source of unfailing happiness and self-respect.
+
+William Richardson was by no means a talkative man. On the contrary he
+was by nature reserved and thoughtful. But now his tongue ran like a
+mill-clapper, and ceased not till the cattle stopped of their own accord
+before the door.
+
+In the meanwhile his wife remained, listening to the excited narration
+of her husband, in a sort of silent rapture; but when, after the oxen
+stopped, he began to show her the iron, and expatiate, saying, "Only see
+this churn-drill, wife; both ends steel; and what a great bunch of iron
+in the middle--Swedish iron, too; and three picks, and drills, and
+wedges--all steel; and that crane--see what a great junk of iron _that_
+is!--didn't cost me much of anything, either; and that big bar, to make
+axes; and the thin iron for horse and ox shoes, and nail-rods;"--I say,
+as he thus ran on, showing and explaining the value of one piece of iron
+after another, tears of joy ran down the cheeks of the faithful wife,
+and after that she found her tongue.
+
+Now you needn't laugh, boys, and say, "What a fuss over a little old
+iron!" It was worth a great deal more to that family than though it had
+been so much gold; and you needn't say, "O, what a whopper!" Just see if
+it don't come out so before we have done with the Richardsons. That
+amount of gold might, and probably would, have ruined them; but on every
+grain of that rusty metal were written encouragement, inspiration,
+opportunity; and God Almighty had given to William Richardson the
+ability to read for himself and his neighbors what was written on those
+iron leaves.
+
+"Father," cried Clem, seizing the stone-hammer, "what is this awful
+great hammer for?"
+
+"For you, my son, to help me draw these great bars of iron with--at any
+rate, by and by, if you can't handle it now."
+
+"I can swing it now, father, just like anything. See here"--swinging it
+over his head, and bringing it down with considerable force on the iron.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+PATIENT, BUT DETERMINED.
+
+
+Perhaps our readers would like to know what were the first words Susan
+Richardson uttered after she found her tongue.
+
+"The first thing I'll do, when I get up to-morrow morning, shall be to
+spin some linen yarn as fine as I can spin it, scour and bleach it the
+best I know how, weave it, and if I don't make Tom Breslaw as handsome a
+pair of linen shirts as any man in this state ever had to his back, it
+will be because I can't."
+
+The children all had to take a turn at the stone-hammer. Rob could
+strike with it, but could not swing it over his head; besides being
+younger, he was much less muscular than Clem, who was very large of his
+age. Sue could lift it to the height of her shoulders, Sally but a few
+inches. They now began to carry the iron to the shop. Clem and Rob took
+each an end of the churn-drill, but the girls insisted on taking hold in
+the middle, and entirely monopolized the conveyance of the drills,
+wedges, and smaller things, notwithstanding the boys told them they
+should think it would look a great deal better for them to go into the
+house and help their mother get supper. All the satisfaction they got
+was, "It's nothing to you; mam said we might."
+
+The first work William Richardson did in the shop was with the remnants
+of the kitchen shovel and tongs he had bought to repair his wife's
+tongs, and cutting a piece off the old crane, he repaired the andirons.
+
+Sitting on the anvil, he now looked over the iron and steel spread in
+imposing array by the children over the shop, as a militia captain makes
+his company take open order on muster-day for the sake of show,
+reflecting in what way he should make the most of his treasures, when
+Clem, who had been examining the drills with great interest, striking
+one upon the other, and listening to the clear, sharp ring thus
+produced, so different from the dull sound emitted by the iron, said,--
+
+"Father, what is steel?"
+
+The parent, occupied with his reflections, neither heard nor heeded the
+question.
+
+"Who don't know that, Clem?" replied Robert. "It's what makes father's
+axe and draw-shave cut: iron won't cut."
+
+"I guess I know that as well as you do. But what makes steel cut any
+more'n iron? It looks just like it."
+
+"'Cause it's steel."
+
+"You know a great deal about it--don't you?"
+
+"What is it, boys?" said the father, rousing up.
+
+"What is steel, father?"
+
+"It's made out of iron refined and hardened, so as to give it temper."
+
+"What do they do to it?"
+
+"I don't know; it's done in England."
+
+"Will the temper stay there forever?"
+
+"Yes; you can draw it most all out if you heat it, but if you put it in
+cold water it will come back again."
+
+"What makes you, when you want to burn the handle out of your axe, put
+wet cloths all over the edge of it?"
+
+"Because I don't want to heat the steel and start the temper."
+
+"What if you did? couldn't you put it into cold water and make it come
+back?"
+
+"Perhaps I shouldn't get the same temper: if the axe cuts well, I prefer
+to let well enough alone; if I spoiled it, I should have to go clear to
+the village to get John Drew to temper it over."
+
+"But, father, I seed you take and put the new broad axe in the fire with
+no cloth on it, nor nothing, and heat it real hot, so when I spit on it
+it sissed."
+
+"Yes, my son; but I didn't do that to take the handle out, but to draw
+the temper. It was so high tempered it broke, and I couldn't do
+anything with it; so I thought, as it was of no use as it was, I might
+as well try to draw down the temper, and if I got too much out, it would
+only be going to Drew after all. Do you understand now, my son?"
+
+"Yes, father; but I heard you tell mother you meant to try to temper an
+axe."
+
+"I mean to try, dear. That's what I got the iron and steel for."
+
+"Won't you spoil it?"
+
+"I expect I shall, a good many, before I learn."
+
+"Father, I want to see you learn. Can I see you spoil the axes?"
+
+"Yes, child, I shall want you to help me."
+
+"Think you can learn, father?"
+
+"I guess so."
+
+"Then I can learn too. Perhaps there's a man in the steel what lives
+there and makes it cut."
+
+"If there is, he must have a pretty warm berth sometimes."
+
+"Father, when you learn and I learn, can I make me a hatchet?"
+
+"And me too?" said Robert.
+
+"Yes, I guess so."
+
+Now we intend as briefly as possible to answer Clem's first question. It
+would be very ridiculous, if a good-looking, nice-feeling boy in the
+high school, being asked what made his knife cut, should have to stick
+his thumb in his mouth, look like a dunce, and say, "I don't know."
+
+We must begin with and say a few things in relation to iron, from which
+steel is made.
+
+The iron ore is put into the furnace, a layer of iron ore and another of
+coal, together with lime, either in the shape of oyster-shells or stone
+lime. It is there melted and run into large junks called _pigs_. The
+lime causes all the flint, sand, and earthy matters to melt and separate
+from the iron, which, being heaviest, drops to the bottom of the
+furnace, while the slag, that is lighter; floats on top, and is taken
+off. This is _cast_ iron; you see pigs of it piled up on the wharves in
+seaports, the outside incrusted with the sand in which it was run, and
+looking as rough, some of it, as the cinders of a smith's forge. It is
+highly charged with carbon, coarse, hard, and brittle; can neither be
+filed, welded, nor worked, under the hammer; is more or less filled with
+slag and other impurities, and fit only, when melted again and purified,
+to be cast into pots, pans, stoves, wheels, and various articles. It is
+now melted two or three times more, and slightly hammered, to beat off
+some of the slag. Then it is made red hot, and put under steam-hammers.
+In old times it was hammered by water power, or by men with sledges.
+This is done in order to take out the carbon, that renders it hard and
+brittle.
+
+Probably by this time you wish to know what carbon is, to extract which
+from the iron has cost so much labor. Should I give you the definition
+of the books, you would probably want that definition defined.
+
+Many boys have seen a diamond: that is carbon in a solid form: pit coal
+is solid carbon mixed with sulphur, phosphoros, and other elements.
+Charcoal is solid carbon in a nearly pure state. Carbon has so strong an
+affinity for oxygen, that when any of the substances that contain it are
+burned, they give up their carbon, that instantly mingles with the
+oxygen of the air.
+
+Thus, when iron is heated, its pores are opened, the carbon on the
+outside is carried away by the air, and more is liberated from within,
+to pass off in the same way; the object of the frequent meltings and the
+hammering is to expose new surfaces to contact with the oxygen of the
+air, and get rid of the carbon, just as the farmer turns his hay, and
+brings new surfaces to the sun, to dry off the dew.
+
+As the result of this we have wrought iron, soft, tough, of close and
+fibrous, instead of a crystalline or granular texture, that may be made
+red hot and quenched in water without hardening or becoming brittle; may
+be welded, split, punched, made into wheel-tires, hoes, shovels, axes,
+hammers, pitchforks, knives, or razors. But there is one grand defect in
+this iron, although it is so tractable that it may be worked under the
+hammer into a thousand different shapes at the will of the smith; may be
+drawn into wire so fine as to be woven in a loom or made into a watch
+spring that weighs only the tenth of a grain, and rolled into leaves as
+thin as paper, insomuch that a pound of raw iron costing a cent affords
+steel sufficient for seventy thousand watches, worth one hundred and
+seventy-five thousand dollars. It is, however, too soft to form a
+cutting edge that will stand. Make a pitchfork of it, it is harder work
+to stick it into the hay than it is to pitch the hay, as we know from
+experience; an axe, it will take all your strength to cut through the
+bark, and you must grind it every hour; a razor, you can shave but once,
+and then with tears of agony. Make a hammer of it, and it batters up
+forthwith; a punch, it bends; a drill, at the first stroke of the sledge
+it turns.
+
+What next?
+
+Troughs are made of fire-brick, from eight to sixteen feet in length,
+and two or three feet in depth. The troughs are placed in a furnace, and
+on the bottom of each of them a mixture of powdered charcoal, ashes, and
+salt. Bars of wrought iron are laid upon this mixture half an inch
+apart, to the amount, perhaps, of twelve tons, and covered with
+charcoal; then another layer of iron and more charcoal, till the trough
+is full. The top is covered with cement that has been used before, and
+damp sand. The fire is then made in such a manner that the heat passes
+all around the troughs, and is kept up from six to ten days, according
+to the size of the bars and the purposes for which the contents of the
+troughs are wanted.
+
+The heat of the furnace opens the pores of the iron, and sets free the
+carbon contained in the charcoal; and as the cement prevents it from
+escaping and uniting with the oxygen of the air, it enters the pores of
+the iron and impregnates it. The fire is now suffered to die out, and
+the metal is taken from the troughs. It is no longer iron, but steel. We
+now have that which is the "king of metals," and by the aid of which the
+skilful mechanic can do what would once have been thought miraculous.
+
+The surface of this material is covered with blisters, hence it is
+called blistered steel. It resounds when struck. Iron once bent remains
+so; but steel is so elastic that it may be bent to an angle of
+forty-five degrees, and will spring back to its original position. It is
+said that Andrew of Ferrara manufactured swords so elastic, that the
+point of the blade would bend to touch the hilt, and spring back again
+uninjured. The quality of steel depends upon the quality of the iron
+from which it is made. The English have carried the art to great
+perfection, nevertheless are obliged to import the iron from which their
+razor-steel is made from Sweden. This blistered steel is the kind that
+lay upon the floor of William Richardson's shop, and in the possession
+of which he so exulted.
+
+Now you have an article that gives to the axe its temper, the fork its
+point, the mainspring of the watch its elasticity, and to all tools an
+enduring edge that may be so attempered as to pierce the hardest rocks
+and crush the hardest stones; that may be welded to iron, and thus
+economized. Do you think it strange that Will Richardson rejoiced at the
+acquisition in his circumstances, or reflected long and seriously in
+respect to the manner in which he should use his treasures to the best
+advantage?
+
+And now, perhaps, some thoughtful boy may say,--
+
+"Why be at so great expense of labor and material to take carbon from
+iron, and then set right at work to put it back again?"
+
+Because there is too much in the cast iron, and so it is all taken out,
+and just the right amount put in.
+
+"Why not, then, when decarbonizing the cast iron, leave just enough in,
+and save the labor of three processes?"
+
+This has been attempted, but the results have not given satisfaction. It
+is not so easy to ascertain when the right amount is left in as when it
+is put in. The latter can be determined very accurately by means of
+try-bars, the ends of which are left protruding from the troughs. When,
+upon drawing one of them out, it is found to be blistered, the process
+is done. Although blistered steel be so superior to iron, it has
+imperfections, that impair the quality of edge tools manufactured from
+it--the result of imperfections in the iron of which it is made. At
+times there will be differences even in the same bar; one portion will
+be softer than another, or there will be flaws and shelly places.
+
+When the steel made from such iron is wrought into a tool and ground,
+the edge is uneven, serrated, softer in one place than another. This
+amounts to a fatal defect in those articles where great and uniform
+hardness is required, as in screw-taps, wire-drawers, plates, dies, and
+stamps for coining and engraving. It is evident, as the carbon is
+introduced from the surface, that there will be less in the middle than
+at the outside of the bars; thus the steel is not of a uniform
+character. In order to obviate this, the bars of steel are made into a
+fagot heated in a great forge, welded together with a hammer worked by
+machinery, and drawn into bars, which closes up all the fissures and
+renders it tough and compact. It is now called shear steel, because
+shears for dressing cloth were made of it, and it will take a better
+polish than blistered steel. But the process is not yet completed. Bars
+of blistered steel that have been the most highly charged with carbon,
+and are therefore the hardest, are broken into short pieces,--those
+being put together that are of a like hardness,--and placed in pots of
+fire-clay, about thirty pounds in a pot, with covers fitting perfectly
+tight. The pots are placed in a furnace, and the steel in them melted,
+when it is poured into cast iron moulds, and made into ingots. These are
+under a tilt-hammer drawn into bars of all sizes. This is cast steel,
+and it is evident, must be of uniform quality and hardness. This process
+was discovered in 1750, by a citizen of Sheffield, and for many years
+kept a secret. It is of this steel that the best tools, swords, knives,
+and instruments of all kinds are manufactured. But not even shear steel
+was within the reach of most of the smiths at the date of our story,
+very little being imported, save in the form of tools.
+
+There is another property pertaining to steel. When heated to a white
+heat or cherry red, according to its quality, and quenched in water, it
+becomes hard as glass, and very brittle. The higher the temperature, and
+the more suddenly it is cooled, the harder and more brittle it becomes.
+It is this quality that renders steel the "king of metals," and has
+given to the smith power over all material substances. Even the diamond
+is forced to yield the palm, for recently steel has been tempered to
+take its place in cutting glass.
+
+The result of William's reflections was, that, in order to draw and work
+the large iron now in his possession, he must have better tools and a
+heavy sledge, as he could upon occasion get one of his neighbors to
+strike for him. John Bradford lived nearest: he knew that John would be
+glad to accommodate him, and take his pay in blacksmith work; besides,
+by employing the same person all the time, that individual would acquire
+facility, and learn to strike fair.
+
+Commencing with the churn-drill, he cut it off just below the great bulb
+in the middle, "upset" the end by striking it endwise upon the anvil,
+and by the aid of Clem, with his stone-hammer, formed it into something
+like the proper shape for the face end of a sledge. He then partially
+formed the "pean," or top portion, that in a smith's sledge is
+wedge-shaped. He wished to punch the hole for the handle before cutting
+off the rest of the drill, in order to hold it by that part, as he had
+no tongs that were large enough. To make this hole in so thick a piece
+needed, he thought, a steel punch, or at least a steel-pointed one. The
+material was at hand in that part of the drill he had just cut off, only
+wanting to be pointed.
+
+There was more length than was either necessary or convenient; but he
+resolved to point first, and shorten it afterwards. Ignorant of the
+nature of steel, or the degree of heat it will endure, he supposed, as
+it was very hard, it should be made all the hotter, blew up the fire,
+and treated it just as he would a piece of wrought iron. The drill had
+been imported from England,--as were nearly all the tools in that
+day,--was pointed with the best of double shear steel, and hardened all
+that it would bear. The result was, that the moment he struck it with
+his hammer, it crumbled and fell to pieces, like so much brick, till, as
+there was but about four inches of the steel, nothing remained except
+the iron to which it had been welded.
+
+Richardson stood looking at the fragments in utter despair. To lose that
+steel was almost like losing a limb; but it was gone past redemption. It
+had cost him something to learn that steel will not bear so much heat as
+iron. Afraid to meddle with the other end of the drill, he resolved,
+since it needed very little alteration, to take off the corners and
+square the end on the grindstone; but it proved so hard that he soon
+gave up the attempt, and felt that he must run the risk.
+
+"I'll try it," he said; "no doubt John Drew spoiled plenty of steel when
+he was apprentice, and had a master at his back, to boot."
+
+Well aware that the other steel was burned, he watched it narrowly, put
+on plenty of sand, and before it was white hot, worked it without
+difficulty.
+
+All he knew in regard to tempering was, that steel becomes hard by being
+quenched in water while red hot, and if plunged in water after that
+period, less so; while if suffered to cool of itself, it is not so much
+harder than iron. He was ignorant of a fact most important to a smith,
+and by the knowledge of which he is enabled to produce any degree of
+temper he pleases, after practice and experience of the different
+qualities of the various kinds of steel; to wit, that the gradations
+from extreme hardness to extreme softness are denoted by the different
+colors it assumes while cooling.
+
+Trying with a file the punch that had now cooled on the forge, he found
+that it was quite soft, and supposed it needed hardening. Heating it as
+hot as he dared, he plunged it in water, held it there till cold, and
+then twisted a withe around it for a handle.
+
+He now took a welding heat on his iron, that it might punch the more
+easily, and set Robert to hold it, while Clem held the punch. So much
+time was occupied in placing the iron and punch, and instructing the
+boys how to hold both, that it had cooled, and become harder to punch;
+nevertheless, he resolved to try it, and lifting the great beetle,
+struck with all his might upon the punch. At the second blow it broke in
+two, as short as a pipe-stem.
+
+Clem, who had followed every motion, seeing the blank look of his
+father, began to cry; while Rob ran to tell his mother.
+
+"Jackass that I was," he said, "to make that punch so hard. Didn't I
+know that I could punch hot iron with an iron punch, and have done it?"
+
+Finding that there was still a little steel left, he put it in the fire
+again, let it cool to a black heat before he quenched it, then punched
+his hole, and finished the sledge. By patient perseverance, and after
+many ineffectual attempts, he succeeded in learning to weld steel to
+iron, and made himself several pairs of tongs of different shapes and
+sizes, also flat punches of files, but of low temper, also chisels. He
+did not dare to make them hard, as he did the punch; so he let them
+become almost cold before quenching.
+
+He shod Montague's horse, making all the nails and two new shoes; but he
+was all day about it, and had nothing better to pare the hoof than a
+jack-knife. No matter for that--the thing once done, and done right:
+facility is the result of practice.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+HE FINDS THE CLUE.
+
+
+Thus far our smith had by no means realized the benefits anticipated
+from the possession of steel. He had, indeed, ascertained what degree of
+heat it would bear, learned to weld it to iron, made some punches that
+were a little better than iron ones, and yet he was as far removed from
+a knowledge of tempering that would enable him to forge and finish a
+reliable tool of any kind as before; since to heat a piece of steel and
+plunge it in water, making it so hard and brittle as to be useless, or
+quenching it when nearly cold, thus rendering it about as soft as iron,
+did not amount to anything practically.
+
+And yet this man aspired to make an axe; yes, even had dim visions of
+plane-irons, draw-shaves, chisels, and gouges manufactured by William
+Richardson, edge tool maker. Aspired, did I say? The expression is too
+feeble. The idea absorbed his thoughts, and, ever present to his mind,
+assumed the character of a passion. It was not a mere whim, but based
+upon solid grounds.
+
+There were but few ploughs in the place, and not many horses, and they
+were not shod all round except in the winter. But the axe was in
+universal use, subject to continual wear, and frequently broken. John
+Drew was celebrated for giving to his axes a high temper, that rendered
+them liable to break in frosty weather; one cause of which probably was,
+that he made up a lot of axes, and then tempered the lot. Upon tempering
+days he was always more or less under the influence of liquor. Indeed,
+he thought he could not temper an axe properly, unless he was half
+drunk; and it must be allowed that many of his neighbors were of the
+same opinion, while others said, he wanted them to break, in order that
+he might have a job of repairing. It was too early in the season to
+plough; the ice had broken up in the river, and having first driven the
+logs, cut and hauled in the winter, to the mill, he gave his undivided
+attention to the work, and employed John Bradford to help him cut up and
+draw the large bar of iron purchased at the store, while Clem and Robert
+mounted on a block--not being tall enough to reach the handle
+without--and blew the bellows. John had not struck through two heats
+with the large sledge when the stone anvil broke in two. This mishap,
+however, was soon repaired, as there was no lack of stones.
+
+While they were placing another stone on the stump, David Montague came
+in.
+
+"Neighbor Richardson," said he, "it is too bad that a man who is
+possessed of the industry and ingenuity you are, should be so put to it
+for tools, and be obliged to work iron on a stone. Now I tell you what
+I'll do with you. I mean to get out timber and boards in the course of
+next year to build me a frame house the year after; 'twill take two
+years to make the shingles and clapboards, hew the frame, and put the
+house up. Now I'll advance you money to buy an anvil beck (beak) horn,
+stake, tools to head nails with, and you may pay me in work, shoe my
+horse and oxen, and make all the nails for my house. I shan't want a
+nail under a year, and not many under fourteen months, so that you can
+make them next winter, and at odd jobs."
+
+Nails were then made by hand, of wrought iron. The stake was a species
+of anvil of small size, and used to point horse-nails on. The beak horn
+was a very necessary thing at that day, used for welding hollow
+articles, and for work upon plough irons.
+
+"I am sure, neighbor, you couldn't do me a greater favor, for I need an
+anvil sadly, though I can get along without the stake and the beck
+horn."
+
+"You can, perhaps, at present, but you will soon need them both. I
+don't think you ought to feel under the least obligation to me, for in
+advancing this money, I am benefiting myself and the whole neighborhood
+more than you. It will save me and all of us many a hard tramp through
+the woods. Besides, I don't like to get down on my knees to John Drew,
+beg him to work for me, and then pay him twice as much as it is worth."
+
+"So I say, neighbor," said Bradford, "though--to give the devil his
+due--Drew is as good a blacksmith as ever stood behind an anvil, but
+mighty uncomfortable. But where are you going to get the bricks,
+neighbor, to build your chimneys?"
+
+"Make them, John; there's sand and clay both in my pasture. So you see
+there's work enough for two years to hew the frame, make the shingles
+and clapboards, cut logs for boards, and make and burn the bricks."
+
+Richardson improved the opportunity, while assisted by Bradford, to
+forge the polls or iron portion of two axes, and split up iron for
+nail-rods and also for horseshoes. He had never seen any one temper a
+tool, but he had often struck for Drew to forge axes; had seen him weld
+the steel to the iron, and knew he could do that. Although he had hired
+John to help him draw the large iron, because he could not do it, even
+with the aid of the boys, without great outlay of both time and labor,
+he didn't care to expose his awkwardness before him. In short, he
+preferred to be alone while adventuring upon this portion of the work,
+in order that he might study out the matter as he went along with no
+witness to his mistake but the boys, and as for tempering, we have seen
+how little he knew in respect to that.
+
+The next morning he made his steel in the shape of a wedge, and split a
+corresponding crevice in the blade of the axe, and not quite so wide as
+the steel was thick, in order that it might bind on the sides as it
+entered, to hold it while heating, and put the whole in the fire for a
+weld. At the first trial the steel fell out on the ground the moment he
+struck it, and he lost his heat. He now shut the slit together so that
+the steel did not quite reach to the bottom, closed it up on the steel a
+little harder, put the axe in the fire, and before striking, struck the
+edge of the steel against the side of the anvil, to drive it home to the
+bottom of the slit, and thus succeeded in making a perfect weld.
+
+But now came the crisis--to temper it. All depended upon this. So
+important a tool was an axe at that day, men wouldn't hesitate to travel
+twenty miles additional to a smith who had the reputation of excelling
+in the art, and no excellence of form or finish could compensate an
+axe-man for its absence.
+
+He was well aware the reason the punch broke was on account of its
+hardness, and also that if he had, after putting it in water, let it
+cool some, it would have been less brittle; but he also knew the harder
+a tool is, the keener it cuts, and, forgetful of the fault in Drew's
+axes, imagined he could not get it too hard to cut wood. He thought
+there must be a vast difference between wood and iron, and that the
+harder the better; it would never break in wood.
+
+Therefore, after finishing as well as he could, he made it as hot as he
+could without burning, and quenched it, put in a handle, and set to work
+grinding. The axe proved so hard, although he had made the blade very
+thin by hammering, that it was almost impossible to grind it, though he
+put a liberal allowance of sand on the stone. Susan and the boys took
+turns at the stone, the father encouraging them by declaring that it
+would cut like a ribbon, for it was harder than Pharaoh's heart.
+
+The implement was ground at length. Richardson whet the edge and
+forthwith proceeded to a large hemlock that grew near, to try it. If
+unskilled in making, he was very far from being a novice in the use of
+an axe.
+
+At the first blow he cried to his family, who were all gathered at the
+foot of the tree, his wife with the babe in her arms,--
+
+"It's going to cut; I know it is."
+
+Leaving the keen instrument buried in the wood, he pulled off his outer
+garments. The blows now fell thick and heavy.
+
+"Cuts like a razor. Throws the chips well. Never saw an axe work easier
+in the wood," broke from him at intervals, while the children clapped
+their hands and capered around the tree till it came crashing to the
+ground.
+
+The hemlock was scrubby, and one of the lower limbs was dead. Richardson
+struck the axe into it with all his might; but when he pulled it out,
+there was a piece of steel out of the middle of the bitt as large as a
+half-dollar.
+
+Greatly to the surprise of his wife, he manifested no symptoms of
+discouragement at this disappointment in the moment of victory; he
+merely said, as with one foot on the butt of the tree, he looked at the
+shining and crystalline surface of the fracture,--
+
+"Well, I've found out the temper that will shave the wood. I must now
+find out the highest temper that will stand hemlock knots."
+
+The next thing Richardson did was to try with a file his saw and a
+draw-shave that cut well. He found they bore no comparison in hardness
+with the axe he had just broken, yet they were both wood tools, and good
+ones. He then tried a chopping axe made by Drew. It was softer still,
+but it cut well and stood hemlock, fir, and spruce knots. He now
+understood that tools for wood, especially where blows were given, did
+not admit of a very high temper.
+
+"I wish," he said, "I did know how it is that blacksmiths tell when
+steel cools down to a right temper. How I wish I had asked Tom Breslaw!"
+He sat down on the butt of the tree to reflect. Clem seated himself by
+his side, while Robert, standing on the tree, wiped the drops of sweat
+from his father's brow.
+
+"Father," said Clem, at length, clambering into his parent's lap, "what
+you going to do with the axe now?"
+
+"I'm going," said he, putting his arm fondly around the little
+questioner, "to try and make it just hard enough to cut, and not break
+or turn."
+
+"How will you know, father, when you've got just enough out?"
+
+"Guess at it. I can't do any better. If I only had a watch or clock, I'd
+let it cool two minutes, then four, and see what that would do. Do you
+understand, my little man?"
+
+"I don't know, father; ain't it just like when mother takes a candle,
+makes a mark on it with her knitting needle, and says, 'When the candle
+burns down to that mark, 'twill be half an hour, and then you'll have to
+go to bed, Clem?'"
+
+"Something like it; but I want something that will tell the minutes."
+
+"Then it would be two minutes hard, father," cried Clem, who, with both
+arms around his parent's neck, had almost got into his mouth. "How
+funny! Shall I go borrow Mr. Montague's watch?"
+
+"Not now, dear."
+
+Taking the boy by the hand, and the axe in the other hand, he walked
+thoughtfully towards the shop.
+
+After heating to a cherry red, he laid it on the forge to cool, began to
+count, and continued counting till the axe was cool. He then chalked
+down the number on his bellows.
+
+"Father?"
+
+"Don't bother me now, dear;" and he began to think aloud.
+
+"This axe was as hard as glass before I het it; now the temper's all
+out. It has taken while I could count sixty-four to come out. Now, if
+sixty-four takes out the whole, thirty-two ought to take out half,
+sixteen a quarter, eight an eighth. The temper is put into steel when
+it's put into water; and the hotter the steel, and the quicker the
+chill, the harder it is. What made that axe so hard was, that I het it
+so hot, and chilled it quick. If I had made it only half as hot, and
+then put it in water, the temper wouldn't have begun but half as soon,
+and then it would have been only half as hard. I guess that axe's about
+an eighth too hard. I'll heat it just as hot as I did before, and count
+eight, then put it in water. I wonder if that'll be the same thing as
+though I hardened it at full heat, and after that found some rule by
+which to reduce the temper. I'm afraid it won't. Let me think of it." He
+sat down on the forge, while Clem, not daring to speak, stood with his
+great round eyes staring anxiously in his father's face.
+
+"I had an axe of John Drew once that was too hard--kept breaking; but it
+cut like a razor. I was afraid to touch it to draw the temper; but one
+day I put the 'poll' of it in the fire to burn the handle out, and the
+wet cloths I had on the steel to keep it cool got dry while I was
+talking with a neighbor, and the poll got red hot. I thought I'd drawn
+all the temper out and spoilt it, but after that it was just hard
+enough. Now I'll just do the same thing again."
+
+He heated the whole axe, steel, and all, then quenched the whole of the
+steel in water till it was cold, leaving the rest of the axe red hot.
+
+"Now I'll let that hot iron draw on the steel while I count eight."
+
+He did thus, then quenched the whole; tried it in the knot; it broke,
+but very little; put it in again, and counted sixteen. It was too soft;
+the edge turned.
+
+"I don't believe but that red-hot iron draws too savage on the steel;
+takes the temper out too fast. I'll draw it more gradual and count the
+same number of times."
+
+He now dipped the whole axe in water, edge first, took it out directly,
+put the poll only on the outside of the fire to keep up a gradual heat,
+counted sixteen and quenched it. The axe cut much better and neither
+broke nor turned. He thought he would heat it, count but twelve, and
+thus see if it wouldn't bear a little higher temper. Just as he was
+about to take it from the fire little Sue came to call him to dinner.
+
+"Tell your mother I can't come yet; don't know when I can come; to eat
+dinner, and not wait for me."
+
+"Nor me, nuther," said Clem. "I ain't coming till father comes."
+
+He quenched the axe, put the poll on the fire, and while looking at it
+and counting, thought he noticed a flaw in the steel. Rubbing it in the
+sand and coal-dust of the forge till it was bright, he found it was only
+the edge of a scale raised by the frequent heats. But his attention was
+instantly arrested by seeing the bright steel change under his eye to a
+pale yellow, commencing at the point where the steel joined the iron,
+and gradually extending over it; while he looked, it changed to a darker
+shade, became brown, almost purple. He had now counted twelve, and
+quenched it. When he took the axe from the water, the same tinge was on
+the steel. The axe now cut better and stood well. But he had got hold of
+an idea he meant to follow out.
+
+"I wonder what those colors are," he said. "Who knows but they may be
+the temper? Just as fast as the temper was let down they changed--grew
+darker. Wonder what they would have come to, if I hadn't quenched the
+steel. I'll know." Heating the axe once more, he rubbed it bright, and
+looked for the colors. For a little time the steel was white; then the
+pale straw color appeared again, growing darker, till it became brown,
+with purple spots, then purple, light blue, pigeon blue; then darker,
+almost black.
+
+"O, father, what handsome colors!"
