EARLY MANHOOD IN THE MIDDLE WEST 123 



The following winter I taught the village school, 

 and, for fear I should lack for exercise, I became 

 the sexton of the church. 



The farm had been bought just before the prices 

 of farm products had begun to fall due in part 

 to unrest over the slavery question, and in part 

 to over-production of the leading staples. The 

 monetary conditions especially in the west, were 

 most unsatisfactory. Money received one day at 

 100 cents on the dollar, was worth on the next 

 perhaps 80 cents and the following week may be 

 nothing. It did not take a prophet to foresee that 

 the unrest of the country meant trouble, but just 

 how or when the storm would break no one was 

 wise enough to predict. Party lines were being 

 drawn tighter and tighter and the names, " Black 

 Abolitionist " and " Copperhead " began to be 

 bandied about old friends and even brothers 

 ranging themselves in antagonism. 



In spite of these unfortunate conditions I man- 

 aged to sell the farm in 1862 for as much as I 

 gave for it though I lost most of the value of the 

 improvements. But it had never brought an in- 

 come sufficient to pay running expenses, if the im- 

 provements, such as buildings, fences and added 

 productivity of the land were counted, as they 



