He asked the poor man four hundred dollars for the old house and the little lot of land on which it stood.
It was a matter of great concern to John Bright.

Four hundred dollars was a "mint of money," and he could not see how he should ever be able to save so much from his daily earnings.

So he talked with Squire Lee about it, who told him that three hundred was all it was worth.

John offered this for it, and after a month's hesitation Mr.Hardhand accepted the offer, agreeing to take fifty dollars down, and the rest in semi-annual payments of twenty-five dollars each until the whole was paid.
I am thus particular in telling my readers about the bargain, because this debt which his father contracted was the means of making a man of Bobby, as will be seen in his subsequent history.
John Bright paid the first fifty dollars; but before the next instalment became due, the poor man was laid in his cold and silent grave.

A malignant disease carried him off, and the hopes of the Bright family seemed to be blasted.
Four children were left to the widow.