He told us that in
connection with his friend, Colonel William Meriwether, of Albemarle, he
had invested heavily in coal lands in the western part of the State, in
what is now West Virginia. This requiring very large sums of money, he
for his part had encumbered not only the lands themselves, but these
lands of Cowles' Farms to secure the payment. The holder of these
mortgages was a banking firm in Fredericksburg. The interest was one
which in these times would be considered a cruel one, and indeed the
whole enterprise was one which required a sanguine courage, precisely as
his; for I have said that risk he always held as challenge and
invitation.
"Does thee think that in these times thee should go so deeply in debt,"
asked my mother of him.
"Elizabeth," he said, "that is why I have gone in debt. Two years from
now, and the value of these lands here may have been cut in half. Ten
years from now the coal lands yonder will be worth ten times what they
are to-day."
"John," she said to him suddenly, "sell those coal lands, or a part of
them."
"Now, that I could not do," he answered, "for half their value. The
country now is fuller of war than of investment.
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