TRUETT and Caleb were on their way before noon, but not until Truett
had first packed several bricks and fragments of bricks, from the
foundations of the old store, for shipment to New York, accompanied by
a request for probable selling figures of brick of the same natural
quality and properly made. He also wrote for an estimate of cost of a
modest brick-making outfit.
The two men returned within forty-eight hours with a written promise
from the trunk line company to lay the rails, if these and a proper
road-bed were provided, and take stock in payment for the work; also
to take a lease of the road, when completed, by guaranteeing a six per
cent dividend on the stock, which was not to exceed thirty thousand
dollars. The company also imparted the verbal reminder that a six
per cent stock, guaranteed by a sound company, would always be good
security on which to borrow money from any bank between the Missouri
River and the Atlantic Ocean.
"That being the case," said Philip, "I will subscribe all the cash
necessary to purchase the rails, if the road-bed and ties can be
provided according to Truett's plan."
"Don't, Philip!" said Caleb.
"Why not?"
"Because there's such a thing as bein' too big a man in a poor country,
especially if you're a newcomer. Other merchants will become jealous of
you, an' 'twill cause bad feelin' in many ways. Work public spirit for
all it's worth; give ev'rybody a chance; then, if toward the end there
shows up a deficiency, they'll be grateful to you for makin' it up. Do
you want the earth? Quite likely; so remember what the Bible says, 'The
meek shall inherit the earth,' by which I reckon it doesn't mean the
small-spirited, but the men who don't set their feller-men agin 'em by
pushin' themselves too far to the front. If folks here don't know that
you've a lot of money in the bank in New York, where's the sense of
lettin' 'em know it?"
"Right--as usual, Caleb," said Philip, after some impatient pursing of
his lips. "I begin to see, however, in this guaranteed stock--provided,
of course, that the farmers subscribe as freely as Truett's plan will
allow--a way of relieving the stringency of ready money in this county.
We may be able to start a small bank here in the course of time,
especially if any manufacturers can be attracted by the hard woods, the
railway, and the water-power."
"That would realize one o' my oldest an' dearest dreams," said Caleb,
"for 'twould put an end to the farmers' everlastin' grumblin' about how
much worse off they are than the people who have banks nigh at hand.
I don't expect 'em to be much better off--perhaps not any, for I've
noticed that almost any man that can borrow will go on borrowin' an'
spendin', wisely or otherwise, clean up to his limit, an' then want
money just as much as he did at first; but I'd like our farmers to have
the chance to learn it for 'emselves, for I'm very tired of askin'
'em, for years, to take an honest man's word for it."
Before sunset Philip had called in person on his brother merchants,
Doctor Taggess, the owner of the saw-mill, the county clerk, and
the hotel-keeper, and invited them to meet at his warehouse-store
that evening, immediately after the closing hour, for a private and
confidential talk on a business subject of general interest to the
community. Caleb went into the farming district and invited a flour
miller and several of the more intelligent farmers to attend the
meeting. At the appointed hour every one was present, the door was
locked, Philip briefly outlined the railway scheme, told of the main
line company's offer, and called upon Truett to detail his plan of
construction.
The young engineer responded promptly with facts and figures, and
made much of his proposed stock subscriptions to be paid for in labor
and ties, and the farmers present declared it entirely feasible. Most
of the merchants were frightened at the amount of cash that would
be required for rails, etc., as almost all of it would have to be
subscribed by them; but Philip, backed by the consciousness of his
own bank deposit in the East, assured them that through some Eastern
acquaintances he could get merchants' short notes discounted for a
large part of their subscriptions, and that the guaranteed stock could
be sold or borrowed on as soon as issued; if the cutting and delivery
of ties could begin at once, the road could be completed soon enough
to get the autumn and winter produce to market almost as rapidly as it
could be brought in.
At this stage of the proceedings the owner of the saw-mill promised to
expedite matters by subscribing five hundred dollars' worth of stock,
payable in ties at a fair price. The town's last railway excitement,
several years before, had caused him to buy in a lot of small timber
and saw it into ties, which had been dead stock ever since; he had even
tried to sell them for firewood. Doctor Taggess thought so highly of
the project that he said he would take a thousand dollars' worth of
stock; he had very little ready money, but through family connections
in the East he could raise the money by mortgaging his home. The
county clerk said he would take five hundred dollars' worth, the
hotel-keeper promised to take a similar amount, and the flour miller
asked to be "put down" for two hundred and fifty. By this time the
merchants lifted up their hearts and pledged enough more to secure
the purchase of the metal. It was then resolved that a public meeting
should be held within a week, at the court-house, roofless though it
still was, and all participators in the private consultation agreed to
"boom" the enterprise in the meantime to the best of their ability.