+
+No reply. Much excited, he quenched the steel, and determined to
+ascertain whether the colors represented different degrees of hardness.
+When he found, by careful experiment, they did, he caught the wondering
+boy in his arms, ran into the house crying,--
+
+"Now, my boy, we've got something that's a better regulator than David
+Montague's watch, your mother's candle, or counting, either."
+
+Entering the house he shouted,--
+
+"Sue, I've got it! I've found how the blacksmith's do it, or, if I
+haven't, I've found a way just as good."
+
+His progress was now rapid; he soon ascertained the proper temper for
+all kinds of tools. The steel of the axe he had experimented with had
+been through the fire so many times that the life of it was all gone. He
+therefore put new steel in it, improved the shape somewhat, ground the
+whole surface of it before tempering, to take off the hammer marks,--for
+he had not learned to hammer smooth,--tempered it carefully, and hid it
+away in the shop.
+
+The next week he procured his anvil, beak-horn, stake, and tools for
+nails. They came from Boston to Portsmouth, from thence to
+Kennebunkport, by water; on an ox team to the village, and from there up
+the river in a canoe.
+
+His land joined Bradford's, and they had appointed a day to build a
+piece of log fence together. Richardson took his new axe with him,
+having ground it sharp. Watching his opportunity while Bradford was
+putting some top poles on the fence, he took Bradford's axe, putting his
+own in the same place. Bradford, without noticing the difference, took
+it up and began to chop into the side of a tree.
+
+"Whew! How this axe cuts! Gnaws right into the wood. It ain't my axe;
+it's William's. Will, where'd you get this axe?"
+
+"Made it."
+
+"The dogs you did."
+
+"It is one of those you helped me forge."
+
+"It's worth two of that axe you are using that John Drew made me. Will
+you sell it?"
+
+"Yes; that's what I made it for."
+
+"May I put it into the knots?"
+
+"Yes; try it in any fair way, and if it breaks or turns, you needn't
+take it."
+
+Bradford, after making a thorough trial, took it. It was soon noised
+round that William Richardson had made an axe for John Bradford that
+beat Drew's all hollow. Every body wondered at the ease with which he
+took up anything, little knowing the struggle it cost him.
+
+His farming work now came on; but at intervals he made axes that found a
+ready sale. He made a small pair of bellows in the fall, and a little
+forge in the chimney corner. The boys learned to make nails, and made
+nearly all Montague's nails in the winter evenings. He paid less and
+less attention to farming, and more to working in iron, paid for his
+land, and built him a frame house. In the autumn of the year that he
+made the first axe, he found that he could not well make ox and
+horse-shoes without a vice, and resolved to make something that would
+answer the purpose.
+
+He began by taking two wide, flat bars of iron, and turned the edge of
+them over the edge of the anvil, like the head of a railroad spike, in
+order that, when the flat surfaces came together, these edges might make
+a face to the vice. To the other ends of each of the bars he welded
+pieces of the old crane, rendering that portion of the vice that was to
+fasten to the bench long enough to reach to the ground, and rise eight
+inches above the edge of the bench, and welded an old horse-shoe on the
+back side to fasten it to the bench. The other he made but two-thirds
+as long, and by making a slot in one, with a hole for a pin, and
+punching an eye in the other, he contrived both to connect them, and
+form a hinge joint on which the outer leg of the vice might traverse.
+Two holes were now punched to receive a bolt that was designed to answer
+the purpose of a screw, one end of which terminated in a head; the
+remaining portion was punched at short distances with eyes very long and
+wide, to receive broad, thick keys or wedges that would endure hard
+driving.
+
+He now set up the permanent portion of his vice, put the lower end into
+a flat rock set in the ground, and fastened the upper part to the bench,
+brought up the other side, and put the bolt through both. The hinge at
+the bottom permitted the outer jaw of the vice to play back and forth on
+the bolt in order to open or close it. By means of tapering wedges
+driven into the eyes in the bolt, he could wedge a piece of iron firmly
+into his vice to file it, could turn the calks of a horse-shoe or set
+them at any angle he wished. Whenever the vice did not come up to the
+eye, and the wedge would not draw, he slipped washers--iron rings--over
+the bolt to fill the space, and then entering the point of his key,
+drove it with great force. It was not very convenient, but it answered
+the purpose effectually, for it was substituting the power of the wedge
+for that of the screw.
+
+"Mother," said Clem, one morning, "will you let me have a piece of your
+tongs?"
+
+"My tongs, child? What do you want of my tongs?"
+
+"To make some bow-pins--iron ones--for my steer's yoke; father's gone,
+and said we might play."
+
+"No, child; you're crazy."
+
+"You let father have 'em."
+
+"Well, that was because he wanted a pair of tongs to hold his iron."
+
+"So I want the bow-pins."
+
+"Well, I shan't have my tongs spoilt for nonsense."
+
+"Mother, is that red and white rooster mine?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Mine to do what I'm a mind to with?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+In the course of half an hour, Clem, with his rooster under his arm,
+presented himself at David Montague's door.
+
+"Good morning, Clem. What are you going to do with that rooster?"
+
+"I want to sell him. Andrew said you wanted one."
+
+"Yes; mine froze last winter. What do you ask for him?"
+
+"I'll sell him for that horse-shoe what's hanging on your barn-yard
+fence."
+
+"What on earth do you want of that horse-shoe?"
+
+"I want to make some bow-pins for my steers."
+
+"Well, you may have it, and after you have made 'em, I want to see 'em."
+
+As William Richardson came home, he saw smoke coming out of the chimney
+of the shop, and heard the sound of the hammer and sledge. Looking
+through a chink, he saw the boys busy enough. Clem was behind the anvil.
+They had flattened out the heel calks of the horse-shoe, straightened
+it, and lapped one part over the other. Just as he looked in, Clem was
+putting sand on it; in a few moments he took it from the fire, welding
+hot: Robert struck with the sledge, and they soon drew it out into a
+thin, square bar.
+
+"I hope you ain't wasting my iron, boys."
+
+"No, father," said Clem, "it's mine. I sold my rooster to Mr. Montague,
+and bought it. We are going to make some bow-pins, and we don't want
+anybody to help nor show us; we want to do it."
+
+At this hint Richardson walked into the house. When Clem took the
+bow-pins to Mr. Montague, the latter told him to make two pairs, and he
+would buy them of him.
+
+Settlers now began to flock in; a carriage road was made through the
+woods; wagons and carts came into use. Montague and others built a
+sawmill and a grist-mill; the town was incorporated, and Richardson made
+the mill-chain. This was a wonderful advance from mending the ox-chain
+before the kitchen fire on a flat stone.
+
+"Neighbor Richardson," said Montague, as he came to get his horse shod,
+"I was coming home from the village last Tuesday, and met Sam Parker
+going to get screw-bolts made. Now, it always galls me to have work go
+out of this place. I think you'd better send to Boston and get tools, so
+that you can cut screws whenever they are wanted; there will be more
+call for them every day, for the town is growing fast."
+
+"Thank you, neighbor. I'll think of it."
+
+He resolved to see if he could not make something that would cut screws,
+before sending to Boston.
+
+It is said that the idea of the principle of gravitation was suggested
+to Sir Isaac Newton by seeing an apple fall from a tree. He wondered
+what made it drop to the earth, rather than go in the opposite
+direction. However that may be, it is certain that a thoughtful man will
+receive suggestions from things that make no impress upon the stupid and
+careless.
+
+As William Richardson sat before the fire that night reflecting upon the
+conversation with Montague, he noticed Clem putting powder into a horn.
+The boy had rolled a leaf of his last year's writing-book into the form
+of a tunnel, fastened it with a pin, and was pouring the powder through
+it.
+
+When the boy had finished, he said,--
+
+"Clem, hand me that paper before you unpin it."
+
+After looking attentively at it for some time, he said to the boy, who,
+interested in whatever attracted his father's attention, was looking
+over his shoulder,--
+
+"Clem, the lines on that paper are a screw."
+
+"Be they, father?"
+
+"Unpin the paper."
+
+Clem did so, and they were all straight again.
+
+"How funny, father!"
+
+"Get my square, and you, Robert, go to the wood-pile and get a piece of
+birch bark--white birch."
+
+After stripping the bark to a thin sheet, he cut it square. He then set
+off an inch at one corner, and drew a line from that mark to the corner
+of the paper on the same side, making an oblique line.
+
+"You see that is up hill, boys--don't you?"
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+He then wrapped the bark round the broom-handle.
+
+"Now it climbs right up the broom-handle; that's the way a screw does;
+it's just getting up hill by going round."
+
+"What's the good of it, father?" said Clem, who was altogether of a
+practical turn, but had never seen a screw.
+
+"I'm going to try to make one in the morning; then you'll see."
+
+The next day he made a steel bolt, or blank, tapering, and of the size
+of the screws he thought would be generally needed, leaving the head
+square, and sufficient length of steel to hold it by in the vice. The
+next thing to determine was, the pitch or inclination of the thread, and
+its size. On the edge of a piece of birch bark he set off quarter of an
+inch, and drew a line from that mark to the edge of the bark, and cut it
+off, giving the rise or pitch. It was the time of year when boys make
+whistles. He cut an elder sprout just the size of his bolt, spit on it,
+and pounded it on his knee with the handle of his knife till the bark
+came off; this bark he slipped over the bolt, pounded up and boiled some
+pieces of moose horns, made glue and glued it on solid, put the strip of
+birch bark around the lower part of the bolt, its straight edge in line
+with the lower edge, and glued it on. There was now a perfectly true
+spiral round the bolt, the quarter of an inch offset determining the
+inclination, and also the size of the thread. He now filed out a fork
+from a thin piece of iron just a quarter of an inch in width, the two
+points, chisel-edged, one sixteenth of an inch in width each, leaving a
+space of two sixteenths between them. Commencing at the narrow end of
+the birch bark, he followed along its edge, cutting the bark sheath as
+he went, till he came again to the point from which he started, having
+cut two spirals through to the steel, with a ridge of bark between them
+two sixteenths of an inch wide. Putting one side of his fork in the
+furrow already made, he followed round till he came to the head of the
+bolt. Placing it in the vice with a three-cornered file, he cut out his
+thread, the ridges of bark on each side forming a guide for a true
+thread. With file and cold-chisel he cut out segments in the middle of
+his bolt, the whole length, leaving the thread on the corners unbroken,
+thus forming a cutting edge at each corner where the thread was broken.
+He now hardened and tempered it.
+
+As the next stage of the process, he forged a steel plate,--the ends
+terminating in handles,--in which he made round holes of various sizes,
+corresponding to the size of the two ends of his bolt. Into these holes
+he put this hardened steel screw-tap with plenty of bear's grease,
+turning it forcibly round with a wrench till the sharp edges at the
+squares cut a thread on the inside of the hole, and then hardened the
+plate. With this plate he could cut a screw on the head of a bolt, and
+with the screw could cut a thread on the inside of a nut. Seizing his
+broadaxe, he hewed a great spot on one of the logs of the shop, and
+wrote on it with chalk,--
+
+
+ "SCREW BOLTS CUT HERE."
+
+
+Having paid for his land, and being able to buy iron, and in the
+possession of suitable tools to work with, he resolved to make a proper
+vice with a screw, instead of a bolt. He made the vice-body, taking
+pattern from John Drew's, of English make; but the screw of a vice must
+be square threaded, not a diamond thread, like those he had hitherto
+made; since, being in constant use, the thread would wear off in a short
+time. He laid out the screw in the same manner as before, except that
+instead of sheathing it in bark, he dipped it in beeswax till it was
+coated, and cut the thread with a file and cold-chisel, and instead of
+putting the screw through both parts of the vice, made a box for it to
+work in. It is evident he could not cut a thread in the box, that must
+be square, like that of the screw, with a screw that was
+square-threaded; neither could he do it with a chisel or file. He did it
+in this way: he hammered out some steel wire large enough to more than
+fill the thread of the screw, and wound it around it; then he drove the
+screw with the wire on it hard into the box, filling it completely, and
+fastened the ends of the wire. He then turned the screw carefully back,
+and took it out, leaving the hole lined with the wire.
+
+Richardson had in the house a brass plate that had been on a soldier's
+belt, and procured from Montague the brass top of a fire-shovel; these
+he cut up and filed up, putting the filings and pieces into the box
+between the coils of wire with borax. He wrapped the whole box in clay
+mortar, and dried the mass; then put it in the fire till the clay was
+red hot, and the brass melted, which soldered the coils of wire fast to
+the sides of the box, forming a thread.
+
+With the two springs of a broken fox-trap welded together, he made a
+spring to throw back the jaw of his vice when the screw was turned.
+After accomplishing all this, he built a frame shop with a brick
+chimney, paying Montague in work for the bricks, laying them himself;
+and now he considered himself entitled to wear a leather apron.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+A TRADE THE BEST INHERITANCE.
+
+
+The boys standing, as it were, upon their father's shoulders,
+sympathizing with and aiding him to the utmost of their ability, early
+obtained a knowledge of working iron far beyond their years, and
+contracted a love for the occupation, especially Clem, who seemed to
+inherit all the patience, energy and originality of his father, together
+with an amiable disposition and strength of limb. Until Clem was
+nineteen they lived at home, doing nearly all the farming work, and at
+the same time helping their father in the shop. They were then desirous
+of going where a better quality of work was demanded than in their
+native place.
+
+"Well, boys," said Richardson, "I'm entirely willing you should go. I
+began too late--had too little to do with, no tools, and poverty to
+struggle with--to accomplish much. I've done the best I could; but I
+want you to have a better chance. I think you've both got the mechanical
+principle in you, and had better go where you can work it out, have
+tools to work with, and learn all that comes up."
+
+They went to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where their father had
+relatives, and after working a week on trial, were both hired as
+journeymen. Clem never wanted to meddle with anything but edge tools,
+displaying remarkable ability for that kind of work, while Robert proved
+an excellent shoer, and had but few equals in wheel-tiring and all kinds
+of carriage work. He could also make a wheel as well as iron it, and
+manifested his father's ability for working in wood. Learning the use of
+hammer and file when mere children, and growing up to it, their work had
+a finish about it that is seldom attained by those who commence work in
+manhood, and when their habits are formed.
+
+After perfecting their trade, they hired a shop and set up business for
+themselves, Clem devoting the greater part of his time to making edge
+tools, while Robert attended to the other portion of the work. Business
+was good, and they accumulated property, and frequently sent money to
+their parents, and cherished a strong affection for their native place,
+going home every year to Thanksgiving.
+
+When the boys had been a year from home, their father went to visit
+them. At his leaving, the boys would have loaded him with
+tools,--"swages," "fullers," "screw-taps," "drills," and "shears," to
+cut iron,--but he refused to take them.
+
+"You know, boys," said he, "I like to make things myself, and think as
+much again of anything I make myself. I'm just as much obliged to you as
+though I took them. I've seen all the tools you have here, and been
+round among the shops and seen all the ways they do their work, and I'll
+go home and make every one of these tools; and I think I can improve
+upon some of them. I've got help now, for Henry Bradford, John's boy, is
+coming to work with me, and learn the trade--that is, learn what little
+I know."
+
+Finding he did not incline to take the tools, they put a lot of iron and
+steel on board the sloop in which he started to return by the way of
+Kennebunk, or, rather, Cape Porpoise, which was the landing-place then.
+
+There was a little girl, Lucy Armstrong, who went to school with Clem
+when it was kept in David Montague's house, and they formed a childhood
+liking for each other which continued and strengthened as they grew
+older. Lucy was a girl of excellent abilities, the best scholar in the
+school, and as she grew up manifested qualities that are not often
+united. She possessed great energy of character, a robust constitution,
+and most affectionate disposition. Everybody loved and pitied Lucy; for
+her girlhood was embittered by many trials and sorrows.
+
+Her father she never saw to recognize; he was killed by a bear when she
+was a babe, and her mother was taken away when she was four years old.
+Lucy, after her mother's death, went to live with an uncle--her father's
+brother. He was a hard, penurious man, and his wife resembled him, being
+a morose, griping woman, with no children of her own to draw out her
+affections and sweeten her disposition. She made poor Lucy serve with
+rigor. She was poorly clad, poorly fed, went barefoot in the summer and
+till late in the fall, was obliged to work both out doors and in. When
+dropping corn and potatoes in the spring, her feet were red as a
+pigeon's with cold, and in the fall they bled from being pricked with
+the stubble. In the cold nights of November she must sit in the barn and
+husk corn. The old folks did not intend to be cruel; but they had been
+hardly dealt by themselves in childhood and youth, and hard treatment
+renders people hard and callous in their treatment of others.
+
+In one respect they faithfully discharged their duty--in sending her to
+school every day so long as it kept, which was at first but six weeks in
+the winter, but by the time Lucy was thirteen increased to fourteen
+weeks; and after the town was incorporated and the ordinances of the
+gospel established, she went to meeting every Sabbath. School days and
+Sundays were the green spots, and all the green spots, in Lucy's
+cheerless life of incessant toil, save the few moments when sent to hunt
+eggs; and hidden in the haymow from the eagle eye of her aunt, she read
+Clem's letters for the hundredth time. Clem seldom came to the house; a
+visit from him put her aunt into a perfect fury, as she was unwilling to
+lose so good a drudge.
+
+"Get married!" she would say, "yes, that's all girls nowadays think of.
+Wonder what they expect to live on. Better get something ahead first."
+
+Although how she was to get anything ahead while spending her youth and
+strength in their service did not appear, especially as her uncle had
+made his will, and left all his property to a nephew as close-fisted as
+himself. He often remarked "that he meant to leave what he had got by
+hard knocks to somebody who knew how to take kere of it."
+
+"Clem," said Robert, when the time during which they had hired as
+journeymen had nearly expired, "if ever you mean to marry that girl, why
+don't you do it? What do you let her stay there for, suffer everything
+but death, slave herself, and dry up, working for that old skinflint and
+his woman? They'd move into a mustard seed, and then have rooms to let.
+If you don't, I'll go and court her myself."
+
+"I mean to the moment I feel that I can support her comfortably. You
+know I'm like father--one of the kind to cut my garment according to the
+cloth. I don't want to make her worse off than she is now."
+
+"That's impossible. Get along with you; go hire two rooms somewhere, and
+then go and get her. I'll board with you. Nothing comes amiss to her;
+she's a treasure of a girl, smart as steel, and pleasant as a May
+morning. What did father and mother have when they set up, and see where
+they are now."
+
+Clem took his brother's advice. Lucy's aunt raved like a mad woman at
+first; but when she found that it was no use, and the neighbors were all
+against her, she calmed down, gave Lucy a bed and pillows stuffed with
+turkey feathers, and said they would be on the town before two years.
+She proved a false prophetess. In two years they were blessed with a
+nice baby. Clem and Robert had all the work they could do, the hammer
+going every evening till nine o'clock in the winter months, though they
+still lived in two rooms, with the privilege of another for occasional
+use. They continued to thrive till the war of 1812, when the brothers
+took a contract from the government to bore cannon, which, proving a
+very profitable job, left them with abundant means. Robert still
+continued to board with his brother, and, remaining single, put all his
+money into the firm.
+
+William Richardson, accumulating property by his trade, bought a piece
+of timber land every year, and let it lie. In the latter part of his
+life the rise in the value of this land made him affluent. At his
+decease this portion of his property fell to the sons, his wife having
+died some years before him, and the daughters receiving their portion in
+money. The shop remained as it was; Clem would have nothing touched. It
+was not, to be sure, the original log hovel; but it was the same forge,
+and the building stood on the same spot. The old pine stump still formed
+the anvil block, and the hammer fashioned from the andirons still lay on
+the anvil, just as his father had left it after his last day's work.
+There also were the tongs made from the legs of the kitchen tongs, and
+the sledge forged from the churn-drill.
+
+After the war business revived, and there was a great demand for lumber.
+The Richardsons sold out at Portsmouth, returned to their native place,
+bought the old mill privilege, and went to lumbering. Strange to say,
+Clement Richardson and his wife, although retaining their simple and
+industrious habits, felt that they did not want their children to work
+as hard as they had; and going to the other extreme, while affording
+them all the advantages of education and culture their altered
+circumstances enabled them to bestow, trained them up in a way that
+rendered them in all matters of practical life absolutely helpless.
+
+This, as our readers know, was the character of Rich when he entered
+college; he could scarcely tie his own shoes. The good fortune of
+stumbling upon Morton for a while roused the energies that lay buried
+beneath this effeminate training; but after separating from his mates,
+he relapsed gradually into his former habits.
+
+Thus passed the first year after leaving college; but with the
+succeeding spring came something that, like to the shock of an
+earthquake, effectually roused Rich from his poetic reveries and visions
+of high art, rent with a rude hand the tissue of the dream-robe fancy
+had woven, and set him face to face with the bitter, stern realities of
+life.
+
+Clement Richardson was naturally a prudent man, averse to incurring risk
+of any kind; but uninterrupted success in all his plans for thirteen
+years had rendered him sanguine. He found, soon after engaging in
+lumbering, that very little was to be realized from small operations;
+that, to accumulate, a person must either possess the capital and risk
+it, or hire money and run the risk of losing that. He and his brother,
+stimulated by the high price of lumber at that time, and intoxicated by
+good fortune in lesser adventures, hired money largely, and expended
+every dollar of their own in land and logs. They had a good drive, early
+in the spring the logs were in the booms, and the mills running night
+and day to manufacture them, in order to meet demands that were fast
+maturing. The price of lumber was still high, future prospects were most
+flattering, and the Richardsons felt that a fortune was within their
+grasp, when rain began to fall while the water was still almost at
+freshet pitch, and there was much snow in the woods at the head waters
+of the river.
+
+Clement concealed his anxiety from his children, and in some measure
+from his wife, who, although she knew that great loss would follow the
+breaking of the booms, was utterly ignorant of the extent of her
+husband's liabilities and of the crisis at hand.
+
+Directly after supper the two brothers went out. Rich occupied a good
+portion of the evening in reciting to his mother and sisters a poem he
+had spent weeks in composing. After the children had retired, Lucy
+Richardson sat sewing, wondering at the continued absence of her husband
+and his brother, and listening to the roar of water. At length there
+came a crash; she with difficulty suppressed a scream. In a few moments
+a servant came to tell her one of the mills had gone.
+
+"Where is my husband, Henry?"
+
+"He and Mr. Robert are watching the boom."
+
+Another weary hour passed, when Clement Richardson came in; he was pale,
+haggard, and dripping with water.
+
+"Lucy," he said, "I am _ruined_ and _Robert_ with me. All the money we
+had outside of our real estate was in those logs, and they have gone
+into the Atlantic, the mills with them, and it will take all our real
+estate, furniture, and the house over our heads to pay the money we've
+borrowed." In those days creditors made a clean sweep, took everything
+worth taking, and the wife's property was held for the husband's debts.
+
+"It's a great misfortune, husband; but it might have been much worse."
+
+"Worse, Lucy? How can a man lose more than all?"
+
+"It would have been worse to lose health,--worse to lose our love for
+each other, if such a thing could be,--worse to have a wicked,
+disobedient, or deformed child; and I am sure it would be worse to lose
+character, which you won't if you have property enough left to pay all
+you owe. It would certainly have been worse had it come when we were
+past labor; and I'm sure we were happier before we moved into this
+house, and when you were working at your trade, than we have ever been
+since."
+
+"But the children, Lucy. I see it all now as one sees everything when it
+is too late. We thought we had enough for them and us, and have taught
+them everything except how to take care of themselves."
+
+"They will learn that. They are not too old to learn."
+
+The property of the brothers, very valuable, was sold, and the proceeds
+divided among the creditors, who all relinquished voluntarily the
+interest on their demands. This left the brothers, after paying
+everything, one hundred and fifty dollars, as the remnant of a large
+property. David Montague was dead; but his son Andrew inherited not only
+his father's property, but his principles. One of the creditors, he bid
+off the old Richardson homestead, house, shop, and outbuildings. As soon
+as the business was settled, he offered Clement Richardson money to go
+into business again. The latter thanked him for the offer, but said he
+intended, as soon as he could find a place to work, to go back to his
+anvil.
+
+"Clem," said Andrew Montague, "our fathers come here and cut the first
+trees together, and lived and died fast friends; you and I have grown up
+together, and been just as good friends. I know you are proud-spirited,
+and I love you all the better for it; but I beg of you, let me do this
+much. There is the old shop; nothing has been disturbed; and there are
+the tools your father _began_ with, and those more modern ones he used
+in his latter days. Take it, rent free, and I'll bring you a
+fortnight's work to-morrow morning. I will let you have the house as
+soon as Coleman, whose family are sick, leaves it."
+
+"I'll take it, Andrew, in the spirit in which it is offered, and may God
+bless you. There's luck in that old hammer that lies on the anvil where
+father left it. The first blow I ever struck on iron I struck with that,
+and the first work I ever did was to make a pair of bow-pins for your
+father."
+
+As soon as Morton could leave the scholars he was instructing in
+private, he set forward in the stage to see Rich, and well aware, by
+letters received, of what had occurred, made inquiries, on arriving, for
+the shop. Peering into the door around the corner of another building,
+he saw a tall, strong-built man, past middle age, fitting a horse-shoe
+at the anvil. Another person, of about the same age, but more slightly
+built, was tearing the shoe from a horse's foot. A bar of iron was
+heating in the fire, apparently to make a new shoe, and at the bellows
+stood Rich, the glory of Radcliffe, class poet, elegant scholar; those
+finely-cut and delicate features, that no one could look upon without
+interest, begrimed with smut, save where partially streaked with streams
+of sweat; for it was a warm afternoon in May. As he turned towards the
+fire, to look at the iron, Morton slipped behind him and laid his hand
+upon the shoulders of Rich.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+BLOOD WILL TELL.
+
+
+The mingled expression of heart-felt delight, surprise, and
+consternation that pervaded the features of Rich, when, upon turning, he
+looked Morton in the face, was quite ludicrous.
+
+"Mort!" he gasped.
+
+"Yes, Mort," replied his visitor, grasping fervently the hand that was
+timidly extended to meet his own; "ain't you glad to see me?"
+
+"Glad!" shouted Rich, grasping both the hands of Morton in his own,
+while the tears ran down his cheeks; "I hope you don't think I am not;
+but--"
+
+"But you are in a working dress, and not in a state to receive me, who
+never cleaned out the president's barn, milked his cow, or dug his
+potatoes, and you are smutty."
+
+Thus saying, Morton rubbed his hand on the top of the bellows, and made
+an awful smut spot across the whole side of his face.
+
+"Will that remove your scruples, old chum? How are you?"
+
+"O, Mort, I'm so glad to see you!"
+
+"Expected you'd be; that's what I came for; didn't come for anything
+else; 'kalkerlated,' as Uncle Tim would say, to make you glad."
+
+Rich now introduced Morton to his father and uncle, who received him
+without any of the embarrassment that had overwhelmed Rich, and in a
+most hearty manner.
+
+"You must excuse, Mr. Morton," said Clement, "my son's constraint upon
+first seeing you; it was occasioned by the recollection of the change in
+our circumstances, in consequence of which he cannot entertain as he
+would wish the friend he loves so dearly, and whom we have all learned
+through him to love, even before meeting. If we have been unfortunate,
+it is no more than has overtaken more deserving persons than ourselves,
+and our losses have neither chilled our hearts nor discouraged us from
+effort."
+
+"We think," said Robert, "that as we earned all we have lost by our own
+industry, we can, by the same means, better our condition."
+
+"I am sorry, Mr. Morton," said Clement, "to be obliged to keep my son
+till this horse is shod, as the owner is waiting, and there is a new
+shoe to make; but after that he will be at liberty.--Strike, Robert."
+
+Rich, eager to be released, struck with good will; the sparks flew all
+over the shop, and a second heat put the iron in such shape that Mr.
+Richardson required no further help. Rich flung off his leather apron,
+washed himself in a bucket, and wiped the smut from Mort's cheek with a
+towel that did not put on much more dirt than it took off, when they
+left to cleanse themselves more effectually at the house.
+
+The dwelling was old, out of repair, and consisted of three rooms on the
+ground floor, but two of them plastered, and a low attic. If Morton felt
+depressed by finding his friends in such wretched quarters, he could not
+but admire and wonder at the energy and cheerfulness with which Rich,
+his father, mother, and uncle bore up under their reverses. The girls,
+however, appeared chagrined and depressed, and seemed to him completely
+heart-broken. They were considerably older than Rich, some children
+having died between them. Rich, and Morton, after supper went to walk,
+the former observing that by reason of their limited accommodations
+there was no opportunity for conversation in the house. Following a
+footpath that led along the bank of the river, they entered a noble
+orchard, just commencing to blossom. It lay upon a declivity sloping to
+the river. Passing through it, they came to a swale sprinkled with elms,
+and commanding a fine view of the river, and flung themselves on the
+grass side by side.
+
+"Rich," said Morton, "do you know what has surprised me more than
+anything else I have met with here?"
+
+"I should think the pickle you found me in when you came into the
+shop."
+
+"No; it is to find yourself and your parents in such good spirits. Most
+men, after having met with so great and sudden a reverse, would have
+become entirely disheartened, and I expected to find _you_ completely
+prostrated."
+
+"The cheerfulness is not assumed for the occasion, Mort."
+
+"I know that, you could not deceive me in such a matter."
+
+"Believe me, as far as I am concerned, and were it not for my sisters,
+and seeing my parents compelled to renew in their old age the hardships
+of their youth, I should be happier to-day than for the last year and a
+half, for I have now a clear conscience."
+
+"What have you done? What crime have you committed to set your
+conscience in arms?"
+
+"The crime of doing nothing; of wasting myself. You know what fine
+speeches I used to make in college about effort, setting the standard
+high, and all that sort of thing, and how pat at my tongue's end I
+always had '_per angusta ad augusta_' (I'm in a way to realize one part
+of it now, I think); and as long as I was neck and neck with you and
+Hill, I did do somewhat; but after I came home, I just fell right back
+into the old ruts; could not make up my mind in regard to a profession;
+didn't really want to. I was too comfortable; but I felt mean, felt
+guilty. When I went to Portland, and heard you argue that case, and saw
+how much labor it had cost you, and how nobly you came out of it, I felt
+meaner still, and was half inclined to return without seeing you, and
+resolved when I got home I would go to work; but I took it out in
+thinking so, till the trouble came like a flash of lightning; since
+then, I trust, I've done something, and been of some little use."
+
+"Was it, then, so sudden? I knew that your father's difficulties came in
+consequence of his lumber and mills being carried away; but even a
+freshet gives some warning."
+
+"None of us knew that father had every dollar invested in logs that were
+like to go down stream. He and uncle were anxious enough, but kept it to
+themselves; and the very night it came, when every man about the mills
+was out in the pouring rain watching for trouble, I was
+fooling--reciting a poem that I was going to deliver to a company of our
+young folks; and I'm ashamed to say, that what I am now going to tell
+you I had from Henry Alden, one of the men who was where I ought to have
+been, with my father at the time. You see that smooth, perpendicular
+ledge that makes out into the river?"
