ter he had got in possession, he learned that Barnaby had
tried, but in vain, to get the mill to work.

In the mean time, the young man was extending his circle of
acquaintance among the families of the place in most of which he was
well received and well liked. Old Matthew Page had an only daughter, a
beautiful young girl, who was the pride of the village. The first time
she and Jordan met, they took a fancy to each other. But as Jordan was
rather a modest young man, he did not make very bold advances toward
the maiden, although he felt as if he should like to do so, were there
any hope of his advances being met in a right spirit.

At the end of a year, all the young man's money was gone, and his last
note to Barnaby was due. There was a small pile of lumber by his
mill--a couple of hundred dollars worth, perhaps--for which he had
found no sale, as the place was fully supplied, and had been for years,
by a small mill that was worked by the owner with great economy. The
sending of his lumber down the river was rather a serious operation for
him, and required a good deal more lumber than he had yet been able to
procure from his mill, which had never yet run for twenty-four hours
without something getting wrong. These two or three hundred dollars'
worth of lumber had cost him about fifteen hundred dollars in wages,
&c. Still he was sanguine, and saw his way clear through the whole of
it, if it were not for the fact that his capital were exhausted.

Matthew Page was looking on very coolly, and saying to himself, "If he
had consulted me," but not offering the young man a word of voluntary
counsel.

To continue his operations and bring out the ultimate prosperous
result, Jordan threw one-half of his land into market and forced the
sale at five dollars an acre. The proceeds of this sale did not last
him over six months. Then he got a raft afloat, containing about a
thousand dollars' worth of lumber, and sent it off under charge of his
overseer, who sold it at Cincinnati, and absconded with the money.

In the mean time, Barnaby was pressing for the payment of the last
note, which had been protested, and after threatening to sue, time
after time, finally put his claim into the hands of an attorney, who
had a writ served upon Jordan.

By this time, old Mr. Page began to think it best, even though not
consulted, to volunteer a little advice to the young man. The reason of
this may be inferred. Jordan was beginning to be rat