The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-03-28
WHAT CAME OF 1T.
By ELIZABETH A. S. CHESTER.

d
Goals.
"No, wouldn't, Liphalet, " replied
Aunt Dolly, resting her shining knit
ting-needles, while she stirred up the
pumpkin simmering in the pot. 'The
farms paid for now, and if we're savin'
we've enough to last us through. Why
should we harass ourselves wi seekin'
after riches p
""Tain't riches I'd be seekin, arter,
Dolly, but this Mr.. Swinton-they call
him very smart young man, Dolly
he says if the mill amt rebuilt the vii
lage'u go back ards, the farm1l sink
in vally, and things'n generally run
down. You know, Dolly, 1 never hild
back when I could do anything to help
along"
" amt likely to forget, 'Liphalet,
where the calf and butter money went
in time o war, nor how you've given to
church and missions, schools and poor
folks, and everything else anybody'd a
mind to draw paper for. You and I've
had more disagrCements-"
"Rut this'll be helpin' ourselves as
well as helping others, Dolly. This
Mr.. Swinton-he's very pleasant
spoken young man, Dolly-he says he'll
*
in three to five years. He says he'd
rather build here than elsewhere, be-
cause he wants to help his native vii
lage,r and if Well all take hold, and
each help little, he can do it"
We've no money to put in" said
Aunt Dolly,-leaning back and fixing
her eyes on the Goals Uncle Liph had
raked open,-'s unless we take"
a. 4,l- -l,,A L. H.,
for Rube's eddycation," said Uncle
Liphalet, softly.
Since God took Rube's eddycation
into His own hands, Liphalet, I've al
ways wanted that money to lie in the
bank until we'd plain call to use it. [
can't a-bear to think of its being used
like other money"
Nor /, Dolly, but Rube would wish
it doing good, and this Mr.. SwintOn
says it might draw thrible what it does
now. We can maybe use the income in
helpin' boys who love larnin', as Rube
did.
Dolly replied nothing. After the
mention of Rube's name silence was
wont to fall between the old couple, an
old couple outwardly as crooked, as
gnarled, and scraggly as any two old
apple-trees that drew sustenance from
their rocky fields.
This Mr. Swinton,-he came out to
the farm the next day, and Aunt Polly
put on her black alpaca apron and re
ceived him with courtesy. A man of
less shallow sympathies would have
been touched with n kind of pitying
tenderness for the Obsequious old wO-
man, but to SwintOn her Difference was
constitutionally agreeable. 1t argued
we'll, too, for his designs. He drew his
glOved finger athwart his fozy-colOred
mOustache, and talked business.
Heaven help the simple-minded old
couple nowl What Is business" to
them but kind of mysterious wonder
land full of pyramids and sphinxes and
statues of Memnon? What business
man but priestly sorcerer, with his of
ferings and incantations, living ever
among the mysteries?
But heaven didn't help them. Some
times it does seem to fail people in
their sorest needs; and yet, things
work obscurely and very far around,
and who as yet has seen the end of any
thing2
Aunt Dolly, in her wood rocker, knit
silently on the socks that would bring
her IS cents a pair. Uncle Liphalet
drank in the mans words with child
l;Fc-credulity.
"Let me- tell you, sir, manufacturing
aYa the life of our villages.
Compare" Mr.. Swinton drew his COM
parisons fiuently and cnrractlv- "Were
we to locate elsewhere stock would be
rapidly taken up, but owing to our
most singular and unfortunate fires
loss of confidence in the location-I am
strongly desirous of conferring the adj
vantages of the mill on my native vii
lage citizens must subscribe.
q As for the risk,--how can there be
any risk? Let me explain" Mr.. Swim
ton was a man of facts, and his expla-
nations consisted of facts, unimpeach-
able, immovable, facts that there was
no going back of or around. " That
doesn't admit of question: knOlO it
to be true why, we've demonstrated
it, sir. Do you see?"
Uncle Liphalet thought he saw.
Who could avoid seeing square, sharp
ly-defined fact, that was nowhere allow
ed to melt away into suppositions or
uncertainties ?
"I hain't but 1eetle money, any way"
said Uncle 'Liphalet, pushing back his
rough, gray locks with his rough,
trembling fingers. "Mother an me
saved up enough, leetle by leetle, to
eddycate Rube with; but he-Rube-
died, you know, and the money has lain
in the bank"
ga thousand isn't much, any way"
s id the man of tens of thousands, tip
ping back in his chair, and picking his
teeth elegantly; but the morale your
subscription lends is something. Our
very singular and unfortunate fires, you
see. The fact that men like yourself
have intrusted their savings to us, gives
us desirable standing"
Uncle 'Liphalet's vanity was touched,
but Dolly with closed lips counted her
stitches.
What do you say, Dolly ?"
"I have said my say, 'Liphalet. In
or misfortune we might fall
back on Rube's money, otherwise I'd
rather it remained in the bank"
"A thousand dollars, sirS-" contin-
ned the little old lady, sufficiently hum
bic before this man of means,-''a thou
sand dollars that's been saved bit by bit
and laid up in five dollar bills for per-
tickeler object, seems different from
thousand dollars that's Just one of
many going up and down and trucking
around in business, sir.
The hght-eyed Swinton played with
his watch-chain nervously. An I'M
sophisticated old woman, this-baing a |
for her patronage was not |
agreeable, but in business" verv dis |
agreeable things have sometimes to be |
done.
"This deposit, then, was made for |
the benefit of your son, Reuben. His |
death was a great loss to you: a loss to |
the community. Rube was full of life /
and enterprise. He would have made |
a public-spirited man. 1 wish he were
alive now"
Artford Swinton's small, Light eyes
could detect human weaknesses Art
ford Swinton's quick apprehension and
tact enabled him to work up those
weaknesses for his own interests. When,
a half hour later, he passed out between
the lilac clumps, he carried On his pa
per Uncle Liphalet's subscription. and
IN his pocket Uncle 'Liphalet's bank
book
My hand trembles so, I hain's made
ALI the letters TT,,alN = lin