“Things have gone hard with you, have they?” said Captain Gildrock in a sympathizing tone.
“Very hard, captain; and I don’t know what is going to become of me and my family. I expect we shall fetch up in the poorhouse; as we certainly shall if things keep on as they have
been,” replied the farmer with a suppressed groan.
“I am sorry for you,” added the captain. “I will take your son, and he shall be of no expense to you for a year; and at the end of that time, I will guarantee that he will be able to do something for you, and take care of himself besides.”
“Just as soon as I heard of your offer, I came right over here; for I want to have Bolly learn a trade,” said the farmer. “He will be provided for, whatever becomes of the rest of us. When my oldest girl was a dozen years old, I owned my farm free and clear; and I didn’t owe any man on earth a single cent. Now there is a mortgage of two thousand dollars on my place, and I owe over a thousand dollars besides.”
“You have been making bad speculations then,” suggested Captain Gildrock.
“I never went into a speculation of any kind, captain; and I never lost any money in any way. Ten years ago I used to get a good living off my farm. We had plenty to eat, drink, and to wear. Now we don’t have any thing.” And, in spite of his struggles to restrain them, a flood of tears poured down his wan cheek.
“If you have had no misfortunes, I don’t understand why things have gone so badly with you. But it is best to look into the matter, and find out what the trouble is, so that you can correct the errors of the past. You are not a very old man, and you may get out of the trouble yet.”
“I know what the difficulty is well enough; and I have known it for two or three years, if not for ten. I have to take care of my family, consisting of my wife, two sons, and two daughters. The oldest is twenty-two, and the youngest is sixteen. My wife has high notions for a farmer’s wife, and I have given in to her. She would not let the boys work on the farm; and, when I wanted any help, I had to hire. I suppose the girls helped their mother, but all of them had to dress like ladies. And that is where all the money I could get went to,” said Millweed bitterly.
“The first thing is to stop the leak,” suggested the captain in nautical terms. “If you don’t stop it, the ship will go to the bottom.”