they fill us with confusion. Learned and
wise in the weighty problems of humanity he had little prudence in
regulating the affairs of his own family.

Kelso had put every dollar he had and some that he hoped to have into
land. Bim, who had been teaching in one of the schools, had invested all
her savings in a dream city on the shore of an unconstructed canal.

Like many who had had no experience with such phenomena they
underestimated the seriousness of the panic. They thought that, in a week
or so, its effect would pass and that Illinois would then resume its
triumphal march toward its high destiny. Not even Samson Traylor had
a correct notion of the slowness of Time.

The effect of the panic paralyzed the city. Men whose "red dog money"
was in every one's pocket closed their shops and ran away. The wild
adventurers cleared out. Their character may be judged by the words of
one of them reported by the editor of _The Democrat_.

"I failed for a hundred thousand dollars and could have failed for a
million if Jackson had kept his hands off."

Hard times hung like a cloud over the city. Its population suffered some
diminishment in the next two years in spite of its position on the main
highway of trade. Dream cities, canals and railroads built without hands
became a part of the poetry of American commerce. Indeed they had come of
the prophetic vision and were therefore entitled to respect in spite of
the fact that they had been smirched and polluted by speculators.

That autumn men and women who had come to Mrs. Kinzie's party in jewels
and in purple and fine linen had left or turned their hands to hard
labor. The Kelsos suffered real distress, the schools being closed and
the head of the house having taken to his bed with illness. Bim went to
work as a seamstress and with the help of Mrs. Kinzie and Mrs. Hubbard
was able to keep the family from want. The nursing and the care of the
baby soon broke the health of Mrs. Kelso, never a strong woman. Bim came
home from her work one evening and found her mother ill.

"Cheer up, my daughter," said Jack. "An old friend of ours has returned
to the city. He is a rich man--an oasis in the desert of poverty. He has
loaned me a hundred dollars in good coin."

"Who has done this?" Bim asked.

"Mr. Lionel Davis. He has just come from New Orleans. He is a successful
speculator in grain."

"We must not take his money," said Bim.

"I had a long talk with him," Kelso went on. "H