set to work, and by nine o'clock a rough sketch for enclosing the
spring had been made. It would require thirteen hundred and fifty feet
of two-inch pipe to bring the water to the house, which would cost
$297 and the probable cost of the ditch would be $625. When the
figures were all put together it was found the improvement would mean
an outlay of $1172, if they paid to have the ditch dug, but, of
course, they could save $625, by doing the digging themselves.
"I'd like you to have the water in the house, Bettie," said her
husband, as he rose to retire, much worried at the large amount of
money, "but on top of all the expenditures we have made already, I
don't think it would be possible to put it in at this time."
"Well, we won't decide to-night, Joe," his wife said, smiling. "I
think it is always best to think such matters over carefully before we
undertake them."
All during the next day it was quite evident to Bob that his uncle was
puzzled and worried. On the impulse of the moment he had been
persuaded by John White, president of the First National Bank, to
invest in what he considered a very much larger equipment of live
stock than he would otherwise have done, and he had also allowed White
to persuade him to spend $1500 for the tractor, plow, disk and harrow.
The chances of making the farm earn enough to take care of the
interest on his obligations at the bank and perhaps pay off something
on the principal, looked all right while John White was explaining it,
but now that he had had sufficient time to reflect on the matter, he
felt that perhaps he had overstrained his resources in taking on this
additional financial burden.
It was not the six per cent interest that worried him so much as the
fact that Bettie wanted to spend almost $1200 to repair the house from
which there could be no returns--the cost of which would have to be
earned just the same. He was particularly silent and abrupt with Bob
as they worked upon the fence rows and scolded him severely when he
did not anticipate his wishes in the matter of placing the rails for
the repairs of the fence. He scolded him unmercifully when, through
his eagerness to please him, he happened to drop the sharp corner of a
rail on his uncle's hand. It was in this state of mind that Joe
Williams came in to supper that evening to greet his smiling wife.
Nothing was said during supper about putting in running water and
fitting up a new bathroom, but Bob noticed the roller towel and horn
comb had disappeared and that each had their own towel, brush and
comb. When the supper dishes had been put away, and they had all
adjourned to the sitting room, Bob's aunt opened the drawer in the
sitting-room table and took out several sheets of carefully compiled
figures, which she handed over to her husband.
"What's this, Bettie?" he asked, taking up the papers.
"That, Joe, is an inventory of our assets and liabilities," she
answered smiling.
"Well, does it look as bad as it sounds?" laughed her husband, as he
took up the statement and glanced at it hurriedly. "What's it all
about, Bettie, and why have you been worrying your head with figures
to-day?" he said, placing the papers on the table, without seeming to
comprehend their meaning.
"I've been thinking for several days, Joe, that we should know where
we stand in the matter of the cost of our farm and equipment, so that
we can figure out our possible income and profit. I don't think it
would be wise to go ahead and buy and sell without knowing in advance
the value of everything we own; the amount of money we're obligated
for in the way of loans and have estimated the probable cost of
carrying on the work through harvest, and what our crops and produce
ought to sell for."
ITEM INVENTORY APRIL 15,1916
Farm, 160 acres .................................... $6,000.00
Cows:
10 head @ $175 ................................... 1,750.00
8 head @ $60 ...................................... 480.00
Bull, 1 head @ $350 ................................... 350.00
Calves, 4 head @ $10 .................................... 40.00
Horses:
2 head @ $350 ..................................... 700.00
2 head @ $200 ..................................... 400.00
Hogs:
5 head @ $40 ...................................... 200.00
6 head @ $30 ...................................... 180.00
Sheep, 12 head @ $20 .................................. 240.00
Chickens ................................................ 50.00
Machinery and Tools .................................... 125.00
Automobile ............................................. 440.00
Feed and Supplies ..................................... 300.00
Growing Crops (Labor and Seed) ......................... 180.00
Cash .................................................. 110.00
Bills Receivable ....................................... 75.00
----------
Total Resources ................................... $11,620.00
Mortgage and Bills Payable ........................... 6,000.00
----------
Net Worth........................................... $5,620.00
"I have started with to-day, April 1, 1916, but next year it will be
better to take our inventory so that we can start on March 1st, which
will be just before the spring work starts. Then we can see what our
gain is for the year. We'll have to run separate accounts for all our
crops and stock as well as feed and labor in order to see what the
gain or loss is on any item. After we get them started, it will take
only a few minutes each day to keep them up to date."
