of her for one while. Well--where was I?"

"Decorating the landscape," said Bartley.

"Yes, sir; I started right there at Lumberville,
and it give the place a start too. You won't find it
on the map now; and you won't find it in the gazetteer.
I give a pretty good lump of money to build a town-hall,
about five years back, and the first meeting they held
in it they voted to change the name,--Lumberville WA'N'T
a name,--and it's Lapham now."

"Isn't it somewhere up in that region that they get
the old Brandon red?" asked Bartley.

"We're about ninety miles from Brandon. The Brandon's
a good paint," said Lapham conscientiously. "Like to show
you round up at our place some odd time, if you get off."

"Thanks. I should like it first-rate. WORKS there?"

"Yes; works there. Well, sir, just about the time I
got started, the war broke out; and it knocked my paint
higher than a kite. The thing dropped perfectly dead.
I presume that if I'd had any sort of influence, I might
have got it into Government hands, for gun-carriages
and army wagons, and may be on board Government vessels.
But I hadn't, and we had to face the music. I was about
broken-hearted, but m'wife she looked at it another way.
'I guess it's a providence,' says she. 'Silas, I guess