42 FIVE ACRES TOO MUCH. 



set imposition at defiance. When finished, they were 

 submitted to several builders for estimates. 



This happened at a time when, although the infla 

 tion of gold had passed its culminating point, labor 

 and materials were at their highest. The builders, 

 smarting under the recollection of unprofitable con 

 tracts made on a rising market, were deaf to my elo 

 quent observations on the certainty of a rapid fall in 

 the value of articles at a time when the war was 

 manifestly drawing to a close. They had lost faith 

 not only in the ninety-days theory of our leading 

 modern statesman, but that the rebellion would die 

 other than a lingering death, and refused obstinately 

 to be convinced. Some of them offered to oversee 

 the work on a commission, by which ingenious ar 

 rangement the more they wasted the more they 

 would make. Others charged nearly double what 

 was the fair value, insisting upon allowing for a far 

 ther rise in prices. One man was so entirely over 

 come that, after keeping the plans a month, he re 

 turned them secretly, ran away, and was never heard 

 of afterward. 



New York being pretty much exhausted by this 

 lime, application was made to the carpenters of 

 Flushing. With one exception, they declined the 

 job, as they called it, entirely ; but this one put in 