"Here, you see," she continued, as she walked around the table and sat
on the arm of his chair, "I've listed the farm at its probable value--
$6000."
"But you have listed it at $2000 more than I paid for it," protested
her husband.
"That's because it's worth $2000 more than when you bought it," she
laughed, "for with the new ditch you have added fifteen tillable acres
and we still have a pond and a better driveway up to the barn. Then,
of course, I've included in the improvements the running water and
bathroom equipment."
"We've not decided to put that in yet," said her husband quickly, to
which she made no reply.
"Then you see, I've listed our stock and equipment at $5520. These
added together make our assets total $11,520. You have already
obligated yourself at the First National Bank for $5400, and when we
get the loan for the running water, it will make a total of about
$6000."
At the mention of a further loan, Bob noticed his uncle's brow
contracting in a way that did not speak well for the installation of
the running water.
"But you're missing the best item of all, Joe," said his wife, "the
sand pit. I was talking to Mr. White about this when I was in town
yesterday, and he feels sure that by the time Mr. Brady gets all the
sand he requires for the railroad work, they will be making concrete
roads throughout the county and that there'll be a big demand for this
pit. While I don't know exactly how big the pit is, I've estimated
that it contains thirty thousand yards. If we figure this at 50 cents
per yard, the price Mr. Brady is paying, it will bring us $15,000."
"But I'm afraid those are only day dreams, Bettie," laughed her
husband good-naturedly; "it couldn't be possible that so much money
could be gotten out of a sand pit."
"Why not?" asked his wife. "In New England there are many large supply
companies who make a business of digging, washing and selling sand and
gravel and carry on a very large business in this material. You have
no idea what a hold concrete is getting on the country these days.
It's such an excellent material in the first place, and besides it's
so cheap and easily handled that any one can build all manner of
structures with it. So you see, Joe," she added, smiling up at him,
"if the farm doesn't pay a penny for an entire year, and we don't sell
any sand besides what Mr. Brady has agreed to take after paying for
the improvements that he is making, we'll still have more than enough
money coming from the sand pit alone to pay the interest on all our
obligations and leave us $2500 to $5000. I know we're going to have
something good from the farm itself, besides. So I'm in favor of not
only putting in running water in the bathroom, but building the new
dairy house at the same time. The cellar under the kitchen here is a
bad place to keep the milk and the work is very much increased on
account of having to carry the ice down there. Besides, the floor is
damp and the place has a musty odor."
"How much will a dairy house cost as you are planning to build it,
Bettie?" asked her husband, looking up hopelessly.
"I don't know exactly, Joe," she replied, glancing across the table at
Bob, "but we've been looking over the bulletins and as near as we can
estimate, it ought not to cost more than $500 for a dairy house alone,
but when we build the new dairy house, I think we should abandon this
old wooden ice house that keeps the yard all mussed up with sawdust--
besides, you have to cut from thirty to fifty per cent, more ice than
we really use in order to provide for the great waste in such a poorly
built house. Now, if we build our ice house in connection with the
dairy house, it will be better protected and the waste will be
practically eliminated. Besides, we can have a refrigerator built in
under the ice to keep butter, meat and poultry, which is something we
don't have now, the way the ice house is built. Get the sketches, Bob,
that you and I were talking over and show them to your uncle," said
his aunt smiling, seeing that she had won her point. As Bob's
grandmother passed through the sitting room on her way to bed that
evening, she saw three heads close together bending eagerly over the
sketches, while Bob and his aunt in turn explained to Joe Williams the
design and advantages of a modern dairy and ice house combined.
"H'm!" she sniffed to herself. "Joe's new wife is certainly starting
in early to spend his money for him. He'll find out it's easier to
spend money than it is to make it, and I'll be glad when I get away
from here so that they can't say I helped to put him in the
poorhouse."
XI
TONY
"Good morning, son--is your uncle around?" inquired Mr. Brady, the
following Monday morning as Bob was getting ready to start work
digging the trench for the new water supply.
"He's in the woodshed now," replied Bob, "but he'll be out here in a
few minutes."
"How do you like the ditch, son?"
