NOT, "ANYTHING-FOR-PEACE." BY T. S. A. СНАР. І. Two men, named Archibald Wing and Thomas Ellis, owning property that was divided by a small stream, having a good fall, joined equally in the expense of building a dam in order to secure a water power for milling purposes. Wing, who was a Scotchman, and originally a weaver, built a small woollen factory, whilst Ellis erected a flour mill. Almost from the outset of this arrangement the parties disagreed. Wing was a far-sighted, selfish, and unscrupulous person, who looked simply to his own advantage; while Ellis had regard to what was just between man and man. The site on one bank of the stream was superior to that on the other; the advantage being in favour of the Scotchman. Comprehending this, he offered to sell his neighbour as much ground as would be required for locating his mill, a few hundred yards below the point selected for his own. Ellis was about accepting this proposition, when a mutual friend warned him against an arrangement which might lead to trouble. "Build on your own side," said the friend, even though some disadvantages are involved. In any disagreement with Wing, don't you see that he will have it in his power to annoy and injure you by stopping the supply of water." "He cannot stop my mill without stopping his own," answered Mr. Ellis. So you see I have a guarantee in that consideration." "Don't trust to any such guarantee. There are men of so evil a spirit that they will not hesitate at wronging even themselves so that injury may fall upon another. I don't charge such a spirit on Mr. Wing; but you know as well as I do, that he has some strange peculiarities of character, and is inclined to disagree ments with his neighbours. He is self-willed, and much disposed to have things his own way. "I don't see how trouble can arise between us," replied Ellis. "The water, as it comes from his wheel, will enter my forebay. The matter is very simple." 66 May I suggest a way in which trouble arise?" can as "The ordinary quantity flowing from his tailrace will not give you sufficient head for more than a single pair of mill-stones." "I am sure you err in that." 'Perhaps not," was answered. "What then?" "He must keep his waste-gate open, of course." "But will he, friend Ellis ?" "Do you question it?" was asked, in manifest surprise. if "Will it be wise for you to place yourself so much in the power of any man? I say no; and you are not fully committed in the plan of building on Wing's side of the falls, take my advice and build on your own. Draw your supply of water through your own race, direct from the dam, and then you will be independent." On reflection, Mr. Ellis resolved to heed this advice, and, immediately calling on his neighbour, notified him that he would build on his own ground. "But you have agreed to buy the site on my ground," answered Wing, manifesting considerable disturbance. "The bargain was not closed," Ellis replied, speaking firmly. We talked it over, and I own that, on first considering your proposal, I favoured it. Since turning it over; in my mind, however, I have concluded to build on my own side, and take water direct from the dam." "But don't you see," urged Mr. Wing, "that in this event we shall during the summer time have a short supply of water, and neither of us be able to run over half the time; while, if we use the same water, you receiving it after me as proposed, the head will be sufficient in the driest season." "I don't apprehend trouble from that source," answered Mr. Ellis; and if I can get water enough for my purposes, you will have more than enough. In any event the loss will be mine; for your machinery will go whirring like a top under a head of water scarcely sufficient to set a single pair of mill-stones in motion." Wing soon saw that his neighbour was in earnest, and that it would be of no use to press him farther on the subject. So, the matter dropped between them, and both joined in constructing the dam. But, all the while it was building, Wing silently pondered the means of securing an advantage over Mr. Ellis. The fact that the flour-mill would take more water than he could use in his small establishment, worried his mind whenever the thought was presented. It seemed as if Mr. Ellis were getting an advantage over him, and that was something he never could submit to passively. If there was to be any advantage, in his dealing with other men, "Will it be amply sufficient for two pairs?" it must be on his side. asked the neighbour. In a matter so intimately touching the rights "I'm afraid I've been tricked. My neighbour has been too sharp for me." of both parties, as the joint ownership and re-, tion, and might be urged, in a lawsuit, against spective obligations connected with the mill- the evident reading of the document. Mr. dam, it was deemed safest to have a paper Ellis saw this, and remarked, in a rather disdrawn up by a skilful lawyer, defining the rela-couraged voicetive duties and interests. Ellis was not very particular about the form, accepting the