the growing intelligence and morality of the people;
so it happened that much earlier than is usual in new settlements,
measures were taken to secure the means of secular and religious
instruction for the people. But it was not merely in material wealth
and prosperity that was evident the progress of which the inhabitants of
Gershom were becoming so justly proud.

As the Holts were the first comers to Gershom, so for a long time they
kept the first place in the town, both in social and in business
matters. "The Holts had made Gershom," the Holts said, and other people
said it too, only sometimes it was added, that "they had also made
themselves, and that all the pains they had taken had been to that end."
But this was saying too much, for all the Holts had great pride in the
place and its prosperity, and almost all the industries that contributed
to its growth, as time went on, had been commenced by one or other of
them.

Gershom Holt was the more successful of the two brothers, partly because
of his greater energy and capacity for business, and partly because he
had "located" at that point on the Beaver River where the water-power
could be made easily available for manufacturing purposes. No time was
lost by him in doing what skill and will could do with only limited
capital to make a beginning in that direction, and every new artisan who
came to the town, and did well for himself in it, did something to
increase the wealth of Gershom Holt also. So in course of time he
became the rich man of the place. He dealt closely in business matters,
he liked the best of a bargain, and, as a rule, got it; but he was of a
kindly nature, and was never hard to the poor, and many a man in Gershom
was helped to a first start in business through his means, so that he
was better liked and more entirely trusted than the one rich man in a
rising country place is apt to be.

His brother Reuben was not so fortunate, either in making money or in
winning favours. His farm bordered on the river, but the meadows were
narrow, and the land rose abruptly into round rocky hills, fit only for
pasture. Beyond the hills, on the higher level, the land was fairly
good, but the cultivation of it was difficult, and he had never done
much with it. He was neither strong nor courageous. Some of his
children died, and others "went wrong," and he fell into misanthropic
ways, and for several years before his death he was seldom seen in the
village.