"It's a fine job, Mr. Brady," replied Bob. "When are you going to put
in the cement drain tile?"
"They ought to be here to-day and it won't take long to put them in,
once they're here. The digging's all done already. I've a lot of men
coming to-morrow, and I'll make a short job of that and the building
of the dam. What I wanted to see your uncle about was, when's he going
to put a man on at the gravel pit so we can start taking gravel away.
We'll have to screen some sand for face work, but in most cases I
expect to use the sand and gravel together, just as it comes from the
pit."
"Won't you have to measure it out," asked Bob, "to get the right
aggregate?"
"In most cases we would, son," answered the contractor, "but your pit
is running just about right--twice as much gravel as sand, which makes
a very good concrete, so as soon as we get through with the steam
shovel at the dam I want to put it up in the pit and start my trucks
hauling sand to the railroad bridges. The engineer tells me he'll be
ready for me with his lines by the end of the week.
"Oh, good morning, Mr. Williams!" said the contractor, as Bob's uncle
approached. "How about the man to take care of the tickets at the sand
pit?"
"By George, I forgot all about that!" exclaimed Joe Williams. "You'll
have to excuse me, Mr. Brady. I was pretty busy last week with getting
married and everything and forgot all about the man. That reminds me,
John White was speaking to me about a man the other day for some light
work on the farm, but if I can't locate one within, a day or two, I'll
let you put one of your men on."
"All right. I want to begin taking sand away by Monday at the latest,"
said the contractor. "Some activities, Mr. Williams, you're having
around here, what with the steam shovel working in the ditch and a
tractor plow working in the fields. We've had about everybody in the
county stopping here within the last week inquiring what's going on.
I've had a lot of fun out of it, too," he laughed.
"How's that?" inquired Joe Williams.
"Well," said the contractor, winking at Bob, "I told everybody who
asked that we were digging for 'Hidden Treasure,' and do you know,
some of them believed me."
"That's right," said Bob, "we are digging for 'Hidden Treasure,' and
what's more, Mr. Brady, we're finding it."
"I think if I were to stay around with you very long, sonny, you'd be
after making me believe the moon was made of green cheese, as they say
in Ireland, but with you charging me fifty cents a yard for sand, I
know you're making money all right. But you're wasting your time here
on the farm, me boy--it's a contractor you should be."
"I don't agree with you, Mr. Brady. I think farming is the best of
all. Building is interesting, of course, but planting crops and
raising cattle and seeing things grow is the most interesting thing in
the world to me, and I'm going to be a farmer. I like to hear the
birds sing while I'm working."
"Oh, but we've birds singing in the contracting business, too, for
what's sweeter music to the ear than the puffing of a hoisting engine,
or the rattling of the chains of a steam shovel? Music is music the
world over--it's only a matter of education the kind we enjoy most.
Now, to me, the escaping steam is the sweetest music I know, for it
means dollars to me; but I must be looking after me work instead of
standing here blarneying with you all the morning."
"I wish we had your men to dig our trench for the new water supply,
Brady," said Joe Williams.
"How deep do you want it?" asked the contractor.
"About four feet. I guess that's the depth you wanted to make it,
Bob?" he asked turning to his nephew.
"Yes, Uncle Joe," he replied.
"Say, Williams, you're wasting time and good muscle digging that
trench. Let me dig it for you in two days."
"What--in two days!" exclaimed Joe Williams. "You surely couldn't use
your steam shovel for that job, it would be too big and heavy."
"I'll be using no steam shovel, Williams," said the contractor. "I'll
use dynamite."
"Why, how could you do that?" asked Bob, interested at once.
"Sure, my boy, there's many easier ways than digging a trench with a
pick and shovel. I have some dynamite in town now that would be just
the thing to blast out your trench. Of course, it will scatter the
dirt around some, for dynamite is usually used to make an open ditch
rather than one that is to be re-filled, but it will be less work to
gather up the dirt than to dig through the hard shale, and that
reminds me," he continued, "when you come to put in your concrete
fence posts, don't break your back digging holes if you strike hard
shale; just put in a stick of dynamite and loosen her up--you'll find
it will save you lots of backaches."
"How much would it cost, Brady?" asked Joe Williams much interested.
