CHAPTER VI.
“WHERE are you going, pop?� asked Robert, as Mr. Wycliff drove into the yard, with a horse and carriage, one fine morning.
“Going to take you and ma for a little ride into God’s country,� replied the father.
“But I thought everywhere was God’s country,� replied the little fellow in surprise.
“Surely,� replied the father. “All this beautiful world is the Lord’s, but He seems to have given the greater part of the land about here to the Baldwins, or perhaps it would be more nearly correct to say that He has allowed them to grab it. I expect to take you to-day to see a place, which seems to me to be more especially God’s country, because He has not allowed one man, or one family, to get possession of all of it.�
“And you think it is a better country?�
“Indeed I do, in some respects.�
After passing out of the paper-manufacturing village of Papyrus, eastward, they came to a big, deserted, wooden mill, with many tumble-down houses near it.
“Say, pop, what village is this?�
“Sodom.�
“And what is that old stone mill beyond?�
“That is Gomorrah.�
“Quite a place for Bible names,� broke in Mrs. Wycliff. “Those ruins of another old stone mill, also broken down and deserted, I suppose are Babylon?�
“Exactly so, my dear, and farther up stream we shall pass Tyre and Sidon, also broken down and deserted. This entire river-valley along here is often called the Valley of Desolation.�
“Who owns it?� asked Mrs. Wycliff.
“The Baldwins, who bought it, for a very little, from the Quiet Valley Woolen Company.�
“Why don’t the Baldwins build paper-mills here?�
“I cannot tell you. It has always seemed to be the Baldwin policy to build up the other end of the town, at the expense of this end. Certainly the Baldwins have played the part of the ‘dog in the manger,’ in regard to East Papyrus. They will neither build mills here themselves, nor will they sell the property so that anyone else can build here. The Wessons, who own the paper-mills at Papyrus Center, would have built mills here, giving employment to a large number of people, if they could have secured the property. The Baldwins have already made plans for robbing East Papyrus of her water-power, which is all that this end of the town has left.�
“But how can they do that?�
“Very easily. The water-power can be transformed into electricity, and then the electricity can be transferred by wire, to the Baldwin Mills, at the west end of the town. The plans are already made. It will increase the dividends of the Baldwin Mills, which already pay enormous profits, but it makes the prospectfor rebuilding East Papyrus much blacker than before.�
“But wouldn’t it be better for the town of Papyrus to have all its mills rebuilt and running at a fair profit, than to have a part of them running at an immense profit?� protested Mrs. Wycliff.
“Certainly; it is not the good of the town, but the enrichment of the Baldwins, which is to be considered. These shrewd financiers rarely spend a dollar, unless they feel sure that it will come back, leading several other dollars with it.�
“But they gave that beautiful big building to the town, pop,� put in Robbie.
“Yes. It cost the Baldwins one hundred thousand dollars, and it has cost the town twice that.�
“How is that, pop?�
“In taxes lost. The Assessors say:—‘we must tax the Baldwins lightly, because they are so generous to the town.’ Some of the Baldwin properties are not assessed for more than one-third value,an enormous loss to the town in taxes.�
Soon they left the valley, and began to climb the mountain, still going eastward.
“Wild flowers, pop. Please hold up, and let me get some.� The boy soon returned to the carriage, with his hands full of the blossoms of the coltsfoot, white, blue, and yellow violets, bell-flowers, and wake-robins. As they ascended the mountains, they found the trailing arbutus and the spring-beauty, which had bloomed earlier in the valleys.
A beautiful farm was reached.
“Who owns this?� asked Mrs. Wycliff.
“Thomas Bothan. He has retired from business, and spends some of his time here. I hope I may find him.� Then, for the first time, he told his wife of the last day at Beauna Vista,—how Sharp and Bothan had conspired to keep back a part of his wages on Bothan’s old debt. He had not dared to tell her at the time.
He soon found Mr. Bothan.
“I want a receipt in full,� he said, ashe produced the money due Bothan, and then, taking leave of him, he added:—“The last debt I owe will be paid to-day, and I have paid every debt as fast as I was able to do so. You would have received yours just as promptly, had you not tried to take the bread away from my family to get it.�
For a distance their route lay through a grand old forest of large trees. The boy was jubilant as he saw, first a striped squirrel, then a red one, then a gray, and then:—
“Oh, look quick, pop; what was that? It looked like a squirrel, but it flew, or rather it sailed, from one tree to another.�
“A flying squirrel.�
“And there’s a rabbit. Oh, now I begin to see why you call this God’s country.�
About noon they reached their destination, the farm of Phillips Porter, in Sprucemont, where they were expected, and where a substantial meal was awaiting them.
“You have been very patient with me,� said Wycliff, as he paid Porter about one hundred dollars, the last debt he owed. Mr. Porter told again to-day, (and he seemed to enjoy telling it,) the story of how he came to leave Papyrus.
“It was many years ago, and Mack Baldwin, father of the present generation of paper-makers, was in control, although Zechariah and David were young men then, just learning the business. The Baldwins were not then so completely in control of the town of Papyrus as they are now. Captain Bolton Wesson, who built the paper-mills at Papyrus Center, was a broader and better man than Mack Baldwin, and the two were often opposed to one another in town-affairs.