+
+"Yes,"
+
+"And that stake driven into a crack in the ledge?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"When the water is up to that stake it is freshet pitch. All the morning
+and afternoon the water had been rising; in the evening, it was the same
+till it reached a fearful height, when one of the mills went. My father
+and Uncle Robert stood under that ledge with a lantern, watching the
+marks they had made on it with chalk. The rain had stopped, and for the
+last hour the water had not risen, the clouds had broken away overhead,
+and the stars came out. Every one of the men (all old river-drivers)
+thought the danger was over. 'Robert,' said my father, 'I think the
+booms will hold; the rain is over, and the river will soon fall.' The
+words were scarcely out of his mouth before there was a great cry from
+the bank above that the logs were coming. Henry said father turned pale,
+but never opened his mouth, or turned to look, but went straight home.
+When I came to the breakfast table the next morning, father was sitting
+there, a little paler than usual, but just as calm as ever, and told us
+what had taken place. You see now how sudden it must have been to me,
+mother, and the girls, and almost as much so to him, for he thought the
+crisis had passed."
+
+"Why didn't the boom break before? and how came it to break after the
+water was done rising?"
+
+"About two miles above this place is a large intervale, where a great
+quantity of hay is cut. Upon this flat stood a large barn, with no
+cattle in it, used for storing hay; half a mile below this was a
+toll-bridge. The water undermined the barn, and started it from its
+foundations, and down it came against the bridge with an awful crash.
+The toll-house stood on piles outside of the bridge. It struck the
+bridge within ten feet of the house, in which the toll-keeper, his wife,
+and three children, one a babe in arms, were sound asleep, they
+supposing, as did my father, that the danger was over. Awakened by the
+shock, and thinking, in their fright, the house was going, they ran out
+on to the bridge, the mother with the babe in her arms, all in their
+night clothes, and were swept off, with about twenty-five feet of the
+bridge. If they had staid in the house they would have been all right,
+for there it remained on its own foundation. The barn, bridge, a parcel
+of fences and drift stuff, all came down into our upper boom together,
+broke that and then the lower one. One mill had gone before. This vast
+mass, borne on the raging torrent, carried away another, half the grist
+mill, and a carding mill."
+
+[Illustration: THE BREAKING OF THE BOOM. Page 119.]
+
+"What became of the family on the bridge?"
+
+"The barn, being so big, and taking so much wind, went ahead of the
+bridge, that was low in the water, and when they got down where the
+river was narrower, some men went off in a canoe and took them ashore."
+
+"Rich, I am going to hazard a supposition. Will you tell me if I am
+correct in it?"
+
+"I'll tell you anything I know."
+
+"You belong to a strong, resolute breed of men. Any person looking at
+your father as he stands at the anvil, and your uncle, can see where you
+came from. It is not in accordance with the make-up of persons having
+such blood in their veins to live without effort or object. It causes
+them to despise themselves--the meanest of all feelings, because the
+rugged nature craves hardship. When you exerted yourself to the utmost
+in college studies, chopped wood and hewed timber, although there was no
+necessity for it; when in that tremendous race at Brunswick, through
+gullies, thorns, coal kilns, dogs, and mires, you gave me, who had the
+advantage of years of training, all I could do, and distanced all the
+rest, that was the true nature asserting itself. I can understand why it
+was that, after crossing the Alps, settling down in Capua, and becoming
+effeminate, you lost your own self-respect, and were unhappy, and also
+how these feelings were all intensified when you found that while ruin
+was impending, your father's mind racked with agony, you were writing
+verses to school girls, wasting time and talents, and throwing away
+opportunities that would never come again. I can understand, likewise,
+why, when you took your portion of the load and felt that your father
+was encouraged by your aid and sympathy, you regained self-respect, and
+experienced relief and comparative happiness. But there is much more I
+cannot fathom."
+
+"What is that, Mort?"
+
+"Well, there is a light in your eye, and an expression of quiet,
+trustful happiness in your face, that were never there before, and that
+are not to be accounted for by anything you have yet told me, or that I
+have observed here. It seems to me that while summoning all your own
+resources to meet this exigency, you have gone out of yourself for aid;
+and that, to my mind, accounts perfectly for all the results, and
+renders happiness in untoward circumstances no mystery."
+
+"Mort, I am going to answer your question, but not directly, because I
+don't feel quite sure of myself yet. When we were in college there was
+perfect sympathy between us. Perk, Hill, Savage, and the rest, had their
+ups and downs, fallings out and makings up; but between you and me there
+was never a shadow or a chill. We were as completely one in sentiment
+and affection as that mist that's rising over the river; but after you
+went to hear Mr. Sewall, and wrote me about it, there seemed to be a
+dark shadow between us. I couldn't tell what it was, and I didn't love
+you any the less, but somehow there was a difference. Mort, since this
+trouble came I've read your letters over, and understand them as I never
+did before. That shadow is gone, and the sun shines all over."
+
+"I know what you mean, Rich; you need say no more."
+
+"Now, Mort, this orchard, the swale, and all this land to the river,
+were part of our place. You have seen where we live now, and I suppose
+you would like to see the spot we left; if so, we had better go before
+it gets dark."
+
+"Perhaps you don't care to go."
+
+"Yes, I do. I don't dislike to go. Father might have put it into
+somebody's hands to cheat his creditors, and still lived there, as many
+have done; but he paid his debts with that and other property, and went
+behind the anvil; and every time I go there I consider what a temptation
+he resisted, and feel proud of him. I don't know how others may feel,
+neither do I care; but I had much rather have for my father a poor man
+of principle, than a wealthy rascal; blood-blisters on every finger, and
+earn my bread by hard blows on hot iron, than to feel the very clothes I
+wore, and the luxuries I enjoyed, were swift witnesses against me."
+
+It was plain enough to Morton that the grindstone grit of poverty was
+fast cutting away the iron that overlaid the steel, and bringing out the
+true temper. So delighted was he, that he could not forbear shaking
+Rich. A playful scuffle followed, in which Morton by no means attained
+the usual advantage.
+
+"I tell you what it is, Mort," said Rich, "let me work at the anvil and
+you study law a while longer, and I'll lay you on your back, and mud
+both shoulders."
+
+"It is always a pleasure to me to see a young man ambitious, for even if
+he places his standard beyond the measure of his capacity, he is likely
+to make the most of himself. I've got something in view when I go back
+that will offset your sledge-hammer. See if I don't make your backbone
+crack the next time we take hold, old fellow."
+
+"I should like to know what kind of exercise it is. I'm sure you can't
+hew timber there."
+
+"A churn-drill, my boy. What do you think of that? Ain't that a good
+deal like work? Won't there be some misery to that? There's a man by the
+name of Noble, who blows rocks on Oak Street. He has two churn-drills. I
+am going to use one of them as soon as he gets it steeled."
+
+"You please yourself with that idea, young man, will you? You can't
+start a hole with a churn-drill as it ought to be. I can tell you, it
+takes a workman to do that. Your drill will bind, and you'll get stuck."
+
+"I know I can't at first, but he'll start the holes for me and then I
+can churn; and after a while I shall learn to start my own holes, and
+strike true."
+
+"You'll get sick of it. It is the hardest work that is done."
+
+"Did you ever know me to get sick of, or give up anything, I undertook?"
+
+"Yes, I have."
+
+"Name it, slanderer, name it. Don't think to escape by dealing in
+generalities. I demand date and place. When and where did I get sick of
+anything, and give it up?"
+
+"On the twenty-fifth of December, Christmas night, quarter before seven,
+you got sick of eating pork pie at Uncle Tim Longley's, and Granny
+Longley gave you a dose of thoroughwort tea, and made you _give it up_."
+
+"If we are going to see that house, it is time we were about it, for it
+is almost sundown, and will soon be dark."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+DEAD LOW WATER.
+
+
+They ascended the rising ground, passing along the edge of the orchard,
+till, upon gaining the height of land, they entered upon a broad, level
+field of twenty-five acres, smooth as a lawn, green in all the verdure
+of spring, and giving promise of an abundant yield of grass. A variety
+of forest trees were scattered over it, among which the walnut and white
+oak predominated. Here and there a clover head was seen, and bobolinks,
+balancing on spears of herd's grass, were exhibiting themselves to the
+best advantage, while now and then a forward apple tree on the warmer
+ground was covered with white and red blossoms.
+
+"Your father never planted these trees," said Morton, gazing at the
+massive trunks, covered with moss and rough scaly bark; "who did?"
+
+"I'm sure I don't know whether it was the wind, the crows, bears, or
+squirrels, but they were here when the white men came."
+
+In the centre of the field stood the mansion house. It was painted
+white, with green blinds, and, seen through the mass of foliage by which
+the house was surrounded, the color produced a very pleasing effect,
+being scarcely more prominent than the streak of white peeping through
+the green folds of an opening rose-bud.
+
+Several very large white birches were scattered in front of the
+buildings among other trees, that beautiful green peculiar to the leaves
+of this tree in the spring contrasting pleasantly with the white bark of
+the trunk and branches. The house, fronting the river, stood endwise to
+the main road, from which a broad avenue led to it, approaching by a
+gradual curve the front, a less spacious one conducting to the back
+portion and the out-buildings. Both of these avenues were lined with the
+Lombardy poplar, then highly prized throughout New England as an
+ornamental tree. They still linger, a few in nearly every town, often
+rising with decaying branches over some grass-grown cellar--sole memento
+of a departed generation.
+
+The mansion, standing in the midst of this vast green, large on the
+ground, and high studded, without a fence to belittle the effect and
+obstruct the view, with abundant out-buildings, well arranged and in
+perfect repair, as seen through the mass of foliage, produced an
+impression better felt than described.
+
+Morton, enraptured with the sight, stood long before the main entrance
+silent, his arm in that of his friend. At length his eyes moistened as
+he said,--
+
+"Rich, I never saw anything like this spot; so grand and beautiful!
+Everything is fresh, in perfect repair, and yet these oaks and birches
+seem two hundred years old. I never saw such trees, except in the
+forest. I shouldn't be in the least surprised to see a black bear
+acorning in one of them."
+
+"I've no doubt they have done it. I've heard my grandfather say that the
+whole of this land between us and the river was a heavy growth of such
+trees as you see here, except the low ground, where it was yellow birch,
+white maple, and elm; that a man by the name of Dingley, who was well
+off, came here from Salem, built this house, cleared the land, all but
+about two acres in front of the house; but his wife died, and his two
+boys didn't want to stay here--wanted to go to sea. He went back to
+Salem just before the embargo, and let the place to the halves. Then a
+friend of his--another Salem captain, who had made money going to the
+coast of Africa, when the embargo put a stop to his business--bought it.
+He also spent money at a great rate; made the house almost over, built
+stables, took away the fences, and as he was determined to have just
+what trees he wanted, and didn't mind expense, selected those he wished
+to remain, cut down the rest, and all the underbrush, and hauled the
+trunks and brush off, because he knew, if he put fire into it, he should
+kill the whole. That's the way, grandfather said, these old trees came
+to be left here.
+
+"While Captain Norris was building, planting, clearing, and turning
+everything upside down, and making improvements, after some models he
+had seen abroad, and while the embargo and the war of 1812 lasted, he
+was contented; but when he had made about all the improvements his purse
+would allow, and maritime business began to revive after the war, he was
+as uneasy as a fish out of water, and sold the place to my father, with
+all his improvements, for half what it had cost him, and went back to
+Salem, and to sea again."
+
+"It must have been a sad day to you, when you came to take leave of this
+home, and--"
+
+"And go to the place where you found us, you mean. Well, it was a bitter
+day to all of us, but there were some reasons that made it especially so
+to me. Father and mother had known sorrow, and so had my sisters. I had
+a little brother and sister, neither of whom I ever saw. They died
+within a year of each other, and my sisters were old enough to realize
+it. But never since I can remember has there been a cloud in our sky
+till now. Father was prosperous, I was petted and indulged, had all I
+wanted, loved my books and my parents (never knew how much I did love
+them till now), and never had a sorrow, except when some pet animal
+died; but those tears were soon dried, and when I awoke the next morning
+the sorrow was all forgotten in some new pleasure, or some new pet. It
+seems to me now that I was just like one of the humming-birds that
+always come to the honeysuckle that hangs over that western window.--By
+the way, that was my room, Mort."
+
+"I see it all, Rich; and now, let me tell you, I wasn't in a very
+cheerful frame when, on my way to college, I met you at Portland. I had
+left home, and was looking forward to a four years' course at college,
+with hardly any funds, and the prospect for the future was gloomy
+enough, when you came across my path, just like a gleam of sunshine, and
+appeared so buoyant, happy, and trustful, that I said to myself,
+'There's a boy that's grown up in some happy home, without a care or
+sorrow.'"
+
+"Just so, Mort. But there was another thing which gave to this place a
+charm for me that it did not possess for the rest of our family."
+
+"What was that?"
+
+"I'll tell you. The girls were born in Portsmouth, and their earliest
+associations were there. My father and mother also have had homes at
+other spots; but if I was not born here, I grew up among these great
+trees, and, I can tell you, the very roots of them were in my heart, and
+it was hard parting. One of the very first things I can remember is,
+crawling out of the front door, when mother's attention was turned, and
+making for dear life towards that birch with the hang-bird's nest on it.
+Sometimes in my haste, I'd tumble down the steps--roll from the top to
+the bottom. If it half killed me, I wouldn't cry, for fear mother would
+come and get me before I reached the tree; and when she did, O, didn't I
+yell some? Here I made my little gardens, dug wells, and put water in
+'em; here I had my pets, hens and ducks, pigeons, and kittens, and
+birds; and when any of them died, I buried them under that walnut with
+the drooping branches, because I thought it felt sorry for me. I didn't
+have many playmates, for I was a shy boy, and so I loved the trees,
+birds, and flowers all the more, and played with them, and my sisters,
+and Uncle Robert. You see that large maple that stands next to the
+hemlock--the biggest tree in the field?"
+
+"Yes, it is almost as large as the great pine in the glen at Brunswick."
+
+"Don't you think, when I was a little thing, wore long clothes, red
+stockings, and red morocco shoes, my father tapped that tree, and used
+to give us the sap to drink. One washing day, when they were all busy, I
+got away, ran for the maple, and got down on my hands and knees to drink
+out of the trough. I was having the nicest time, putting down the sap,
+when a bee came whiz in my face, struck me on my upper lip, and ran his
+stinger in the whole length. I suppose he thought I was going to drink
+up all the sap, and he shouldn't get any. The girl was hanging out
+clothes, heard an outcry, and saw me flat on my back, kicking and
+screaming. She ran, and mother ran, and my sisters, and such a time as
+there was when mother pulled the stinger out. I tell you, Mort, no other
+place ever seems like the one where you played when you were little."
+
+"That's so, Rich. The corn in the dish on the table don't taste half so
+good as that you roast out doors, and down with it, all over smut and
+ashes, and half raw; and the apples they carry round in the evening at
+home don't begin with the ones you've hid in the haymow, and eat when
+they are so full of frost it makes your teeth ache."
+
+"We might have staid in the house through the summer. It is empty, and
+like to be; but father and mother said they had rather go at once than
+be dreading it. The neighbors were very kind, and helped us move (what
+little we had to move), as everything of any value went to the
+creditors, with the exception of my books and stock of tools; that
+father didn't give up, because he said they were my tools, with which to
+earn my bread. They had been given to me by him when he was solvent, and
+the creditors could not touch them.
+
+"During the labor and excitement of moving, and before the neighbors,
+we strove to appear as cheerful as possible; but when all was over, and
+we came out on to this platform where we are sitting, each bearing
+something that had been forgotten,--I my violin and a pair of andirons,
+mother her press-board and a coffee-pot, the girls knives, forks, and
+spoons, father shovel and tongs,--I tell you, the sound of the bolt
+going into its place when he locked the door gave me a heartache.
+
+"After we got off the steps, and turned round to take a last look at the
+old home, that never seemed half so lovely before, we couldn't any of us
+keep the tears back. I don't know but you will think it weak, but it
+made me feel real bad to see my dog, Fowler, wagging his tail, and
+frisking as though it was a holiday, and I almost wished I was a dog."
+
+"Weak, Rich? A boy that could leave a home like that, where all his
+associations were formed, as he would leave an inn, or get out of a
+stage-coach, and never look back, could not be a friend of mine."
+
+"The old cat would not go. She came and rubbed up against my legs, then
+went back, sat on the steps, looked after us, and mewed when we called
+her, but would not come.
+
+"'Give me your things, my son,' said father, 'and go and get her.'
+
+"I took her up, and carried her with us, but she went back the next
+day."
+
+"I see a black and white cat now," said Morton, "sitting on the spur
+root of yonder big white oak."
+
+Rich called, "Puss, Puss." The cat came running, jumped into his lap,
+and put her fore paws on the collar of his vest, opening and shutting
+her claws, lifting her feet up, and putting them down in the same place,
+as cats do when they feel happy, rubbing the side of her face against
+his chin, and shoving her nose between his vest and shirt bosom, and
+purring all the time.
+
+"She loves me," said Rich, "but she can't bear to leave the old
+place.--We must go, Mort. Our folks won't know what has become of us. I
+do wish you could have come up here to thanksgiving, as you were going
+to do when we were in college, and the place was ours. To see it now is
+very much like looking at persons after they are dead--the house all
+shut up, and nothing alive but a homesick, heart-broken cat."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A STRIKING CONTRAST.
+
+
+They walked along some time, each busied with the reflections excited by
+the previous conversation.
+
+"Mort," said Rich at length, "I'm sorry, but you'll have to sleep in a
+poor place to-night."
+
+"We've slept together in David Johnson's barn, in Peleg Curtis's
+fish-house, on a pile of wet menhaden nets, and in the woods on Great
+French. Didn't we make a fire and warm the ledge on the north-west side
+of Hope Island, sweep off the coals, and lie down--in November too?"
+
+"Yes; but when folks go to visit their friends, they expect a little
+better treatment than when camping out. Don't you remember when we used
+to walk down to Maquoit of an afternoon in June, just before anything
+had faded, and it was high water, how beautiful everything looked? the
+sharp line of color, where the points fringed with the bright green of
+the thatch parted the blue water, the bolder outlines of the gray
+rocks, and the trees reflected in the calm water; and yet go down there
+two or three days after, at low tide, and there would be only a hundred
+acres of steaming flats, the shores and the grass on their edge strown
+with kelp, dead clams, horse-shoe crabs, dead limbs of trees, dead fish,
+chips, and rotten eel grass; no water to be seen nearer than a mile and
+a half!"
+
+"Indeed I do; and the contrast was so great that one must be possessed
+of a most devout spirit not to arraign the order of nature, and wish it
+was high water all the time."
+
+"I'm sure I can't imagine what should put Maquoit Bay in my head
+to-night, unless it was meeting with you, and thinking of old times; but
+it seems to set forth my condition exactly. Six weeks ago it was high
+water with us, a spring tide, up over everything, clear to the grass
+ground, filling every cove and creek, the mouths of the brooks kissing
+the birch roots on the edge of the cliffs, and lifting up the strawberry
+leaves. Now it is dead low water, bare flats, angry sky, and to me the
+voyage of life seems 'bound in shallows and in miseries.'"
+
+"That's one side, old chum" (putting his arms around Rich's neck), "but
+the tide only ebbs to flow again. The farther it runs off, and the more
+it drains out at one time, the higher it flows the next."
+
+It was the first manifestation of anything like depression that Morton
+had noticed in his friend. Rich, however, shook it off, as the bird
+shakes the dew from its plumage, saying, with a smile,--
+
+"You are right, Mort; and that's the way I look at it generally; but I
+can't yet visit the old home, and come away again, without stirring up
+something that had better be kept down; especially when the cat puts her
+head in my bosom, as she did to-night, and says, 'Do stay here with me,
+I am so lonesome.'"
+
+Morton, as they came in sight of the house now occupied by the
+Richardsons, was most forcibly struck with the contrast between this
+abode and the one they had just left. Their present habitation stood in
+a tan-yard; indeed it had, in the days of his poverty, been the
+residence of the owner of the tan-yard, who being pinched for room, had
+crowded his house into the smallest possible limits.
+
+It was placed very near the line of the street, leaving barely space for
+a single doorstep, which was a pasture stone. The tan-pits at one side
+approached within two feet of the cellar wall. On the other was a
+currier's shop, leaving just space enough between the two buildings for
+a narrow cart road. Beneath the back windows of this shop were old oil
+barrels and heaps of curriers' shavings, stewing and simmering in the
+sun.
+
+Directly behind the house a garden spot twenty-five feet by thirty was
+fenced out. It had not been ploughed for some years; the Richardsons did
+not care to cultivate it, as their stay was but temporary, and it was
+overgrown with weeds, and strewn with old boots and shoes, broken
+pottery, pots and pans that had outlived their usefulness, heaps of
+ashes, and the bleaching bones of cats that had come to an untimely end.
+
+Abutting on this lot was a large shed, open on the side facing the
+dwelling in which was the "beam" house, where the green and bloody hides
+were received and "fleshed." Here were heaps of horns, and the pith or
+marrow that comes out of them when they taint. The roof of this shed was
+covered with glue skins, that is, the trimmings of the hides saved to
+make glue, spread to dry, and which attracted swarms of green flies; add
+to this a stagnant mill pond that supplied water for the pits, and to
+propel a bark mill, fences, and walls hung with sides of leather spread
+out to dry, and smeared, or, in technical language, dubbed, with tallow
+and rancid fish oil, and you have a faithful description of the
+surroundings of this delightful abode. But aside from actual experience,
+imagination cannot conceive or tongue describe the combined odors
+furnished by these various substances when operated upon by sun and
+wind.
+
+The house was in perfect keeping with the site upon which it stood. The
+walls were covered with shingles, two courses of which had rotted away
+near the foundations, in consequence of banking up the walls with earth;
+part of the top of the chimney had fallen off, and lay on the roof that
+in places was bare of shingles and covered with moss.
+
+Upon entering the house, a door on the left opened into the kitchen, the
+plastering of which was the color of milk and molasses, and appeared to
+have been flung on, and then clawed in by cats, affording in the furrows
+lodgments for smoke and secure harbors of refuge for flies. At the back
+of this room was a small bedroom, finished in the same manner, with the
+exception of being sealed to the height of a chair, and the wood work
+painted with a color intended, probably, for red; it, however, looked
+very much as though a hog had been killed on it. In this apartment the
+parents slept. Another door, on the right, admitted to an unfinished
+room, with a rough floor. Here were Rich's lathe and tool chest, a pair
+of cart wheels finished, except smoothing up, and a wheelbarrow that
+only required ironing.
+
+"This is my workshop," said Rich. "My mechanical genius, that used to
+expend itself on flower-pots and vases, in turning canes and cups, tops
+and nine-pins, balls and drum-sticks, is now directed by stern
+necessity, into a more useful channel; and, believe me, when I have made
+a pair of wheels, got my money for them, and bought provisions for the
+family, I feel a great deal better satisfied with myself than I used to
+after spending two or three days making something that was a mere
+plaything, or at best only served the purpose of ornament."
+
+At each end of the garret was a window, and there two bedrooms were
+made, with rough board partitions, one of which was occupied by the two
+daughters, the other by Rich. Here was his library, that was quite
+extensive, his father having indulged his fondness for books, among
+which was a German edition of the classics.
+
+The room was small, and the roof of a low pitch. The book-cases,
+writing-desk, bureau, and chairs all occupied so much of the room that
+the bedstead was necessarily pushed far under the eaves in order to
+afford space enough in the middle to move around and stand upright.
+
+"It is quite convenient," said Rich, as they entered, "for you can reach
+everything without getting out of your chair."
+
+"And then to consider," replied Morton, in the same vein, "that the most
+celebrated philosophers and poets have meditated and sung in garrets."
+
+"True," said Rich; "but I suspect it would be far more pleasant to
+meditate about than it will to occupy it come next dog days. Now, Mort,
+you must sleep on the front side, for the shingle nails come through the
+boards of the roof, and if you should forget, and jump up on end, they'd
+stick right into your skull."
+
+"They are not long enough to go through."
+
+"Probably not through a skull so thick as yours, but they would draw
+blood, and might give you a headache."
+
+When they awoke in the morning, Rich said, "Mort, I can spend the whole
+forenoon with you, but in the afternoon they will need me at the shop.
+In the evening we can be together again."
+
+When breakfast was over, Morton said, "Rich, what are your plans for the
+future? Have you decided in respect to a profession? for I don't suppose
+you really intend to pass your life at the anvil, after spending so many
+years and so much money getting an education."
+
+"It would not be so much of a sacrifice as you may suppose, and if I had
+not been through college, I would do so, for I love to work iron; it
+comes as natural as water to a duck. Do you go up and look over my books
+while I split up some oven wood, and then I'll tell you."
+
+"I'll help you split the wood."
+
+"Come on."
+
+"Rich, who was that old lady at the breakfast table?"
+
+"Aunt Blunt, mother's aunt. Didn't they introduce you? She came last
+night, before we came home, and went to bed."
+
+"I thought your mother's name was Lucy; but this morning the old lady
+called her Mary."
+
+"Mother's name is Mary L.; Mary Lucy. The Lucy is for my great aunt, and
+she always calls her so, but we call her Lucy. One of my sisters is
+named Mary B., after mother and the Blunts."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+DID NOT COME TO SEE THE WRECK.
+
+
+Returning to the garret, Rich said, "About a profession--is it?"
+flinging himself on the bed, while Morton, seated in a chair, thrust his
+feet out of the window. "Just have the goodness to open that volume on
+the table."
+
+It was Bell's Operative Surgery.
+
+"Then you are going to study medicine?"
+
+"It is registered on leaves of brass."
+
+"When did you decide?"
+
+"I've been trying to decide ever since I left college; but I did decide
+before I left the breakfast table the morning father told me the boom
+and mills had gone. I borrowed these books of our doctor, and at night,
+when I'm not too tired, I read them once in the while; when work permits
+I go with him to visit some patient. I went with him a week ago when he
+amputated a man's hand at the wrist. He is very kind, has large
+practice, and rides long distances, as he has the practice of this and
+the next town."
+
+"You won't accomplish much in this way."
+
+"I don't expect to; but I can't leave father now, as I find that my
+taking hold has been a great help and comfort to him and my uncle. They
+have a good deal of work, and it is increasing every day; and I don't
+mean to leave them till I see the family in more comfortable quarters.
+The shop and house adjoining was my grandfather's, and when my father
+failed, passed into the hands of a Mr. Montague. He gives my father the
+use of the shop and tools, and in the fall, when the family now in it
+moves out, will let him have the old house, which is an excellent one,
+built by my grandfather after he acquired property. My father and uncle
+are living in this old shell, working incessantly. When no other work
+comes in, my uncle, who can work in wood as well as iron, makes wheels.
+My father puts on the tires. They sell them. Mother takes in spinning,
+and saves every cent. I do all I can in order to be able, at the end of
+the summer, to buy back grandfather's tools, that we may have something
+of our own. Besides, they are dear to father. He helped make most of
+them when he was a boy, and says there's a history to every one of
+them."
+
+"How long is it going to take to do all that?"
+
+"Not longer than September or the middle of October, if we are all well.
+In the mean time I shall read what medicine I can, go round with Dr.
+Jones occasionally, and when I see the family in the new house and
+comfortable, take an academy somewhere or high school, and teach till I
+can earn money enough to go on with my studies."
+
+"You're a good boy, Rich."
+
+"Why don't you tell me some news?"
+
+"I'm going to. That _academy_ is all ready."
+
+"What do you mean by that?"
+
+"Did you think I would leave my studies and come way up here just to
+look at the wreck? Put my arm round your neck, whimper, and say, What a
+pity!"
+
+"Explain, Mort, please, that's a good fellow."
+
+"Who said I wasn't a good fellow? Well, Perk's got an academy for you in
+the next town to his whenever you're ready to take it, salary two
+hundred a year. He fitted for college there, knows all the trustees, and
+everybody in town; and he's cracked you up sky high; told all the boys
+what a nice fellow you are, the most lovable man ever God made, the
+trustees what a splendid classical scholar you are, and all the young
+ladies how handsome. So I advise you, as a sincere friend, to take unto
+yourself nitre and much soap, and wash off that smut, which seems to me
+to be under the skin."
+
+"O, Mort, this is all _your_ work!"
+
+"No,'tain't; it's all old Perk's. I only came to tell the news."
+
+"But you were the _means_ of it."
+
+"No; it was that good Being whom you, after so many years of
+prosperity, couldn't afford to think about or thank till he sent the
+river to put you in mind of him."
+
+"How can I ever thank you enough?"
+
+"Do you think a man ought to be thanked for helping himself?"
+
+"No, of course not."
+
+"Are not you and I one? Didn't you say only last night we were one, and
+that there never was a shadow between us? What are you talking about?"
+
+"I can't understand how they can wait my leisure. There must of course
+be a definite time when the term begins."
+
+"Certainly; Perk will send you a catalogue; but he will take the school
+till you come. I told him I knew something about your affairs, and
+thought it doubtful if you could come at the first part of the term."
+
+"This is a kind of joyous time, Mort; makes this old attic seem real
+pleasant."
+
+"Yes; the architecture is simple in design; but the atmosphere is most
+exhilarating."
+
+"I suppose I can tell father and mother?"
+
+"To be sure. A good story is no worse for being twice told."
+
+"What is Perk doing?"
+
+"Just what you were doing all last year."
+
+After dinner Rich went to the shop, and Morton, first taking a long
+walk, called there on his way back, and found Mr. Robert alone.
+
+"Where is Rich?" he asked.
+
+"Well, a man came here to get a 'clevis' pin made, and let them take his
+horse and wagon to haul a load of coal, while I made the pin. You seem
+to think a good deal of Rich, as you call him, Mr. Morton."
+
+"I don't know how I could love him any more than I do."
+
+"Well, he's a boy that deserves to be thought of. He never was brought
+up to do the leastest individual thing, 'cept to study a book and make
+some little gimcrank with tools; and yet to see how he took hold the
+moment his father's misfortunes came--went right to the anvil, never
+murmured or complained; and though he's my nephew, I _will_ say that
+he's worth as much to-day in this shop as the general run of apprentices
+that have worked two years; and as for working in wood, he always took
+to that. 'Twas born in him."
+
+"Don't you think, Mr. Richardson, that a boy whose grandfather and
+father were blacksmiths is more likely to be handy in a shop?"
+
+"I suppose these things are kind of handed down. I know there's a good
+deal in the blood; I know it by our girls. They are all broken down, sit
+and sigh, think what they used to have, and let their mother do all the
+work."
+
+"Are they not own sisters to Rich?"
+
+"The same father and mother; but they take back after the Armstrongs;
+they don't take after the Richardsons, who are a resolute, stirring
+breed of folks. Their old grandmother Armstrong was a dreadful
+slack-twisted, shiftless woman; had to be helped by the town; and when
+the selectmen gave her a cord of wood, she'd put about two foot into the
+great fireplace, declare she'd have one fire if she died for it, and
+then sit, fold her hands in her lap, and enjoy it. Her children took
+after her, 'cept my brother's wife, and she's smart as steel; took after
+her mother's people, the Blunts. But that old woman that's been dead and
+buried this twenty years has come out in the grandchildren. It is not
+the way, Mr. Morton, to bring up children. This twenty years past I've
+been saying to Clem and Lucy that they were doing wrong by their
+children. Says I, 'Bring them up to work as we were. If they don't need
+to, it's the easiest thing in the world to leave off; but it's hard to
+learn.' Then Lucy would say, 'Uncle, I don't want them to have to work
+as hard as I have.' Says I, 'Perhaps they may be obliged to. What then?'
