MONOPOLY OF EXCHANGE. 437 



prices, he was only able to pay the interest and taxes. Con- 

 traction, over which he had no control, reduced the price 

 and value of everything but his debt. That still remained. 

 He beautified his home. His good, hard working wife 

 adorned the yard with flowers and shrubbery. With unre- 

 mitting care an orchard was grown and furnished them 

 with its luscious fruits. Children were born to them and 

 ripened into manhood and womanhood. All worked ener- 

 getically to save the dear old home. The father, under 

 the weight of debt and care for his family has grown pre- 

 maturely old. But the mill of contraction grinds on. 

 Through hard work and exposure the oldest son has sick- 

 ened and died. The once raven black hair of the father 

 has grown gray; his eyes are sunken and his form bowed 

 with grief and care. 



But the prices continue to fall. Shylock must have 

 his pound of flesh. After a time the father too is taken 

 sick. For days he tosses about on his bed scorched with 

 malignant fever. He talks incessantly of his dead boy as 

 though he were still alive. He speaks of the time when 

 he was strong and active and full of hope. He talks inco- 

 herently of the mortgage hanging over the place and 

 hopefully says to his son, "We can pay it off we must 

 pay it off." To-night, the doctor says, the crisis will arrive 

 a change for the better or for the worse. "My God!" 

 exclaims the grief-stricken wife, "may it be for the better. 

 Oh, my husband!" As though to hide its face from the 

 scene about to be enacted, the sun has disappeared beneath 

 the horizon, and the shades of night have fallen upon that 

 once happy home. The family have gathered around the 

 bed of the loving father. The physician sits holding the 

 hand of the sick man, anxiously waiting for the moment 

 that will tell him whether the small thread that still sepa- 

 rates life from death shall be broken or receive new vitality. 

 The care-worn wife sits on the opposite side of the bed 



