The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1858-09-29

4
About the end of the last century
there lived in Copenhagen a wealthy
mel chant, whose Lame was Kraft. He
was proud, impcrious man, who looked
upon riches as the greatest of all advan-
tagcs, and their possession as the uni
versal, in fact, the only passport to. or
rather source of happiness. lie was ex-
tremely rich. His housckeeper declared
that be was not able to count his money,
he had so much he measured his ducats
by the bushel, aud was certainly worth
his hundreds of thousands of dollars
Born iu afHaence, he had never seen the
slightest dimiuution in the fortune which
surrounded him, for his fathers mercan
tile house was already in its third geu-
GRAFTON, having descended from father to
sop, without any lessening of its capital
during the long period, as there had ne
yer been more than one son In the fami~
ly. In consequence of this, the large
means of the firm had remained undivf-
we'd, AID they had been enabled to ex,
tend their mercantile transactions over
half the world. Their acceptances were
as good as ready money. The present
merchant Kraft had also an ouly son,
but he had not, iD accordance with the
custom of his forrfathers, taken him in-
to partnership, for he must then have
made over to him-at least in appear
ance-a portion of his supreme authori-
ty, and he was too naughty .o share his
power even with his only son. lie had
therefore established the young mau i'll
business on lis own account, though to
certain xtept, u ider his own Surveillance.
Herr Kl laft's wife lad died at an early
age; sic Lad presented Linn with all lie
wished-a SOD, who might, i'll progress
of time, carry OIL the affairs Of the house
and VI hold its n; me aud high credit =
When she afterwards presented him with
a daughter, he was so alarmed at the
possibility of such gifts becoming too
abundant, that he thought it rather for
tuuate circums ance tina, the birth of
this child cost its mother her life. The
unwelcome little girl was sent to the
care of an aunt, who brought her up,
and it was not long after she was young
woman that sic returned to her fathers
house where, however, she found no sym
pathy. Her brother was just married
to a girl with handsome fortune, aud
he had removed to house of his own.
The family now consisted of Herr Kraft,
senior, his daughter, and his cousin, an
old maiden lady, who was received as
an inmate of his house after his wifc's
death, to give her home, said Herr
Kraft-that he might have some one to
vent his i'll humor upon, said Miss Re-
CINE to herself-that there should be an,
other tormeut in the house, said the
counting house clerks and the domestic
servants, who hated her and her fat,
snoring pet dog "Mops," as much as
they feared Herr Kraft and loved his
daughter. For Louise was their de-
clared favorite, and, if need had been,
they would have all gone through fire
and water for her.
A complete contrast to the merchan
was his relative, Herr Warner. He was
of a mild, unassuming character he
could easily mould his own wishes to
those of others, and he valued wealth
only as a means of doing good. In all
his actions he was guided much more by
his feelings than his interests. The
lives of these two gentlemen had heen
es different as were their cbcracters.-
Herr Warmers pareats9 had not been
rich. His mother had made an anfor-
tWnate marriage according to the mer-
chant Kraft, for her husband had lost
his small inheritance, and had gone
abroad to seek for fortune under foreign
skies. Herr Warner, on the contrary,
considered that. his mother had made
fortunate marriage, for her and her
husbands mutual affection outlived the
loss of their property, and if they did
not become rich in the distant country
to which they had gone, they at least
obtained competence there, and a
peaceful happy home.
After the death of his parents, their
son went, with poor heritage, to the
East Indies, where he married young
lady without any fortune. Good luck,
however, seemed now to attend him
his cotton plantations throve we'll and
yielded large returns, and beloved wife
and three fne children made his home a
paradise. At the expiration of few
years be determined to return to his ma
tive country, there to enjoy the fruits of
his labors. An infectious disease, how