+Then Clem would laugh, and say that old maids' and old bachelors'
+children were always brought up right."
+
+"But I'm sure Rich has come out well."
+
+"Indeed he has; but he is a remarkable boy, and is no rule to go by.
+Besides, we must thank you, and do thank you, for a good part of that:
+you did a parent's duty by him. Don't you think he is in better shape to
+keep the 'cademy, for teaching school in college, and wasn't he in
+better shape, and would he have had the pluck to go so willingly to the
+anvil if he hadn't been broke in by you in college?"
+
+"I suppose you are right, Mr. Richardson; but in respect to the young
+ladies."
+
+"Call 'em girls, Mr. Morton; and they are not very young at that."
+
+"Well, girls, then. Would any training their parents could have given
+taken the thin blood (the _Armstrong_, as you call it) out of them."
+
+"I don't suppose it would; but it would have helped it amazingly. You
+see if I get a bar of Swedish iron, first rate, stamped 'Hoop L,' I put
+it into the fire, and work it without fear; but if I have a bar of
+English iron, brash and coarse, can't get any better, and must work it
+up, why, by taking great pains, heating it just right, and working it
+just right, I can, by coaxing, make it answer--not so good a purpose as
+the other iron, but can make it very useful. That's the way with
+children; you've got 'em, and got to work 'em up, and must make the best
+of 'em, as I do with 'brash' iron. These girls were partly on our side
+the house, and if they had been put right to it, it would have helped
+the better part, and kept the other back, just as the saw-makers put
+the nature into a saw by hammering when it has been softened in
+grinding. Now all they do is to put the dishes on the table, sweep up
+the hearth and look In the glass, wring their hands, and tell about what
+_used_ to be. They might teach school if they only had 'sprawl' enough."
+
+Mr. Richardson then told Morton that his brother would take an
+apprentice when they moved into the old homestead and had room, after
+which Rich would be able to leave home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+MORTON'S BUSINESS.
+
+
+Morton set out for Portland the next morning, leaving Rich glad and
+grateful, and in the best of spirits himself, arising from the
+conviction that better days were in store both for Rich and his parents.
+He took his seat on the box, and was still more confirmed in this
+opinion by the conversation with the driver, of whom he had inquired the
+way to Mr. Richardson's shop the afternoon of his arrival.
+
+"Then you didn't have any trouble finding Richardson's shop t'other day:
+git, git, git along there, you white horse."
+
+"No, I found it without the least difficulty."
+
+"Thought you would. Belong in these parts? What you 'bout there, old
+Dick?" Crack, crack, crack!
+
+"No, I belong up back of Portland."
+
+"Buxton, praps."
+
+"No."
+
+"Maybe you're from Conway."
+
+"Thereabouts."
+
+"Fine men them ere two Richardsons."
+
+"Yes, but they have met with a great misfortune."
+
+"That's so; and it's made a great stir and talk, and a great feelin';
+for they was two men that was master sot by in this place, and desarved
+to be; folks are both glad and sorry."
+
+"I shouldn't think people would be glad if they were generally liked."
+
+"Well, that's what I call a kernondrum. Ha, ha!--Whey there, Tom; what
+you foolin' for?--People ain't glad that they lost their property; no,
+no; everybody's sorry for that, and they could hire any amount of money,
+and go on again, if they would; but you see they're the greatest
+blacksmiths; there never was anybody in these parts could temper any
+kind of an edge tool like as Clement Richardson, 'cept his old dad afore
+him; and he, they said, took it up in his own head. You take notice 'tis
+born in 'em, same as a cat carries her navigation in her head. So people
+say, 'Now Clem Richardson has gone to work agin, we shall have good
+tools;' and so they feel kind of glad about that ere. They'll have a
+master sight of work as soon as it's known round, and they'll rise agin.
+Squire Walker says 'they're bound to.' I heard him tell Dr. Jones.
+'Quainted with Dr. Jones?"
+
+"I haven't that pleasure."
+
+"First-rate man. I heard him say with my own ears (that is, the
+squire), says he, 'Doctor, you can't kill one of them Richardsons, not
+if you cut their head off;' and the doctor, he says, 'The young sprig,
+that's been thought to be a sort of baby, is jest as good grit as the
+old ones, and comes right up to the collar.' Them isn't jestly his
+words, but that's the upshot on 'em. Then there's two of 'em, and they
+can carry on both parts of the work. There's only one family to support,
+'cause Bob's an old bach, and they're not only brothers in name, but in
+natur, are well matched, and step alike, jest like them ere leaders of
+mine; about as good going horses as a man need wish to drive. Reckon
+you're some kin to the Richardsons."
+
+"No, none at all."
+
+"Maybe you're sparkin' one of the gals."
+
+"No, I never had the courage."
+
+"Reckon you're a college-larnt man, like young Richardson; praps you're
+a doctor or lawyer, or some sich."
+
+"No, I'm in a _business_."
+
+"Du tell. What kind of a business?"
+
+"One that pays the best the closer it's followed."
+
+"I reckon that's so with most all business."
+
+"I've invented something--something that will make my fortune."
+
+"Maybe you'd be willing to tell a feller what it is."
+
+"It is a hog-sty that will fat hogs without corn."
+
+"Massy sakes! How does it do it?"
+
+"That's the secret."
+
+"On course you'll make a lot; that's the master. How many on 'em you
+sold in this town?"
+
+"I haven't got to work yet."
+
+The next day the story was all over town that the stranger who was
+visiting at Richardson's was worth a mint of money, that he had invented
+a hog-sty to fat hogs without corn, and came to offer himself to Mary
+Richardson, but his courage failed, and he went off without doing it.
+
+What a pity! people said: it would have been such a nice thing for the
+Richardsons, just as they were situated.
+
+A good many thought Rich would write to the young man, and invite him to
+come again.
+
+At this period the country around the head waters of the rivers was one
+unbroken forest. The lumbering operations, previous to this, had
+extended but a short distance from the sea-coast; but now vast numbers
+of men and teams were sent into the woods in all directions. The
+character of Clement Richardson as a superior axe and edge-tool maker
+was well known everywhere, and the news that he had resumed work soon
+spread among the lumbermen who were laying their plans and arranging to
+put teams into the woods the coming winter.
+
+As early as the tenth of July orders for axes began to pour in upon the
+Richardsons. The mills formerly belonging to them, shattered in the
+freshet, were repaired, and new ones built upon the sites of those
+entirely destroyed, occasioning a good deal of blacksmith work, as new
+mill-chains, dogs, hooks, bands, bolts, and pintles were to be made.
+Horse and ox-shoeing, and carriage work, also increased with the
+increase of business.
+
+The result of this was, that Andrew Montague enlarged the shop, built
+two new chimneys and forges, and the Richardsons not only bought the old
+tools, but also two pairs of bellows, anvils and other tools, for the
+new forges. They now moved into their father's old house, vacated by
+Coleman, hired journeymen and took two apprentices, Clement giving his
+attention entirely to the manufacture of edge tools, and Robert to
+horse-shoeing and carriage work, ox-shoeing and tiring of heavy wheels.
+The Richardsons now found themselves in comfortable circumstances; they
+had a good house rent free, as Montague absolutely refused to receive
+any rent, either for the house or shop, until the expiration of a year
+from the time of occupancy, saying that they would want one year to get
+fairly started, and all their money to buy coal, iron, and tools.
+
+In consequence of this increase of work, Rich was able to leave home
+sooner than he had supposed possible at the period of Morton's visit,
+and accordingly wrote to Perk that he would be with him in a week after
+the commencement of the fall term.
+
+He found Perk at the public house, waiting to welcome him, as the stage
+drove up about sundown. It was the first time they had met since the
+morning they left Radcliffe Hall. Our readers, who are apprised of the
+relations existing between these two boys in college, and the
+temperament of each, can imagine the nature of the greeting. It is
+sufficient to say that it was not remarkably formal. This, however, was
+not in the least objectionable to a band of academy boys (who, in
+expectation of his arrival, had assembled to have a look at their new
+teacher, and whom Perk now presented to Rich as a portion of his
+scholars), if we may judge from the talk among themselves as they went
+away, arm-in-arm, a boy every now and then breaking rank, and walking
+backwards, those at the end of the file keeping about two steps in
+advance, in order to face the rest, and impress their own sentiments
+more forcibly upon their companions of less sanguine temperaments.
+
+They were scarcely out of ear-shot, when Dan Clemens, breaking with a
+jump from the midst, and walking backwards, with one hand on the
+shoulder of Ned Baker, and the other on that of Frank Merrill, shouted
+as though he was afraid some other would get the start of him,--
+
+"Ned, Frank, all of you! I know I shall like that man; can't help
+liking him. I'm _bound_ to like him."
+
+"I'm the same way!" shouted Horace Williams from the extreme right.
+"Didn't you see, boys, how he and Mr. Perkins caught hold of each other?
+That's what took me down. There's some soul in that man, I tell you."
+
+"O, he's a bully man!" roared Clinton Blanchard from the extreme left;
+"a fellow can tell by the looks of him; he shows it right out in his
+face."
+
+"You might know he's a first-rate man," cried Phil Greely; "else Mr.
+Perkins wouldn't love him so. I thought I never should like anybody else
+as Master Perkins; but I guess this man is just like him, and I mean to
+tell all the fellows I know."
+
+By this time, as boy after boy kept stepping out, they had got into a
+circle, and further progress was necessarily arrested: not so, however,
+the expression of opinions.
+
+"He has not a very scholarly look," said Edward Randolph, who was a very
+proper boy; "not at all the air of a close student. His hands are rough
+and hard; he hurt me when he shook my hand."
+
+"You shut up,--will you?" retorted Dan. "You've got the dyspepsy."
+
+"No, I haven't, neither."
+
+"Well, you want to have it," said Frank Merrill.
+
+It was evident that in respect to popularity among these boys, the star
+of Rich was in the ascendant, and before nine o'clock the next morning
+they had brought the rest of the school to the same opinion.
+
+First impressions go a great way with all persons, especially with the
+young. Had Rich gone deliberately to work to win the hearts of his
+future scholars, he could have devised no method so effectual as this
+unconscious manifestation of his true nature in their presence.
+
+"The first thing for me to do, Perk," said Rich, "is to look up a
+boarding-place; till that is done I shall stay here."
+
+"No, you won't stay here; you are not going to stop here; you are going
+home with me to stop, to-night, at my boarding-place, and I think you
+will conclude to remain there."
+
+When they reached the house, Perk introduced Rich to the mistress of it,
+who he at the same time informed him was his aunt.
+
+A few minutes after they sat down to supper, her son came, in whom Rich
+recognized Dan Clemens, one of the boys Perk had introduced to him at
+the _tavern_. Hotels were not in fashion in that section of Maine.
+
+After the repast they went to Perk's room. The first thing that
+attracted the attention of Rich was a large picture hung over the
+mantle-piece.
+
+"I should like to know, Perk, where you got that."
+
+"Stole it out of Mort's desk. I was afraid if I didn't he'd give it to
+you; but I told him of it, and he gave it to me afterwards. Isn't that
+something to call up old friends and old associations?" It was the
+original sketch of James Trafton as a negro, drawn at midnight by Morton
+in Radcliffe.
+
+"It is so, Perk. How that brings the whole thing back! It seems to me I
+can see you scrubbing his face, that was as white as your own, with soap
+and ashes, and hear him say, 'Does it come off, Perk?'"
+
+"I tell you what tickled me most, Rich--to see Savage spreading ink on
+that poultice, and Trafton thinking it came off his own face."
+
+"Those were pleasant days, Perk; but they can come back only in
+recollection; and I feel like applying to that production of Mort's the
+language of Burns,--
+
+
+ 'Thou mind'st me of departed joys,
+ Departed never to return.'"
+
+
+"Rich, kick off your boots and put on these slippers." Rich obeyed. "Now
+put on this study-gown."
+
+Perk then pulled a lounge up to the fire, and they sat down to talk.
+
+After reviewing the past, which old class-mates are as sure to do as is
+an old sailor to overhaul his chest, and take everything out of it
+(sometimes a very light job), as soon as he gets to sea, Perk said,--
+
+"I didn't expect you so soon, Rich."
+
+"I was able to leave sooner than I expected when I wrote you. Might,
+indeed, have come before; but it took me a week to clean up. Look at
+these." He spread out his hands, that were hard, the palms and the edges
+of the forefingers and thumbs a rusty brown, and cracked.
+
+"It is not dirt, but stains from iron and from coal dust; and that, too,
+after using on them a quart of linseed oil, not to mention vinegar,
+soap, and rye meal."
+
+"How are you pleased with my aunt, Rich?"
+
+"Very much indeed. The boy at table is one of those I met at the stage
+tavern. Is he your cousin?"
+
+"Yes, and a downright good boy he is, too, and a real comfort to my
+aunt, who is a widow. He is dead in love with you."
+
+"Perhaps he will change his mind; boys are not wont to cherish a very
+fervent love for teachers."
+
+"You'll find yourself mistaken in that respect. Dan, and a crony of his,
+Horace Williams, will take to you, and cling to you, just as Ned Austin
+and Will Montgomery did to you and Mort. You can stimulate them, and
+they will leap under it as a high-spirited horse catches the excitement
+of its rider, especially if he loves him."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+WINNING GOLDEN OPINIONS.
+
+
+"In the morning, Perk, I want you to help me about finding a
+boarding-place, or some room that I can hire cheap, and board myself. I
+should prefer a garret, as that will be the cheapest. There"--laying a
+two-dollar bill on the table--"is every cent of money I possess in the
+world; and if I study medicine I must have books, that come very high,
+instruments by and by, and instruction from an experienced physician. I
+am, to be sure, well clothed. I have clothing sufficient, with economy,
+to last for years, but money I have none."
+
+"I know I am not capable of giving you advice, and cannot expect that
+you will receive it from me as you would from Mort; but I beg of you,
+whatever you do, don't go to starving yourself; it will be a losing game
+in the end. If you are going to work hard all day in school, and then
+study when out of it, you need, and must have, good, nourishing food,
+and plenty of it. There was Eckford, of our class, lived on water gruel
+and molasses, and roast potatoes, and made out to graduate. But what did
+he ever amount to, more than sweetened water?"
+
+"He never was more than half alive, to begin with. I am in good case,
+and must economize the last cent."
+
+"Economize, with a vengeance! Saving at the tap, and spilling at the
+bung-hole. A precious doctor you'll make. Going to dry up the juices,
+both of body and brain, by starvation. Now let me plan. My aunt has
+considerable land and other property, and needs some one to aid her in
+the care of it. Dan is a mere boy, and it brings a good deal of care
+upon her. If you will see to her affairs, cut the wood, take care of the
+garden in the summer (Dan milks, and takes care of the cow and horse),
+keep her accounts, and just do what pertains to the house (if there is
+anything beyond that, she will hire other help), you can stay in this
+room, have your board, fuel, and a horse to ride occasionally, you can
+borrow medical books of Dr. Ryan, practice on my aunt, who is in
+delicate health, dearly loves to take medicine, wears a Burgundy pitch
+plaster between her shoulders, reads Buchan's Domestic Medicine, and
+Parson Meek will pray for you. I think this will be a great deal better
+than your starvation plan, unless you think it would be derogatory to
+your character, and injure your influence as principal of the academy,
+if it should be known that you cut wood and did chores."
+
+"Derogatory!" cried Rich, jumping up. "I don't value the opinion of any
+who think honest labor derogatory _that_," snapping his fingers. "If
+they don't like it, they may dislike it. I can earn as much at the anvil
+as I can here, and all the reason I prefer it is, I can study when I
+have done my day's work here; and after I have been at work in the shop
+all day I am tired and sleepy. I will most gladly fall in with the offer
+of your aunt, and do all or anything she wants done."
+
+"Rich, you are no more like a fellow we used to call _Rich_ in
+Radcliffe, than chalk's like cheese."
+
+"I've been through a 'discipline,' as President Appleton would say.
+Then, I used to dip my fingers in rose water of a morning, and dress my
+hair with pomatum. Since that, I've had to wash in an iron-hooped
+bucket, and wipe on a tow towel cousin german to a nutmeg grater. Sweat
+and coal dust have taken the place of pomatum. It didn't last, however,
+longer than the first term of the freshman year. I caught an expression
+on Mort's face one day, when I was fixing up before the glass, that made
+me, as soon as his back was turned, fling the rose water and pomatum
+into the slop pail. I tell you, Perk, there's no tonic equal to iron. I
+mean to give lots of it when I am a doctor."
+
+"So I think; but I like to take it best in the shape of a gun barrel, a
+fish-hook, or a pair of skates."
+
+The number of pupils in the academy was quite large, and, as was
+customary in those days, they consisted of both sexes, ranging in age
+from ten to nineteen, and even twenty years. There were boys fitting for
+college, and others pursuing English studies. Some of the older scholars
+studied surveying, book-keeping, and navigation.
+
+Rich gave himself wholly to his work, and speedily created among his
+scholars not merely an attachment to himself, but enthusiasm in study,
+and desire to excel. It was soon evident, both to the trustees and more
+advanced scholars, that their present teacher was greatly superior in
+every department, not only to Perk, but any instructor who had preceded
+him.
+
+The fact that he did chores, and attended to business matters, in order
+to defray the expense of his board, so far from proving derogatory, as
+Perk had hinted, operated in precisely the opposite manner. Had he
+resorted to this method of reducing his expenses from penuriousness, and
+an overweening desire to accumulate, such, doubtless, would have been
+the result, and the proceeding would have excited both ridicule and
+contempt.
+
+The instincts of the boys, however, divined that this was not his
+character. They felt themselves drawn towards him by that magnetic
+influence that his college mates confessed, and were proud of his
+scholarship and commanding ability, that even those who could not
+appreciate felt. In addition to this they were not long in discovering
+that, although he did chores, and even cleaned out the pig-sty, he was
+the best dressed man in the town on the Sabbath, which was to them a
+sore puzzle. But when it leaked out, probably through Perk, that he had
+been reared in affluence, was now flung upon his own resources,
+struggling to obtain a professional education, and that his style of
+dress was merely the remnant of better days, and not occasioned by mere
+love of display, the knowledge produced universal sympathy and respect,
+the whole community vying with each other in the manifestation of it.
+
+Although practising the most rigid economy, husbanding every moment of
+time, and performing a great deal of labor, the noble nature of Rich
+manifested itself in a thousand ways; and strange it is how this
+unwritten, unspoken language of the heart is generally felt and
+understood. He was patient with the dull, encouraged the industrious,
+and stimulated to the utmost those scholars possessed of superior
+ability, while the mere desire to merit his esteem and affection roused
+indolent and wayward boys to persevering effort, and inspired them with
+a love of study and spirit of emulation they had never felt before.
+
+But when Granny Fluker (after he went into the blacksmith's shop, made
+a new crank to her flax wheel, mended the cover of her Dutch oven, that
+was broke in two, by drilling holes in it, and putting wrought iron
+cleats across, fastened with rivets, and made a new bail to the oven)
+exclaimed, "God bless the young gentleman for condescending to sich a
+poor old worn-out critter as I am, that have to be helped by the town.
+Well, it's allers the way, in this world; them what's got the biggest
+hearts to do allers have the least to do _with_. But if the prayers of a
+poor old lone body like me can do him any good, he'll sartain have 'em."
+
+She expressed the universal sentiment of the whole community.
+
+To increase still more the estimation in which Rich was held, it was
+ascertained that he was an excellent singer. The parish choir was in a
+most wretched condition. A maiden lady, who had long been distinguished
+as a singer, began to show unmistakable signs of age, and her voice
+cracked. She received from the younger members sundry hints to leave.
+These she took in high dugeon, and left, together with a brother and two
+sisters, who were fine singers, and who espoused her quarrel. Before the
+new members who were introduced upon their leaving could be drilled, the
+chorister, who had made a great part of the disturbance, left town,
+taking his bass-viol with him.
+
+In this condition of things, Rich was invited to take the lead of the
+choir, and accepted, established choir meetings, and soon put matters to
+rights; while the refractory brother and his two sisters, finding that
+they were not necessary, got over their huff, and came back.
+
+The younger portion of the choir, ascertaining from Dan Clemens that
+Rich played the violin, persuaded him to bring it to church the next
+Sunday. The moment Rich drew the bow across the strings, Deacon
+Starkweather got up, slamming the pew door after him, left the church,
+and going into the pasture, out of sight and sound of the ungodly thing,
+sat down on a stump, in a snow-storm, till he judged it was time for the
+sermon to begin, when he returned, as he had no quarrel with Parson
+Meek, and merely wished to show his displeasure, and enter a protest
+against the fiddle. Rich, however, smoothed all asperities, and
+reconciled the worthy deacon, by persuading the members of the parish
+most interested in music to purchase a bass-viol, upon which he
+performed to the satisfaction of all; Deacon Starkweather inviting Rich,
+and all the members of the choir, to tea, when he explained to them that
+he had never cherished the least hardness against any member of the
+choir, but that his action was in reference to the _instrument_, and the
+associations connected with that exponent of folly, and concluded with a
+most generous contribution toward the purchase of the bass-viol. Thus
+was the affair that at one time threatened to break up the parish most
+happily settled. Rich earned the reputation of a peacemaker, and young
+man of excellent judgment, and the deacon, through his device delivered
+from an uncomfortable position (as his conduct by no means met with
+general approbation), became the staunch friend of Rich, declaring, upon
+every proper occasion, that "he was a young man that had the root of the
+matter in him."
+
+The period at which Rich began the study of medicine was the
+commencement of a great revolution in medical theory and practice, both
+in relation to the treatment of disease and surgery; young and earnest
+men were struggling in every direction for light; new discoveries were
+made, reverence for the past was gradually wearing off, and the old
+theories of practice were subjected to a most searching and often
+irreverent scrutiny.
+
+Dr. Ryan by no means belonged to that class of mind sometimes designated
+by the term, "The sword frets out the scabbard." On the other hand, he
+was hale and hearty, possessed of a noble frame, hair slightly tinged
+with gray, but ruddy cheeks, a fine set of teeth of pearly whiteness,
+and a frank, hearty manner, betokening real goodness of heart.
+
+Though possessed of very moderate abilities, the doctor was a man of
+sterling worth, great integrity, and kind and sympathizing nature. He
+enjoyed a large practice, being the only physician in the place. The
+poor loved him, because he was ever as ready to attend to their wants as
+to those of his more wealthy patients, often put shoes on the feet of a
+barefooted child, and did not hesitate to bestow flannels and fuel, when
+he felt that they were more necessary than medicine. The utmost
+confidence was reposed in him, as his more intelligent patients, if
+disposed to doubt his skill in difficult cases, knew perfectly well that
+he would not hesitate a moment in calling in more competent persons,
+when he felt their aid was required.
+
+At this period the spirit of inquiry was abroad. There were rumors in
+the air, and forebodings of a radical reform in medical practice.
+Practitioners of the doctor's age, who were either too indolent,
+prejudiced, or too far advanced in life to receive and act upon new
+ideas, were by no means to be envied, being somewhat in the position of
+one upon a ledge in the sea, cut off by the tide, that, constantly
+rising, rendered his passing into oblivion merely a question of time.
+
+The old physicians stigmatized these disturbers of the peace of
+antiquity and their own as quacks, new lights, upstarts, and utterly
+unsafe as experimenters with human life. The advocates of the improved
+practice, on the other hand, were by no means backward in denouncing
+their seniors as fossils, petrifactions, enemies to all progress, and
+only desirous of retailing drugs at ninety per cent. profit, and
+fattening the graveyards; of promoting gangrene, and needless
+amputations, through their ignorance of the first principles of surgery;
+multiplying cripples by malpractice and ignorance of anatomy; that they
+had one mode of treatment for all disorders; and the time-honored
+allusion to "Procrustes' bed" was lavishly applied to their opponents.
+
+The good doctor, firmly wedded to the ancient practice, felt all the
+animosity his genial nature permitted him to indulge in respect to the
+new lights; and when he heard that a young man thoroughly impregnated
+(as he could not doubt) with radical notions, was about to take the
+academy, and had already commenced the study of medicine, he felt very
+much as an old crower, who has walked in state, and lorded it over his
+dames, might be supposed to feel when he sees a young rooster suddenly
+flung down in the barn-yard, and inwardly resolved that the young
+upstart should receive neither aid, comfort, nor countenance from him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+HOW DAN TOOK HIS MEDICINE.
+
+
+While in this irritable and pugnacious temper it chanced most
+fortunately that the doctor did not happen to fall in with Rich; and
+when he did, being in a different state of mind, matters wore quite
+another aspect.
+
+The doctor was remarkably fond of music, and no mean performer himself
+upon the clarionet. Being at meeting for the first time since the
+arrival of Rich on the Sabbath when Deacon Starkweather made his exit,
+he was mightily tickled with the whole proceedings; said the deacon
+ought to have his head shaved, and a blister drawn on it, and was
+consequently inclined to feel more kindly disposed towards Rich. While
+his prejudices were thus somewhat weakened, he was introduced to the
+latter by Perk, and was so much charmed with the modest appearance,
+intelligence, and address of Rich, that he received him with all the
+cordiality of a parent.
+
+"This young gentleman, Mr. Perkins," said the doctor to Perk the next
+morning, "is a very different person from the great majority of those
+who profess to study medicine, having some respect for age and
+experience, and as amendable to counsel as he is intelligent and refined
+in his manners."
+
+The doctor was not dependent upon his practice for a living, having
+inherited an ample property from his grandfather. His library was large,
+consisting of all the medical works then esteemed, and a complete set of
+the instruments then used in this country. It is safe to say that the
+doctor consulted the length of his purse in the choice of books, rather
+than his mental needs, as Rich, after looking over, found a great
+portion of them with the leaves still uncut, although they had been ten,
+and some of them twenty, years in the doctor's possession.
+
+Most physicians at that period were provided with more or less bones for
+the study of anatomy, generally of the limbs, as they were most liable
+to be broken or dislocated: very few went beyond this. Dr. Ryan,
+however, had not even all these--only the bones of the lower
+extremities; but the deficiency was in some manner supplied by plates
+contained in the anatomical works in his library; indeed, he felt very
+little interest in surgery, dreading nothing so much as being called to
+set a bone, amputate a limb, or reduce a dislocation, and frequently
+advised his patients to send for Dr. Slaughter, who excelled as a
+surgeon.
+
+In the course of his long practice, he had rendered many cripples for
+life by sheer carelessness in bandaging limbs that had been properly
+set, and once made a blunder that would have proved fatal to one less
+beloved.
+
+He was called to a man who had recently moved into the place, who was
+afflicted with a tumor in his ham; the doctor, after examining, shoved
+his lancet into it. To his terror and astonishment, the blood spurted in
+his face; he had cut an artery! The new lights represented that he was
+so frightened the patient bled to death while he sent for his
+instruments. It was not so; yet not much better. The doctor clapped his
+thumb on the artery, and instructed the family to arrest the blood, in
+the meanwhile sent for his instruments and took up the artery; but the
+coats of the artery, where he applied the ligature, being diseased,
+sloughed in the night; and in a short time the ligature came away, and
+the man bled to death.
+
+It was an old false aneurism, in which so many concentric layers of
+coagulum had accumulated that no pulsation could be perceived. Had the
+doctor inquired into the history of it, he would have found that it had
+pulsated in the past; but neglecting to do this, and unable to perceive
+the throb of the artery, he mistook it for an abscess. Notwithstanding
+his lack of surgical skill, he was versed in the properties and
+operation of medicines, a close observer, could detect the nature of
+disease, and had acquired a great amount of experimental knowledge.
+
+He made an agreement with Rich to superintend his studies, permit him
+the use of his library, with opportunities to visit patients, for thirty
+dollars a year.
+
+It was now that Rich began to realize the deep-seated affection
+cherished for him by his scholars. There were many young men, the sons
+of farmers, from nineteen to twenty-one, who attended the academy in the
+winter term; in March they came together, and cut up the whole year's
+stock of wood for Mrs. Clemens, and put it under cover, thus relieving
+Rich, and affording him time for study. Dan Clemens and his mates also
+performed their part in smaller matters, so that Rich had really no more
+to do than sufficed for exercise.
+
+There could not be a greater contrast than existed between Rich,
+earnest, ambitious, still farther stimulated by the pressure of poverty,
+and the genial old doctor, who loved a good story and a good joke, had
+an abundance of this world's goods, and cared very little whether his
+practice increased or decreased, so that it was not intruded upon by the
+new lights.
+
+Yet they were great friends. Rich loved the doctor, though soon made
+aware of his deficiencies, and treated him with the greatest deference;
+while the latter obstinately shut his eyes to the fact, often brought
+to view by his fellow-physician, Dr. Slaughter, that he was nourishing a
+most thorough-going radical and new light in his own bosom, although
+never obtruding his heresies; for if ever there was a boy bound to go to
+the root of principles, that boy was Rich.
+
+Mrs. Clemens was a lady after the doctor's own heart. She was
+intelligent, refined, benevolent, and universally esteemed. Like most
+persons in delicate health, she was fond of having a physician round
+her, consulted the doctor in respect to every trifling indisposition,
+and was very conservative in her notions. She had one weak point, as who
+has not. This was a perfect passion for reading medical works and
+practising upon herself and the members of her family--a sentiment
+fostered by her delicate state of health.
+
+This rendered it quite difficult for her to keep a hired girl, for
+though they liked her, and received good wages, they were not fond of
+the medicines she insisted upon their taking to keep them from being
+sick. Next to the Holy Scriptures, she reverenced Buchan's Domestic
+Medicine,--a copy of which, elegantly bound, lay on her table beside the
+Bible,--abhorred innovations in medical practice, and would much rather
+have died under the hands of a regular physician than been cured by a
+quack.
+
+"Doctor," she said, one day, "how mysterious it seems, that my dear
+husband, who was a great, stout, healthy man, the very picture of
+health, and used to take care of me just like a baby, should be in his
+grave, and I still spared!"
+
+"Invalids, ma'am, live the longest of any people in the world."
+
+"How can that be, doctor?"
+
+"Because they take care of themselves."
+
+The good lady, indeed, took excellent care of herself; but she was sadly
+tried in regard to taking care of her son Dan.
+
+Dan was a robust, red-cheeked boy, sound to the core, of fearless,
+sanguine temperament, and it was the hardest work in the world for Dan
+to sit on a bench and apply himself to study. Nothing but their
+attachment to Rich would have induced him and his sworn friends, Ned
+Baker and Frank Merrill, to attempt and accomplish it. But much as Dan
+loved his mother, he did abhor medicine, and to be coddled up.
+
+Richardson was often placed between the two horns of a dilemma, as Mrs.
+Clemens invariably appealed to him when Dan proved refractory.
+
+One morning his mother insisted that he had taken cold, and Dan as
+stoutly maintained the negative.
+
+"Daniel, you must wear your great coat to school; your face is flushed,
+and I think you are feverish."
+
+"It's always flushed, mother. I haven't one mite of cold, and I can't
+stand it to wear a coat this pleasant morning."
+
+"Yes, you must, dear; your tongue is coated. I'll ask Mr. Richardson."
+
+But Rich, who had overheard the conversation, made a bolt for the door,
+and escaped that time. In the course of an hour, Betty Gookins, the
+help, came in, bringing in her hand a garment.