“Captain Wesson wanted the town-hall located at the Center, the natural and proper place for it, but Mack Baldwin demanded that it be built at the West End, the part of the town which he owned. At the approaching town-meeting, every employee of Mack Baldwin was warned to vote for locating thehall at the West End. At the town-meeting Baldwin had spotters to take the names of any of his employees who voted against him. I was working in his mill then, but I voted for building the hall at the Center. Next morning I was called into the mill-office, where I met Mack Baldwin and his sons, Zechariah and David. David is the present Congressman.
“Mack Baldwin handed me my pay, at the same time calling me a vile name. Now, in those days I had never met a man who could handle me,—�
“They are not plenty, even now,� said Wycliff, interrupting him.
“Perhaps not; but in those days I looked at such things in a different light from what I do now. Since then I have learned the gospel of forbearance, and to-day I almost despise mere brute force; but in those days I did not allow anyone to call me a vile name, and Mack Baldwin had scarcely spoken the word when he lay on the floor at my feet. The two sons interfered, but they followed theirfather in double-quick time. I had the three wolves in a heap, in their own den, in much less time than I am telling you of it. Then the book-keepers interfered and followed their employer.�
“But I was terribly frightened when I heard of it,� said his wife. “I thought Phillips would have to go to jail. We were only engaged then.�
“Of course I was arrested,� continued Mr. Porter, “and taken before the district court at Elmfield. Judge Tuttle, who presided over that court, had been a colonel in the Union army, and lost a leg at Gettysburg. He despised Mack Baldwin, who made a million out of the government’s distress, by gambling in stocks in Wall Street. The Judge listened patiently while all the evidence was given, although there seemed to me to be a far-away look in his eyes, as if he were thinking of the days when he and Captain Wesson were fighting for the Union, while Mack Baldwin was making a fortune out of the war at home.
“‘Mack Baldwin,’ said the Judge, ‘you discharged the accused because he did not vote as you ordered him to, did you not?’ Baldwin could not deny it. ‘And you called him a vile name, to boot?’ continued the Judge. Baldwin admitted it.
“‘Discharged,’ thundered Judge Tuttle, as if he were again giving orders on the battle-field, and picking up his hat and cane, he stumped out of the courthouse to dinner, while there were roars of applause in the room which he had left.
“Captain Wesson was in the courtroom, so as to go bail for me if necessary, and I never saw a man more pleased than he was. He offered me work, if I wanted, but the girl I had left behind me, here in the country, didn’t want to live in Papyrus, so I bought this farm, and I have never been sorry I did so. We are comfortably off here, and I do not have to ask how I shall vote. Many of the mill-hands in Papyrus are little better than slaves when it comes to voting.Under the Australian ballot, they may vote for the men they prefer for town-officers, but not for town-appropriations and other measures, without making themselves liable to the wrath of their employers. The Baldwins never ceased their ancient policy of discharging and driving out of town, if possible, any of their workmen who opposed their policy in town-affairs by voice or vote.�
In the afternoon the entire party of Porters and Wycliffs drove to Twin Mountain, near by, there being a wood-road, almost to the summit, nearly as good as the average mountain highway.
Sixty miles eastward was Mount Wachusett, seen to-day very dimly, and only visible at all in the clearest weather. Nearer, guarding the Connecticut Valley, were Mount Tom and Mount Holyoke.
“Say, pop, what mountain is that? It looks like a pyramid from here.�
“That is Monadnock. What state is it in, Robbie?�
“In New Hampshire,� answered the boy, proud to exhibit his knowledge ofthe geography of the states hereabouts.
“And there, very dim, scarcely more than a blue line in the west, are the Catskills and Adirondacks. I don’t believe you remember where they are.�
“Surely I do. What did I go to school for? They are in New York.�
“And that beautiful mountain close by. Can you tell the name of the highest mountain in our own state?�
“Greylock, or Saddle Mountain.�
“We have a view here of portions of New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont, besides a large portion of Massachusetts.�
“And this mountain-top is to be sold very cheap,� said Mr. Porter. “Mr. Daniels, the owner, is in California, in poor health, and has directed me to sell it for fifteen hundred dollars. There are three hundred acres in the farm, one hundred acres being heavy wood and timber, one hundred and fifty acres pasture, and fifty acres good tillage land. The house is comfortable, and the barn excellent. But I hardly need to tell you,as you are familiar with farms about here. Only for its location, so far from railroad, it would bring many times the price asked. As it is, it is the best bargain I know of. I would be glad to pay two hundred and fifty dollars for fifty acres of the pasture, which joins mine, but I don’t want the whole.�
“What do you say, ma?� asked Wycliff of his wife. “It’s the best bargain I’ve heard of in many a day. We’re not obliged to live on it, you know, we can rent it.�
“Buy it if you think best,� replied his wife. “We may be glad to use it for a summer home, if we are prospered.�
“I’d like to live here the whole year,� said Robbie. “It must be fine coasting here in the winter.�
“We get snow in July from the Bear’s Den,� said Mrs. Porter.
“I will take the farm at fifteen hundred dollars, and you may have the fifty-acre tract on your own terms,� said Wycliff.
Just then Robbie, who had wandereda few rods in advance of the rest of the party, came running back.
“Oh, ma, come quick! Here are some deer, just like those we used to see on Mrs. Colt’s grounds, in Hartford. Pop is right. This is God’s country, all right.�
Sure enough, there at the foot of the bluff were a half dozen of the beautiful creatures.
“They seem to understand that the law protects them,� said Mrs. Porter. “Sometimes they come into the barnyard with the cattle.