OLD BILL SMITH, THE SILENT HUNTER. 223 



Mattie, to provide for now, and her precious little ones ; 

 there was to be no more trifling. He became a rigid econo- 

 mist, or rather, Mattie economized for him, and all his ex- 

 penditures were left entirely to her frugal and patient 

 housewifery. He neither gave nor spent now without first 

 taking counsel of his heart-elected monitress, and how skill- 

 fully she managed may be shown in the fact that in twenty 

 years after their marriage Smith was accounted one of the 

 wealthiest men in the province. With this change came 

 another, which was accounted quite as droll by the wiseacres.' 

 As a young man, he had shown great ambition for political 

 distinction^ his prospects were extremely flattering, but he 

 withdrew after serving one term, and steadily refused ever 

 afterwards to be drawn into public life again. 



But now that the great struggle for freedom was fairly 

 entered upon, the William Smith of twenty-five was waked 

 up again suddenly, after having slept the charmed sleep of 

 domestic love and happiness for twenty years. Now again 

 his contempt for gold, but as a medium of good, a mechanical 

 means, exhibited itself as strikingly, but in a more rational 

 and consistent manner than before ; now his carefully hoarded 

 wealth flowed like water, and the gentle Mattie saw it go and 

 said never a word nor shed a tear. So long as her beloved 

 was spared to her the gold might go. They had no right to it 

 when the blessed Congress and brave army needed it. They 

 had no right to keep William selfishly at home with them, to 

 sleep in a warm bed when so many of our brave people were 

 tracking the snows with the blood of their bare feet, and when 

 General Washington himself was glad to sleep upon a snow 

 bank with only his cloak for covering. " Let the gold go ! 

 let the gold go!" the brave woman was wont to say, — "it 

 is all for liberty, and the children will be better for that 

 than for all the wealth of the province !" and the gold 

 did go ! 



Aye, there was no keeping back of the tribute there ! 