+
+"Only look here, ma'am. I went to pump a pail of water, and I couldn't,
+cause Dan's coat was in the pump-nose."
+
+"O, dear, how that boy does try me! Well, I shall soon be in my grave."
+
+But as the good lady had said the same for the last thirty years, there
+was evidently hope in the case. Dan, however, was not to escape so
+easily the watchful care of his mother. That night, when he came in to
+supper, he was regaled with the odor of salts and senna simmering in the
+corner.
+
+"O, dear!" he said to himself; "have I got to take that awful, sickish,
+nasty stuff?"
+
+The next morning, about half an hour before school-time, Rich wanted
+Dan.
+
+"The poor child is not well, Mr. Richardson, and has gone into the
+unfinished room to take some medicine. He says he can take it better if
+he is alone, and nobody looking at him. I wish he didn't dislike to take
+medicine so much; if it was not such a trial to him, I should give him
+'picra.'"
+
+When Rich entered the room, Dan had got up a brick in the hearth, and
+was administering the salts and senna to the cross-sill beneath. He
+started like a guilty thing when the door opened, but, seeing who it
+was, completed his purpose.
+
+"What are you about, Daniel?"
+
+"Taking salts and senna, sir."
+
+"Is that the way you always take them?"
+
+"I never took any so before; but this is the way I mean to take them for
+the future. I expect to pour gallons into this hole."
+
+"Are you well enough to get me a big log out of the wood-pile?"
+
+"Certainly, Mr. Richardson. I never was weller in my life."
+
+"But your mother said yesterday that your tongue was coated."
+
+"So it was. I had been breaking a pan of cream. Mother don't like to
+have her cream disturbed after it is set. I licked the cream off my
+lips, but left it on my tongue."
+
+"I think your mother'll have the best of it if she gives you salts and
+senna. She thinks highly of assafoetida, and may give you that."
+
+"I never will take that; I'll leave home first."
+
+The next evening, as Rich was passing through the kitchen with an armful
+of wood for his evening fire, he noticed Mrs. Clemens seated before the
+fire, in her lap a pair of old-fashioned kitchen bellows, on a chair
+beside her a skillet full of hot coals, a roll of sheep-skin, a junk of
+Burgundy pitch, and a knife. After cutting from the skin a piece of the
+right size for a plaster, she placed on it a piece of the pitch, put
+both on the flat side of the bellows, made the knife hot in the coals,
+and spread the plaster; while Dan, with no very joyous expression of
+countenance, sat awaiting the result.
+
+"I am going to put this plaster between Daniel's shoulders, Mr.
+Richardson," said she; "it is a sovereign remedy for a cold; doesn't
+open the pores like a sweat, and expose one to take more cold."
+
+The next morning the good lady declared the plaster had worked wonders;
+that Daniel's cold was very much better, and would soon be well.
+
+"Perhaps I had better take it off, my son, wipe it, and wipe the
+perspiration from your back. The plaster will draw better, and it will
+prevent its itching and annoying you in school."
+
+"O, no, mother; I shall be late. It don't itch one mite."
+
+And he rushed from the house.
+
+"It is very singular," replied his mother, looking after him, "_my_
+plasters always itch, and are very troublesome. I think they don't do
+much good except they itch."
+
+Mrs. Clemens would have been less surprised had she known that the
+plaster began to itch the moment Dan was warm in bed. After enduring it
+awhile, he pulled it off and tucked it up chimney. So he told Frank
+Merrill, with whom, on the way to school, he shared some guava jelly
+given him by his mother, after taking the salts and senna, to take the
+taste out of his mouth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+PERIL OF BEING OUT EVENINGS.
+
+
+Directly upon commencing the study of anatomy, Rich began to feel the
+need of something more than the plates contained in the books.
+
+It was some distance to go, for the study of bones, to the doctor's
+house, and he wanted something that he could keep in his room, and have
+at hand to refer to; besides, the doctor had none of the bones of the
+trunk--only the skull and part of the limbs. He likewise wished to
+dissect and study muscles, tendons, the structure of skin, bone, veins,
+arteries, and internal organs, in their natural state, since for him to
+procure a human subject was at that time out of the question, as he was
+without means to purchase even a skeleton.
+
+In these circumstances he conceived that much might be learned by a
+careful study and dissection of the bodies of animals in connection with
+the plates found in the books.
+
+Mr. Clemens, the husband of Rich's landlady, owned and worked a large
+breadth of land, which necessitated the keeping of many horses, as he
+did all his farm work with horses; but after his decease the greater
+part of the land, and all the horses except one, were sold. On the lower
+floor of the stable was a small room, once devoted to storing and oiling
+harnesses, in which was a fireplace, and at one corner, a large closet
+without shelves, and very broad, where the more valuable riding
+harnesses, not in constant use, were hung, to defend them from dust.
+There were also some harness-maker's tools, old straps, thorough-braces,
+and a large leather boot, that had survived the vehicle to which it was
+once attached.
+
+Fire-wood in those days was made but small account of, especially by
+Mrs. Clemens, who could not consume half of the decaying and downwood on
+her land.
+
+"Mrs. Clemens," said Rich, "are you willing I should clear out the old
+harness-room, and make a fire there occasionally?"
+
+"What for, Mr. Richardson? If you want more room in the house you can
+have it. It will certainly be more comfortable than the barn; besides, I
+am afraid you will take cold."
+
+"Indeed, Mrs. Clemens, I need not hesitate to tell a lady of your
+respect for and appreciation of the medical profession, that as I
+proceed in my studies, I shall want to dissect and experiment upon the
+bodies of animals. You know that, although the courts and the community
+are ever ready to prosecute a physician to the extent of the law for a
+mistake in setting a bone, they throw every obstacle in the way of his
+obtaining any accurate knowledge of the machine he is expected to
+repair." The law in respect to this matter was more stringent then than
+at present.
+
+"But, Mr. Richardson, if you should lose a mother, sister, or dear
+friend,--Mr. Perkins, for instance,--and had placed them in the earth,
+with all the respect nature dictates, could you bear to feel that they
+were taken from the grave, exposed upon a table, and cut to pieces by
+students smoking cigars, and laughing, and jesting, as though to fit and
+harden them for their profession by driving every spark of feeling and
+humanity out of their bosoms?"
+
+"No, I could not. I don't believe, however, that there is the least
+necessity of this hardening process you have referred to; if I believed
+that, by devoting myself to the study of medicine, I should lose one
+particle of kindly feeling that I now possess, should harden my heart
+and curtail my sympathies, or change in any respect, except in obtaining
+self-command that I might discharge more efficiently my duty, I would
+relinquish study and go back to the anvil to-morrow. If a doctor is
+rough and unfeeling, it is to be attributed to his natural temper, and
+want of culture, not to his profession."
+
+"Then I suppose you are just the one who ought to be a doctor, though I
+think it is strange that you should choose that profession. As I was
+telling Mrs. Merrill the other day, I observed you was so sensitive you
+never _could_ do some of those dreadful things doctors were obliged to
+perform. But as for the harness-room, you may do whatever you like with
+it; there's a padlock in the house belongs to the outside door, and a
+key to the lock on the closet. If there is anything there worth saving,
+put it in the loft, and any old rubbish you can burn up."
+
+"But the wood, I will pay for that."
+
+"By no means, there's wood enough."
+
+After clearing out the place, and cleansing it thoroughly, Rich made a
+table, and put iron rings into it, in order that he might fasten any
+animal that he wished to operate upon. He then procured buckles and
+waxed ends, and from the boot of the old chaise made straps of different
+lengths for the same purpose, and put a lock on the door in lieu of the
+padlock. As the stern, patient smith of the wilderness, amid the
+melancholy moan of pine forests, and the roar of the stream, wrought out
+by sheer pluck and perseverance, a mechanical trade, so his earnest
+grandson, completely absorbed in his chosen pursuit, strove to verify,
+by experiment upon the bodies of such animals as he could procure, the
+theories he studied.
+
+In short, under the intoxication of a dominant impulse, he did things
+that, had they come to the knowledge of Mrs. Clemens, she would no
+longer have doubted of his adaptedness to the medical profession on the
+score of sensitiveness; so impervious to emotion in certain directions
+will an absorbing idea render a person otherwise most impressible.
+
+He dissected frogs to observe the muscles of the thigh, and irritated
+the muscular tissue of animals, thus creating inflammation, in order to
+watch its progress. Though there are striking differences between the
+composition of man and the animal, still there is correspondence enough
+to admit of much being learned; and in default of a human subject, he
+resorted to this method, as his grandfather, unable to procure an anvil,
+made a stone answer the purpose. The lungs of a hog are very similar to
+those of a man, and he found no difficulty in procuring these. If a
+stray dog came along, he was most kindly welcomed by Rich; but it was
+observed that no stray dog, having once entered Mrs. Clemens's yard, was
+ever seen to come out again.
+
+Marvelous was the industry of Rich, only equalled by his ingenuity. He
+soon had the large closet in the stable filled to overflowing with the
+skeletons of various animals he had dissected and wired together with
+great skill. He was much attached to Dan, who procured him animals to
+operate upon, while he, in turn mounted birds and squirrels for Dan--a
+matter in which Rich was very skilful.
+
+He had been for a long time desirous of examining the structure of the
+eye, but could not procure a suitable subject. Mrs. Clemens possessed a
+cat of beautiful color and proportions, affectionate disposition,
+intelligent, and perfectly trained. Between this member of the family
+and Dan the affections of the good lady were about equally divided.
+When, as occasionally happened, Gertrude was unwell, the good lady was
+at her wits' end, as she would have nothing from Buchan, and eschewed
+Burgundy pitch plasters, salts, and senna. Indeed, she had much rather
+Dan would be sick, than Gertrude, for she knew what to do for Dan, while
+Gertrude would have nothing but catnip. At every meal she sat beside
+Mrs. Clemens in a high chair, and never offered to take anything from
+the table, waiting the leisure of her mistress. Dan also loved Gertrude
+dearly, and had taught her a great many tricks. Rich likewise conceived
+a fondness for the cat, being naturally fond of pets.
+
+Gertrude was exceedingly social in her disposition, rejoiced in a
+numerous circle of friends, and was not in the least stuck up.
+
+There was a large Thomas cat--an enormous creature--that often came to
+call upon Gertrude, in a friendly way, and spend a sociable evening.
+Silver-gray along the back, annular stripes on the tail, white feet,
+snow-white breast, large, lustrous, prominent eyes, and a magnificent
+pair of _whiskers_; in short, this Thomas cat was a splendid creature,
+and, as Rich thought, would afford him, if in his possession, an
+excellent opportunity to observe the structure of the eye. Dan, Frank
+Merrill, and Horace Williams, did their best to take the creature, dead
+or alive, but in vain.
+
+A door opened from the wood-shed into the stable, and a passage was left
+to this door in piling the wood that was tiered up on either side to the
+height of five, and on one side seven, feet. Several times the boys had
+got the Thomas cat in this passage; but the wily creature either went
+over the top of the wood, or ran through a small hole beside the door,
+that it would seem no cat _could_ get through. Rich nailed the mouth of
+a meal-bag to this hole on the stable side, and placed a board on the
+other, ready to put up to prevent the cat's return.
+
+One Wednesday Horace Williams came over to spend the afternoon and take
+tea with Dan. Just before the tea hour, Dan, coming in, whispered to
+Rich, "The cat's in the passage. I can see his eyes shine just like
+balls of fire." Armed with sticks of wood, they approached the end of
+the passage, gave a fearful howl and let the wood fly; the globes of
+fire vanished, and they knew by the sound the cat had not gone over the
+wood-pile.
+
+"He's in the bag, I know," said Dan. "I heard him squeeze through the
+hole. O, crimini!" and he ran to put up the piece of board. Rich and
+Horace lost no time in putting a string round the bag in which the cat
+was struggling, tearing it from the hole, and immersing it in a tub of
+water. Just as the struggling ceased the bell rang for supper, and
+flinging the bag and its contents into a horse-stall to drip and dry,
+they sat down to eat.
+
+Dan sat on his mother's right hand, next to him Horace, and on her left
+was Gertrude's high chair; but it was empty.
+
+"Where can Gertrude be?" said Mrs. Clemens, after pouring out the tea;
+"for seven years she has never before been absent from my side at meals
+unless sick."
+
+A fearful suspicion crossed the mind of Rich, and catching the eye of
+Dan, he saw that he was similarly affected.
+
+Hastening to the stable when the meal was over, with a light, they
+turned out the contents of the bag, and lo! it was poor Gertrude, that
+in the dark they had mistaken for the Thomas cat and drowned. Rich was
+very much distressed; so was Dan, as, aside from his sorrow for his
+mother, the cat was a favorite pet of his, and had grown up with him.
+
+Placing the dead body of Gertrude upon the dissecting table, they locked
+the door for consultation. At first they thought of owning up, but
+finally concluded to keep the secret, and, as long as she was dead,
+thought they might as well make the remains of some advantage to
+science. Richardson possessed already one skeleton of a cat, and only
+cared for the eyes. Dan therefore persuaded him to mount Gertrude for
+him. This Rich did, making a small incision, turning the body through
+it, and replacing the skull and leg bones, after removing the brains and
+flesh, supplying the rest of the skeleton, so far as was needed, with
+wire.
+
+Having already mounted several birds for Dan, he made a tree, put the
+birds in the branches, and having furnished Gertrude with eyes of
+colored glass, placed her under the tree in a natural attitude, as
+though watching a squirrel, the wire in the limbs enabling him to bend
+them in any direction. A red squirrel was also placed half way up the
+tree, as though alarmed by the cat. Dan was delighted, and thought he
+had much rather have his pet dead than alive.
+
+All these operations were performed with closed doors, and the birds and
+animals placed under lock and key in the closet.
+
+Mrs. Clemens mourned for her cat, and refused to be comforted.
+Gertrude's empty chair was always placed beside her; at table she often
+recounted the virtues of the departed, considered and spoke of the event
+as one of those mysterious dispensations of Providence, to which,
+though we cannot fathom, it is our duty to submit.
+
+"I do wish my mother would bury that cat," said Dan. "I'm sick and tired
+of hearing about her--should think she might pick up another kitten."
+
+Month after month passed, and still Mrs. Clemens mourned the loss of her
+pet. At the expiration of this period, Fred Evans, a cousin of Dan, came
+to visit him. One afternoon Dan persuaded Rich to put all the things on
+the table, make a grand show, and let Fred see them. To this Rich
+consented; the door was locked, and Fred sworn to secrecy.
+
+On the table was placed the tree set in a block, with birds in its
+branches; half way up the trunk a red squirrel looking down and
+chattering at the cat, crouched at the roots as in act to spring.
+
+Disposed around the tree that occupied the centre were the skeletons of
+various animals, wired together, and in an upright position, fastened to
+blocks--rabbits, dogs, a cat, wood-chuck, rooster, and pig. The tree was
+formed with great ingenuity, by placing a real branch in a thick block
+of pine, carving the spur roots from the substance of the block, and
+covering with moss, dried leaves, and twigs, confined with glue, while
+Gertrude, seated on the moss, seemed actually alive.
+
+Horace Williams was invited, being already in the secret, to help
+entertain Fred, and as an intimate friend of Dan.
+
+Rich wanted a shingle to put under one leg of the table, the floor being
+uneven, and sent Horace after it, who forgot to lock the door at his
+return.
+
+Mrs. Clemens, having occasion for Dan, and not finding him in the house
+or yard, sought him in the harness-room, where she knew he spent much of
+his leisure time.
+
+Opening the door upon the startled group, the first object that arrested
+her attention was the long lost and bitterly lamented Gertrude, as she
+verily thought, alive, and in the act of springing upon a squirrel.
+Exclaiming, "Gertrude! _my_ Gertrude! where have you been?" she clasped
+the effigy to her breast. Alas! there was no answering caress; there was
+no "speculation" in those eyes of stained glass, and the dried skin
+rattled in her fond embrace. It was a _stuffed_ cat. "What does this
+mean?" she cried, permitting the imposture to drop on the floor,
+thoroughly overcome and faint with this sudden blasting of new-born
+hopes. She would have fallen to the floor; but Rich and Dan conveyed her
+to the house, where, after seeing her safely placed in the easy-chair,
+Rich took to flight, feeling that _Dan_ could settle the affair far
+better than himself.
+
+[Illustration: "GERTRUDE! MY GERTRUDE!" Page 190.]
+
+It required all Dan's eloquence and power of argument to convince his
+mother that Gertrude was killed by mistake.
+
+"But why did you not tell me at once, Daniel, that I might have had her
+properly interred, instead of making an exhibition of the remains?"
+
+Dan at length convinced his mother that it was his affection for
+Gertrude that led him to take this method of keeping her in remembrance.
+But never after this did Mrs. Clemens deem Rich unfitted for his
+profession by over-sensitiveness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+THE YOUNG SAMARITANS.
+
+
+Richardson, who had thus far performed his operations upon animals with
+a common pocket-knife, a carpenter's fine saw, and some instruments he
+made in the shop of the village blacksmith,--making sleight of hand and
+mechanical skill supply the place of suitable tools,--was now able to
+purchase a pocket case of surgical instruments, that economized time,
+and greatly facilitated his labors. They were also of a better pattern
+than those he at times borrowed of the doctor.
+
+Instead of going home in the vacations, he devoted the leisure afforded
+by the close of the academy to medical studies and experiments.
+
+"Mr. Richardson," said the doctor, one day, after they had been enjoying
+a sing together, "it seems strange to me that you are not more inclined
+to go with me to visit patients. It is the very thing you need,
+especially when bones are to be set, or dislocations reduced. It is only
+occasionally that you go."
+
+"Indeed, doctor, I hope you will not feel that I do not appreciate your
+kindness in so often inviting me, or that I am not sensible of the
+benefit to be thus obtained; but I look at it in this light, which
+perhaps is not the right one. I am young enough, and do not intend to
+commence practice till thoroughly fitted; and it seems to me there can
+be no correct practice without a thorough knowledge of first principles,
+and that the practice should be based upon, and grow out of, that
+knowledge.
+
+"I have therefore resolved that I would, while here, endeavor to attain
+a knowledge of principles; operating, as I go along, on animals; going
+with you occasionally; economizing my means; and by and by attend
+lectures at Brunswick, or some place where I shall have ample
+opportunity for dissection, or go somewhere for hospital practice."
+
+"I think you are correct there; but still I feel that you might, without
+neglecting your studies, obtain a great deal more practical knowledge as
+you go along, and that it would be time excellently well spent; for the
+human body, and not that of the animal, is the one you will have to deal
+with, and all you can learn from the brute will be only an approach,
+require to be modified a great deal, and much of it won't apply in
+actual practice."
+
+"I have not the least doubt, doctor, but the course you advise is the
+best, but in my circumstances I cannot avail myself of it.
+
+"Perhaps it would come with a better grace from some one else, but the
+people in this town have expressed great attachment to me, and estimate
+me far above my deserts. Now, if I should go much with you to visit
+patients, bleed, and pull teeth, and reduce dislocations, as you would
+have me, every academy scholar who wanted a tooth pulled, or a gum-boil
+lanced, would be running to me, because they would think I should not
+hurt them so much as you.
+
+"People who wanted a sore opened, others, who are personally attached to
+me, would come for slight complaints. Many persons who are ashamed to
+send for you, because they owe you, would think, 'Perhaps Mr. Richardson
+will do just as well; he's been studying a good while with the doctor.'
+And thus all my time would be frittered away, and nothing to show for
+it."
+
+The doctor broke into a hearty laugh, and said, "I will yield the point,
+Mr. Richardson. I must acknowledge you have made out a strong case."
+
+"That is the way I look at it. I am wheeling two wheelbarrows
+now,--studying medicine, and teaching,--and I don't mean to wheel
+three."
+
+At the close of a long, hot day, the latter part of May, Clement
+Richardson and his brother, wearied with toil, were seated, one on the
+anvil, the other on the forge.
+
+Somewhat more than a year had passed since their misfortune. During
+that period their condition had very much improved, owing to the
+following circumstance. Cast steel had been introduced, but only a few
+smiths in the country were able to use it.
+
+More care and judgment were required in working it than the old
+material, and the aid of borax was necessary to weld it with iron. The
+old smiths around Richardson would have nothing to do with "the
+new-fangled stuff," stuck to blistered steel and a sand weld.
+
+But Clement Richardson belonged to a race ever open to new ideas, and
+perceived at a glance the value of the new metal. He had seen his father
+use borax to braze the threads of his vice, as also saw plates, and soon
+learned to use the steel, and consequently monopolized all the work in
+his vicinity. For there is no comparison between blistered and cast
+steel for an edge tool.
+
+Their business, however, received a still greater impulse about a month
+before the period to which we refer. There had been little improvement
+in farming tools in that vicinity; the old iron pitch and manure forks
+were everywhere used. Clement Richardson went to Massachusetts to buy
+steel and iron, and there saw a patent spring steel pitchfork. He came
+home, and made forks with an improvement that did not infringe on the
+patent, and the operation proved very profitable.
+
+"Clem," said Robert, "our year during which we were to have this shop
+free will soon be out. What say you for buying the old homestead back?
+We can pay a few hundred down, give a mortgage back, and what we should
+pay for rent will go towards shrinking the debt."
+
+"The rent of the shop won't be much, Robert, and you know we were to
+have the rent of the house free from the time of occupancy. Suppose we
+wait till then."
+
+"What if Montague should sell it over our heads?"
+
+"I'll speak to him, and get the refusal of it."
+
+When the brothers got home, they found a letter from Rich, containing a
+portion of his hard earnings, that he had sent to aid his parents. His
+father, however, sent the money back, informing Rich of the success of
+the new forks, and telling him they were getting money much faster than
+he was.
+
+Waiting till his wages for the next term fell due, Rich expended the
+whole in the purchase of books more modern than those found in the
+collection of his patron, and containing principles the latter would by
+no means have approved.
+
+Rich was seated in his room, earnestly engaged in study, when he was
+roused by a great rumpus on the stairs. In a moment the door was flung
+violently open, and Dan and Frank Merrill rushed into the room.
+
+Dan had evidently been crying, for the tears stood in his eyes then,
+and Frank was not far from it.
+
+"Excuse us, Mr. Richardson, for coming in so, but--"
+
+"But you couldn't help it. What is the matter?"
+
+"O, Mr. Richardson, don't you think! Frank, and Horace, and me were
+going down to the river, to go in swimming, and there was Ned Baker,
+Clinton Blanchard, and a whole lot of boys, had got his dog Rover, the
+prettiest dog you ever did see, and they'd got a rope round his neck,
+and were going to drown him."
+
+"What were they going to drown him for?"
+
+"Because they were at play with him, and pushed him under a cart; the
+wheel went over his hind leg, and ground it all up."
+
+"You don't know how pitiful he looked, Mr. Richardson," said Merrill;
+"there they were, dragging him along on three legs, his broken leg
+hanging down, and he whining enough to break your heart. I never will
+like Clin Blanchard after this, to treat his dog so, that he pretended
+to love so much! I think it's real mean."
+
+"So we got 'em to give him to us," said Dan; "and we've brought him to
+you, Mr. Richardson, for you to doctor him, and make him well. Will you,
+Mr. Richardson? Don't kill him. O, don't, please don't. You won't kill
+him; will you?"
+
+And Dan, who was as noble-hearted a boy as the sun ever shone upon,
+could hold in no longer, and burst into tears.
+
+"I am not so bloodthirsty as you may suppose," said Rich, half offended
+at the implied distrust.
+
+"I didn't mean that, Mr. Richardson. We all love you, and know you are
+just as kind and good as can be. But--"
+
+"But you know I like to experiment upon animals. Well, I'll do all I can
+for Rover, just as though he was my brother. So don't cry any more.
+Where is he?"
+
+"Horace has got him at the door."
+
+Rover indeed presented a sorry sight. His tongue was hanging out of his
+mouth, the broken leg hung dangling, covered with dust and blood. He
+whined piteously when any one even looked at it, appeared frightened,
+the water ran from his eyes, and he from time to time looked up
+beseechingly in the face of Horace, who held him by the collar.
+
+"Poor fellow! he's crying," said Frank; and with his handkerchief he
+wiped the tears from his eyes. "I suppose his leg hurts him."
+
+"Give him some water," said Rich.
+
+The dog drank eagerly, and seemed revived.
+
+"Now give him something to eat."
+
+He ate but sparingly, and, evidently feeling assured, wagged his tail in
+acknowledgment.
+
+"See how grateful he is," said Horace.
+
+"He knows he's among friends," replied Rich.
+
+"Better kill him at once," said Mrs. Clemens, "and put him out of
+misery. He will die."
+
+"Kill him!" howled Dan; "kill him! O, mother, I shouldn't think you
+would talk so. He's worth forty old cats. We're going to make him get
+well. What's the use of studying so much to be a doctor, if you can't
+help anybody?"
+
+"Well spoken, Dan," said Rich. "Take him to the barn."
+
+Rich cut off the leg of one of Dan's old boots, and drew it over Rover's
+nose, to prevent him from biting them. They placed him on the table, and
+strapped him down.
+
+"Boys," he said, after examination, "this is a compound fracture. The
+bones of the foot are all ground up, the skin broken, and the muscles
+bruised, and filled with gravel. The limb can't be set; it will rot off,
+this warm weather, before it will heal. The only way to save him is to
+amputate below the hock, and save the hock joint. Which would you
+prefer, kill him, let him alone to die himself, or amputate, and have a
+dog with three legs?"
+
+The boys were a unit in favor of amputation. He therefore, having
+previously instructed his young assistants in what manner to hold the
+arteries and the limb, took it off, and tied the blood-vessels, sponged
+and bound up the wound.
+
+Dan made him a bed by putting some straw in a corner, and covering it
+with a horse blanket, and, cutting some wide leather straps from the old
+chaise boot, they fastened him in such a manner that he could not move
+to his own injury. Rover whined terribly during the operation, but when
+it was finished, and the leg bound up in cold water, he became quiet,
+licked Dan's fingers when he took off the muzzle, and wagged his tail,
+no doubt sensible that he was handled gently, and that no harm was
+intended.
+
+Dan got his mother to make a pillow-case. He stuffed it with chaff, and
+placed the wounded leg on it to keep it up (as it was shorter than the
+other), and make Rover as comfortable as possible. They then patted him,
+told him to lie still, and leaving the stable, got their lessons
+together in Dan's house.
+
+When Dan got up the next morning, he found, sitting on the door-step, a
+little dog. His eyes were so bright they sparkled; and his back was
+black, also his ears and head; there was a ring of white around his
+neck, and his breast, legs, and feet were white. The black was jet
+black, and the white as white as white could be; his tail was black, and
+curled up so crisp over his back that it seemed as though it would lift
+him up behind; looking, with his erect, sharp-pointed ears, and fine,
+glossy coat, as though he came right out of a bandbox.
+
+Dan recognized him in a moment, and running to Rich, told him "that
+Carlo--Ned Baker's dog, who lived in the next house to Clinton
+Blanchard, Rover's former master--was sitting on the door-step, and he
+didn't believe but he had come to see Rover, for they had been great
+friends, always playing together, and there were never two dogs agreed
+as well as they."
+
+When they went to the door, Carlo was scratching and whining at the
+stable door, and Rover whining within. They let him into the
+harness-room, when Carlo jumped on his friend's bed, licked his face,
+licked the stump of his leg, and smelt him all over. Rover licked
+Carlo's face in return, wagged his tail, and seemed delighted.
+
+The new comer then rolled himself into a ball, and lay down at Rover's
+nose, shutting first one eye, and then the other, as though he would
+say, "I have come to spend the day, and I _mean_ to."
+
+"That is capital," said Rich. "He has come on a visit of consolation.
+The patient will recover a great deal faster for having him here."
+
+The two dogs took their breakfast together, and great was the surprise
+of Horace and Frank when they called, on their way to school, to know
+how Rover did, and found Carlo nursing him.
+
+Another boy afterwards told them, "that when he first got up in the
+morning, he saw Carlo running along the road, with his nose to the
+ground." It was evident that, missing his companion, he had scented the
+track, and followed on till he found him.
+
+About the middle of the afternoon Carlo went home; but at seven o'clock
+the next morning he returned, accompanied by three more dogs; one a
+great Newfoundland--Neptune. They all went up and smelt of Rover, sat
+round a while, and then disappeared, one after another, Carlo remaining,
+as before.
+
+"I suppose," said Dan, "he went and saw all these dogs, told them what
+had happened to Rover, and so they came to see him."
+
+The patient recovered rapidly; the stump healed, the ligatures came
+away, and it was evident the ends of the bones were well covered. Rich
+permitted both the dogs to lick it, which hastened the process of
+healing very much. Dr. Ryan came to see it, had a hearty laugh,
+congratulated Rich upon his success in this maiden effort, the fine
+appearance of the stump, and told him "He ought to give his patient a
+wooden leg."
+
+Rover was now permitted to get up. The boys washed him with soap suds,
+rubbed him dry, and permitted him to walk out every day, and lie in the
+sun, on the grass. He was a beautiful dog--a spaniel, with a fine silky
+coat.
+
+Carlo frisked around, barked, lay on his back, rolled over, and
+expressed his joy in every imaginable way.
+
+Rover soon began to run about the yard, and follow Dan round the
+premises, going (till he became tired) as well on three legs as four.
+One noon, Dan came home from school, and found neither of the dogs at
+home. He was greatly disturbed, for Rover had now become very dear to
+him.
+
+"I expect," said Mrs. Clemens, "he has gone back to his old home and
+master."
+
+"Mother, I don't believe Rover is such a fool as that. Go back to the
+fellow who was going to murder him! I know he loves me better than
+that."
+
+"I guess," said Rich, "he has gone to return some of the calls that have
+been made on him." So it proved. For when Dan came home at night, both
+dogs had returned, bringing two more with them.
+
+Mrs. Clemens gradually became attached to Rover, till at length he
+completely won her heart, and filled the void left by the loss of
+Gertrude.
+
+The boys were apprehensive that other dogs would pick upon Rover, now
+that he was disabled, and no longer able to defend himself or make his
+escape; but it was just the reverse. He found the warmest sympathy
+everywhere. When, in company with other dogs, he became tired and fell
+behind, they would stop and wait for him to come up; and if any strange
+dog had imposed upon Rover, they would have torn him to pieces in a
+moment.
+
+Rich made him a wooden leg, carved to match one of his own. At first he
+held it up altogether, but after a while would use it to stand upon,
+and put it down when he became tired, and walk a little; then hold it
+up and run. He soon found that by its aid he could jump up on Dan.
+
+It improved his looks wonderfully, as it prevented his hip from
+dropping, and Dan said "that he always wanted it on when they or he had
+company." Rover was a water spaniel, and Dan had to take the leg off
+when he went into the water, as it buoyed up his hinder parts, and
+interfered with swimming.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+DAN WANTS TO KNOW HIMSELF.
+
+
+Dan Clemens had taken at the first very little interest in the peculiar
+studies and experiments of his teacher; indeed, they were to him, a
+kindly-affectionate boy, rather revolting; but after the successful
+operation upon Rover, his feelings underwent a complete change; he was
+enraptured with the skill, firmness, and tender feeling manifested by
+Rich, spent a great deal of time at the dissecting table, and manifested
+a strong desire to obtain, at least, some general knowledge in respect
+to the mechanism of his own frame.