"Let me see," said the contractor. "You, say it's about 1400 feet long
and four feet deep. That will mean putting down 470 holes, three feet
six inches deep, and require 360 pounds of dynamite."
He figured for a moment on a memorandum pad and added:
"I'll do the whole job for $100.00, which is about one-fourth of what
it will cost you to open up the ditch, and I'll complete it in two
days. You may have to level off the bottom of the trench here and
there for the pipe, but at that it will be easier than digging the
entire trench."
"All right, Brady," said Joe Williams; "when will you start?"
"To-morrow morning," said the contractor. "I'll get the dynamite to-
day."
"But isn't dynamite dangerous, Mr. Brady?" asked Bob.
"No, son, not when it's taken care of properly. You know, you don't
set your kerosene oil can on a hot stove, neither do we leave dynamite
around where it is likely to be put off, but it's just as safe as
gunpowder, if you handle it right. You ought to have the ground in
your young orchard loosened up a bit with a few sticks. You'll be
surprised to know how it will improve the production of your trees."
"Does it really improve the land, Mr. Brady?" asked Bob.
"Haven't you read about that, Bob? I thought you were reading
everything about farming."
[Illustration with caption: DITCH DIGGING BY DYNAMITE--ONE-HALF THE
COST--ONE-TENTH THE TIME, AND NO BACKACHE]
"I've read considerable, Mr. Brady, but never anything about dynamite,
but the next time I go to town I'll stop around at the First National
and ask them if they have any literature on dynamite. You know they're
running a 'Constructive Bank' now and distribute literature to the
farmers, and I'm sure John White will have the information."
"That's right, my boy, find out all about it first, and then you'll
know the reason for using it, and how to apply it. Well, I must be
going. I'll take care of the job to-morrow. Good day, Mr. Williams;
good-by, son," he said, as he turned and strode down the hill toward
the new drive where the steam shovel was making fast inroads into the
remaining bank.
"There's one thing I like about Brady, Uncle Joe," said Bob, as they
watched him disappear. "He does things quickly and he does them well.
Did you notice how straight and even the slope of the two sides of the
ditch were made, and how he leveled off the north bank on top?"
"Well, Bob, you know I always like a straight furrow myself," replied
his uncle, "and have always claimed that there isn't a man in the
county can plow a straighter one."
"And there won't be a man in the county next year, Uncle Joe, who can
plow a faster one than you," laughed Bob, "when you get your new
tractor going."
"That certainly was a great piece of work," said his uncle, looking
admiringly at the ploughed fields, "but where can we get a man to look
after the sand pit, Bob? Why not let Brady put on one of his men and
settle it?"
"Don't you think we ought to have a man of our own, Uncle Joe, rather
than take one of his? No doubt, Brady's honest, but he's human.
Suppose he'd forget once in a while to give us some tickets."
"Oh, well, we wouldn't miss a load or two of sand."
"No," said Bob, "but it might get to be a habit with him, and you
know, according to Aunt Bettie's figures, the sand is going to help a
lot in getting our loan paid off quickly at the bank."
"Well, the next time I go to town, I'll see who I can find," he
replied.
"You know, Uncle Joe, if we had a telephone we could call up this
morning and probably have a man out here by noon. Don't you think Aunt
Bettie was right in wanting to have a 'phone?"
"Oh, that's been taken care of," said his uncle. "I told Bettie to go
ahead and have it put in. I thought it would be nice to be able to
call up our friends in town and talk to them on rainy days and Sundays
when we didn't want to drive in. Besides, as you say, it will be
useful at times to save trips."
They spent the morning repairing the fences, which, under their
persistent work, were beginning to look like real fences again.
There was one thing about Joe Williams--whatever he did, he did
thoroughly, and the undergrowth was cut from both sides, heaped into
piles and burned.
"Do you know, Uncle Joe, if we had wire fences, on concrete posts,
we'd never have any work like this to do each spring. The plows would
keep the sides clean. Think of what it would mean, Uncle Joe, to get
rid of fence rows and repairing old rail fences. Then there's the
wasted land that the fence takes up; that's a dead loss."
"Yes, I can easily see that," replied his uncle. "Bettie was talking
about that last night."
