Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1880-09-17
GOURLAY BROTHERS.
The story Of Two Loyal Hearts.

In quiet street off one of the quiet
squares there is a tall, gloomy house,
with narrow, dusty windows, and a mas
sive double door, that still bears brass
plate with the words "Gourlay Brothers"
engraved thereon.
The lower part of the house was used
as an office, but the blinds were rarely
drawn up, the door seldom swung back
to the energetic push of customers, the
long passage echoed no hurried foot
steps, and Eli Haggart, the clerk, was,
TO all appearance, the idlest man in Lon
don, till one came to know his masters.
The GouTlay Brothers were never any
buster than their faithful old servant
never hurried. flurried, or worried; never
late and never early. Every morning at
ten o'clock they entered their office to-
gether, read their letters, glanced at the
paper, left instructions for possible call
ers, and then went to the city. They al
ways took the same route; at eleven they
might be seen passing along the sunny
side of Cannon street, at 1880 they en-
tered the same restaurant, and sat at the
same table for luncheon. Wet or dry,
shade or shine, summer or winter, every
working-day for thirty years they had
gone through the same routine, always
excepting the month of September, when
they took their annual holiday.
They were elderly men-John, tall,
thin, melancholy looking, with light
gray eyes, scanty gray hair and whisk-
ers, and a general expression of drabness
pervading his whole face, and faultlessly
neat attire. Roger was shorter, rounder,
more cheerful and generally warmer in
color. His pervading hue was brown,
keen reddish eyes that must have been
merry once, crisp auburn hair that time
had not yet quite transmitted to silver, a
clean shaved ruddy face, and brown
hands full Of dents and dimples. John
was the elder; still he looked up to Roger
with grave respect, consulted him on ev-
cry subject, and never, either in or out
of business, took any step without his
advice and approval. And Roger was
no less deferential; without any profess
sion of affectation, or display of feeling,
the Gourlay Brothers dwelt together in
closest friendship and love; their life was
long harmony, and during all the years
of their partnership no shadow had
fallen between them, and their public
life was as harmonious as their private
intercourse. In business they were sue
cessful, every speculation they made
prospered, everything they touched
turned to gold; and as their whole lives
were spent in getting, not spending,
they were believed, and with reason, to
be Immensely wealthy. " Cold, hard,
stern, enterprising," men called them;
with an acuteness of vision and steadi-
ness of purpose only to be acquired by
long and close application to business.
Reserved in manner, simple in their
tastes, economical in their habits, the
Gourlay Brothers were the last men in
the world to be suspected of sentiment,
their lives the least likely to contain even
the germs of romance. And yet they
had not been always mere business ma
chimes; the sole aim and end of their ex-
istence had not always been money. In
early years they had brighter dreams,
nobler ambitions.
At school John had distinguished him
self, and his brief university career gave
promise of brilliant future. Roger had
been bright, ardent boy, with a taste
for music that was almost passion, and
talent little short of genius. With his
deep earnestness, intense steadiness of
purpose, and clear, vigorous intellect,
John could scarcely have failed to make
a distinguished lawyer. Roger was a
born artist, with a restless, lofty ambi-
ton. Life seemed very bright for the
brothers; there was nothing to prevent,
and everything to assist each in follow
ing his inclination. But in the very dawn
of their career their father died, and they
were suddenly reduced from affluence to
actual poverty. Nothing remained from
the wreck OF magnificent fortune but
the bitter experience that always ac-
companies such reverses. Fine friends
failed them, flatterers looked coldly on
their distress, those who had most freely
partaken of their lavish hospitality passed
by on the other side. Not a friend re-
mained in their adversely but one, and
she had indeed the will but not the pow
er to help them. The boys left the col
lege and turned their thoughts to bust
ness. 1t was hopeless to attempt to fol
low up their profession with an invalid
mother and idolized only sister depend
ing on them for support. John secured
a situation as clerk in a city warehouse.
Roger accepted desk in the office OF
Bernard Russell, an old friend of his
fathers. They moved to cheap lodgings,
and for several years plodded on YEARLY,
the only CLEAN of sunshine in their al
tered home being the occasional visits Of
Alice Russell to theirsister. Maudo Gour,
lay and Alice had been school-fellow:
and friends; they usually spent their va
cation together, and Alice felt the mis-.
fortune that had fallen ON the family as
if it had overtaken her own. But she
could do pothing except pay them fly
ing visits, send trifling gifts of fruit and
flowers, and write pretty, sympathetic
notes to Maude.
A few years Of hardship and poverty
fold on Mrs. Gourlay's always feeble
frame, still for her daughters sake she
clung to life with strange tenacity; but
when Maude's lover, who had gone tC
Australia TO make his fortune, returned
not wealthy, but sufficiently so to claim
his bride in altered circumstances, Mrs
G0Ur'.y ' u ~ ...t. 80 0itoT 'N'o''