The public meeting was as enthusiastic and successful as could have
been desired. Caleb had already secured the right of way, as promised,
and a statement of this fact, added to those narrated above and
repeated at the meeting, elicited great applause. Truett announced
the valuations, estimated after much consultation, of the various
kinds of labor to be received in payment of stock; also, the price
of ties, and the length, breadth, thickness, and general quality of
the ties desired. As the required number of ties was apparently in
excess of the producing capacity of the local saw-mill and the farmers
tributary to Claybanks, it was resolved that tie subscriptions should
be solicited from the part of the county on the other side of the trunk
line, and thus expand the blessings of stockholdership. Then a list
of conditional subscriptions was opened, and it filled so rapidly,
that before the meeting adjourned there appeared to be secured as much
labor, money, and ties as would be needed; so a committee was appointed
to organize the Claybanks Railway Company according to the laws of the
state.
"Is it done--really done?" asked Grace and Mary, like two excitable
schoolgirls, when Philip, Caleb, and Truett returned to the store,
which was almost full of expectant farmers' wives.
"It is an accomplished fact--on paper," said Philip. "To that extent it
is done."
"Your own work, you mean," said Truett. "Mine has merely begun."
"When do you really begin?" asked Mary of her brother.
"To-day--this instant," was the reply, "if I can get a couple of
well-grown boys to assist me, while I go over the route with an
instrument and a lot of stakes."
Several farmers' wives at once offered the services of their own sons,
and went in search of them, while two of the women, more "advanced"
than the others, themselves volunteered to carry stakes, chains,
etc.,--anything to hurry that blessed railroad into existence.
Fortunately the arrival of several boys made the services of these
patriotic ladies unnecessary.
"The sooner I am able to avail myself of any labor that may offer, the
sooner I shall be ready for some of the ties. Oh, those ties! I wonder
how many farmers and their sons I shall have to instruct in hewing!"
said Truett.
"I wouldn't waste any time in thought on that subject, if I were you,"
said Caleb; "for what our farmers don't know about hewin' would take
you or any other man a long time to find out. How do you s'pose all the
beams an' standin' timbers of all the houses an' barns built in this
county was made in the days before there were any saw-mills nearer
than twenty miles? How do you s'pose some of the log houses here are
so tight in the joints that they need no chinkin'? I've heard of some
Eastern people bein' born with gold spoons in their mouths; well, it's
just as true that hundreds of thousands of Westerners were born with
axes in their hands. The axe was their only tool for years, an' they
got handy enough with it to do 'most anythin', from buildin' a house to
sharpenin' a lead-pencil!"
"Good for Caleb!" shouted a farmer's wife, and Truett made haste to
say:--
"I apologize to the entire West, and will put my mind at ease about the
ties."
The subject of conversation was changed by an irruption of farmers
and citizens, who wished to talk more about the new railroad, and
who rightly thought that the place where the engineer could be found
was the most likely source of information. The questions were almost
innumerable, and Truett, who was quite as excited as any of them,
told all he knew about what certain specified spur roads had done
for farming and wooded districts no more promising than Claybanks; so
the informal meeting became even more enthusiastic than the gathering
at the court-house had been, for the farmers' wives added fuel to the
flame. The spectacle impressed Grace deeply, well though she knew the
people; for from most of the faces was banished, for the time being,
the weary, resigned expression peculiar to a large portion of the
farming population of the newer states. Caleb, too, long though he had
known all the men and women in the throng, had his heart so entirely in
his face that Grace whispered to Mary:--
"Do look at your husband! Did you ever see him look so handsome, until
to-day?"
A strong, warm, nervous hand-clasp was the only reply for a moment;
then Mary whispered:--
"All the men here are fine-looking!--their faces are so expressive!
I've not noticed it until to-day. Where did Claybanks get such people?"
"Say all that to your husband, if you wish to fill his heart to
overflowing," said Grace, "and then, to please me, repeat it to Doctor
Taggess, or tell both of them at once." To share in the enjoyment, she
succeeded in getting Caleb and the Doctor close to her and Mary, and
quoted to them:--
"'Listen, my children, and you shall hear'--now, Mary!"
"I don't wonder that you're impressed," the Doctor replied, when Mary's
outburst concluded. His own eyes were gleaming, and Mary said afterward
that his face was her ideal of a hero at the moment of victory.