general scope of the document in its first draft; but Wing scanned every sentence with care, and weighed the meaning of each important word with suspicious accuracy. A dozen alterations were made before he would consent to sign the paper. Almost simultaneously with the beginning of work on the dam, were operations commenced by the two men at their respective mill sites; and these went on vigorously, until the walls of each building began to rise above the well-laid foundations. "So much the more necessity for stopping where you are," said the friend. "The dam cannot be completed without your consent, as one side rests on your property." "I'm not so sure of that," answered Ellis. "In this contract I assented to the erection, and could be held to my agreement. The work cannot be stopped now." "It would be stopped, if I were in your place," returned the friend. "Not another stone or timber should be laid until the question now involved was finally adjusted." "I don't want to get into a quarrel with Wing; and a quarrel I am sure to have if I cross him now. Let the matter pass and come out as it will. Anything for peace. I shall get all the required for my mill, no doubt. Except for two or three months in the year, no short supply need be apprehended." About this time, certain movements on the spot which was at first selected by Mr. Ellis on his neighbour's side of the stream attracted his attention. Men were engaged in clearing it up, digging, and hauling away cartloads of earth.water A suspicion flashed into the mind of Mr. Ellis; but he pushed it aside as unworthy. Still the digging went on, and in a day or two he saw stone begin to arrive. This was conclusive as to the purpose of his neighbour to erect a building of some kind. So Mr. Ellis went over, and asked a few questions in a friendly way, to which he received cold and unsatisfactory replies. The only thing really learned was, that Mr. Wing had rented the ground to a man living in the next village, a Mr. Adam Wheeler, who was going to put up some kind of works; what, Mr. Wing averred that he neither knew nor cared. "Is he to have water power?" was the natural inquiry of Mr. Ellis. To this query he got only the same don't-know and don't-care reply. "But," said Mr. Ellis, in respectful remonstrance, "it is of concern for me to know whether there are to be two mills to take water from the dam on your side, or only one." With this, Wing fired up, and became rather abusive, claiming the right to take at least as much water as his neighbour, which could not be as things stood in their original aspect. Mr. Ellis was a peace-loving man, and retired from this contest, resolved to let things take their course rather than get into a quarrel with his neighbour. "I shall manage to get water enough," he said to himself, and so went on with the work of construction. But a friend who saw what was in progress brought the subject back again to the consideration of Mr. Ellis, and enjoined him, by all means, to have the matter definitively settled before advancing a single step father. Together the contract was examined, and the friend 'pointed out and dwelt upon a clause that, interpreted in the spirit of the whole agreement would prevent Wing from using water except for the woollen mill he was engaged in erecting. Other clauses, which Wing had introduced into the agreement, were of rather vague significa "There is only one way to peace," said the friend, "and that is the way of mutual rights. If you permit a single aggression from a bad man, you only encourage him to farther wrongs. Success to the evil, is like the taste of blood on a tiger's lips. Make a stand now, while you occupy some vantage ground." "And get into a lawsuit?" "Perhaps yes, perhaps nay: but if the lawsuit is to come, accept it on the threshold, and settle the dispute before all you have is invested in these improvements, which may be rendered valueless by some unlooked-for move of your neighbour across the falls." But Mr. Ellis had not sufficient courage to accept the issue. "Anything for peace," he kept saying to himself-" anything for peace!" and went on with his mill and the dam. No very long time passed before word came to Mr. Ellis that Adam Wheeler, the person to whom Wing had rented the site, was going to put up a grist-mill. This he did not credit at first, for he could not believe so ill a thing of his neighbour. But it was repeated to him again and again, and by such good authority, that he felt bound to look carefully into the matter; so he went to the other side for personal investigation. Since the remonstrance at first entered, there had been coldness between him and Mr. Wing, and they had, in mutual repulsion, stood aloof from each other. On visiting the site to which we have referred he found Mr. Wheeler on the ground. Questions in regard to the improvements he saw progressing were not needed. His practised eyes read at a glance the purpose of everything." "You are putting up a flour-mill, I see," was his remark to Wheeler. "I am," was the