+
+One evening he was seated in the harness-room, watching Rich, who was
+examining the stump of Rover's leg, that had become sore from the
+pressure of the wooden substitute, and devising some way to remedy it,
+when he suddenly exclaimed,--
+
+"Mr. Richardson, how do they cut off a man's leg?"
+
+"Very much as I did that dog's; only they use a tourniquet to compress
+the vessels and stop the circulation, then cut through the flesh, saw
+off the bones, and put ligatures on the ends of the arteries."
+
+"What is it makes the great difference between the arteries and the
+veins, so that folks say, if you cut an artery, you'll bleed to death in
+no time. But they never speak so about veins; it's always arteries."
+
+"I can't explain it to you, without telling you something about the
+heart, to start with."
+
+"Well, tell me. O, do tell me, please."
+
+"You saw the hog's heart I had the other day. Do you remember how it
+looked?"
+
+"It looked something like an egg little end up."
+
+"Well, a hog's heart is very much like a man's, so that one will do to
+represent the other. You noticed that it was smooth, and stood out about
+its whole bigness clear from everything, except at the base, where it
+joined the body?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"On each side of the base are two appendages, wrinkled, and shaped like
+an ear, denoting cavities within called from them the auricles, and into
+these cavities run several tubes that connect them to the parts
+adjacent. They are called auricles because they look so much like an
+ear."
+
+"I know what they are. I saw the butcher cut them off, when he trimmed
+our hog's harslet: he called them deaf ears, and said they were poison."
+
+"The heart is a hollow muscle, that contracts and dilates with great
+force. It is not dependent upon the will, but operates in virtue of a
+natural law. Through the middle of the heart, from the base to the
+summit, runs a partition, leaving a chamber on each side, between which
+there is no direct communication: they are distinguished by the terms
+right and left auricles. In addition to this, there is a cross parting
+on each side, thus making four chambers, the two upper retaining the
+name of auricles, the two lower denominated ventricles.
+
+"I will now explain to you the use of all this. The right auricle opens
+into the large trunk vein of the body, that, in connection with the
+others, brings back the blood from the extremities, after the arteries
+have distributed it. It has also another opening into the right
+ventricle below it. The auricle on the other side of the partition (the
+left) is pierced by four veins that enter the lungs, called pulmonary
+veins, and also by another passage communicates with the ventricle
+beneath it. Now let us talk about ventricles. The right ventricle is
+entered by the great pulmonary artery that carries all the blood in the
+body through the lungs. The left ventricle is penetrated by the great
+artery, called the great aorta. In each of these cross partitions, there
+are valves that will permit blood to pass from the auricles into the
+ventricles, but not to return. There are also valves at the roots of the
+arteries that permit the blood to go from the heart into the arteries,
+but not to return. There are no valves at the roots of the veins that
+enter the auricles, nothing to obstruct the flowing of the blood from
+them into the auricles. Thus the roots of the veins arise from the
+auricles, and the roots of the arteries from the ventricles. Do you
+understand this description, because it is the foundation of all that
+follows--understand what a valve is?"
+
+"Yes, sir; the clapper in our pump-box is a valve; it lets the water
+come up out of the well into the pump, but it won't let a drop go back."
+
+"Well said; just so the valves in the partings of the heart permit the
+blood to pass from the auricles into the ventricles, but not to go back;
+thus, also, the valves placed at the roots of the arteries permit the
+passage of the blood from the ventricles into the arteries, but not the
+return of it to the heart. Do you understand this?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+To make it more evident, Rich drew the heart, the veins, and the
+arteries entering it, with chalk, and the main branches of both.
+
+"Now let us, for the clearer perception of what you wish to know,
+consider the march of the blood: and we might as well begin at the heart
+as anywhere."
+
+"I think I can understand it better to commence there."
+
+"From the right ventricle of the heart, springs the pulmonary artery,
+which, separating into several branches, some of them not larger than
+hairs, carries the blood into all portions of the lungs, where they
+communicate with the terminations of the pulmonary veins, which,
+receiving the blood from the arteries, bring it back to the left
+auricle, uniting, as they approach the heart, into four large veins,
+called the pulmonary veins. From the left ventricle rises the main
+artery (or great aorta), which, receiving all the blood of the body
+poured into it by the pulmonary veins, distributes it over the trunk and
+limbs, branching in every direction, the divisions gradually becoming
+smaller and smaller as they approach the extremities: here they
+communicate with the extremities of the veins which bring back the blood
+to the right auricle. So much for the aqueducts; now we will look at the
+action of the force-pump itself. The heart is a hollow muscle. All the
+valves and division walls we have been talking about are muscular in
+their texture, and moved by a network of muscles and minute tendons,
+tough and elastic, like the gizzard of a fowl, and capable of
+contraction and expansion. We will suppose the right auricle to be full
+of blood that has been brought by the veins from the fingers, toes, the
+substance of the heart itself, the lungs, and the liver, and poured into
+it. This blood is dark-colored; called black blood. It has washed the
+whole body. The instant it enters the auricle, that organ contracts and
+forces it into the ventricle below it; the valve holds it there: then
+the ventricle contracts and forces it into the pulmonary artery; the
+valve of the artery holds it there: the auricle expands, fills, again
+contracts, fills the ventricle, that, in its turn, forces the blood into
+the artery, and thus, by successive leaps, it passes into and through
+the lungs, enters the pulmonary veins, and is by them brought back to
+the left auricle. It is now no longer black blood, but bright, red,
+arterial blood: before it was venous."
+
+"What makes it red?"
+
+"I don't know. It is supposed by being brought in contact with the air
+in the cells of the lungs. When the auricle receives this red blood, it
+contracts, forces it into the left ventricle beneath, then the ventricle
+in its turn contracts, forces it into the main artery, and by this and
+its branches it is carried to the extremities, to come back in one
+continual round, as long as life lasts. It _is_ life; for the moment the
+heart ceases to contract and dilate, insensibility takes place, and
+death instantly follows."
+
+"It seems to me that the left side of the heart has a great deal more
+work to do than the right, for the left has to force the blood into the
+main artery, and all over the body, to the toes, the fingers, the brain:
+but the right ventricle only has to force it through the lungs that are
+close by, touch the heart, and it is a short route."
+
+"True, and for this reason, the muscles of the left ventricle, which
+force the red blood of the great circulation through the main artery,
+are much more numerous and stronger than those of the right, which has
+so much less work to perform. It is the powerful contraction of the
+muscles of the left ventricle, causing the point of the heart to strike
+the fifth or sixth rib, that creates the throb you can feel; they exert
+power enough to send all the blood of the body through the heart
+twenty-three times in an hour."
+
+"I had no idea matters were going ahead inside of me at that rate."
+
+"You must bear in mind that I have described these things separately,
+but in the order of nature, it is quite another matter. The red blood
+from the lungs arrives at the left, and the black blood from the veins
+at the right auricle at the same instant; both auricles contract at
+once, and force the blood into their respective ventricles; both
+ventricles contract together and force the blood into the arteries; and
+thus it goes on in a person of the feeblest pulse; these alternate
+motions occupy, when in a state of health, but a second; the pulse at
+your wrist is the throb of the artery, the stroke of the heart. What do
+you suppose now is the force of that stroke, when the left ventricle
+contracts?"
+
+"I'm sure I don't know."
+
+"Well, the blood has been known to spurt more than five feet from the
+artery of the neck (carotid) when first cut. You see, now, why it is so
+dangerous to wound a large artery: the blood spurts at every stroke of
+the heart, while in the veins there is no such pressure or direct
+connection; besides, as the veins are designed not to carry the blood
+from the heart, but to bring it back, they are also furnished with
+numerous valves that favor the flow of blood towards the heart, but not
+from it."
+
+"There is one thing I can't understand. When a man's leg is cut off, all
+the arteries and veins cut, how does the blood get back to the heart
+when the ends of the arteries are tied, and there is no communication
+between them and the veins?"
+
+"By a provision of nature, there are many minute twigs and branches
+given off by the arteries all along their course, scarcely observable
+when the circulation is in its normal state, that are connected with
+veins equally small; those become enlarged by pressure, and renew the
+connection."
+
+"It seems to me, Mr. Richardson, that the heart is like two pumps in two
+wells, side by side, only one throws a bigger stream than the other, and
+with more force."
+
+"Ay, Daniel; but your mother's pump bears no comparison to the heart.
+During the time I have been with her, the spear has worn off, the boxes
+have been new leathered, and the cracks in the pump that sucked air have
+been covered with putty and lead; but _this_ pump runs eighty, and
+sometimes a hundred years without the pause of a second."
+
+"Why don't the muscles of the heart get tired, just as my legs do, and
+want to rest?"
+
+"They do rest, and just as long as they work; rest a second, and work a
+second, day and night. The other muscles are in a state of tension all
+day, and then rest at night."
+
+"Well, I mean to know how I am made up, before I am much older."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+DAN TRAPS LARGE GAME.
+
+
+The industry of Rich was something remarkable. He was well fed, his work
+for Mrs. Clemens gave him abundant exercise, and kept him in vigorous
+health, and the habit of thorough study he had performed in college
+enabled him to make rapid progress.
+
+In connection with the study of text-books he had performed a great
+number of operations upon animals, obtained practice in the use of
+instruments, and now felt disposed to comply, to a certain extent, with
+the doctor's advice in respect to actual practice. It was not long
+before an opportunity offered.
+
+Dan Clemens had the toothache, and in spite of all the remedies his
+mother applied,--and they were by no means few in number--laudanum,
+gunpowder, pepper, cloves, the stem of a pumpkin smoked in a pipe, hot
+salt, camphor, and new rum,--was half crazy with it.
+
+"Mr. Richardson," said Dan, "will you please pull my tooth? I don't want
+to go to Dr. Ryan. I know he'll hurt me awfully."
+
+"Nobody can pull a tooth, Daniel, without inflicting pain. They are
+designed to stay in--the second crop."
+
+"But you won't hurt me as much as he will. He won't care if he does hurt
+me. Besides, you haven't got such an awful-looking thing to pull 'em
+with as his is." Rich had purchased, with his other instruments, forceps
+of a modern pattern, while the doctor used the huge old corkscrew
+instruments. "Do, please, Mr. Richardson. I won't tell anybody; so you
+won't have your time taken up by boys running to you."
+
+Rich put the instrument on the tooth Dan indicated, and took it out in a
+moment. Dan gave a fearful yell, and ran to the fire-place.
+
+"I told you it would hurt you."
+
+"I don't care. Dr. Ryan would have hurt me more."
+
+Notwithstanding Dan's promise of secrecy, it got wind somehow, and Rich
+soon had considerable practice of that kind. But, as he had now made
+good progress in study, and the money was very acceptable, he became
+reconciled to it.
+
+An opportunity was soon after this presented that Rich did not fail to
+improve. The people of the neighborhood were engaged in hauling a barn,
+and a young man, in attempting to fling a skid under the building while
+in motion, received a compound fracture of the thigh. Dr. Ryan was
+called. He sent for Dr. Slaughter, and took Rich with him, who required
+no solicitation, as it was the first opportunity he had enjoyed of
+witnessing an important operation.
+
+The limb was taken off some distance above the knee, leaving that joint
+entire, it having escaped injury by being pressed into the mud. Weary of
+dissecting animals, Rich longed to obtain this limb. There it lay, a
+well-developed leg and part of the thigh of a young man. He took it in
+his hands after the operation was performed, and gloated over it as an
+antiquarian over a rare coin. His fingers itched, and he felt an intense
+desire to possess it.
+
+"Dr. Ryan," he whispered, "won't you ask for this leg, and then give it
+to me?"
+
+"It would be of no use, Mr. Richardson; they would think the leg must be
+buried, or the man would not do well. It would cost me my practice. They
+are that superstitious. But if I were you, I would find out where they
+bury it, and dig it up to-night."
+
+The doctor took up the limb, and carrying it into the kitchen, said,
+"This leg must be put in a box and buried."
+
+"That it must," replied the father of the young man; "for I've heard
+say, ever since I can remember, if a dog or any critter got hold of any
+part of a person what had been cut off, that person would feel it just
+as though the limb was still on."
+
+"I'll make the box, and help bury it," said Rich.
+
+"I should be much obliged if you would, Mr. Richardson. Neighbor
+Pollard, here, will help you. Where ought it to be buried, doctor?"
+
+"In the graveyard with his relatives, to be sure. It is part of a
+Christian, and the rest of him will go to keep it company some time."
+
+A daughter of the family had died some years before, and Pollard
+proposed that the leg should be buried beside her grave, which was done.
+
+The doctor had proposed that it should be put in a box, in order to keep
+it clean, and in a good state for Rich to dissect, and be placed in the
+cemetery, because that lot was in a retired spot.
+
+That night Rich dug up the limb, and hid it in the haymow, meaning to
+dissect it the next night, in order to escape the sharp eyes of Dan
+Clemens, and then keep the bones in the doctor's study, where there was
+a closet.
+
+Rich was detained at school that afternoon by a boy who had failed to
+get his lesson. When he reached the house he found a man in the barn
+floor loading hay on a cart from the very mow in which he had concealed
+the leg, while Dan was on the mow pitching down the hay.
+
+"I am so glad you have come, Mr. Richardson! Mr. Bangs wants a ton of
+hay, and I told Daniel he had better be doing what he could till you
+came."
+
+Rich was terribly frightened. His color went and came.
+
+"Daniel," he cried, flinging off his coat, "run into the house quick,
+and get me a drink; I am very thirsty."
+
+Leaping upon the mow, he beheld one corner of the box already uncovered.
+Another fork full would have done the business. Before Dan returned with
+his water, he had put it in a safe place. There was but one window in
+the harness-room, and while Dan was gone after the cow, Rich nailed the
+horse-blanket over it, in order that no one passing might observe a
+light, as he intended to dissect after the family--or at least Dan, of
+whom he was the most apprehensive--were asleep.
+
+Having accomplished his purpose, he was passing from the stable to the
+house, when Dr. Ryan, who was riding by in his gig, called to him, and
+said,--
+
+"Mr. Richardson, Coolbroth is dead."
+
+"Dead!"
+
+"Yes; died about an hour ago. Very strange. Never was more surprised in
+my life. Thought he was doing well. Sank all at once. Going to be buried
+to-morrow forenoon. Hot weather--they can't keep him. Good night."
+
+"Good night."
+
+Rising from supper as soon as possible without attracting attention,
+Rich made the best of his way to Coolbroth's. He met Pollard there, and
+found the family in great affliction.
+
+"We don't any of us know what's afore us, Mr. Richardson," said
+Pollard; "'cause, if we had, we might have saved ourselves the trouble
+o' buryin' that leg, for we've got to dig it up ag'in in the mornin'."
+
+"What are you going to dig it up for?"
+
+"'Cause they want to lay him in that spot, side o' his sister; and then
+they want to put the leg in the coffin with the rest of him, as rights
+they should, poor feller."
+
+"What time to-morrow will the funeral take place?"
+
+"Ten o'clock. I shall have to be stirring 'arly, and begin by sunrise to
+dig the grave, 'cause they've nobody 'cept myself to call on, and I've
+got a master sight to see to."
+
+Rich inquired no further, but went home in no little perturbation. He
+sat up in his room till twelve o'clock, then crept down stairs in his
+stocking feet, with his shoes in his hand, and without a light. Since
+the death of Gertrude, rats had multiplied on the premises. They had a
+regular road from the stable, through the porch, which they entered from
+beneath, through a hole in the floor. The night previous to the
+occurrences now to be narrated, one of these vermin had gnawed his way
+into the flour barrel. Dan had set a steel trap at the hole in the shed,
+where the rats came up, and quite out of the track of any one going to
+the stable. But Rich, fumbling along in the dark, put his foot in it.
+
+The trap was one of the old-fashioned rat traps, made to _kill_ and
+_hold_, with a smart spring, and the jaws on the inside armed with
+teeth, like a saw.
+
+The pain and surprise combined caused Rich to utter an involuntary
+scream, that, breaking on the stillness of midnight, alarmed the
+household.
+
+Mrs. Clemens lay in bed, screaming alternately, "Murder," and "Thieves,"
+at the top of her voice. Dan rushed down stairs in his night-gown, when
+Rich called to him, and explained matters.
+
+By the time Dan had procured a light, Rich had drawn his foot out of the
+trap, and Mrs. Clemens and the hired girl made their appearance.
+
+"Mr. Richardson," said Mrs. Clemens, "you have hurt your foot terribly.
+The blood is oozing through your stocking. Let me make a slippery elm
+poultice, and put on it."
+
+"It is a mere scratch, Mrs. Clemens--only skin deep."
+
+"There is some water in the tea-kettle that must be blood-warm now.
+Betty, bring a small tub, for Mr. Richardson to bathe his foot, and a
+sponge."
+
+"There is no need of it, Mrs. Clemens. Cold water is better. I can wash
+it in my chamber."
+
+The night was fast spending. It would be daylight by the time he reached
+the cemetery. Rich had no time to spare, and wished Mrs. Clemens was in
+another hemisphere.
+
+"At least, Mr. Richardson, let me get you some bandages, and some new
+rum and wormwood, to bathe it in. Daniel will take the things up
+stairs."
+
+"Indeed, Mrs. Clemens, I thank you very much; but I have some
+sticking-plaster in my chamber."
+
+And Rich, hastily bidding them good night, went to his room.
+
+When there, he found that the jaws of the trap had cut deeper than he
+supposed, and the wound began to be stiff and painful. He bound it up,
+and taking an old boot, cut out the vamp, and was by this means enabled
+to wear it.
+
+"What shall I do?" said Rich to himself. "I ought to be at the graveyard
+_now_. It will be two hours before that old lady will go to sleep, and I
+never can get out of the house without her knowledge."
+
+Rich's room was in the second story of the L, and the water-spout ran
+near the window. After waiting half an hour, and finding all was still,
+Rich, raising the sash as gently as possible, descended by the conductor
+to the ground, and taking the box from the barn, went limping along in
+the bright moonlight, the box under one arm, and a shovel in the other
+hand. The jaws of the trap had bruised the numerous tendons that run
+along the top of the foot, and every step was a pang.
+
+"I wish I had never seen this confounded leg," said Rich. "If I can only
+get it where it came from, it's the last thing I'll ever dig up."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+GOES FOR WOOL, AND GETS SHORN.
+
+
+The graveyard to which Rich now directed his steps was the original
+burying-place of the town; but another having been provided, in a more
+central location, it had been little used for years, and was overgrown
+with bushes and sweet fern, an occasional spruce or hemlock assuming
+almost the dimensions of a tree.
+
+Narrow, in proportion to its breadth, one end of the lot approached the
+main road, the intervening space being level, and clear of obstructions,
+except near the gate, where the wall was fringed with spruce, sumach,
+and hazel bushes, a very dense clump of spruce and dwarf birch growing
+just beside the main entrance.
+
+Notwithstanding the lonely situation and neglected aspect of the place,
+there were many very handsome monuments scattered over its surface. But
+the hands that reared them were mouldering in the dust, and their
+descendants, becoming interested in the new cemetery, the ancient
+graveyard seemed likely to return to its original state of forest, and
+that indeed at no distant period, being already enclosed on three sides
+by a growth of majestic pines, whose roots, in several places, had flung
+down the wall. A few rods beyond the main entrance, the road, making a
+sharp turn, led up a hill.
+
+Far removed from any habitation or sound of busy life, this
+resting-place of the departed lay reposing in the clear moonlight that
+seemed to embrace it, silvering with its wavy light the rough walls, the
+monuments of the dead, and the foliage, bathed in dew. So deep was the
+stillness, that the slow and painful tread of Rich on the hard-beaten
+road was distinctly audible.
+
+He was about half way from the road to the gate, when all at once rang
+out with startling effect upon the still air,--
+
+"Come here to me. What are you hangin' off there for, old Bright? Come
+here to me, or I'll put the cold iron into your liver."
+
+The next moment his ears were greeted with that peculiar slat and jingle
+that ensues when the tongue cattle on the top of a hill throw up their
+heads in order to hold back a heavy load.
+
+"Good heavens!" thought Rich; "I am beset indeed. It is Sam Waterhouse,
+with his four-ox team."
+
+Regardless of his lame foot, he crept into the bunch of bushes near the
+gate, with the box and shovel. In a few moments a large dog came up the
+hill, followed by Sam, who stopped his cattle opposite the gate, to let
+them breathe. The dog, in the mean time running along the road, came
+upon Richardson's track, and following it up to the bushes, began to
+bark furiously. Fearing discovery, Rich crept along through the
+scattering bushes, into the thicker growth, still proceeding in a line
+parallel with the main road, and not far from it. The dog, however,
+continued to follow, barking so furiously, that Rich, afraid that
+Waterhouse would come to see what the dog was barking at, stepped out
+into the road without attracting the notice of Sam, till he was within a
+few feet of him, who, supposing him to have come by the road from the
+village, exclaimed,--
+
+"Good evenin', Mr. Richardson; or, ruther, mornin'; for I reckon it's
+mighty near daybreak. I was jest thinkin' of goin' ter see what the dog
+was barkin' at; thought may be 'twas a coon; they're apt to be out these
+moonlight nights; but I s'pose 'twas you he hearn. Didn't 'spect ter run
+foul o' you, this time in the mornin'. S'pose you had a sudden call.
+Doctors and teamsters, they must kalkerlate to be broke o' their rest,
+and folks say you're gettin' ter be quite a doctor, and Dr. Ryan speaks
+master well o' you."
+
+"Sick and dying time, Mr. Waterhouse," said Rich, wishing to turn the
+conversation from himself, and not heeding the question of the other; "I
+wonder you should be going away with a team when young Coolbroth is to
+be buried to-morrow."
+
+"Wouldn't have gone for anything. 'Tain't to save money, nor 'arn money,
+but I'd 'greed to deliver these ere shooks, and was 'bleeged ter. Seems
+to me you limp. I can't see quite so well as I used ter, 'specially in
+the night, but I thought you favored that left foot somewhat."
+
+"Yes; I have a sore foot."
+
+"Jammed it? Jammed the nail off? 'Cause, if ye have, there's nothin' so
+good to take the soreness out as mullein leaves, steeped in new rum."
+
+"I stepped into a rat trap in the dark."
+
+"My songs! that's dreadful bad. Might give you the lockjaw. There's
+nothin' 'll take that ere iron rust out o' the flesh like the marrer
+(marrow) of a hog's jaw."
+
+"I don't doubt it," said Rich, to whom this prosing was perfect agony;
+"but I must go on."
+
+"So must I. Back, Bright! Her, Buck, up! Stan' up there, old Star."
+
+Rich made as though he would have gone on, and soon enjoyed the
+satisfaction of hearing the sound of Sam's wheels die away in the
+distance; but when he again recovered his box and shovel, the gray light
+was streaking the eastern sky.
+
+Flinging off both coat and vest, he strained every nerve to dig a hole
+in which to deposit the box at the same depth, and in the same place as
+before. In momentary expectation of seeing Pollard arrive, he exerted
+himself till the sweat trickled down his cheeks, for, whenever he
+stopped to take breath, the early birds were singing in the trees around
+him.
+
+He had scarcely time to deposit the last shovelful, and congratulate
+himself upon his success, when the sound of wheels was heard rapidly
+approaching, and Pollard, accompanied by another person, drove up to the
+graveyard gate.
+
+[Illustration: IN THE GRAVEYARD. Page 226.]
+
+Crouching behind tombstones and bushes, he crept on his hands and knees
+to the back wall, and not daring to clamber over for fear of being seen,
+pushed out the stones, and made his way through the gap into the woods,
+as Pollard and his assistant reached the spot he had just left.
+
+Hiding his shovel in the woods, not daring to take it, lest he should
+meet some early riser, Rich, in pain and perturbation, limped through
+fields and pastures, till he at length, to his great delight and relief,
+reached his boarding-place.
+
+But his troubles were not ended. Every door was fastened. He could not,
+with his lame foot, and entirely exhausted, clamber up the spout to his
+room, and Rover began to bark in the porch, where he slept, with a
+violence that Rich knew would soon awaken the whole family.
+
+Mrs. Clemens was very particular--extremely so--in respect to fastening
+the doors at night, and there was no outbuilding to which Rich could
+obtain access except the pig-sty. That was merely buttoned on the
+outside. But this was too far from the house to suit his purpose, and
+moreover, exposed to the observation of Dan, while milking, who was
+always the first one up in the house.
+
+Dan was full of energy. His custom was to wake early, go directly to the
+barn-yard, milk, bring the milk in, call the girl to strain it, and then
+start off with the cows to pasture, returning by breakfast time. Rich
+was familiar with the habits of Dan, and while deliberating with respect
+to some place of concealment, was startled by hearing him shove back the
+bolt of the end door. Close to the steps grew a large lilac bush, and
+near that was a pile of apple-tree brush that had been hauled out of the
+orchard. Rich ran behind the pile, and crouched to the ground, watching
+Dan as he came out, rubbing his eyes, and the moment he saw him sit down
+to a cow, crawled through the lilac bush, and stole quietly to his room.
+Pulling off the boot, he washed the gravel and dust from his foot, flung
+himself upon the bed, and sank into a slumber so profound that Dan,
+unable to arouse his teacher, at breakfast time, by knocking on the
+door, was compelled to enter, and shake him.
+
+It seemed, indeed, as though the complications connected with this
+fruitless undertaking were never to have an end. Scarcely were they
+seated at the breakfast table, when Mrs. Clemens observed--
+
+"Mr. Richardson, you look pale and worn out. I fear you passed a
+sleepless night. Daniel said you were lying on the outside of the bed,
+with your clothes on, when he went to call you. Will you not have an
+alum curd on your foot this morning? It is so cleansing."
+
+"I think there is no need, Mrs. Clemens. A bruise in that place must be
+more or less painful for a time. I slept very soundly indeed this
+morning."
+
+"Well, I shall insist upon Daniel's taking you to school with the horse.
+He is in the barn."
+
+"You are very kind, and I shall esteem it a great favor; and if you
+please I will take a luncheon, and Daniel can bring me back at night;
+for I scarcely feel equal to the walk."
+
+No sooner was this offer disposed of than Dan said,--
+
+"Mother, did you hear anybody prowling round the house last night?"
+
+"No, my dear: why do you ask?"
+
+"Because the shovel is gone; somebody must have stole it."
+
+"Perhaps it is mislaid."
+
+"No, it ain't; I have looked everywhere. I wanted it to clean the barn."
+
+"I heard Rover barking dreadfully this morning; it waked me up. Did you
+hear anybody round the house, Mr. Richardson? Being kept awake by your
+wound, you would be more likely to hear any strange noise."
+
+"Well, Mrs. Clemens,--ahem!--indeed, I think there was some one went
+out of the yard last night."
+
+"That's it, mother; and that's who Rover was barking at."
+
+"But how could they get into the barn?"
+
+"They might have a key, and unlock the padlock. Most anything will
+unlock a padlock. But you must get another shovel, mother."
+
+"We will wait awhile. It may come to light,--might get into that load of
+hay I sold,--be pitched up out of the floor with the hay. Mr.
+Richardson, your face seems flushed; does your foot pain you?"
+
+"No, ma'am; it is quite easy now."
+
+The excessive soreness of Richardson's foot was occasioned by his use,
+or rather abuse of it. But it recovered rapidly as soon as he began to
+afford it rest, and make the proper applications. After enjoying a good
+night's sleep, he told Mrs. Clemens he would like the loan of the horse,
+to ride over to the next town after school at night, call on Perk, and
+return in the evening. The next morning, when Dan went to feed the pigs,
+the shovel was lying in the pig's bed, half covered in straw.
+
+"I told you it would come to light, Daniel. You used it to clean the
+pig-pen, and left it there. The pigs threw it down, and rooted the straw
+over it."
+
+"I didn't, mother. Haven't cleaned the pig-pen. Mr. Richardson does
+that; I am afraid of the pigs. Somebody stole it, and brought it back."
+
+"Borrowed it, you mean, my dear. You should never make such
+accusations."
+
+Dr. Ryan laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks when, some time
+afterwards, Rich told him the result of his efforts to obtain the leg.
+
+"It is the first time I ever attempted anything of the kind," said Rich;
+"it shall be the last. I'll stick to dogs, cats, and rabbits till I have
+money to procure what I need."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+PROGRESS AND PREJUDICE.
+
+
+There was a mystery connected with Richardson's lameness that the
+village gossips could never fathom. He was too important a personage to
+escape comment. It was well known that he was so lame as to be compelled
+to ride to school on three consecutive days; and yet Sam Waterhouse
+declared he met him and talked with him at the old graveyard at three
+o'clock on the morning he put his foot in the trap, and that he did not
+appear to be much lame. Sam, however, was in the habit of drinking too
+freely of New England rum, and always took a jug with him when on the
+road; thus the majority, after a while, concluded Waterhouse had made
+too free with the contents of his jug, and imagined it all.
+
+Rich, after this, assisted in several important operations in which the
+two doctors were engaged. He likewise, when he could do it and not
+interfere with his school, opened sores, administered medicines, let
+blood, and dressed wounds, at the request of Dr. Ryan, who lost no
+opportunity of bringing him forward, and became more and more attached
+to him every day.
+
+When bones were to be set, Dr. Ryan, if the fracture was in any respect
+a bad one, sent for Dr. Slaughter; but, as his own practice was large,
+often relinquished the subsequent care of the fracture to Rich, and paid
+him for it. In this manner, and by rigid economy, he was enabled to lay
+by a considerable sum, besides purchasing some necessary instruments and
+books.
+
+The good doctor was well aware that whenever he left the care of a
+patient to Rich, whether it was a case of disease, or a wound, or broken
+bone, that he practised a treatment quite different from the established
+method; but as the patients generally did well, he made no troublesome
+inquiries, and even turned a deaf ear to the hints of Dr. Slaughter in
+respect to innovations upon the good old substantial practice.
+
+It was very hot weather, the middle of August, and a lad of seventeen
+received a terrible cut in his thigh, by coming too near his father
+while he was mowing oats. Dr. Ryan was away from home, attending the
+funeral of a near relative in a distant town; the family instantly sent
+for Rich. The wound, fortunately, was worse in appearance than reality,
+as no artery was severed, though the gash presented a most formidable
+appearance to inexperienced persons, and the parents were very much
+alarmed.
+
+Rich quieted their fears, stopped the bleeding, cleansed, bound up, and
+dressed the wound. It was several days before the doctor returned. The
+first time he rode out to visit his patients, he encountered on the road
+an old acquaintance, but by no means a favorite of his, Miss Nelly
+Buckminster. Miss Nelly was a spinster, lived by herself in a small
+house left to her by her parents, and gained a livelihood by taking in
+spinning, weaving, and plain sewing; occasionally kept house for anybody
+who could endure her tongue, for she was an inveterate talker, and held
+very decided opinions upon all subjects. In other respects she was an
+excellent housekeeper, neat, industrious, economical, and an excellent
+cook.
