e of a beginning had been made
on it before the war, so he had not actually to break the first
ground. The previous owner had died bankrupt from lack of capital,
and his minor daughter had inherited it. It was from the minor
daughter that the elder Carroll had purchased it, partly with a view
to assisting the child, who had been left penniless except for the
mine, at the death of her father, who was of a distant branch of
Carroll's own family. With the proceeds of the sale the girl was
supported and educated; then she lost the remainder through the
dishonesty of her guardian. That was the year after young Carroll
began to work the mine. Then he married her. She was a beautiful
girl, and helpless as a flower. He married her without a cent to
support her except the old coal-mine, and he worked as hard and
bravely as a man could. And he prospered, to the utter amazement of
everybody who watched him, and who had prophesied failure from the
start. In four years he was looked upon with respect. People said he
was fast getting rich. He went to the man who had bought the Carroll
place, at the end of the four years, with the money in his hand and
proposed purchasing it. He had not a doubt, such was his trust in the
friendliness of the man, that he would gladly consent and pat him on
the back with fatherly affection for his success; but, to his
amazement, he was refused, although still under the guise of the
purest philanthropy.

"No, Arthur, boy," he said. "It is best for you to keep the money in
your business awhile longer. It will not do, in a big undertaking
like a mine, for you to be creepled. No, Arthur, boy, wait until the
next year is up. It is for your good."

In vain Arthur offered an advance upon the original advance price.
"No, Arthur, boy," he repeated.

"No, Arthur, boy," he continued to repeat. "It is not wise for you to
be creepled in your business."

Arthur protested that he would not be crippled, but with no avail. He
went away disappointed, and yet with his faith unshaken. He did not
know what transpired later on, that negotiations which would
materially enhance the value of the property were being carried on
with a railroad by the planter, who was himself one of the railroad
directors.

About six months after Arthur's attempt to purchase back his
ancestral acres, and while he was at high tide of a small prosperity,
this same man came to him with a proposal for him to furnish on
contract a large quantit