"Young man," said he, abruptly, "what quantity of land do the Shakers own here, in Canterbury?""That is more than I can tell thee, friend," answered Josiah, "but it is a very rich establishment, and for a long way by the roadside thee may guess the land to be ours, by the neatness of the fences.""And what may be the value of the whole," continued the stranger, "with all the buildings and improvements, pretty nearly, in round numbers?""Oh, a monstrous sum,--more than I can reckon," replied the young Shaker.
"Well, sir," said the pilgrim, "there was a day, and not very long ago, neither, when I stood at my counting-room window, and watched the signal flags of three of my own ships entering the harbor, from the East Indies, from Liverpool, and from up the Straits, and I would not have given the invoice of the least of them for the title-deeds of this whole Shaker settlement.You stare.Perhaps, now, you won't believe that I could have put more value on a little piece of paper, no bigger than the palm of your hand, than all these solid acres of grain, grass, and pasture-land would sell for?""I won't dispute it, friend," answered Josiah, "but I know I had rather have fifty acres of this good land than a whole sheet of thy paper.""You may say so now," said the ruined merchant, bitterly, "for my name would not be worth the paper I should write it on.Of course, you must have heard of my failure?"And the stranger mentioned his name, which, however mighty it mighthave been in the commercial world, the young Shaker had never heard of among the Canterbury hills.
"Not heard of my failure!" exclaimed the merchant, considerably piqued."Why, it was spoken of on 'Change in London, and from Boston to New Orleans men trembled in their shoes.At all events, I did fail, and you see me here on my road to the Shaker village, where, doubtless (for the Shakers are a shrewd sect), they will have a due respect for my experience, and give me the management of the trading part of the concern, in which case I think I can pledge myself to double their capital in four or five years.Turn back with me, young man; for though you will never meet with my good luck, you can hardly escape my bad.""I will not turn back for this," replied Josiah.calmly, "any more than for the advice of the varse-maker, between whom and thee, friend, I see a sort of likeness, though I can't justly say where it lies.But Miriam and I can earn our daily bread among the world's people as well as in the Shaker village.And do we want anything more, Miriam?""Nothing more, Josiah," said the girl, quietly.
"Yea, Miriam, and daily bread for some other little mouths, if God send them," observed the simple Shaker lad.
Miriam did not reply, but looked down into the spring, where she encountered the image of her own pretty face, blushing within the prim little bonnet.The third pilgrim now took up the conversation.He was a sunburnt countryman, of tall frame and bony strength, on whose rude and manly face there appeared a darker, more sullen and obstinate despondency, than on those of either the poet or the merchant.
"Well, now, youngster," he began, "these folks have had their say, so I'll take my turn.My story will cut but a poor figure by the side of theirs; for I never supposed that I could have a right to meat and drink, and great praise besides, only for tagging rhymes together, as it seems this man does; nor ever tried to get the substance of hundreds into my own hands, like the trader there.When I was about of your years, I married me a wife,--just such a neat and pretty young woman as Miriam, if that's her name,--and all I asked of Providence was an ordinary blessing on the sweat of my brow, so that we might be decent and comfortable, and have daily bread forourselves, and for some other little mouths that we soon had to feed.We had no very great prospects before us; but I never wanted to be idle; and I thought it a matter of course that the Lord would help me, because I was willing to help myself." "And didn't He help thee, friend?" demanded Josiah, with some eagerness.
