CHAPTER XVIII.

Steadily, under the busy hands of hundreds of workmen, the new buildings arose, stretching their far lengths along, and towering up, story after story.  Steam, in addition to water power, was contemplated here also, for the looms and spindles to be driven were nearly twice the number contained in the other mill.

Disappointments and vexatious delays nearly always attend large building operations, and the present case formed no exception.  The time within which everything was to be completed, and the mill to go into operation, was one year.  Two years elapsed before the first bale of goods came through its ample doors, ready for market.

Of course there was a large expenditure of money in S——­, and this was a great thing for our town.  Property rose in value, houses were built, and the whole community felt that a new era had dawned—­an era of growth and prosperity.  Among other signs of advancement, was the establishment of a new Bank.  The “Clinton Bank” it was called.  The charter had been obtained through the influence of Judge Bigelow, who had several warm personal friends in the Legislature.  There was not a great deal of loose money in S——­to flow easily into bank stocks; but for all that the shares were soon taken, and all the provisions of the charter complied with.  Judge Bigelow subscribed freely; so did Squire Floyd and Mr. Dewey.  Other townsmen, to the number of twenty or thirty, put down their names for a few shares.  It was from New York, however, that the largest subscriptions came; and it was New York shareholders, voting by proxy, who elected the Board of Directors, and determined the choice of officers.  Judge Bigelow was elected President, and a Mr. Joshua King, from New York, Cashier.  The tellers and book-keepers were selected from among our own people.

The Clinton Bank and the new mills went into operation about the same time.  Years of prosperity followed.  Money was plenty in our town, and everybody was growing better off.  Dewey was still the manufacturing partner of the large house in New York, whose demand for goods it seemed impossible to satisfy.  He was a great man in S——.  People spoke of him as possessing vast mental as well as money resources; as having expansive views of trade and finance; as being a man of extraordinary ability.  I listened to all these things as I passed around among our citizens, plodding along in my profession, and managing to grow just a little better off each year; and wondered within myself if I were really mistaken in the man—­if there was a solid basis of right judgment below all this splendid seeming.