+
+Miss Nelly was very religious, exceedingly so; but her piety was of the
+vociferous, rather than of the introspective cast. She was the recipient
+of many presents. Some gave her because they thought her a very good
+though rather peculiar woman, some because they were afraid of her
+tongue, others because they knew she would tell of it from Dan to
+Beersheba. We think it must have been the reasons assigned that
+influenced so many persons to make presents to Nelly, because there was
+not the least satisfaction to be derived from the act itself, as Nelly,
+in expressing her gratitude and sense of obligation--which she never
+failed to do--always ignored second causes, and paid her respects to the
+Most High.
+
+This might have been--undoubtedly was--good theology, but it was of the
+nutmeg-grater variety, and altogether corrosive in both quality and
+operation; for when persons bestow gifts, influenced by the purest
+motives, some manifestation of gratitude is pleasant, and generally
+expected; but no person ever received any from Nelly; her gratitude was
+ever directed over the heads of the _instrumentalities_ to the
+_efficient_ cause, which was not merely sound doctrine and
+_conservative_, but did away at once with all troublesome sense of
+obligation or return in kind.
+
+Squire Dresser once sent her by the hand of his son a bushel of Indian
+meal. Henry knocked at the door, and gave her the bag of meal, saying,--
+
+"Miss Buckminster, here is a bushel of flour my father sent you, and
+he'll call some time when he's going by to mill, and get the bag."
+
+"No thanks to Squire Dresser; thanks to the Lord; 'twas the Lord sent
+it, and not the squire."
+
+Henry had made the interview as brief as possible, in order to escape an
+exhortation on the subject of personal piety, that Nelly was in the
+habit of administering to him whenever he came to her house of an
+errand, and which altogether failed of producing any good impression,
+because he did not like her, and by reason of the snappish way in which
+she flung it at him.
+
+Finding he had in his haste made a mistake, he went back and said,--
+
+"Miss Buckminster, I made a mistake. 'Tis Indian and not wheat meal
+that father sent you."
+
+"_Indian!_ I should like to know what he sent _Indian_ for!"
+
+This curt reply made a good deal of sport among the neighbors.
+
+"I don't believe the _Lord_ will send her anything again very soon,"
+said Squire Dresser.
+
+"The old proverb is, 'Never look a gift horse in the mouth;' but she
+presumes to find fault with the gifts of the Lord, tells what _he_
+should send and what not."
+
+Dr. Ryan, who dearly loved good living, tempted by her unrivalled skill
+as a cook, and confiding in his good temper and the soundness of his
+nerves, once employed Nelly to keep house for him. She was possessed of
+a very vivid imagination, and in the habit of cautioning people against
+doing things they never entertained the thought of doing.
+
+It was cold, sharp weather, and the doctor had a small dog that was very
+fond of stretching out on the hearth before the andirons. One day the
+doctor came in, chilled from a long ride and stood warming himself; the
+dog lay stretched at full length between him and the fire.
+
+"There! you'll kick that dog into the fire--I know you will!" screamed
+Nelly.
+
+"So I will, then," said the doctor, and kicked him under the forestick.
+
+Nelly never cautioned the doctor any more.
+
+In some respects it was difficult to reconcile her professions with her
+practice: for instance, she always said in the prayer-meeting that it
+was a great cross for her to rise and speak; whereas it was the settled
+opinion of all who knew her that it would be a much greater cross for
+her to hold her tongue, and Captain Motley said,--
+
+"If you nailed her down to the bench with ten-penny nails, she'd rise
+and take it up with her."
+
+She always disliked people whom everybody else loved and respected,
+called it _man-worship_, therefore didn't like Rich, couldn't bear him.
+Dr. Ryan said, it was a good thing for Richardson; he ought to have one
+ill-wisher, to take the curse off.
+
+"Doctor, good mornin'."
+
+"Good morning, Nelly."
+
+"Doctor, you never should ought to step your two feet out of this
+village. Dreadful works, dreadful, since you've been away. Doctor, what
+do you think this wicked world is comin' to? Errors in doctrine, new
+lights rampaging round, turnin' things upside down; errors in doctorin,'
+as though folks couldn't die fast enough themselves. Destruction to soul
+and body both."
+
+"I expect it is coming to an end, Nelly."
+
+"When, doctor? Any ways soon? 'Cause we ought to be on our watch guards,
+a girdin' up our loins and preparin'."
+
+"O, no; I guess 'twill outlast you and me, and a good many other
+people. But what is the trouble now?"
+
+"Trouble enough. Do you know, David Ryan, what a viper yer a nourishin'
+in yer buzom? Do you know it, David Ryan? 'Cause if you don't, it's high
+time you did. Do you know what that young snipper-snapper of a
+Richardson is, that's allowed for to lead the singin' in the Lord's
+house? The gals is all taken with his good looks, and the men with his
+'ily tongue. But I tell you he's a--"
+
+Here Nelly thrust her tongue into her cheek, and looked unutterable
+things.
+
+"I know he's a young man of true piety, most affectionate disposition,
+and remarkable ability, and I won't hear a word said against him by you
+or anybody else."
+
+"Jist like Deacon Starkweather; he's deceived yer both, pulled the wool
+over both yer eyes. I tell you he's a--"
+
+"A what? Come, out with it. I don't like this stabbing in the dark.
+Speak out."
+
+"He's a _new light_, a pestilent, pizen, _new light_," shouted Nelly,
+with an emphasis she expected would throw the doctor from his horse. But
+he stood the shock unmoved, and merely laughed.
+
+"It's no laughin' matter. There's John Tukey's boy cut hisself awful
+with a scythe, and that snipper-snapper, don't you think, did it up in
+_cold water_, nothin' else, instead of wrappin' it up in new rum, or rum
+and wormwood, or salve, as you would have done, and keepin' it warm.
+Enough to make him ketch his death a cold!"
+
+"Is he not doing well enough?"
+
+"Doin' well enough! The awfullest sight of _proud_ flesh; it was a sight
+to behold. I was there when old Granma'am Tyler put on her specs and
+looked at it. She exclaimed right out. Says she, 'That wound will never
+heal in this varsal world, with all that ere _proud_ flesh in it,
+Matilda,' says she (that's the boy's mother). 'Let me put on some burnt
+alum, to eat out that proud flesh.' Matilda made answer, 'I should like
+to have you, granma'am.' Then the boy up and says, 'No, she shan't.'
+'Some red precipitate, then, dear, and hog's lard.' No, he wouldn't have
+that. 'Some spruce gum, then.' No, he wouldn't have anything; nobody
+should consarn with it or touch it but Mr. Richardson; he knew more than
+Granny Tyler and all the old women in town."
+
+"I rather think the boy was right."
+
+"Right! That little _snipper-snapper_, that brought an ungodly _fiddle_
+into the _sanctuary_ on the _Lord's_ day, know more'n _Granny Tyler_, an
+experienced woman in sickness, and that's brought up a large family of
+children! What do you s'pose he said when he came the next day, and
+Matilda told him what Granny Tyler said? He jist laughed, and said all
+the proud flesh there was wouldn't hinder it from healing. Much he
+knows, to say proud flesh wouldn't hinder a cut from healing! Them's the
+very identical words he used. I'll stan' to it till my _dyin' day_."
+
+"I have not the least doubt he said so."
+
+"Well, then, doctor, I hope you'll go right in there, and put things to
+rights, 'cause the old folks'll hear to you, and the boy'll hear to you;
+and if you don't, perhaps the proud flesh'll grow worser and mortify;
+'cause granny said a sore never would heal as long's there was one mite
+of proud flesh in it; and if the boy should die, you'll be 'countable,
+sartainly."
+
+"I can't go in; I've a long ride to another part of the town before me."
+
+"Well, you'll see, mark my word for it, there'll be trouble grow out of
+this."
+
+The doctor had lost, in the course of his practice, several patients
+from gangrene occasioned by the load of poultices, ointments, and
+bandages it was then customary to apply, and he had some suspicions
+whether there might not be some mistake in the old practice, and
+resolved to permit Rich to manage matters as he thought best, having so
+much confidence in his judgment and discretion that he felt sure he
+would come to him for advice and consultation if the wound was
+manifesting any unfavorable symptoms.
+
+We have no doubt our young readers share to the full the confidence of
+the doctor in both the ability and discretion of Rich; still it seems as
+though it were well to say a few words in his behalf, and in
+explanation.
+
+Clean cuts, when the two sides of the wound can be brought together
+directly, sometimes heal without any inflammation or suppuration; as it
+were, stick right together. But when the parts cannot be brought
+together at once, and are exposed to the external air, even if bandaged,
+there will be inflammation, and then the wound heals by a natural
+process, called by physicians "granulation."
+
+It was thus in the present instance. The boy and his father had taken a
+field of oats to mow and harvest, a long distance from home, and the
+wound had been some time exposed to the air, and by reason of the part
+of the body in which it was situated could not be brought together so
+closely as to cause it thus to heal by what surgeons call the "first
+intention," and adhesive inflammation occurred, as is always the case
+when wounded surfaces are not brought in contact at once.
+
+The process is this. In consequence of the inflammation which then takes
+place, a yellow jelly-like substance is effused, covering the surfaces
+of the wound, called fibrin; veins and arteries from the sound flesh
+shoot into this, it becomes organized, another layer is thrown out,
+which in its turn passes through the same process; but now begins
+another step in the progress. From this organized fibrin spring
+innumerable little pointed cones, similar to the kernels of rice corn,
+at first of a pale red, becoming more florid as they increase in age,
+into which arteries and veins thrust themselves. These are the
+granulations. They have nerves and blood-vessels, are therefore alive,
+and when healthy, sensitive; and they likewise possess a disposition to
+unite, and when the two surfaces of a wound covered with granulations
+come in contact, the blood-vessels of one penetrate the other, they
+amalgamate and form flesh.
+
+As they increase they contract, thus both filling the cavity and drawing
+the lips of the wound together, till, when it heals, the scar occupies
+much less space than the original cut. This process takes place when the
+granulations are healthy, and almost, but not completely, fill the
+wound, being a grain lower than the surface of the skin, and manifesting
+a disposition to glaze over.
+
+At other times they are coarse, of large size, the points blunt, are
+spongy, pale, or blue, show no tendency to skin over, and puff up above
+the surface of the sound flesh, which swells and is inflamed. Physicians
+denominate these granulations fungus, it being found from experience
+that whenever granulations rise higher than the level of the surrounding
+surface they are not likely to form skin. This, among people in general,
+from the appearance, probably, goes by the name of _proud_ flesh.
+
+The old matrons cherished a mortal dread of proud flesh. They would put
+on their spectacles, look carefully at the wound, hold up both hands,
+and exclaim with alarm, "_Proud_ flesh!" often times when only the
+proper amount of granulations was present, and they had numerous
+specifics for its removal--spruce gum, burnt alum, the ashes of oak
+bark, nutgalls, and red precipitate. But in their zeal to extirpate
+proud flesh, and, as they termed it, _do_ something, they sometimes used
+little discrimination, and made war upon healthy material.
+
+The particular thing that seemed to lie with the greatest weight upon
+the minds of the ancient dames and Miss Buckminster was, that, according
+to them, Rich was _doing nothing_ for the poor lad. He was neither
+bleeding him, physicking him, putting on salves and heavy bandages, nor
+anything to kill the _proud_ flesh. They made such a fuss that at last
+the boy, who had hitherto reposed the greatest confidence in his young
+physician, became a little _nervous_, and told Rich what the matrons
+said.
+
+"My dear boy," said he, "there is very little _to_ be _done_. What these
+good women call _proud_ flesh is a _healthy_ growth, the rudiments of
+new flesh, and without it your wound would _never_ heal. It is no more
+in my power, or that of any other person, to heal your flesh than to
+make one hair white or black. Nature and time will do that. The
+inflammation has passed off, and the wound is healing. All that can be
+done is to keep the parts cool, defend them from the air, sustain your
+strength by a proper diet, and keep you quiet. The less you move, the
+faster your leg will heal; and as for bleeding, you have lost too much
+blood already from the cut."
+
+The lad, after this, dismissing his anxieties, concerned himself no more
+about the proud flesh or the fears and prognostications of the matrons.
+
+The patient in due time recovered, greatly to the satisfaction of Dr.
+Ryan. It also increased the reputation of Rich, though Miss Buckminster
+declared that "the boy should ought to have died of mortification or
+lockjaw, but the _Lord_ overruled it and spared him for some good end,
+spite of the new-fangled doctor."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+SUITING MEANS TO ENDS.
+
+
+The early frosts had now commenced. The glory of summer was succeeded by
+the maturity of autumn, and in the valleys here and there the white
+maples and ash began to assume their yellow and crimson hues. The
+diseases incident to the period of the year were prevalent, and Dr. Ryan
+was riding night and day.
+
+As Richardson was passing the doctor's house on his way from school in
+the afternoon, the latter called to him, and said,--
+
+"Mr. Richardson, I wish you would do me a favor. I am just about to step
+into my gig to visit a person taken with the bilious colic, in great
+distress, and a man has this moment gone from the door who wants me to
+go to see Mr. Jonathan Davis, who has cut off the tendon Achillis
+(heel-cord) with an adze; a clean cut. Can't you get on the back of the
+other horse, and take care of Mr. Davis?"
+
+"Yes, sir. I'll leave my books in your office, and be right off."
+
+"But you'll want some supper."
+
+"I'll eat there after I get through."
+
+Davis kept a good stock of tools, made his wheels, harrows, yokes, and
+other farming tools, and some for his neighbors. In working with an adze
+between his feet, the instrument glanced, and the corner of it severed
+the tendon of his left leg.
+
+The Achillis tendon is large, and connected with a very strong muscle,
+as it sustains a great strain when the foot is thrown forward, and the
+weight of the body, perhaps with the addition of some burden on the
+shoulder, raised by it; and when broken or cut, the strong muscles of
+which it is a prolongation, cause it to contract very much.
+
+Farmer Davis was a member of the choir, much attached to Rich; and,
+though he was somewhat disappointed at not seeing Dr. Ryan, his old
+physician, yet there was probably not a person in the town to whom Rich
+could have been sent upon such an errand where he would have found less
+of prejudice to contend with, either in respect to his youth, lack of
+experience, or any new-fangled notions he might have the reputation of
+entertaining.
+
+"Good afternoon, Mr. Davis. I am sorry for your injury, and also that
+Dr. Ryan could not come. I expect you will hardly care to see so poor a
+substitute; but I feared there might be some artery cut, and knew you
+needed prompt attention."
+
+Farmer Davis was quite a different person from Miss Buckminster in many
+other respects besides gender, being a most skilful mechanic, and an
+intelligent, clear-headed man.
+
+"Well, Mr. Richardson," he replied, "you know very well you're as
+welcome to my house as flowers in May; and as for this business of the
+leg, I don't believe that Dr. Ryan, who's doctored my family and my
+father's afore me, would have sent you if he hadn't known you was
+capable; and if he had, I don't believe, if you hadn't thought you knew
+what was to be done and how to do it, you'd have come."
+
+"I have come to do the best I can, which is very little, as this is a
+case where art can do but little to assist nature; but if you feel any
+hesitation, say so; the horse is at the door; I'll go get Dr.
+Slaughter."
+
+"Won't have him; he's no better than a _butcher_. Go ahead, Mr.
+Richardson. There must be a first time with every man. I believe the
+first pair of wheels I ever made were as good and well finished up as
+any I've made since, 'cause I took more pains; and I've heern old
+Captain Deering say that 'a green hand that's just learning to steer a
+vessel will oftentimes steer better'n an old sailor, 'cause the old
+fellow is careless; but t'other's scared to death all the time, and puts
+his whole soul into it.'"
+
+After examining the wound, Rich said,--
+
+"There are two methods of treating this injury, the old method and the
+new. I will explain both of them; you may then take your choice, and I
+will follow your directions."
+
+"That's fair. Let's hear."
+
+"You see all the tendons play in a sheath, which is fixed, and the
+tendons play back and forth in it."
+
+"Just like a spyglass, one part shoves into the other."
+
+"Yes. And they are all on the stretch, like a piece of rubber drawn out,
+and when they are cut, the contraction of the muscles draws the two ends
+apart. The muscles in the upper part of the leg have drawn one end of
+this heel-cord up into its sheath, and the muscles on the forward part
+of the leg, by bending the foot back, have drawn the other end down into
+its sheath. Now, the old method, that which Dr. Slaughter and Dr. Ryan
+both would pursue, is to search in the sheath, get hold of the ends of
+the cord, and sew them together, which in your case would involve the
+necessity of cutting to accomplish it."
+
+"I understand that. Now what is the new fashion?"
+
+"The old physicians thought a tendon could not unite unless the ends
+touched, and so used to sew them together. But it has been since proved
+by experiment that although it is well to bring the ends of the tendon
+as near to each other as can well be done, they will unite even if they
+are half an inch or an inch apart."
+
+"How can they grow together if they don't touch?"
+
+"A liquid substance exudes from the surrounding vessels, fills the
+sheath, thickens into a jelly, then becomes a callous, grows to the two
+ends, forms a bunch, and in time shrinks up and becomes just like the
+rest of the tendon."
+
+"How did they find that out?"
+
+"Men have broken the tendon and wouldn't have their leg cut open to
+stitch the ends together, but kept still, had splints put on, and the
+ends brought as near as possible in that way, got well, and recovered
+the use of the limb. If there's no need of cutting a hole in a sound leg
+to sew a tendon together, there's no need of sewing one when a hole is
+already cut, or of cutting it larger to get at it."
+
+"That stands to reason. So go ahead. I don't see why there shouldn't be
+improvements in doctoring as well as in everything else. My father
+winnowed his grain in a half a bushel, and had to wait for the wind. I
+winnow mine when I get ready, and raise my own wind with the machine."
+
+Rich bent the leg on the thigh, so as to relax the muscles in the calf
+of the leg as much as possible, then with his hands worked down the
+calf, bringing the upper end of the tendon down, and put a bandage
+around to confine the muscles and keep them from retracting; brought the
+foot forward in order to bring the lower end of the tendon up, and
+employed an assistant to keep it so.
+
+In the mean time he went into Mr. Davis's shop, where he found tools,
+selected a sweeping piece of wood, and in a very few moments made a
+splint of sufficient length to extend from just below the knee to the
+toes, and that by its elliptical form partially filled the angle made by
+the foot and leg; he then padded the space between it and the flesh,
+fastened it to the leg and toes in such a manner as to keep the foot
+extended and prevent the patient from involuntarily moving the muscles.
+He now could feel the ends of the tendon, and ascertained, much to his
+satisfaction, that they were very nearly in contact. He now said,--
+
+"Mr. Davis, the space between the extremities of this tendon is very
+small, consequently there is so much less new matter to be formed. You
+will not suffer much pain, but you will sustain a great trial of your
+patience, more than though your leg was broken, for then you would feel
+compelled to lie still. The rapidity and thoroughness of your cure will
+be in proportion to the patience you exercise, and the degree of care
+you take in respect to those motions absolutely necessary. It will be
+six weeks or more before this new substance I have been speaking of will
+form between the ends, and many months before you can place much strain
+upon the tendon."
+
+"Shall I have to lie in bed long?"
+
+"No; but you must keep perfectly still for a while. You will not be able
+to wear this splint long. It is only extemporized for the occasion. I'll
+make something better to-morrow."
+
+The second day, after school hours, Richardson visited his patient
+again, and directed Mrs. Davis to make a shoe of carpeting,
+slipper-fashion, leaving the toe a little open, to prevent galling, and
+sewing a strap to the heel of it. This he fastened to a bandage around
+the leg above the calf, which took the place of the splint, kept the
+heel back, the foot forward, and the ends of the tendon in their place,
+and was much more comfortable for the patient.
+
+Farmer Davis in eight weeks was relieved from the slipper, strap, and
+bandage during the night, putting them on in the daytime, and began to
+walk with a cane. There was a bunch on the tendon the size of a robin's
+egg, which gradually disappeared; and in four months the limb was as
+serviceable as ever.
+
+When, a fortnight after the event, Dr. Ryan ascertained that Rich had
+merely brought the ends of the tendon within half an inch, and let it go
+at that, he shook his head, looked anxious, but said nothing. Dr.
+Slaughter was not so reticent, and declared the parts would never unite,
+but grow to the sheath, and the man be lame for life.
+
+Richardson now pursued the even tenor of his way, without the least
+interruption till the middle of the winter, when he was called to old
+Mr. Avery, a shingle weaver, who had cut himself with his draw-shave.
+The wound bled a great deal before Richardson arrived, and the patient
+being an old man, it healed very slowly. Avery became impatient, and
+thought his physician was not doing enough. Rich, unable to convince
+him, as he was a very ignorant and obstinate man, that the process of
+healing must necessarily be slow, on account of his age, and that nature
+must do the work, called in Dr. Ryan, who confirmed the judgment of Rich
+and approved his method, but the patient not convinced, fussed and
+fretted, said Rich "was _doing nothing_," and talked about "sending for
+Dr. Slaughter." Rich, at his wits' end, and not relishing the idea of
+having a patient taken out of his hands, cast about for some way of
+keeping him quiet.
+
+At length, in a wakeful hour of the night, he bethought himself of a
+means of relief, suggested by something he had read in one of the old
+romances while in college, and the next day proceeded to put it in
+practice.
+
+"Mr. Avery," he said, "I think I have discovered something that will be
+just the thing you need, and answer the purpose completely."
+
+"Do let me know it, then, right off. I ought to be at work in the shop
+this minute."
+
+"Do you think the draw-shave that you cut yourself with has been used
+since? Because if it has, nothing can be done, and the charm will be
+broken."
+
+"No, I know it 'tain't; 'cause I laid it across the horse, and the
+shop's been locked up ever sence. Then you can charm; that's something
+like. There was a woman in this town could charm; but she died four year
+ago; and she didn't give her power to anybody. They say they kin, if
+they like, give it to anybody else, that is, if they're a seventh son or
+darter, not without."
+
+"You don't believe that nonsense, I hope."
+
+"Sartain sure I do. I _know_ that woman could charm. But you doctors
+never believe anything you don't do yourselves, or don't read in a book;
+but that's nuther here nor there. What is it you've found out?"
+
+"Well, Mr. Avery, the ancient wise folks, a great many hundred years
+ago, had a custom of applying the rust of the weapon or tool that made
+the wound to it; or, if there was no rust, of making the applications to
+the instrument; and by some secret, mysterious influence, as they held,
+the wound was healed."
+
+"There, now, that stan's to reason. You've said somethin' to the p'int
+now. I believe in them ere things what's handed down from the old
+forefathers. I tell you they forgot more'n we ever knew. These things
+what's handed down, they're sperience, they ain't guesswork. The
+Indians can cure cancers, but the white doctors can't. Mercy Jane, you
+git the key out of my westcoat pocket, and bring in that ere draw-shave;
+it's laying across the horse."
+
+When the draw-shave was brought; to the great satisfaction both of Rich
+and his patient, considerable rust was found on the edge. Avery had
+ground it the afternoon he cut himself, and only drawn a few strokes
+before he inflicted the wound, and the water from the grinding, still on
+the edge, caused it, after lying, to rust. Rich, carefully scraping the
+rust from the tool (about enough to cover the point of a penknife),
+applied it to the wound. He next produced several large plasters of
+different colors, red, black, green, blue, and yellow.
+
+"What are them plasters spread with?" said the patient.
+
+"Indeed, Mr. Avery, that is an affair of my own."
+
+"I'll warrant it. That's allers the way with doctors."
+
+"Neither will I apply it, or go one step farther, unless you will
+solemnly promise me that you will observe strictly my directions as to
+diet, and stay in your bed or your chair, and keep the limb still."
+
+"Well, I will, I sartainly will. I'll do jist zactly as you tell me to."
+
+"See that you don't forget it the moment I am out of the room; if you
+do, it will be the worse for you, that's all, for those are plasters of
+tremendous power, and if you do not, you will have something horribilis,
+aspectu horridus, detestabilis, abominandus."
+
+Rich held up his hands in horror and made an awful face. They were
+indeed of tremendous power, and had they been applied to his flesh
+instead of to the draw-shave, would soon have put him beyond the cares
+and trials of this stormy life. One, the green, was made of hog's lard,
+beef tallow, and verdigris; the blue, of beeswax, linseed oil, and
+Prussian blue; the black, of the same materials, colored with lampblack;
+the red, with vermilion, a mercurial compound, quicksilver, and sulphur;
+and the yellow with gamboge. Rich now produced several large rolls of
+bandages, and, after strewing the plasters with brick dust, applied them
+to the knife, and then enveloped the whole in fold over fold of the
+bandage, till the knife was as large as a man's thigh.
+
+"Now," he said to Mrs. Avery, "this must be put where no rat, mouse,
+cat, or any other creature can get at it."
+
+"I'm sure," said she, "I don't know of any safer place than the oven.
+We've got two; and one I don't use often."
+
+"Well, put it in the oven."
+
+After Rich left, Avery said,--
+
+"Wife, Mr. Richardson knows a lot; he'll make a great doctor."
+
+"I expect he will. But, husband, you must keep still, and do jist as he
+told you, and mustn't hanker after pork and beans. You know what he
+said--'if you didn't, it would be worser for you.' And what them awful
+outlandish words meant I don't know; but I expect they meant you'd die
+right off if you didn't do everything jist as he said."
+
+"Well, I mean to keep as still as a mouse. You must tell me when I
+don't."
+
+When Rich again visited his patient, he said,--
+
+"Mr. Avery, there has been a very marked improvement in your leg, and it
+will soon be well, if you continue to follow implicitly my directions."
+
+"I knew that would do the business. It begun to feel better the minute
+you put them ere plasters on to the draw-shave."
+
+In a short time it was well; and, lest our young readers should
+attribute the cure to the wrong means, we would say that, Mr. Avery
+being in years, his flesh healed slowly, and, as he was of a nervous
+temperament, kept irritating his wound all the time by motion, and
+refused to govern his appetite. This conduct aggravated the difficulty.
+Whereas his faith in the strange remedy appealing to the superstitious
+sentiments of his nature, and fear of the terrible consequences couched
+under the Latin of Rich, kept him quiet, and effected the cure by giving
+nature time to operate.
+
+Rich had now accumulated a little money, and resolved to visit his
+patients, attend medical lectures at Brunswick, and see Morton on his
+way. He accordingly employed Perk to finish out the term, as part of the
+period of his absence would be during the vacation. As his funds were by
+no means excessive, he made the journey on foot, with the exception of a
+few miles of the first part of the way, over which he was carried by Dan
+Clemens.
+
+It was near night on the second day, and Rich, weary, hungry, and
+foot-sore, had been for some time expecting to come in sight of a
+village where was a tavern; but none appeared. At length his patience
+was exhausted, and arriving at a substantial-looking farm-house, he
+knocked, and inquired of the farmer, who came at the summons, how far it
+was to the next tavern.
+
+"Well, 'tis good three miles; yes, strong that." But noticing the
+disappointed look of Rich, said, "Young man, you look tired. If you'll
+stop with me, you shall be welcome to such as we have."
+
+Rich gladly accepted the invitation, and was ushered into the kitchen,
+where he found the farmer's family, consisting of his wife, two sons,
+and two daughters. One of the daughters immediately rose, pulled the
+table into the floor, put on the tea-kettle, and, as Rich thought (who
+was very hungry, for he had eaten since morning only a luncheon),
+provided a meal about as speedily as he had ever seen it done in his
+life.
+
+"My mother," thought he, "couldn't do better than that."
+
+Rich was at first surprised that neither the mother nor elder sister
+gave any assistance to this young woman in preparing an extra meal, but
+continued their sewing. He afterwards, however, ascertained that the
+thrifty mother brought up her daughters to take their week around in the
+kitchen doing the cooking; and that it was this daughter's week. After
+making ready for Rich, she began to iron at a table in the corner of the
+room, and when he finished, cleared away the dishes, and resumed her
+ironing. He was very much struck with the domestic accomplishments of
+the young woman, and thought her extremely good-looking; but this might
+be owing to the fact, that, being very hungry, he felt grateful for a
+bountiful meal so speedily provided; his habits of thought as a
+physician also led him to notice that she was well-formed and in fine
+health.
+
+His boots off, seated before a cheerful fire, and well fed, Rich forgot
+his fatigue, and passed a most pleasant evening. He endeavored several
+times to draw into conversation Miss Caroline; but she stuck to her
+ironing, and merely replied to his questions politely.
+
+At bed-time he said to the farmer,--
+
+"Mr. Conant, I will settle with you before I go to bed, as I mean to
+start by sunrise."
+
+"But you will not start on a day's walk without breakfast."
+
+"I will get my breakfast at the next village. That will divide the
+forenoon about right; and after walking three miles I shall be 'sharp
+set' for eating."
+
+"Mr. Richardson, I can contrive better than that. I shan't take a cent
+for your keeping, and William will put the horse in the sleigh and take
+you to the village. He was going to start early to carry something to
+market there. You will have your breakfast, and be well started on your
+journey, and when you come back, make it in your way to call here. We
+shall be right pleased to see you. I'll give you a lift on your way."
+
+The next morning Rich was up by break of day, and found that William had
+harnessed the horse, and Caroline had the breakfast ready. He now found
+her rather less reserved, and went away with a most favorable impression
+of her intelligence.
+
+After a very delightful visit at home, where he found everything
+pleasant and prosperous, his parents on the original homestead, with
+every prospect of soon owning it, seeing Morton and enjoying a glorious
+time with him, by some singular combination of circumstances he was
+again overtaken by night at farmer Conant's door when it never looked
+more like a storm, which indeed came that night, and Rich was obliged to
+stay there two days, which, however, passed very pleasantly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+THE TURN OF THE TIDE.
+
+
+When Rich returned, shortly after the commencement of the summer term,
+he was joyfully welcomed by his pupils. In the course of ten days he
+received a box by the stage, of quite modest proportions, that was
+instantly transferred to the harness-room, and respecting the reception
+of which Rich seemed very much interested, having been several times to
+the stage tavern to inquire about it.
+
+This box contained all the bones of the human frame; and no wonder that
+Rich was concerned about their arrival, considering his intense interest
+in the study of anatomy, and furthermore, the low state of his funds,
+and that they cost him but five dollars.
+
+It was customary for the lecturer to procure subjects for dissection (in
+what way was best known to himself), for any students who wished this
+opportunity of private study and dissection, at twenty dollars apiece.
+Rich clubbed with three more and bought one. After they had dissected
+and made a study of the different parts in which each felt most
+specially interested, the bones remained. To secure and put these
+together properly, so as to form an entire and perfect skeleton,
+repairing the damages made by the dissecting saw on the skull, to get at
+the brain, was a great deal of work, and required not only anatomical
+knowledge, but great patience and no small degree of mechanical skill;
+and the other students, who were able to purchase skeletons already
+prepared, and possessed neither the patience nor mechanical ability to
+perform the work, and, moreover, liked Rich, gave him their portion of
+the bones.
+
+To prepare, classify, and wire them together was a most congenial as
+well as profitable occupation to Rich; it fixed the arrangement, names,
+and shape of the bones and articulations in his mind, and also gratified
+his mechanical tastes; and he in the course of the summer accomplished
+the work, during the performance of which his practice in working iron
+stood him in good stead, as he replaced the spinal marrow by an iron
+rod, cut a thread on each end, and made thumb-nuts with which to confine
+the vertebral column.
+
+The fact of his having attended medical lectures at Brunswick, coupled
+with his previous success in some cases of minor importance, increased
+very much the confidence of people in general touching his ability as a
+physician, and he had numerous calls, to all of which he turned a deaf
+ear, devoting himself entirely to his scholars and studies.
