text: When the 1880s drew to a close, Astrid began her studies at the University of Nebraska. She was a strikingly beautiful young lady, the only one of the family with naturally blonde hair. After classes started, she had young men over to the house nearly every weekend courting her, and she was nice to all of them, but she wasn't inclined to accept any of their attentions. Grit thought that if they only knew how rich Astrid was going to be, she'd have ten times as many suitors, but Astrid had no idea about the money coming to her when she was 21.
  
  While all this was going on, building in Lincoln began to slow as the economy seemed to go into a tailspin. Some men left the lumber yard to look for other work and were not replaced, but Grit was determined to keep the long-time employees if he could. Paulie gave him regular reports and things were not looking good. Profits dropped month after month, and Grit economized every way he could.
  
  By 1893 when Astrid graduated from the university with a degree in mathematics, the nation had fallen into a severe economic depression and thousands of Lincoln residents moved out of the city. Paulie met with Grit and said, "We can't keep operating at a loss."
  
  Grit smiled and said, "How much money do we have in our accounts?"
  
  "Oh, we've got about $40,000 in various accounts, but business has dropped off severely."
  
  "I've shut down the lumberjacks and given our long-time employees a bonus to help them until they get another job," Grit said. "We'll buy our lumber from wholesalers. So we won't have that expense any longer. This economic depression can't last too much longer, can it?"
  
  Paulie sighed, "Grit, it could last for years, and we're selling very little lumber or hardware."
  
  "Well, when you need a cash infusion, let me know," he said. "These men have been loyal to me, and I wanna keep paying them as long as they want to work and as long I can."
  
  "Are you planning to borrow money to keep paying them?" Paulie asked.
  
  "No, I won't have to borrow it," Grit said. "I have other sources of money I can tap. I can't talk about it, but all I can say, Paulie, is do not worry. We'll make it through this."
  
  "Are you going to keep Asa on?" Paulie asked.
  
  "I'm planning on it."
  
  "Then she and I should take a pay cut of at least 30 percent each, and we should put the men on four days a week," Paulie said.
  
  "Alright, do it, but give the men what they earn, and we'll give them a loan for the extra day they'll miss," Grit said. "If we do that, how long will the $40,000 last?"
  
  "Maybe a year if things don't pick up," Paulie said.
  
  "Alright," Grit said. "To ease your mind, I'll have $100,000 transferred into the company account."
  
  "A hundred thousand?" Paulie exclaimed. "From where?"
  
  "Don't worry about it," Grit said. "I'll have it in the account within a week." Grit placed a call to Otis and Company in Chicago and spoke with James Otis.
  
  "How much has my investment grown?"
  
  "It did quite well until just recently," Otis said. "Your balance now is a little over three million dollars."
  
  "Okay, sell everything and go to cash as soon as you can, including those investments in the children's trust account," Grit said. "And I'll need you to send $100,000 to my account at the First National Bank of Lincoln. I need it to run my business and pay my employees."
  
  "We'll wire it out tomorrow and start liquidating today."
  
  When Grit got off the phone, he realized that he hadn't thought much about his account at Otis and Company for years, but even so, it had tripled in value. And when he needed the money, it was there.
  
  Otis called a week later and told Grit they'd sold the last of his stocks, and the $100,000 was in the bank account in Lincoln. "By the way, we just got word this morning that the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad and the National Cordage Company are bankrupt, and there's a run on the New York Stock Exchange. Stocks are plummeting."
  
  Grit smiled. "I'm relying on you, James, to reinvest my money at the very bottom of the market."
  
  "I'll monitor it daily and we'll start reinvesting when we think there's the best value in some of the stocks."
  
  There was no way Grit could have known about the run on the market, but he was glad he was out of it. Just a lucky call at the right time. The time would come to get back into the market, but he'd wait for Otis's call before doing so. He knew nothing about investments or the stock market, but he'd hired a good firm whose expertise had rewarded him.
  
  The year Astrid graduated, Rory enrolled at the University of Nebraska, and two years later, Luke joined him. Samuel worked at the lumber yard every day with Grit, and though his coordination was not the best, he did the jobs required of him and seemed quite happy with his regular wages. He'd go shopping with Grit or Colleen and enjoyed picking out the things he wanted.
  
  Grit was as proud of Samuel as he was of his other children. The boy had learned to read and write quite well, and he had certain books that he read over and over and enjoyed, and Grit knew that Samuel had overcome obstacles other children would never experience.
  
  One day as they walked home from the lumber yard together, Samuel asked, "Papa, why am I so different from the others?"
  
  Grit had contemplated the question many times, and knew there was no answer. Why? Nobody knew why. Grit pulled him close and said, "I don't know why, Samuel, but you'll always be my best buddy. The others have all gone to college, but you and I, we were meant to be workers, I guess."
  
  The economic depression lasted four long, hard years. Farms were foreclosed on by the dozens, businesses disappeared and were never seen again, hundreds of houses were empty as the city population declined by more than 30 percent. Prices for food, clothing, services and necessities plummeted. People just didn't have any money. Everyone suffered.
  
  And in the middle of it all, Grit said to Colleen, "I've got to take Astrid to Chicago and show her the money she's got coming to her."
  
  "Can't you just tell her?"
  
  "I suppose I could, but it's just a figure on paper if I do that," Grit said. "She needs to meet the people who invest her money and make some decisions about what she wants to do with it, and she needs to decide about the books too."
  
  "You could just show her the inventory," Colleen said.
  
  "I could, but the money and books are hers now, and so I need to follow the requirements of the trust and turn it all over to her," Grit said. So Grit, Colleen, Samuel and Astrid took the train back to Chicago and left Celia to cook for Rory and Luke, who had to attend classes each day.