steady reply. Mr. Ellis looked at the man sharply for some moments, and then put the question, "Are you not advised that the building of such a mill is in violation of my contract with Mr. Wing?" "I don't know anything about your arrangements with Mr. Wing," curtly answered Wheeler: "mine with him are clear enough. I have paid for water privileges, and shall use them. If you have anything to object to, lay the case before Wing." The blood of Mr. Ellis was stirred. He felt angry and combative. "I'll see about this!" he said to himself, striding away from the place, and going in search of Mr. Wing. He was resolved to take issue at once, and, as his friend had advised him, settle this matter with the Scotchman, even at the expense of a lawsuit. But it so happened that Wing was absent, and before Ellis reached his own side of the falls his hot blood lost its ardor, and moved more slowly along his veins. Anything for peace!" dropping from his lips, as he entered his own premises, told the story of his state of mind. On the next day, in cooler blood, he met the Scotchman, who put on a repellant counte There was affected surprise, as well as indignation, in the voice of Wing. 66 Certainly, as you are aware," coolly answered Mr. Ellis. "In the joint building of this dam only a single mill on either side was contemplated. Your use of it was to be limited to a woollen-mill, and mine to a flour-mill." "Is that set down, in so many words, in the contract?" asked Wing, almost with a sneer. "If not in so many words, the spirit is there; and your course now is in direct violation of that spirit." "Go home and read your contract again," said Wing, in a very offensive manner, and turned away haughtily from his neighbour. Ellis did read it again, over and over, half a-dozen times, and at each new reading saw the stipulations less and less clearly. As first drawn the contract was a very plain one, expressing the rights of each in a few explicit words; but, under the changes and interpolations suggested by the wily Scotchman, he could not understand itas binding to any specific thing, in fair readable language. After worrying himself over the matter for a day or two, Mr. Ellis, who in his very soul detested strife, receded from the resolute position which under the excitement of natural indignation he had assumed, and justifying his weak, non-combatant inclinations by the oft-repeated sentiment, "Anything for peace!" let the issue pass, and went on with the work of building his mill. CHAP. II. A few weeks more were permitted to elapse, without any movement on the part of Mr. Ellis towards a settlement of this serious difference of opinion between him and Mr. Wing, touching their mutual rights and privileges under the contract for building the dam. The original understanding between them was plain enough, and he had considered the written agreement as a simple record of that understanding. To have deviated in anything from its true meaning he would have regarded as seeking a dishonourable advantage. The conduct of his neighbour, therefore, outraged his sense of justice quite as much as it alarmed his fears. It was plain that wrong was intended; but he could not make up his mind to resist the wrong, and so get into a quarrel. Mr. Ellis was standing by the nearly-finished abutment against which the dam and head-gates on his side were to rest, examining the work, when the friend who had before warned him against his neighbour on the other side came up, and said, "How have you settled that difference with Wing? I see that Wheeler is still going on with the flour-mill." "It is'n't settled at all," replied Mr. Ellis. "The fact is, Wing and I have not met since we conversed on the subject." The friend shook his head, saying, "Wrong, all wrong, Mr. Ellis. You're making trouble for the future. Stop where you are. Don't lay another stone or another timber until this thing is settled." "We have gone too far to stop now," said Ellis, "particularly so, as a quarrel and lawsuit will be certain to follow, and for both of these I have an instinctive horror. I've thought about the matter a great deal, and in the choice of evils I think the preference lies on the side I am taking." The friend looked upon the ground where they were standing, and pointing with his finger, said, "Do you see that immense burdock?" "Yes," replied Ellis. sily be eradicated; but let the wrong go on | you mean right towards others, and will exact strengthening and increasing, and you will find it an enemy almost impossible to destroy!" Mr. Ellis looked sober; he saw the force of his friend's illustration; still he shrunk from the issue presented. His soul abhorred strife. "I would do almost anything for peace!" he said, despondingly. "We cannot always have peace on easy terms. Too often it can be secured only at the price of war; and it is better to accept of war, when our enemy is weak, and we have the best position, than to wait until the situations are reversed. One thing is certain, and the sooner you make up your mind to