The Republican journal., 1873-07-31


1--WE must trust you to take care of it
thing about business Aunt Dolly had
said as she relinquished the precious lit
tie blue book
YOU shall remember the circumstances
Any favor that is in my power to confer
MIR. Swinton had said glibly
Aunt Dolly stepped to the window with
her knitting, and watched the man as he
struck light for his cigar on her gate
post.
81 wish we hadn't done it, 'Liphalet
said she
''Oh don't say so, Dolly, don't"
81 don't like his eyes, and for all he
talks so open and honest, he seems to me
like close man, a man who keeps some
thing back
You mustn't keep preiudiced agin him
Dolly, because he appears a little vain
and tiashy. Men amt now what they
were in our days He comes of an honest,
obleeging kind of family, and they cali
him a very smart Young man, Dolly"
Time with its incidents and accidents
thinking of Rubes money as in Swintons
hands The certificate of stock in the
'sNative Village Manufacturing Com
panyN was carefully laid away, and she
no longer spent sleepless nights over it,
Lor sighed when the matter was men
toned
The mill went up and the operatives
came; real estate rose again, and the ma
tive village hourished. Uncle Iiphalet
peddled out early potatoes, sweet corn,
and mutton by the quarter; and Arttord
Swinton, though he had presidents and
directors and clerks, and heaven only
knows what else around him, was The
Company" and smoked cigars = best
brand or none-gave the company notes.
and forever stroked the toNy-colored
moustache While he carried on the cot
ton manufacture, he did a still more flour
iShng business in the manufacture of facts
He heaped facts upon facts on the head of
the president until he smothered that gen
tlelnan in facts; he piled bales of facts be-
fore the directors until they couldn't See
over the pile; he threw facts into the eyes
Of the stockholders until they We're stone
blind; he gave banks and creditors secur-
ity of facts and his friends qllatfed nepenthe
of facts in the social glass. Days when
croqueting was dull, the books We're
fixed Bookkeeping once Il science,
designed to show the pecunlary standing
of individuals and companies, now be
came an easy and economical method Of
fixing things Now and then a dividend
was declared, and the stream that turned
the mill glittered in the sun like the river
Pactolus. Uncle 'Liphalet put greenbacks
into the contribution box, and thanked
the Lord daily that he was giving him i'll
crease of substance
Then there began to be haze in the
air through which had glittered the river
Pactolus. Swinton said it was smoke from
the Boston fire 1t grew denser and
denser.
''Smoke from that -- Boston fire
wind blows it this way, yet, said Swim
ton between the putfs of his cigar
But smoke has an unpleasant effect on
mems eyes, and meeting after meeting
was held to devise measures to get rid Of
it. Uncle 'Liphalet, at these meetings sat
silent and trembling, listened to talk that
he could no more understand than the
gatherings of Choctaws, and was shown
statements that he could no more eompre-
hend than the inscription on the Pompey's
Pillar. The Man of Facts lounged in an
attitude of such elegance as men are Wont
to assume when by themselves, and agreed
with everybody, assured everybody, "is
for putting ti,is tnlng through, and offer
ed his facts for this latter purpose with
astounding liberality. Alack the Swim
ton cigar smoke. though it rose gracefully
and curled around the heads OF the stock
holders, naturally mingled with the smoke
of the Boston fire, and the mems visions
became more and more obscured.
All al once SWinton was off to Europe
for purposes Of selt-culture, perhaps the
man needed it Then We're his layers Of
facts, his dividends in money, pushed
aside o, ye gods, what a sight met the
gaze of men, then Now the smoke
rolled up in volumes from all quarters
darkness that might he felt set in, and
men groped for each others hands No
more did the Pactolus glisten and glitter
and simmer before their eyes, but in
their ears roared a swollen, turbid stream,
foaming, tossing great cakes of ice up and
down, and threatening to bear them all
away, grind them up, and carry them ont
to the open ocean.
Some of the men there could talk, and,
though one have tetters on his hand, and
bricks on his head if he can talk his con
dtion is not nnbearable But Uncle
'Liphalet could not talk so he picked his
way home through the snow storm and
ratified the back door as il signal to Aunt
Dolly to let him in
''Are you frozen, Liphalet " asked
Aunt Dolly in terror, as the randlelight
struck the white face
Uncle 'Liphalet staggered in, and sink
ing on the lounge, covered his face with
his wrinkled hands
80, Dolly -
You needn't tell me, 'Liphalet; know
what It's Pve felt it coming But o,
'Liphalet! we've helped each other through
hard times these fifty years, and we've got
each other yet
Uncle Iiph only groaned
''Maybe the farml last us through
we're almost worn out, and it won't be
long that wen be waiting With the
farm and each other
''Oh, Dolly, Dolly, you don't know the
worst, and can't tell You. never can
tell you. ! never can tell you, Dolly,
never'-Uncle Liph staggered part way
across the room, then turned suddenly
"They're going to take it all, Dolly
everything-strip US clean, clean as we
were when we began fifty years ago.
house and farm and coWs-everything
great wrong from the very beginning,
and now they're coming The law'll let
'em, and it's got to go--the back pastur,
and the wood lot, and the orchard, and
everything, even Rubes grave, Dolly 0,
God haven't | served Thee these fifty
years shouldst Thou cast me off
now ?r
The gray, scraggy face, with the gray,
scraggly hair around it, was turned
toward the ceiling. Aunt Dolly went ont
into the night.
1t was stormy, and cold, and bitter,
The sleet cut against her cheek, the wind
raved in her hair, and the snow drtted at
her feet, but Aunt Dolly didn't mind it.
She only wanted air and to think. She
leaned up against the weather bound
clapboards. Was it really going, going,
going, all going? She couldn't think,
one word alone whistled over and over in
her brain-going, going. She looked off
through the storm to the dimly outlined
maple beneath which lay Rube's grave.
That, too, was going.