The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1882-01-19
A JUDGES TEMPTATION.

A JUDGES TEMPTATION.
There was no such upright man on
the Bench as Baron Stock. When adj
ministering justice in the civil courts he
delighted solicitors by his patience and
astonished barristers by his acumen.
gave his full mind to it. and if he ques-
toned witness his interrogations were
apt to brush away bubbles like cob
webs, and lay the truth bare of sud-
den. In the Crown courts Baron Stock
was the terror of evil-doers. Always
dispassionate, he pronounced sentence
calmly and thoughtfully, and his sem
fences were more lenient than those of
most other Judges, for he was merci-
full man; but the homilies with which he
accompanied them used to make delin-
quentS shiver and cry. Baron Stock
seemed to know all the hidden springs
of the heart whence good or evil i'm
pulses flow, and it was often surprising
to hear him relate to prisoner all the
successive stages of error. and folly
through which the latter must have
glided before falling into the criminal
dock. But to the Judges honor be it
said that he never seemed to consider
any criminal fall as irrevocable, and
he always concluded his sentences with
word OF encouragement and hope.
Thus it had frequently happened to him
to be accosted in the streets by peni-
tent-looking fellows, who thanked him
for having sown good seeds in their
hearts by few words in season. These
occurrences always delighted Baron
Stock, for he was worthy man, who
liked to feel that he was doing good.
He was also a happy one. He had
married for love when he was a barris-
ter, and had found devoted wife. His
children-he had eight-had grown up
to be handsome girls and brave boys.
BY and by the girls married well, and
the boys, going out into the world, dis
tinguished themselves intheir respective
professions. Baron Stock could really
have asked of Heaven no more than he
had got; and when he reached the age
of sixty he was able to look back upon
a life that had been almost entirely ex-
empt from sorrows. You could tell this
by glance at his serene, unwrinkled
face and clear, open eyes. He was a
handsome man, of tall stature, who
dressed well, walked well, and looked
as comely out of his wig and robes as in
them
1t was toward his siXtieth year that
Baron Stock, having money and leisure,
since his children were all settled and
provided for, began to cultivate taste
for art. He had always loved pictures,
and used to take keen interest in
those lawsuits which turned upon the
authenticity of paintings attributed to
old masters. When experts gave their
evidence touching the points by which
a genuine picture might be known the
Judge was all ears, catching up every
word that was said, and treasuring it.
One day, during long vacation tour
in Spain, he bought at an old bric-a-
brac shop in Barcelona a picture which
proved to be genuine Murillo. His
pride at this achievement was great,
and from that time he began to form
picture-gallery. His purchases were
frequent but never reckless. He spent
large sums OF money in gratifying his
new passion, but his investments could
not be called extravaganza, as every
work that came into his possession had
an intrinsic merit that was sure to in
crease in course of years.
Lady Stock, however, who cared
nothing at all for pictures, did not view
her husbands proceedings with a hap
py eye. The Judges taste for art had
come to him just at the time when Lady
Stock had been DESTROYS of buying an
estate in the country, SO she and her
husband, for the first time in their
lives, almost quareled when the money
that should have gone to purchase
manor-house and broad acres was
wasted as my lady called it, on
daubed canvases. The Baron held
good, though. and Lady Stock eventu-
ally gave in to his weakness, like an
amiable wife as she was. Neverthe-
less, it caused her some uneasiness to
perceive how entirely engrossed her
husband was getting to be BY his mania.
He was forever attending sales, and if
he had leisure hour at home he was
either examining his pictures or talking
about them. On Sundays, regardless
of the fourth commandment, he donned
a baize apron and went around his gal
lery with buster, fearing to intrust the
cleaning of his treasures to any clumsy
handed servant. 1t is to be feared that
he grew very remiss in his attendance
at church from the time when he had
emitted the opinion that "a beautiful
masterpiece breaches you sermons as
good as any clergyman's." arts baarha,
1t is a well-known fact that every coll
lector, of no matter what, has in his
minds eye some particular treasure that
he wants to add to his collection Gem
orally the thing he covets is quite be-
yond his reach, either because of the
price asked for it, or because it is not
for sale; but the craving after the thing
is only intensified by the difficulty or
impossibility of obtaining it, Just as is
the case with the moon which babies
cry for and dogs howl after. Now the
pictorial gem which Baron Stock covet-
ed with all his heart, and sighed for in
his dreamy moments, was a little por-
trait of girls head by Correggio. He
had seen It in the gallery of banker
The banker was not very pleasant,
person to know, being somewhat vul-
gar parvenu, but the Judge cultivated
his acquaintance solely that he might
worship his picture. The girls head
appeared to him to be a speaking like
ness of his wife when she was young,
and the Judge would have given an
enormous sum to buy it. But the
banker was not willing to sell, having
no need of money, as he used to say
with a boastful laugh, for which Mr.
Baron Stock could have punched his
head. 80 H 60 IS
Bankers, however, are liable to ups
and downs in their pecuniary affairs,
and so it happened with the Baron's
friend, Mr.. Twistey. As promoter Of
joint Stock Company which turned out
> failure, he became the defendant In