accept and act upon the necessity the better. You cannot escape a war." "It is a cruel necessity-a wicked necessity," said Mr. Ellis, much disturbed. "I grant you that it is; but, there being no escape, act with courage and promptness. Be a strong, brave man, entrenching yourself behind a just cause, asking nothing but right, and yielding to no encroachments from wrong.' "What would you advise? What step should I take?" asked Mr. Ellis, in a half-undetermined manner. "Stop this work at once, and refuse to advance an inch until the spirit of your original contract is observed on the other side. The dam cannot be finished without your consent. Wing and Wheeler may go on with their mills if they please; but, if the dam remains incomplete, their works are useless." "I have already expended four hundred pounds," said Mr. Ellis. "Must that all remain a dead loss? I can't afford it! My future prosperity depends on the completion of this mill." "Your future prosperity, say rather, depends on the present settlement of this disagreement with Wing," returned the other. "What great harm can he do me, after all?" urged Mr. Ellis. "Isn't the dispute one about imaginary rights and privileges more than about real ones? I shall get all the water I want from my side of the dam. Suppose Wing and Wheeler do use a larger quantity-what of that, so I get enough?" "A great deal of that, if it is used in a determined violation of a contract between the parties; for then, a wrong to justice is done, and an evil-doer is encouraged to trespass on his neighbour." "But, suppose I am willing to accept the trespass, in order to avoid a quarrel? What then?" "Two evils will follow. The wrong-doer, thus encouraged to wrong by the benefit received as the robber is encouraged on receipt of plunder-will not hesitate at additional wrong in your case, nor fail to regard success as a motive for trespass on others. As a brave, true man, Mr. Ellis, your duty is plain. Security to yourself, and loyalty to justice, demand all the sacrifice of feeling this contest with Wing may require. Let him comprehend, so clearly that be will never fall into the mistake again, that right towards yourself. Suspend all your operations at once, and give him notice in writing that you will neither lay a stone nor strike a hammer until his arrangement with Wheeler, in violation of the original compact, be set aside." "That he'll never do!" replied Mr. Ellis. "I might as well give up for good and allabandoning everything." "A great deal better abandon everything in its present condition, than advance a step, if such is the man you have to deal with," said the friend: "for, rely upon it, he will not let one, over whom an advantage is so easily gained, pass free from injury in the future. He will prey on you all the while." "How that is possible is beyond my ability to see," was answered, "and I've studied the case pretty thoroughly." 66 As you will," returned the friend, whose ardour now began to cool. But, my word for it, if you don't settle this affair now, you'll only repent it once in your life, and that will be a perpetual repentance." After this conversation, Mr. Ellis passed a good many days of sober thought. Reason admonished him that his friend was right; but the old cry arose in his spirit-"Anything_for peace!" and he shrunk from the impending strife. He was the more ready to shrink, after a brief interview with the Scotchman, for he found him sternly resolved to advance in the way he was going. An intimation by Mr. Ellis that he might suspend operations entirely on his side of the dam, if Wing did not recede from his position, was met by such violence of language, and in such a fierce and threatening spirit, that the peace-loving man was really frightened. He saw, that in any contention which might arise, he would have a desperate and vindictive antagonist-one who would not scruple at any means of annoyance and injury— and he was not brave enough to throw down the gauntlet, and enter the arena of battle. In a conversation which passed between Wing and Wheeler, immediately subsequent to this stormy interview, the Scotchman said, coolly "I know my man. You can frighten him as easily as you can frighten a hare." "Oh, bluff's the game, with men of his kidney!" answered Wheeler, coarsely. "I said, when he broke that agreement about the mill site, he'd repent of it before long," remarked Wing, in a tone of evil triumph, "and I'm always as good as my word. He shall repent. When a man once breaks with me, we are two for ever; and if he gets a-head of me after that, why he's welcome to all the advantage." "But, suppose he were to do as he threatens suspend work on his side of the dam?" Wheeler looked serious as he asked the question. Wing shrugged his shoulders, but answered, "No fear of that." "It would block our game," said Wheeler. Yes; without the dam our mills would be "Perhaps they are; but law is uncertain. Besides, I have a lawyer who knows all the ins and outs, all the quirks and turns of the courthouse-a man who can