Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1860-09-22
The Good Bye.
s'GeOrCe-GeOrge -

The young husband turned back the
door-knob, and there was impatience
in bis tone, and annoyance on his brow
as be answered his wife's call.
''Nothing, papa, only baby and /
! just want to kiss you goodbye" and
she came toward him, the little, grace
fuI, sweet voice women, with her baby
il her arms, and held up the small soft
face to his cheek, and the little one
crowed, and thrust up It's dimpled
hands, and clutched the short, thick
locks triumphantly.
>'Oh, baby, you rogue, you'd like to
pull out handful ofpapa'S hair, now,
would Mt you ?" laughed the merchant
III tone so unlike his former, that YOU
would not have recognized it, and he
leaned down and kissed the small fra
grant Ii ps over and over.
'Now, it's my turn papar' and Mrs.
Reynolds s*loothed away the rumpled
HAIR, and kissed her husbands forehead,
and as he went out Of the house that
! morning, new softncss and peace had
erased the troubled look from the mans
| face.
And that day it was appointed to
George Reynolds to go through sharp
and fearful temptation.
lie was IN the midst Of CONNER
cial crisis, and several Of his heaviest
debtors had failed that week, and now
u payment OF ten thousand dollars was
due, and there was no way to raise
this sum unless
He held his pen irresolutcly in his
sinking hand. The veins were swollen
into great blue cords on his forehead,
and the breath came thick and fast be-
tween his hot lips; o few scraWls of that
pen, q solitary name at the bottom, aud
the young merchant could secure the
ten thousand dollars, and his business
credit would be safe There was no
sort Of doubt, too, but he could raise
the money within few days, and thus
secure himself from all discovery, and
the pressing circumstances Of the case
certainly allowed some limits in fnan-
ciorinG.
So whispered the tcmpter, as he
walked up and down the soul Of George
Reynolds, always softening down the
word forgery into some false name,
which totally changed to his porcep-
tions the moral complexion Of the deed
he was about to commit.
The ycnng merchants eyes gIared
all around his Office, but there was
none to sec him then; he dipped his
pen with kind Of desperate eagcrness
into the tail porcelain ink-stand, and
he drew it along the paper, when sud
denly his hand paused, struck by a
thought-the memory Of his wite's kiss
that morning,
He saw her rs he saw her last, stand
ing in the door, the baby in her arms,
her sweet face full Of motherly tender
ness and Wifely trust, as she lifted it to
him in parting; the voice OF the tempter
passed away before that rush Of holier
emotion which blurred the mans eyes;
he dashed down the pen. "Mary! Ma
ry! you have saved your husband; sink
or swim, I will not do this deed: sho'd
blush for shame to meet Your eyes and
our haby's tonight, if I carried the
/ burning consciousness in MY own soul,
though 10 other man ever did OF would
know Of it. Mary, my little wife, YOU
won't know it, but that goodbye kiss
of yours this morning has saved your
husband from this great sin"
George Reynolds did not sink. It
was a hard struggle, but the storm
passed by without falling on him as it
did on many others, and Mary. his wife,
never knew that she had saved her
husband from sin which in her eyes
would have been worse than death.
The good which we have done, we
shall know, mot here, bat hereafter,' >
and the best and truest lives are those
which strew all the years with the sweet
aromas Of loving and seif-sacrifcing
deeds.
AS the water lilies take root and grow
silently amid the slime and mud in low
: waters, until in tie midsummer they
: open their great creamy vases to the
; persuasons Of the sunshine, and lie III
: sunny fotillas on the bosom Of streams.
the glory and idealization Of all flowers.
so amid the lowlands of life, among
: its shadows and mists, have we also tc
sow day by day our small seeds of gen
tie and generous deeds; not knowing
t when they take root, or expecting tc
behold their unfolding into blossoms OF
the river of time.
0, We who sigh to set your lives with
the arabesques Of great and noble
/ deeds, who pant for broader horizons
E and higher opportunities. God ha:
a appointed you work where you are
Every day lifts up its white chalice
out of the night, and is held down te