He mended
everything about both farms, rebuilt all the fences and as a
never-failing resource, he cut wood. He cut so much that he began
to realize that it would get too dry and the burning of it would
become extravagant, so he stopped that and began making some
changes he had long contemplated. During fur time he set his line
of traps on his side of the river and on the other he religiously
set Jimmy's.
But he divided the proceeds from the skins exactly in half, no
matter whose traps caught them, and with Jimmy's share of the
money he started a bank account for Mary. As he could not use all
of them he sold Jimmy's horses, cattle and pigs. With half the
stock gone he needed only half the hay and grain stored for
feeding. He disposed of the chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese
that Mary wanted sold, and placed the money to her credit. He
sent her a beautiful little red bank book and an explanation of
all these transactions by Dolan. Mary threw the book across the
room because she wanted Dannie to keep her money himself, and
then cried herself to sleep that night, because Dannie had sent
the book instead of bringing it. But when she fully understood
the transactions and realized that if she chose she could spend
several hundred dollars, she grew very proud of that book.
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