"Yes, Klip's a liar," Blott, who was standing by, spoke up. "Why, a willin' boy could easily keep down two such shingles, or three, for that matter, if he was spry."
"Nonsense!" Mr. Hayward answered; "there is nothing funny about it. If they will put enough nails in the shingle it will hold. It is with shingles as it is with trees; but men will plant a ten-dollar tree in a five-cent hole, and then blame the seller if it dies. There is nothing in such economy, though plenty of men practice it."
When we were at work, if a team or horseman were to be sent across the river, Mr. Hayward would go, and that time might not be frittered away, I occupied myself meanwhile collecting and packing the loose shingles ready for delivery. This with great industry, be it said, if Constance and Setti did not happen to be by; but if they were, little was done, at which Mr. Hayward would stare on his return, but never in an angry way.
As the demand for our product was limited, it became necessary to devise other means of filling up the time, and accordingly Mr. Hayward hit upon the idea of manufacturing mattresses, great numbers being required by the people coming into the new country. Of hair and things of that sort generally resorted to by manufacturers we had none, but of corn-husks great quantities, and of much delicacy and firmness of texture. These Mr. Hayward conceived to be especially fit for making beds—not, indeed, in their raw state, but manufactured to meet needed conditions. The machinery we used for this was simple in the extreme. Taking pieces of wire, we heated the ends, and in that condition pressed them into a board of suitable width and thickness. The other ends we sharpened to a point, and thus had a strong comb of upright wires. Now taking the husk in our hands, we drew it across the sharpened prongs, and so split it into myriads of small threads. Afterward collecting these, we had the material for a bed.
"A couch fit for a prince," Mr. Hayward maintained, "and the equal of the best in durability and restful qualities. Its healthfulness recommends it, too, because of freedom from vermin and the small particles noxious to the lungs and body known to attach themselves to feathers, no matter how carefully selected and steamed."
Of these beds we manufactured many, and with fair profit so long as our husks held out. Afterward, buying in the market, our gains were lessened, but not perceptibly, as the material was not thought to have any value to speak of. The labor of production, while not great, was exacting in the extreme, for if by chance the eye wandered ever so little, your fingers becoming impaled on the sharp needles, ugly wounds would result.
"Such accidents," Mr. Hayward would say, philosophically, "teach the necessity of close application in business if one would avoid mishaps," but Mrs. Hayward, looking upon them in a less practical way, would often shed tears, as she busied herself binding up our torn hands.
To further our industry, we also made bolsters and pillows from husks and a species of lichen, which latter was found in great abundance in the neighborhood. Separating this with care, and afterward heating it, Mr. Hayward maintained that a pillow thus manufactured was the equal of the best.
"Not only that, but it will be found to possess aromatic qualities highly curative of influenzas and catarrhal afflictions prevalent here. As regards comfort nothing can excel it, unless it may be the selected feathers of tame geese, and these being rare and high-priced, none but the rich can afford them."
However, notwithstanding the excellence of our goods, trade lagged, and this despite all that could be said.