"Now, Mrs. Somerton, can you again wonder, as you've wondered aloud
to my wife and me, that I, whom you've kindly called a man of high
quality, have been content to pass my adult years among these backwoods
people? Do see their hearts and souls come into their faces! I know
they are not always so, but we never heard of any one remaining all the
while on the Mount of Transfiguration. It isn't the railway alone that
they're thinking of, but of what it will mean to themselves and their
hard-working wives, and to their children,--closer touch with the great
world of which they've read and wondered, better prices for their
yield, which means more creature comforts at home, better educational
facilities for their children, and less temptation for the children
to escape from the farm to the city. They know that all this must be
the work of time, but they've never before seen the beginning of it,
so now they're building air-castles as rapidly as a lot of magicians
in dream-land. I can't blame them, for I'm doing it myself, old and
cautious though I am. They can wait for the end, so can I; for all of
us, out here, have had long training in the art of waiting. At present
the beginning is joy enough, for I can't imagine how any one about us
could look happier."
The formal survey of the railway route began that afternoon, for the
people would listen to no suggestions of delay. It was completed
quickly, and that the company was not yet organized according to law
did not prevent the immediate offer and acceptance of a large working
force of men, boys, horses, etc., from the village itself. The young
engineer was his own entire staff, and also temporary secretary and
accountant of the enterprise; but as it was his first great job, he
enjoyed the irregularity of everything. From that time forward, for
several months, the village stores ceased to be lounging places. Any
villager or farmer with time to spare made his way to the line of the
new road, and feasted his eyes, apparently never to fulness, on the
promise of what was to be.
As the work progressed farther from the town, the farmers of the
vicinity, with their families, would saunter toward the line on Sunday
afternoons and linger for hours, talking of the good times that were
coming, and some of them actually moved their houses as near to the
track as possible, so that the inmates might be able to have the best
possible view of the trains when they began to run. When the road-bed
was made and the ties were placed, and the laying of the rails began,
entire families picnicked for a day at a time beside the track,
although the weather had become cold, merely to see a shabby locomotive
push backward some platform cars loaded with rails, and to see the
rails unloaded, and listen to the musical clamor of track-laying;
for did not each detail of the work bring nearer to them the hope of
Claybanks for a third of a century,--a completed railway?
Truett had been better than his word. He had promised to finish the
work by Christmas, but the formal opening ceremonies took place on
Thanksgiving Day; and more than half the people of the county took
part in it. With an eye to business the principal stockholders--the
Claybanks merchants--hired a passenger train for the day, and gave the
natives free rides to and from the nearest station that had a siding
and switch by which the train could be sent back. The station had not
a great town to support it,--merely five thousand people,--but as the
Claybankers roamed through the place and saw many houses finer than
any house in Claybanks, several streets that were paved with wooden
blocks and many that had sidewalks, saw the telegraph and telephone
wires, and a bank, and a fire-engine house, and horse-troughs into
which fresh water flowed steadily from pipes which were part of a
general service, their hearts were filled with the conviction that all
these comforts and conveniences had come through the possession of a
railway. Claybanks was in a fair way to become like unto that town, and
they made haste, each after his kind, to rejoice. Then all of them who
were farmers began to lay out, on their mental tablets, the appearance
of their own farms as they would be when divided into building lots,
and also to count the pleasing sums of money that would be paid by the
purchasers of the lots, and also the many creature comforts which the
money would buy.
The first freight car that left Claybanks for business purposes was
loaded with yellowish brown brick for New York, and all Claybanks
was present to wave hats, handkerchiefs, hands, and aprons, as it
moved slowly off. Claybanks wheat had gone East in times past, so
had Claybanks pork, and undoubtedly these products had entered into
the physical constitution of New York to some extent, but they could
not afterward be identified. Claybanks bricks, however, were very
different. They would be seen by every one, and they would make
Claybanks literally a part of the metropolis itself.
The meaning of all this was felt by the people of all classes; even
Pastor Grateway was so impressed by it that he preached a sermon from
the text, "They shall speak with the enemy in the gates," and that
there should be no doubt as to who "they" were, a brown brick was
at each side of the pulpit for the sides of the open Bible to rest
upon. The pastor, being a man of spiritual insight, did not neglect
to enlarge upon the fact that the bricks themselves were originally
clay--mere earth--that had been trampled underfoot for years, seemingly
useless, until it had been conformed in shape and quality to the uses
for which it had been designed from the foundation of the world, and
that each brick was a reminder that the most insensate lump of human
clay had in it the possibilities for which it had been created.
Nevertheless, the majority of the hearers only carried home with them
the conviction that the Claybanks brick-yard must become one of the
great things of the world--otherwise, why did the minister preach about
it?