304 HISTORY OF THE GRANGE MOVEMENT. 



to provide each with a fair education as an equipment for 

 the battle of life. He counted himself a fortunate man, 

 as, indeed, he was, for he was an exceptionally pros- 

 perous farmer. Thirty years of honest and intelligent 

 labor brought him their reward, and when at last he 

 was gathered to his fathers, he was found to have 

 earned for his family, besides the support he had given 

 them, a fine farm of several hundred acres, and about 

 twenty thousand dollars in other investments. His 

 whole estate was worth, perhaps $60,000, representing, 

 apart from the amount expended in maintaining his 

 family, an average gain of about $2000 per annum 

 during the thirty years of his manhood. 



The younger brother also inherited five thousand 

 dollars from his father, but, being more ambitious than 

 David, he obtained employment in New York. In those 

 days $5000 was a good round sum, for we were then a 

 nation of small dealers ; and the young man, being pro- 

 vident and temperate in his habits, invested this in such 

 a manner that it nearly supported him, leaving him a 

 considerable portion of his salary, which he carefully 

 invested. In the course of a few years he was enabled 

 to purchase a minor interest in the business of the house 

 in which he was employed, and being a steady, indus- 

 trious and frugal man, his condition was bettered every 

 year. In ten years from the day he entered the house 

 he was the owner of half the business. In ten years 

 more he had bought out the interests of the other part- 

 ners, and was the sole owner of the business. He too 

 had married, and children had grown up around him. 

 At the end of the twenty years he was in possession of 

 a splendid and lucrative business, which was increasing 

 his wealth rapidly from year to year, and his home was 