They had worked all morning and were on their way to the house to
dinner when they saw a man coming across the fields toward them. He
came from the direction of the farm above, and as he approached they
saw he was a youthful foreign-looking chap--probably an Italian and
not more than twenty or twenty-one years old. He carried a bundle at
the end of a stout stick thrown across his shoulder, and when he had
gotten within speaking distance, he called:
"Good-a morn! Do you need-a da mase or-a da carpendero to do-a da
work?"
"Oh, you're one of the plumber's men?" asked Bob, thinking perhaps his
aunt might have asked to have some men sent out to work on the new
cellar under the washroom where the hot-water heater was to go.
"No, I no-a da plumb. I-a da mase and-a da carpendero."
"Oh, you want a job?" asked Bob, catching his meaning.
"Yes-a, da job, but no-a work-a da field. I no-a da farmer--I-a da
mase and-a da carpendero."
Bob exchanged glances with his uncle, who shook his head.
"What's your name?" he asked, suddenly turning to the applicant.
"Tony."
"What do you say, Uncle Joe, if we have Tony go down to the house with
us and talk the matter over with Aunt Bettie? He might be the man we
could use at the sand pit. Besides," he added suddenly, "he might be
the very fellow to help build the dairy house--if he understands both
carpentry and mason work, he would be a big help."
"How much will you work for?" asked Joe Williams, who hesitated at
paying any money in wages.
"How much-a da work to do?" asked Tony.
"Oh, we've enough for a week or a month--maybe more--that's if you can
do our work."
"I understand-a da work," replied Tony, "and I like-a da live in-a da
country, if you no-a make-a me sleep in-a da barn."
"Where do you come from?" asked Bob.
"From Italia. My fader, he-a da contracdisto and I learn-a da mase
and-a da carpendero."
"Well, why didn't you stay in Italy?" asked Bob.
"Oh," he said, shrugging his shoulders, "there no-a da mon in-a da
Italia and too-a much da hard work."
So asking questions and listening to Tony's answers the three reached
the house, where Bob quickly explained the matter to his aunt. She
came out and asked Tony to stay and have dinner with them. He was
given a basin and towel and after he had made his toilet his
appearance was decidedly improved.
"He says he doesn't want a job," remarked Joe Williams to his wife,
when they were alone after dinner, "if he has to sleep in the barn."
"Well, I don't blame him," said Bettie. "What's the matter with our
south room? Your father and mother are moving to town to-morrow, and
you know we won't have use for all the rooms in the house. The south
room has a separate stairway leading from the small sitting room on
the first floor. We could give him those rooms and make him
comfortable. I rather like his appearance," she added. "Of course,
Italians are foreigners and they're about as awkward in our country
trying to speak our language as we would be if we were in their
country trying to speak Italian. How much does he want to work for
us?"
"He didn't say, but I'll ask him," and they adjourned to the porch.
"How much money would you want, Tony?" asked Joe Williams, "to work
for us, say by the month?"
"Where I-a da sleep?" asked Tony quickly.
"In that room up there on the second floor, at the end of the porch."
"And where I-a da eat?" he asked again.
"Why, with us, of course," said Joe Williams.
"Then I stay-a da mont and do-a da work, and when I get-a da through,
we make-a da barg. If you like-a my work and I like-a da place, then I
stay, but if you no-a like me and I no-a like you, then I go."
"All right," laughed Joe Williams, "that's a bargain, Tony. Do you
want to begin work right away?"
"Yes, I no like-a da loaf," said the man, shrugging his shoulders.
"All right, come around here and I'll show you what we want done," he
said and took him around behind the house, showed him where to dig out
and build a new entrance to the cellar under the washroom and put in a
flue for the heater.
Bob was much interested in the making of the trench for the new water
system, and while his uncle went to town for the pipe and some pipe
tools for laying it, Bob, at Brady's direction, plowed two deep
furrows, six feet apart, outlining the two edges of the trench. He
plowed each furrow a foot or more deep, so as to outline the edges of
the trench and keep the top as narrow as possible. The contractor's
foreman and his gang quickly drove their iron bars into the earth
three feet six inches deep and about three feet apart and loaded the
holes as they went. When they had fifty charges in place, the foreman
connected up the battery, and when the men were out of the way he
raised the rack bar of the battery to its full height and shoved it
down hard. Up came the earth and a neat open trench four feet deep and
one hundred and fifty feet long lay open before them.