Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1869-02-17
The Goodbye.

Well, what's wanting now 2
The young husband turned back the door
knob, and there was impatience in his tone
aud ANNOYANCE on his brow. as he answered
his wife's call
Nothing, only baby and | want to kiss
you goodbye" and she came toward him. the
I little, graceful, sweet voiced woman, with her
baby in her arms, aud held up the soft face
to bis cheeks, and the little one crowed and
thrust up its dimpled hands, and clutched the
short thick locks triumphantly.
Oh you rogue, you'd like to pull out a
handful of papa's hair, wouldn't you, now 2''
laughed the merchant, in tone so unlike his
former one that you would not have recogn-
zod it, and he leaned down and kissed the
small fragrant lips.
Now it's my turn" and Mrs. Williams
smoothel away the rumpled hair, and kissed
her husbands forehead and as he went out
Of the house that morning, new softness and
peace had erased the troubled look from the
mans face.
That day it was appointed to George VIII
liams to pass through sharp and fearful
temptation. He was in the midst Of a CON-
mercial crisis, and his heaviest debtors had
failed that week, and now ten thousand dol
lars was due and there was no way to raise
the sum unless
He held the pen irresolutely in his shrink
ing hand The veins were swollen on his fore
head, and the breath came thick and fast be-
twixt his lips few scrawls Of that pen, a
solitary name at the bottom, and the young
merchant 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 in a few days, and thus Sc
cure himself from all discovery, and the press
ing circumstances Of the case certainly al
lowed some liberty in inanciering
So whispered the tempter as he walked up
and down the soul of George Williams, al
ways soitening down the word forgery into
some false name, which totally changed to his
perceptions the moral complexion Of the deed
he was about to commit.
The young merchants eyes glared all
around the office, but there was none to see
him then; he dipped his pen with kind Of
desperate eagerness into tall, porcelain ink
stand, and he drew it along the paper, when
suddenly his hand paused, struck by thought
the memory of his wife's kiss that morning.
lie SAW ntl Us ne saw ntI ltsAs HiiullnE III
the door, the baby in her arms, her sweet face
full Of mothcrly Tenderness and wifely trust as
she lifted il to him in parting; the voice of
the tempter passed away under the rush Of
holer emotion which blurred the mans eyes.
He dashed down the pen.
George Williams did not sink. 1t was a
hard struggle, but the storm passed by with
out 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, " not here, but hereafter" and the best
and truest lives are those which strew all the
years with the sweet aromas of loving and
selfsacridcing deeds.
As the water-liies take root, and grow
silently among the slime and mud in the low
waters, until in the midsummer they open
their creamy vases TO the soft persuasions Of
the sunshine, and lie in s~owy hotilas on the
bosoms Of the streams, the glory and idoiza-
tion of all flowers so amid the lowlands Of
life, among its shadows and mists have we
also to sow, day by day, our small seeds of
gentle and generous deeds, not knowing when
lilt1 idht Toolf VI cAftNAihH W bNholh thch
unfolding Into blossoms on the river Of time
o, ye who sigh to set your lives with the
arabesques of great and noble deeds who
pant for broader horizons and higher opportu-
mites God has appointed you work where
you are.
Every day lifts 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 oter-
nifty.
And in this small daily labor lies much Of
woman's work, and her sweet home influences
fall like the sunshine and the evening dew,
upon the characters around her.
She may little comprehend what a silent
force of healing, restraining, Strengthening in-
Auence she is ezerting, and periods of unrest
and dependency may FIJI many hours with
shadows, which would be Illuminated with joy
and thanksgiving, if she could only "know as
she is known"
But the pictures of lives are locked up in
The eternal gallery, and angels hold the keys
and when Gods voice speaks the word, the
doors shall be opened, and when we 60 in we
shall all "beholdr and understand