+
+At length circumstances concurred to place him in a position of great
+perplexity, and one where he was, as it were, compelled to assume a
+responsibility from which he would gladly have been excused. Dan
+Clemens, Frank Merrill, and Horace Williams had natural history, in the
+form of ornithology, "on the brain." If these youngsters didn't sit on
+eggs, they dreamed of them. It would be difficult to mention anything
+they would not do for Rich when the remuneration was a _rare bird_, shot
+and stuffed.
+
+To be soaked to the skin, and so tired they could scarcely put one foot
+before the other, were pastimes when birds were ahead; and to obtain
+eggs they would venture life and limb. The fatigue of soldiers on a
+forced march was trifling in comparison with what they cheerfully
+endured; and their mothers, during the spring and summer months, were in
+a state of chronic anxiety, expecting nothing less than their being
+brought home with broken bones.
+
+One Saturday afternoon they were all in swimming with a crowd of boys
+who took not the least interest in their favorite study; but one of
+them, while undressing under a leafy elm, at whose roots the boys were
+accustomed to put their clothes, espied the nest of a Baltimore oriole,
+and told Dan, who was in the water with Frank and Horace. They
+instantly dressed, and began to look with longing eyes at the nest that
+was pendent from the extremity of a slender branch near the top of the
+tree, and on its southern side.
+
+"We can't get that nest," said Horace, "for we can't climb the tree,
+it's so far to a limb. If we could climb it, the limbs won't bear a
+fellow to reach the nest."
+
+"Yes, we can," said Dan; "we must have those eggs. You give me a boost.
+I'll bet I can climb it."
+
+"If you do, you can't reach the nest."
+
+"I can tell better after I get there."
+
+Dan did his best, but had to give it up; so did Horace. Frank was the
+best climber of the three, though of lighter weight than the others, and
+less plump--an exceedingly agile and sinewy boy. He did not, however,
+relinquish his efforts and slide reluctantly down the trunk till he was
+within three feet of the lowest limb.
+
+"If you could only boost me up that much I fell short, I could go it,"
+said Frank, "after I rest and get breath."
+
+"Let us," said Dan, "pile up a great heap of stones, one of us stand on
+that, and the rest put Frank's feet on his shoulders."
+
+"No; get some nails and a hammer, and nail some pieces of board on the
+tree," said Horace.
+
+"Zuckers! I know how you can git up," said a barefooted, red-headed boy
+of twelve, whose hat-rim was nearly torn off thrashing bumblebees on
+thistle blossoms, and who didn't go to the academy nor any other school,
+save a few weeks in the winter, and who lived on a farm three miles from
+the village, but had the presumption to come there and go in swimming
+with the academy boys, because it was the best place on the river, and
+who could swim like a fish.
+
+"You shut up," said Frank. "How much do _you_ know about it? And what
+business have _you_ there in _our_ swimming-place?"
+
+"Tain't none of _your_ place, nuther; it's Mr. Seth Hardin's pastur.
+I've good right here's you have. If you touch me, I'll heave a stone at
+your head, and I'll tell our Sam, and he'll give you a lickin'."
+
+"What is the way, bub?" said Dan, too anxious to get the eggs to fling
+away any chance of success. "What do you know about it?"
+
+"I know our Sam would git up that tree quick as a cat would lick her
+ear, I swanny."
+
+"How, bub?"
+
+"Arter plantin', dad allers gives Sam half a day to go troutin' and git
+elum rine (elm rind) to string our corn, and me and Abigail allers go
+too. Sam takes the axe and starts a strip of bark at the butt of a tree,
+till he can git his hands hold; then he gives it a twitch, and rips it
+up clear to the limbs; then he starts another one till he gits enough.
+Arter that he takes hold of one on 'em, and climbs up jist like
+nothin', and cuts 'em all off but one rope that he saves to come down
+on. They break off sometimes when there's a knot-hole; they won't run
+over a knot-hole. Abigail and me has jolly times swingin' on the ropes
+afore he cuts 'em off, and strippin' 'em into twine arter he takes the
+outside bark off, and windin' 'em into big balls."
+
+The inner bark of the elm, cedar, bass, and willow is very strong and
+tough; when peeled from the outside layer and soaked in water it makes a
+very good substitute for twine. Our ancestors were taught the value of
+it by the Indians, and used it to string their corn and bind sheaves,
+and some old-fashioned people have not yet abandoned the practice.
+Getting elm rind and cutting withe rods were always popular with the
+boys, as it gave them part of a holiday.
+
+"That's it," said Dan; "I see it all now. Here, bub."
+
+He gave him three cents, upon which little Red-head put his bare feet to
+the ground and went off at a killing pace.
+
+An axe was procured at Seth Harding's, and a strip of bark peeled from
+the butt of the tree to one of the lower limbs.
+
+"Let us all go up," said Horace. "We will stay in the tree and take the
+nest from Frank. He's the lightest to go out on the limb."
+
+Frank, taking hold of the piece of bark, put his legs around the tree,
+and pulled himself up, ascending in this way quite easily. Too impatient
+to wait, Dan and Horace followed suit, all three ascending at the same
+time.
+
+In their haste and anxiety to run the bark as far up as possible, in
+order to reach one of the lower limbs easily, they ran it too far,
+within a few inches of the place where the branch joined the tree. The
+result of this was, that when they were pretty well up the trunk, Frank
+incautiously pressing the bark from the tree with his knees, it started
+the second time and ran out on the limb. Away swung the boys, far off
+from the trunk, in mid-air. The bark kept running narrower and narrower,
+as the limb grew smaller, till, its farther progress being suddenly
+arrested by a number of small limbs, it divided up and broke, while the
+boys came down into the water, amid the shouts and laughter of the rest,
+who were either swimming or putting on their clothes.
+
+[Illustration: A SLIPPERY ELM. Page 266.]
+
+Frank escaped without hurt, but he gave Dan a bloody nose with the heels
+of his shoes, while Horace, who was undermost, barked both shins on a
+rock that just broke the surface of the water.
+
+Learning wisdom from experience, they stripped the bark at the next
+trial farther from the limb, ascending one at a time, and met with no
+difficulty. The branch on which the nest hung bent over the river.
+Frank, grasping the branch, put his feet on the one directly beneath it,
+and thus gradually worked his way till he came very near the nest, and
+the parent birds began to fly around his head.
+
+But the branch now bent so much that Dan, who had been the most anxious
+to obtain the nest and its contents, begged him to desist and give it
+up; so did Horace; but Frank's blood was up and his pride roused, for
+there was a crowd of boys looking at him.
+
+"If I fall," he said, "I shall fall into the water, and I can swim
+ashore."
+
+At length he could touch the outside of the nest with the tips of his
+fingers.
+
+"O, if my arm was only two inches longer!"
+
+"Don't, Frank," said Dan, "go any farther. It frightens me to see the
+limb bend so."
+
+Scarcely were the words uttered, when the limb upon which he stood broke
+as he was holding to the branch above by only one hand. Reaching after
+the nest with the other, he fell feet foremost into the river, catching
+by the limbs as he went. There were boys still in the water, who,
+instantly swam to him, while Dan and Horace, hurrying down the tree,
+plunged in. Frank kept himself on top of the water, after rising, but
+when the boys reached him, said,--
+
+"I can't swim; I believe my leg is broke. I struck something under
+water, and heard it snap."
+
+It was on a Saturday afternoon that this accident occurred, and Rich had
+embraced the opportunity to work upon his bones. He was busily engaged
+in the harness-room, with the door fastened, when he was startled by a
+rousing rap, and the voice of Dan clamoring for admittance. Opening the
+door, he beheld Dan pale and excited, and the face of Mrs. Clemens over
+his shoulder, who manifested no less alarm.
+
+"O, Mr. Richardson!" cried Dan, "Frank's fell off a tree and broke his
+leg. Horace and Mr. Harding have carried him home, and Dr. Ryan has gone
+down there, and wants you to come right down. Mr. Harding said be
+expected they'd cut his leg off. Mr. Richardson, don't let 'em cut poor
+Frank's leg off--will you?"
+
+"I hope it won't be necessary," said Rich, as he locked the door; "but
+the doctors will do what they think is for the best."
+
+"Just what I have been expecting all the spring, ever since this
+egg-hunting began. I hope it will be a solemn warning to you, Daniel,"
+said his mother.
+
+It happened very opportunely that this was a day fixed upon by Dr. Ryan
+and his friend, Dr. Slaughter, to remove a tumor, the person being one
+of Dr. Ryan's patients. They had returned, having performed the
+operation, and were at the house in a few moments after the boy was
+brought home, and Richardson was not far behind them.
+
+"You had better strip the limb, Mr. Richardson," said Dr. Ryan; "he is
+more familiar with you."
+
+Rich bared the leg by ripping the clothes at the seam, and the two
+physicians commenced their examination. In his fall the boy had struck
+on the end of a sunken log, the remaining portion being imbedded in the
+bank, and both bones were broken. The tibia (or larger bone) was
+fractured obliquely, the sharp point of the upper end protruding through
+the skin; and the fibula (or smaller bone) probably with a pipe-stem
+fracture (square across.)
+
+The physicians now went into a room apart for consultation, and Rich,
+whom they did not invite to accompany them, employed himself in
+examining the leg, and endeavoring to soothe and encourage the boy.
+
+Dr. Slaughter gave it as his opinion, that the limb must be amputated at
+once.
+
+Dr. Ryan shrank from this, referred to the age and firm constitution of
+the patient, thought "it was a pity that the boy should be made a
+cripple at his time of life; that, though one of the fractures was
+oblique, the bone was not comminuted, and hoped it might be set, and the
+patient do well."
+
+His brother physician, on the other hand, was positive.
+
+"It was a compound fracture, and it was a settled principle in anatomy
+always to amputate in a compound fracture. Air had been admitted, the
+muscles and integuments lacerated and bruised; mortification would take
+place, the leg would have to be amputated higher up after all, with
+scarcely a chance for life."
+
+Dr. Ryan, accustomed for years to look to his companion for direction in
+all surgical operations, was obliged to yield the point; and the parents
+were informed it was the opinion of the physicians that amputation was
+necessary. Mr. Merrill, who reposed the greatest confidence in Dr. Ryan,
+and was not aware that he had hesitated in the matter, acquiesced at
+once, though with tears, for Frank was their only child.
+
+But it was very different with the mother, who was a woman of excellent
+judgment, great penetration, and decision of character. She utterly
+refused, divined that Dr. Ryan secretly cherished a different opinion
+and did not act freely, and entreated the physicians to set the bones,
+and bind up the wound. But this Dr. Slaughter refused to do. They then
+informed their son of the doctors' decision.
+
+"Mother," said Frank, "I had rather die than have my leg cut off, and be
+a cripple for life."
+
+They then asked the opinion of Rich, but he declined to advance any.
+
+"Well, wife," said the husband, "we must say something; the doctors are
+waiting. I'll do as you think best."
+
+"I," replied she, firmly, "will not give my consent to amputation."
+
+"Well, abide the consequences, then," said Dr. Slaughter; and he left
+the house in a huff, followed reluctantly by his companion and
+Richardson.
+
+The parents looked at each other, after they had gone, in doubt and
+dread. There lay the boy, nothing done as yet, and every moment of
+delay, increasing the difficulty of cure and augmenting the danger.
+
+"Shall I harness up, wife, and go to B. after Dr. Loring, or to M. after
+Dr. Blake?"
+
+"They will probably refuse to do anything but amputate. No, husband. Let
+us send for Mr. Richardson."
+
+"O, do, mother," said Frank; "he's better than all the other doctors in
+this world, and he loves me."
+
+"It is not likely he would do anything," replied the father. "We asked
+his opinion, and he wouldn't give any."
+
+"To be sure he wouldn't before them. I know that he didn't think the
+limb ought to be taken off--saw it in his looks. I don't believe Dr.
+Ryan did, either, only Dr. Slaughter has got him under his thumb."
+
+Rich was eating his supper when Mr. Merrill came for him, and shoving
+back his plate, went with him directly.
+
+"Mr. Richardson," said the mother, "there is no one here but ourselves.
+Please to speak freely. Do you think it is necessary or best to cut off
+Frank's leg?"
+
+"I do not. I think there is as great a chance for the boy to live with
+the limb on as off--that the bones may be set, and the limb saved as
+good as ever."
+
+"Will you give me your reasons, and tell me what Dr. Slaughter meant by
+a compound fracture, and why doctors always amputate in that case; and
+do it in language that his father and I can understand?"
+
+"A simple fracture is where the bones are broken, but there is no
+external wound, and when the bones are set they heal for the most part
+readily. But a compound fracture is one in which the bone pushes through
+the skin, the muscles are lacerated, or, by the agent that breaks the
+bone, an external wound made, and air admitted. The laceration of the
+muscles and the admission of air, especially the presence of air, causes
+inflammation, the wound suppurates, sloughs, instead of healing, and
+ulceration is produced; it then becomes necessary to amputate, and the
+patient, being reduced, often dies. The old physicians thought less of
+saving the limb than the modern ones, and in case of compound fracture
+always amputated."
+
+"Is not this a compound fracture?"
+
+"It must be defined as such technically. But the muscles are not
+lacerated; and though the bone protrudes, I have not the least doubt
+that it was done by the sharp point of the bone pricking through in
+consequence of the foot's falling back when they took him up, and that
+it was not forced through by the violence of the blow. It is therefore
+so near to a simple fracture that it may be considered and treated as
+one, with a fair chance of success, especially considering the patient's
+age, health, and the time of year (for the weather is not hot as yet),
+and that he is at home, where he will have the best of nursing."
+
+"Mr. Richardson," said the father, "I know in these matters the state of
+a patient's mind has much to do with the final results. The boy will not
+submit to amputation except by compulsion. That we cannot think of. But
+he loves you, and has the most perfect confidence in your ability. Will
+you set the bones, and do as you think best?"
+
+"Mr. Merrill, I am a young man, without experience to guide me. I have
+no guide other than what I have gathered from books, a few weeks'
+instruction, and practice of dissection at Brunswick, and my own
+unmatured judgment; but I also know that before you can get a physician
+here from another town, swelling will take place, and the chance of
+recovery be greatly diminished. I will do it on condition that you take
+upon yourselves all the responsibility. If a regular physician should
+amputate the limb, and the result be unfavorable, it would be said he
+took the regular steps; he would have the authority of precedent, and
+the approval of other physicians; and the ill success would be
+attributed to the providence of God; whereas in my case it would be
+said, 'He is a rash, ignorant upstart and pretender, puffed up with
+conceit to trifle with human life.' It would destroy confidence in me
+for the future, and prove a poor introduction to practice."
+
+"We will do that, and, moreover, make it public, let the event be what
+it may."
+
+Rich now manifested as much despatch as he had previously displayed
+reluctance.
+
+"Frank," he said, "I shall be obliged to give you some pain, but I will
+not do it unnecessarily, nor to any great extent."
+
+The bone completely filled the wound it had made, the point protruding
+slightly, and a little blood trickled down the leg from a slight flesh
+wound in the upper part of the thigh. Rich in the first place removed
+the protruding point of ragged bone with the saw, and then, dipping a
+bunch of lint in the blood that issued from the flesh wound, gave it to
+Dan to hold. He then gently returned the bone, Dan applying the lint,
+and lightly pressing it to the wound as the bone receded. Rich then
+applied a sticking plaster, spread only at the edges, over the whole,
+sponged, and bound up the flesh wound. Thus, no air having been admitted
+to the wound, the fracture, in that respect, and on account of the
+absence of laceration, might be considered as virtually a simple one.
+Then, with the aid of assistants, he flexed the thigh on the abdomen and
+the leg on the thigh, thus relaxing the muscles, by which he was enabled
+to put the bones in place, and, retaining them with his hands, brought
+the leg gently down and straightened it.
+
+One assistant, now taking hold of the heel, extended the leg, while
+another held the thigh, and Rich manipulated the ends of the bones. By
+bringing the heels and toes of both feet in line, and sighting across,
+they assured themselves that the legs were of equal length, and the foot
+in the right position; that there was no twist, no turning of the foot
+out or in. He then applied the splints, and, in order to preserve
+extension, by reason of the contraction of the muscles, put a shoe on
+the foot and attached half of a brick to it with a string. It requires a
+good deal of force to counteract the contraction of a muscle, if exerted
+at once, but much less when applied gradually and constantly.
+
+Although progress was now the watchword among the younger portion of the
+medical fraternity, and a decided improvement had been made in surgical
+instruments, still very few of the appliances now in common use were
+then known in this country (starch and plaster of Paris, and dextrine
+bandages for broken bones, fracture-beds and boxes, cutting-forceps to
+remove bone, &c.,) and Richardson could not have obtained them if they
+had been, and, like his grandfather, under the stimulus of a determined
+purpose, invented the appliances he felt to be needful.
+
+"It's all over now, Frank," said Rich, sitting down by him and patting
+his cheek; "the leg is set, and you have borne it like a hero. Remember
+you are _my_ boy after this, and when your leg gets well I shall expect
+you to run all my errands. This dressing is only temporary, because the
+limb will swell, and the bandages perhaps, require to be loosened. It
+will be five or six days before the bones will begin to knit, and then I
+shall put on a permanent fixture. I am going to take care of you myself
+to-night, as to-morrow is Sunday, no school, and I can sleep. After that
+I must be in school."
+
+Having requested the family to retire, he placed the light in the next
+room, administered a sedative to the patient, and resumed his seat
+beside him. Never had Rich such cause for anxiety before. In addition to
+his affection for the lad, who was in truth a noble-minded, lovable boy,
+he felt that he had ventured upon an innovation in surgical practice,
+and taken a bold step, which success alone could justify. The confidence
+reposed in him by the parents in thus placing their only child in his
+hands touched him to the quick, and he felt that it was with him the
+turning-point, the decisive step in professional life.
+
+Kneeling down by the bedside, he offered a heartfelt petition to God
+for direction and support.
+
+"Mr. Richardson," said Frank.
+
+"What is it, my boy?"
+
+"I begin to feel drowsy, and my leg don't pain me much. I want to kiss
+you before I go to sleep."
+
+Rich bent over him, and the grateful boy, putting his arms around his
+teacher's neck, kissed him, and dropped asleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+THE YOUNG FLOOD.
+
+
+Two or three times before midnight Frank started spasmodically, and once
+would have risen up in bed if Rich had not held him down; as it was, he
+clasped his physician convulsively around the neck with great force.
+
+"What is the matter, Frank?"
+
+"I thought I was falling out of the tree. I suppose I was dreaming."
+
+In one respect Rich was favorably situated. He had but one patient, and
+every moment he could spare from his school he either spent at the
+bedside of the boy, or in studying his case by the aid of books; he
+availed himself of the experience of Dr. Ryan, who knew the constitution
+of the lad, sympathized with Rich, and, in the exercise of a noble
+generosity, told him he was glad he had taken charge of the case, and
+believed he would succeed.
+
+The means resorted to by Rich to prevent inflammation were crowned with
+success; the swelling of the muscles, never excessive, soon subsided,
+and he found the wound was healing by the first intention, which far
+exceeded his most sanguine hopes, as he feared some air might have
+entered, or some splinter of bone be lying loose in the wound that would
+cause suppuration.
+
+It was time for new bone to begin to form, and consequently the shape
+the limb now assumed it would retain through life. Rich knew several
+persons in town whose limbs had been broken and set by Dr. Ryan, and he
+could hardly recall a single instance in which the operation had been
+entirely successful; nearly all walked with a hitch in their gait, many
+used a staff, or wore a peculiarly-shaped shoe. He also noticed that
+most of the persons thus partially crippled lived at a long distance
+from Dr. Ryan, and concluded that it arose in a good degree either from
+a mistaken economy on the part of the patient, anxious to save the cost
+of a visit, or from careless bandaging on the part of the doctor.
+
+Excited to the highest degree by the brilliant success thus far
+attained, and knowledge that the boy's life was safe, he longed, O, how
+ardently! to make a _perfect_ cure, and restore the leg to its original
+form and efficiency.
+
+He reflected that less discretion and regard to future consequences were
+to be expected from a lad like Frank than from a grown person; didn't
+feel satisfied with the old splints, was afraid that, unless he bandaged
+the leg so tight as to impede the circulation, the restless boy would,
+just at the critical period when the bone was forming, get the parts out
+of place.
+
+"I know," said Rich to himself, "that I am mechanic enough to _place_
+those bones as they should be, and I'll see if I cannot contrive some
+way to _keep_ them there in spite of this wide-awake youngster."
+
+He went to bed in order to think about it, and in the morning at the
+breakfast table said to Mrs. Clemens,--
+
+"Where did you get that blue clay the girl was putting on the floor
+yesterday to take out a grease-spot? It had no more grit than
+tailors'-chalk."
+
+"Daniel got it somewhere."
+
+"I got it down in Milliken's Gully, Mr. Richardson. You might cut it
+with a razor, and not dull the razor; there's not a stone or one mite of
+grit in it. I got it to make marbles."
+
+Richardson procured a quantity of the clay, dried, pounded, sifted, and
+made it into a very thin mortar. He then took the splints from Frank's
+leg, placed the bones precisely as he wanted them, put the leg in a box,
+fastened the upper portion of his body to the bed that he could not
+move, and poured the clay mortar into the box till it completely
+enveloped the leg and foot. He then pulled the bed under the window,
+where the sun shone full on the clay, took hold of Frank's foot, and sat
+down.
+
+"How long are you going to keep me lashed down so, Mr. Richardson?"
+
+"Till this clay dries. And I shall hold your foot just where it is till
+then."
+
+"Why, Mr. Richardson," said Mrs. Merrill, "it will take all day for that
+clay to dry."
+
+"No, it won't, with the warmth of the leg on one side, and that of the
+sun on the other, it won't take _half_ a day."
+
+"But the academy bell will ring in about fifteen minutes."
+
+"Parson Meek is going to take my place this forenoon; so you may prepare
+to give me some dinner, for I shall sit here till the clay hardens, if
+it is till to-morrow evening."
+
+The clay was stiff, though not dry, before noon, and Frank's leg
+immovably fixed in the position Rich had placed it.
+
+"Now, Frank, you have behaved so well, I am going to put you in a
+chair."
+
+Rich and Mr. Merrill took Frank up, placed him in a chair, and put the
+leg, box and all, on two others.
+
+"Now, my boy, you may sit at the table and eat dinner with us, if you
+will eat only what I prescribe; and you may thank the blue clay in
+Milliken's Gully for that. Blue clay, forever, Frank. Were it not for
+that you would have had to lie on your back twenty days or more."
+
+After the meal was ended, Rich, with a saw, cut out a portion of the
+clay, in order to be able to get at that part of the leg the bone had
+penetrated. The box was also lined with paper, that the clay might not
+stick to it, and put together with screws, in order that it might be
+taken to pieces. This was Rich's fracture box, not very elegant, and for
+which he never took out any patent; being made, the sides, of the cover
+of an old herring box; but it answered the purpose completely, fastening
+the limb as firmly in the box as though it grew there, and as
+effectually preventing any motion of the ankle or toes, by which the
+bones might be displaced.
+
+When Rich went to the academy in the afternoon, he returned Frank to his
+bed; and the next morning he was taken up again, and, as the cure
+progressed, sat up more and more. He could now read, play checkers with
+Dan and Horace, and the time passed less tediously. He now importuned
+his physician to take his leg out of the box; but Rich peremptorily
+refused, though he allowed him a more generous diet.
+
+When a full month had elapsed, Rich took the box apart, sawed through
+the coating of clay the whole length, and peeled it off, removed the
+bandage, washed the leg, gave it a smart rubbing, and compared it with
+the other. After examining the limb a long time very carefully, he
+said,--
+
+"If those two legs are not as well matched as they were before, I am
+very much mistaken."
+
+"Shall I be lame any, Mr. Richardson?" said Frank.
+
+"If you are, it will be your own fault. If you are careless now, you
+will rue it as long as you live, for the parts are not consolidated yet,
+and the oblique fracture in the large bone requires a longer time to
+heal than the square break in the other."
+
+Rich put on the clay again, but without the box, and in less quantity,
+confining it by a bandage, slung the patient's leg to his neck, and
+permitted him to take exercise by walking about the house on crutches,
+some one accompanying him; and when he permitted him to put his injured
+leg to the floor, it was found to be of the same length as the other.
+
+Mr. Merrill rewarded Rich most liberally, being abundantly able, and
+with expressions of grateful feeling that were more gratifying to the
+recipient than even the money. It was a proud and glad morning to him
+when Frank Merrill came to school with his books under his arm, escorted
+by Dan and Horace Williams, and with as firm a tread as his companions.
+
+Scarcely had Frank's case been disposed of, when a younger sister of
+Mrs. Merrill, a member of the choir, and a most lovely girl as far as
+personal attractions, correct principles, and amiability of disposition
+went, was taken down with a lung fever; and the patient, with her
+parents and Mrs. Merrill, insisted that Rich should manage the case.
+This was more practice than Rich either desired or felt himself
+qualified to assume, and he told them so, and that he should pursue
+quite a different method from the ordinary practice, which was, in that
+disease, to bleed patients till they fainted, give them antimony to
+reduce the action of the heart, till, in reducing the inflammation, they
+often made an end of the patient. The young lady's relatives informed
+him they were not at all concerned about that, and to adopt the course
+his judgment dictated. In so doing, Rich drew no blood, and pursued a
+course calculated to support the strength of the patient as much as
+possible, and was successful in this case also.
+
+At the conclusion of the summer term Rich resolved to make another visit
+to his parents, but felt that in his present circumstances he could
+afford to ride; and, what was very singular, he spent a night at farmer
+Conant's, taking the stage from his door the next afternoon. It
+certainly could not have been from fatigue, as on the former occasion.
+It was probably to thank the hospitable farmer for his kindness then,
+and it was a noble thing in Rich not to forget, in the moment of
+success, those who had been his friends in adversity.
+
+With the fall term commenced another year of the academical course, when
+it was necessary for Rich to make a new arrangement with the trustees,
+who were very anxious to retain him, and offered to increase his
+salary. On the other hand, Dr. Ryan wanted him to give up the academy,
+devote himself entirely to the study of medicine, obtain a medical
+diploma, go into practice with him and finally take his place, as he did
+not care to practise any more.
+
+The doctor said he loved him as a son, and that if he did not improve
+the opening, some other young man would certainly come who might be very
+objectionable.
+
+Rich replied that he would at the expiration of two years, and then
+agreed to keep the academy one year longer; thus affording himself a
+year of uninterrupted study, in addition to what he could accomplish
+while teaching, and resolutely refused all invitations to take charge of
+patients.
+
+The fall term had been going on but a week when he received a visit from
+Morton. The inhabitants of the village showed great attention to Morton,
+as a compliment to Rich, and especially Mr. Merrill's family, and that
+of Mr. George Litchfield, the father of the young lady Rich had attended
+during a course of lung fever.
+
+As the two friends were walking one evening, Morton said,--
+
+"Rich, why don't you make up to that Miss Litchfield? She's a beautiful
+girl, intelligent, accomplished, and of most amiable disposition, I
+know, for she shows it in her very looks. You are about to jump into a
+fat practice, that will give you a handsome living at once, and it is
+time you were thinking of such matters. I know she likes you, and her
+father is wealthy, which, though I know it would weigh little with you,
+is not to be despised."
+
+"Mort, why did not you take Miss T., whom you used to like to escort to
+exhibitions and commencements, and walk with, and who was more beautiful
+than Harriet Litchfield, and in preference engaged yourself to Eliza
+Longley?"
+
+"Because I wanted a wife, not a doll, a woman who would make for me a
+happy home."
+
+"Now you have answered your own question. Miss Litchfield is beautiful
+and of a sweet temper, for I have seen her when sick, and sickness
+developes character. She is well educated, sings finely, plays well, is
+not vain, and is sincerely pious, but has neither industry, energy, nor
+a single domestic trait. She cannot make or mend, get a meal's victuals,
+or tell anybody else how to do it. Her counsel in the emergencies of
+life, which you and I have known something about even at our age, would
+not be worth the asking. Why, Mort, she is as hollow as the stalk of a
+seed onion; no resources in herself, and for all the practical duties of
+life utterly useless. How could I respect a woman who, if she has not a
+piano to amuse, or some gossip to engage her attention, sits and folds
+her hands, and resembles a wooden clock, the face the best part of it?
+You saw how my mother stood up under the load, and took her share of
+it, when father's property was swept into the Atlantic; and it will be a
+long day before a boy who has such a mother marries a doll."
+
+"I rather think, Rich, such a woman as you want is not easily found."
+
+"Neither are diamonds. But you found such a one, and so have I."
+
+"Indeed! I congratulate you. But who and where is she? Is she handsome?"
+
+"She is not beautiful, but as handsome as good health, regular features,
+and a perfect form can render a woman."
+
+"Is she accomplished?"
+
+"To the highest degree. She can spin and weave, wash and mend, make
+butter, and make clothes; and when she's tired, or has a leisure hour,
+can sit down and obtain both profit and pleasure from a thoughtful
+book."
+
+"It is little you would have thought of falling in love with such a
+woman when we first knew each other. What has become of all the poetry
+that was in you then, and, I had almost said, the froth on the top of
+the liquor?"
+
+"It went to sea when the boom broke."
+
+"I long to see her."
+
+"You shall Sunday, and eat a dinner of her cooking. We will ride over
+there Saturday. She is a farmer's daughter. There is no _property_ in
+the matter, of the kind you referred to just now. It is all in _her_."
+
+"You know what I told you, Rich, so long ago, when we were sitting on
+the steps of your old house, and the cat shoved her nose into your
+bosom. It was dead _low water_ then; but now the tide has not only
+turned, but it is young flood, and the tide will continue to flow till,
+at high water it will lift the strawberry leaves on the edge of the
+bank."
+
+"True, Mort; but I do not regret the trial. I have gained more than I
+lost by it. Have you heard anything from college lately, or from our old
+class?"
+
+"No. All our acquaintances are gone, and there is a new set in
+Radcliffe. But they are only going to keep it during the fall term;
+after that it is to be made into a dwelling-house. Charlie Longley wrote
+me that the dam at the Glen had washed away in the fall rains, and the
+pond had run out."
+
+Their conversation was interrupted by meeting Dr. Ryan, who invited them
+to go home with him, enjoy a sing, and take tea.
+
+The next volume of the series is entitled, A STOUT HEART, OR, THE
+STUDENT FROM OVER THE SEA.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Turning of the Tide, by Elijah Kellogg
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TURNING OF THE TIDE ***
+
+***** This file should be named 54772.txt or 54772.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+ http://www.gutenberg.org/5/4/7/7/54772/
+
+Produced by David Edwards, Martin Pettit and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+book was produced from scanned images of public domain
+material from the Google Books project.)
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
+paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works. See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
+
+1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+ the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+ you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is
+ owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+ has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+ Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments
+ must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+ prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+ returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+ sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+ address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+ the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+ you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+ does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+ License. You must require such a user to return or
+ destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+ and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+ Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+ money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+ electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+ of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+ distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+ Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+ Chief Executive and Director
+ gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+ http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/54772.zip b/54772.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..186d102 --- /dev/null +++ b/54772.zip |
