Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1860-04-07
THE GOOD BYE.


We think that no true wife can read the
following from the ''IIome Magazine" and
not feel that power is already hers, which
She would not willingly exchange for that
Of the ballot box. While possessing the
care Of home made constantly attractive
to those most dear to her by gentle words,
kind deeds and loving smiles; she can well
afford to yield the cares Of state to those
by nature better fitted to assume them.
B. T. L. M.
oGeorge- George
"Well, what's wanting now
The young husband turned back the
door knob, and there was an impatience in
his tone, and annoyance on ths brow, as he
his wife's call.
Nothing, papa, only baby and | just
want to kiss you goodbye" and she came
up toward him, the little. graceful. sweet
voiced woman, With her baby II her arms,
and held up the small soft face to his
cheeks, and the little one erowed, and
thrust up its dimpled hands and clutched
The short, thick locks triumphantly.
20, baby; you rogue, you'd like to pull
out a handful Of papa's hair, wouldn't you
now z" laughed the merchant, in a tone SO
unlike his former one, that you would not
have recognized it, and he leaned down,
and kissed the small fragrant lips over and
over.
"Now its my turn, papa and Mrs
REYNOLDS snoothed away the rumpled hair,
and kissed her husbands forehead; and as
he went ont Of the house that morning, a
new softness and peace had erased the troub-
led look from the mans face.
And that day it vas appointed to Geo.ge
Reynolds to pass through q sharp aud
fearful temptation.
He was in the midst Of a commercial
crisis, and several Of his heaviest debtors
had failed that week, and now a payment
Of ten thousand dollars was due, and there
was no way ~ raise thissum unless-
He held the pen irresolutely in his sha-
king hand, the veins were swollen into
great blpe cords on his forehead, and the
breath came thick and fast betwixt his hot
lips; a few scfawls Of that pen, a solitary
name at the bottom, and the young ner-
chant could secure the ten thousand dol
lars, 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 al discovery,
and the pressing circumstance Of the case
certainly allowed some limits in iinancier-
ing.
So whispered the tempter as he walked
up and down the soul Of George Reynolds,
always softening down the word forgery
into some false name, which totally chang
ed to his perceptions the moral complexion
Of the deed he was about to commit.
The Young merchants eyes glared all
around bis Office, but there was none to see
him then; be dipped his pen with kind
Of desperate eagerness, into the tall porce-
lain inkstand, and he drew it along the pa
per, when suddenly his hand paused,
struck by thought-the memory of his
wife's kiss that morning.
lie saw her as he saw her last, standing
in the door, the baby in her arms, her
sweet face full Of motherly tenderness and
wifely trust, as she lifted it to him at part
ING; the voice Of the tempter passed away
before that rush Of holier emotion which
blurred the mans eyes; Ire dashed down
the pen. "Mary! Mary you have saved
your husband; sink or swim, Twill not do
This deed; | should blush for shame to
meet your eyes and our baby's tonight, if
| carried the burning consciousness in my
own soul, though no other man ever did or
would. Mary, my little wife, you won't
know it, but that goodbye kiss Of yours
his morning has saved your husband from
this great sin"
George Reynolds did not sink. Ii 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, 'snot here, but hereafter" and the
best and truest lives are those which strew
all the years with the sweet aromas of 10y
ing and self-saci1fcing deeds.
As the water lilies take root and grow
silently amid the slime and mud in low
waters until in the midsummer they open
heir great creamy vases to the soft persua-
sions of the sunshine, and lie in snowy flo
tillas on the bosoms Of the streams, the glo-
" and idealization of all flowers, so amid
The lowlands Of life, among its shadowsl
md mists, have we also to sow day by day
our small seed Of all gentle and generous
leeds, not knowing when they take root
81 expecting to behold their unfolding into
blossoms on the riyel Of time.
0, We who sigh to set your lives with
the arabesques Of great and noble deeds,
who pant for broaeel horizons, and higher
God has appointed you al
work where you are.
Every day lift up its white chalice out Of
the night, and is held down to YOU through
all its solemn, silent-footed hours, for those
small labors Of love whose true significance
and relations we shall only understand in