62

A THOROUGHLY BOYISH TRICK.

[1833.

"A fi'-penny bit," replied the lad.

The five-penny bit, usually contracted to "fip" in Western mouths, was worth six and a quarter cents, an outlay which the extravagant traveler fancied he could afford. So Ulysses at one end, and James at the other, bore the heavy trunk down to the boat half a mile away, and earned their reward. It is to be hoped that they never in after-life did so much hard work for so little money.

There was no wharf at Wheeling. The water was nearly level with the top of the stone wall, from which a staging extended to the boat. The steamer had on board many German emigrants, going to Louisville and Cincinnati. With genuine boyish fondness for mischief, the two lads so arranged the planks that the first person venturing upon them would tumble in. The first happened to be a little Dutch boy habited in a red flannel dress, and not more than three years old. As he stepped upon it the staging gave way, and “chuck” he fell into the water. The alarm was shouted, and, as he came up to the surface for the second time, some of his people caught him by the hair and lifted him out.

The thoughtless boys were sadly frightened, but cautious enough to hold their peace, and unspeakably relieved to see the streaming young Teuton saved from drowning.

The Lady Byron finally started again, and on Saturday the travelers reached Maysville, where they remained several days with relatives, before riding to their home, twenty miles farther. Mrs. Marshall still resides in Georgetown, and, though in her seventy-sixth year, is in the full possession of her faculties.

As Jesse Grant prospered, and his quiver waxed full of the poor man's blessings, he outgrew the little family dwelling; so, shortly after his return from Deerfield, he added a spacious two-story house to the old one, which he left standing as an L. Ulysses drove the horses for hauling all the brick, stone, and sand. In a few months was completed the Grant homestead shown in our picture, and still unchanged. It stands on low ground, a hundred yards east of the Georgetown public square, a sober brick house, its frout very near the street; and one side shaded by tall

1834.]

WORKING IN THE BARK MILL.

63

locusts, and overlooking a smaller roadway which leads up past the old Methodist meeting-house and the Bailey residence. In a hollow, on the opposite side of the main street, stood, and yet stands, the little brick currier shop. Behind it was the tan-yard. Beside it, for a hundred feet, stretched a low shed-a mere roof supported by a skeleton of poles. Under it were piled many cords of oak bark, in the midst of which stood the bark-mill, with a hopper like an old-fashioned cider-mill.

The bark, peeled from standing trees, is brought to the tan-yard in strips three feet long. In grinding, a boy stands holding one in his left hand, and, with a hammer in his right, breaks it into the hopper in pieces four or five inches long. Meanwhile, a horse trudging around a circle, and leading himself by means of a pole attached to the sweep which he draws, grinds the bark to powder.

Not only is the work confining, but every time the beam comes around the boy must "duck," or it will strike his head. Ulysses heartily disliked all labor about the tan-yard, and had a tendency to make himself invisible whenever he suspected there was any to be done. But when his father left him to attend the bark mill, he would hire some other boy to take his place for twelve or fifteen cents a day, while he, by driving a stage passenger or hauling a load, earned a dollar or a dollar and a half. The young speculator accumulated money easily, and in the use of it was free, though not wasteful.

Just before the lad was twelve, his father contracted to build a county jail. The job would require much hauling of stone, of bricks, and particularly of logs. The tanner had one very large horse, and Ulysses said :

"Father, if you will buy Paul Devore's horse to work beside ours, I can haul these logs for you."

So Jesse purchased the animal for fifty-five dollars. Ulysses was proud of his fine-looking black horses, and named the new one "Dave," in irreverent compliment to David Devore, a Georgetown attorney. With them the lad did all the hauling. It was two miles from the woods to the site of the jail. The logs were a foot square and fourteen

64

"DAVE AND ME."

[1834.

feet long, and required a great deal of hewing, as all the "sap" had to be cut off. It took eleven men to do the hewing, but only one to "score." The hewers loaded the logs, while the lad simply drove the team.

One cloudy April morning when rain was threatened, Ulysses went as usual for his load. After a long trip, he came back with his logs, and as Jesse and the hired man were unloading them at the jail, he remarked:

“Father, I reckon it's hardly worth while for me to go again to-day; none of the hewers are in the woods. There is only one load left; if I get that now, there will be none for me to haul to-morrow morning."

"Where are the hewers ?"

"At home, I suppose. They haven't been in the woods. this morning."

"Who loaded these logs?"

"Dave and me."

"What do you mean by telling me such a story?" asked the clear-headed, indignant father.

"It is the truth; I loaded the logs with no help but Dave's."

It was the truth. For this hauling, the body of the wagon had been removed, and the logs were carried upon the axles. It was a hard job for several men to load. They would take the wheels off on one side, let the axles down. to the ground, lift on the squared logs with handspikes, then pry the axles up with levers, and put the wheels on again. That a boy could do this alone was incredible; and Jesse inquired:

"How in the world did you load the wagon?"

"Well, father, you know that sugar-tree we saw yesterday, which is half fallen, and lies slanting, with the top caught in another tree. I hitched Dave 'to the logs and drew them up on that; then I backed the wagon up to it, and hitched Dave to them again, and, one at a time, snaked them forward upon the axles."

The ingenious lad had used the trunk of the fallen maple as an inclined plane, and after hauling the logs upon it, so that they nearly balanced, had drawn them endwise upon