bully and brag on the outside, as well as work silently and in the dark. I'll trust my case with him, on a good contingent fee." "And lose it," said Wheeler. "Take my advice, and don't get your case in the hands of a jury; for twelve fair men will say that Ellis is right and you are wrong.' "Twelve fair men might do so; but did you ever hear of twelve clear-headed, honest, fairdealing men being on a jury at the same time? Even on a jury trial I might win. Still I have no idea of letting the case go into court. Should Ellis get angry and unmanageable, I'll submit to an arbitration. If this is kept off until we get our mills well advanced, the vagueness of the contract, and the largeness of the interests involved on our side, will naturally lead the arbitrators to the conclusion that I clearly understood the existence of a right to put up two mills on my property. It will be argued on my side that no possible harm can come to Ellis by a use of the water, as power, that flows from my wheel.” "And argued on his," returned Wheeler, "that in building a flour-mill on this side his business must suffer loss." "Yes, that ground will undoubtedly be taken, and with a strong show of reason. But I have faith in being able to keep beyond the law's interference. Ellis is a timid, peace-loving man, and I shall give him a threatening or stormy broadside whenever we meet, just as his mood may happen to require. One thing is certain: I am not going to back down unless under constraint of law. When I once take a course, nothing but an impassable barrier can stop me. And I have, in this thing, taken my course.' دو Thus the matter stood on Archibald Wing's side. He knew that he was in the wrong and an aggressor, but meant to hold his position by all available means, fair or foul. For a man like Ellis, he was a hard antagonist; yet this made resistance to wrong, at the very outset, the more imperative. In all such cases, the first conflict of forces is best; for then it almost always happens that right is a nearer match for wrong than at any time afterwards, and able to conquer at the lightest cost. Steadily, day by day, the works on each side of the stream went on, and the builders, stimulated by Wing, carried on the dam rapidly towards completion. Ellis was troubled with many forebodings of evil. He felt that he was in the hands of two unscrupulous men, who not only had the power, but the will, to do him wrong; and yet he did not possess the courage At last the dam was completed, and the mills on both sides ready to go into operation. By this time the feeling of antagonism between Mr. Ellis and the Scotchman had become so strong that they held no intercourse. If they happened to meet, they simply recognized each other with a distant nod. For months Mr. Ellis had refrained from going over to his neighbour's side of the falls, and knew nothing, by personal inspection, of the interior arrangement and capacity of Wheeler's gristmill. But kind and officious friends kept him posted. One of these came to him soon after the dam and flumes were completed, and said, "I heard something yesterday that I think you should know." "What is it?" asked Mr. Ellis. "It came from one of Wing's millwrights." "Ah! Well, what is it ?" "It must be taken, of course, with some grains of allowance? but I shouldn't at all wonder if it were true. Wing is just the man for such a trick." "What trick? Speak out plainly!" urged Mr. Ellis. "He says that Wing's head-gates are at least fourteen inches lower than yours." "No, no! he wouldn't dare to do such a thing!" said Mr. Ellis, at once excited. As to his daring," replied the friend, "he will dare anything to secure an advantage. If it is true-and you'd better see to it at once-it will enable. him to reduce your head of water in dry seasons just that number of inches, to your injury and his gain." "I will see to it, and that immediately," was the resolve of Mr. Ellis, who was considerably excited by this grave intimation. But the question as to the means of ascertaining whether the thing alleged were true or not, caused a long and unsatisfactory debate. Wing would, of course, meet the accusation with an indignant denial. Only by a survey, skilfully conducted, was the exact level of the two openings for headgates to be determined; and as this would involve an open rupture between the high contending parties, the mind of Ellis again fell into doubt, and became embarrassed by hesitation. Seriously did he regret his failure to meet the difficulty at an earlier period, and have it pressed to a settlement when the decision could have been met and accepted with but slight injury on either side. Now, as nearly everything he had in the world was invested in his mill, he was anxious to get to work, and realize some of the advantages for which he had been waiting, spending, and labouring. To enter at this point on a quarrel, with its excitements, delays, and unknown consequences was an alternative which he could not accept. And so, trusting that all would come out right, Mr. |