The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1883-12-26
JaSEPH GOLDIKGS eHRISTHlS.

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10 1t was yery strange thought old Jos
tte Golding, that he couldn't be maste
~ his own mind lie he had lived a n
10 many years, aud neither remorse
. memory had ever been in the habit
80 disturbing him; but now it seemed
- him as il the very foundations of
sie life we're breaking up. He was y
wed through with his days work-he l
dined comfortably-he sat in an es
y { chair in luxurious drawing wh,
for crimson hangings shut ont the $
,.e, cold of the December afternoon
ola had nothing to do but enjoy himse
Mr. Golding liked { enjoy himself
tn season as much as Others did, for
be was Christmas Eve What though
was in the habit of spending il solitar
. he liked solitude.
For many a year on Christmas Z
he had sat balancing in his mind {
great accounts presented in his ledge
the accumulating Golfers at his banker
the strokes Of business he would ma
in future Not 50 now. The year W
y drawing to a close; some intruding vol
kept Whispering tiTat IN like manner
was his career. He could not put
from him, try a. he would. The vol,
reminded him Of a coming time whe
his life's work would all be done-eye
as his days work was all done now
when he would be ready to sit down
the evening and look over the balance
sheet of his deeds, good and evil. Ct
riously the old days came tro0ping i
slow procession before him. And h
I I II l.. q So. .-.,.
long
His dead wife. He had not loved he
much when she was with him, but how
vivid was his mem0ry of her now. HI
could see her moving round the house
noiseless as shadow, never intruding
on him after he had once or twice re
pulsed her gruffiy, but going on her own
meek, still ways, with her face growing
whittier every day. He began to under
stand, as he looked back, why her
strength had failed; and she kad been
ready, when her baby came, to float out
on the tide and let it drift her into Gods
! haven. She had had enough to eat and
| drink, but he saw now that he had left
her heart to starye. Heaven! what a
hard man he had BEEN lie seemed to
see her white, still face, as he looked at
il the last time, with the dumb reproach
frozen on it; the eyes that would never
plead vainly any more, closed forever.
He recalled how passionately the
three-days-old baby had cried in another
room Just at that moment, moving all
the people gathered together for the
funeral with thrill of pity for the poor
little motherless morsel. She pas pas
sionate. willful baby, all through her
baby-ho0d; he remembered that. She
wanted-missed without knowing what
the lack was-the love and sustenance
which her mother would have given her,
and protested against fate with all the
might of her infant lungs. But as soon
as she grew old enough to understand
how useless it WAS, she had grown quiet,
too; Just like her mother. He recalled
her, all through her girlhood, a shy, still
girl, always obedient and submissive,
but never drawing vely near him. Why!
Because he would have repulsed her as
he repulsed her mother. Tie could see
it now. 1t was very strange these facts
should come back to him % day, and
their naked truth with them. He had
been a cold, hard, ungenial man, with
out sympathy for any one human be-
ing; absorbed utterly in the pursuit of
m0ney-making. And so the child, Amy,
had grown up without him.
But suddenly, when she was eighteen,
the old, passionate spirit that had made
her cry so when a baby must have
awakened again, he thought; for she
fell in love then, and wished to marry
To marry in defiance of his wishes. He
remembered her standing proudly before
him after one of their quarrels, where
he had been harsh and bitter, and
abusive of the man she wanted to call
proach of herself; but not of him who
had become to her as her best existence
Her words came back to the old man
now.
Father, do you know anything against
Harry Church? ?'
"Yes," lie had answered, wrathfully;
81 know that he is poor man, and that
he cannot keep wife As daughter of
mine must be kept"
Anything else, father?' looking him
steadily in the eye.
"No, that enough" he had thundered.
"I'll tell you, besides, that if you marry
him my doors will never open TO you
again, never"
He met with a will as strong as his
own, that time. She did marry him,
and went away with him from her
fathers house. Mr.. Golding had known
the day the wedding was to take place,
and disdained to stop it. He washed
his hands of Harry Church, and of Amy,
his wife, She wrote home afterwards,
over aud over again, but Mr. Golding
sent all the letters back unopened. Sub
sequent to that, they disappeared from
town; and he had never heard what be-
came of them. 1t was at least ten years
ago now.
1t seemed very strange that these
things should have come back tonight to
haunt him-and with a wild remorse, a
pitying regret. He had done nothing
to recall them. Could it be his sense OF
failing health that brought them?-if
so, what sort of anguish might he not
look for as he drew nearer and nearer to
the ending? He began to wish that he
knew what had been in those rejected
letters-whether Amy had been suffer
ing for anything that money could sup
ply. The next thought that struck him
was, why he had opposed the marriage
so virulently. 1t is true Harry Church
had been but clerk in his own employ;
but he was a well-edueated gentleman,
and would rise with time. Faithful,
intelligent, perseyering, respected-bnt
poor. In that last word lay the head
and front of Harry Church's offending
He, Joseph Golding, was rich then: he |
was far richer now; but he could not |
help asking it, what special good Iwere |
his riches bringing him? He was an old |
man, the span of life running quickly on
on, and he was alone. Who You'd take
his gold then9 HeSwonldk not carry it
along with hizs~sAH in moment-he
saw it clear! kethe dreadful truth stood
naked and bare; his life and its object
had been mistaken ones.
"All alonei all alonef he kept Sayiag
10 himself, in a sort of vague seif-pity-
'I've toiled and worked for nothing"
But during this time, even now, as he
sat there, message of love was on its
way to him. Perhaps Heaven had been
but preparing his heart to receive 1t.
He heard ring at the door-bell.
Heard it without paying attention to it
Rings were nothing to him; people did
not come on business to his residenee,
and of visitors he expected none. Down
went his head lower and lower with It's
weight of thought.
Meanwhile two people were sdmitted
into the hall below: man and a little
girI. The man took of the ehild's warm
/ eIoak and hood, and she stood revealed
: dainty. delicate creature Of some eight
~ners old. her golden eurls dropping
softly round her face, with its large blue
ewes ana cherry lips. The servant who