Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1883-12-20
JOSEPH GOLDING's CHRISTMAS.

"A SNOWFALL - they said in the little town,
| HAD made quite man of Bachelor Brown"
JOSEPH GOLDING'S CHRISTMAS.
1t was very strange, thought old Jos
eph Golding, that he couldn't be mas
1 ter of his own mind. He had lived q
great many years. and neither remorst
nor momory had ever been in the habit
of disturbing HIM; but now it seemed
to him as if the very foundations of hi:
life were breaking up. He was wei
through with his days work-he had
dined comfortably--he sat in an easy
chair in a luxurious drawing ROOM
whose crimson hangings shut out the
still cold of the December afternoon
he had nothing to do but enjoy himself
Mr.. Golding liked to enjoy himself al
this season as much as others did, for
it was Christmas Eve. What though
he was in the habit of spending it soil
tarilyp-he liked solitude
For many year on Christmas Eve
he had sat balancing in his mind the
great accounts presented in his ledgers,
the accommodating Golfers at his bankers,
the strokes of business he would make
in the future. Not so now. The year
was drawing to a close: some intruding
voice kept whispering that in like man
Der so was his career. He could not
put it from him. try as he would. The
voice reminded him of a coming time
when his life's work would be all done
even as his days work was all done
now-when he would be ready to sit
down in the evening and look over the
balance-sheet of his deeds, good and
evil. Curiously the old days came
trooping in slow procession before him.
And he had been able to forget them
for so very long,
His dead wife. He had not loved her
much when she was with him, but how
vivid was his memory of her nowt He
could see her moving round the house,
noiseless as a shadow, never intruding
on him after he had once or twice re-
pulsed her grutfiy, but going on her
own meek, still ways, with her face
growing whittier every day. He began
to understand, as he looked back, why
her strength had failed; and she had
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 starve. Heav-
| en-. what hard man he had been! He
seemed 10 see her white, still face, as
he looked at it the last time, with the
dumb reproach frozen on it; the eyes
that would never plead vainly any
more, closed for ever.
He recalled how passionately the
three-days-old baby had cried in anoth-
er 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 9CdS a
passionate, willful baby, all through her
baby-hood; 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, shy
still girl, always obedient and submits.
sive, but never drawing very near him
WhyP Because he would have re.
pulsed her as he repulsed her mother
He could see it now. 1t was very strange
these facts should come back to him to-
day, and their naked truth with them
He had been cold, hard, ungenia
man, without sympathy for any one
human being; absorbed utterly in the
pursuit of money-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 sh,
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 t.
call husband. She had borne in silence
reproach of herself; but not of him wht
had become to her as her best existence
Her words came back to the old mar
now.
''Father, do you know anything agains
Harry Church,"
Yes" he had answered, wrathful
!
that he cannot keepa wife as daugh
ter of mine must be kept.
Anything else, father?' lookin;
him steadily in the eye.
mo, that's enough" he had thun
dered "rll tell you, besides, that
you marry him my doors will never op
en- to you again, never
He met with will as strong as hi
own. that time. She did marry him
and went away with him from he
fathers house. Mr.. Golding had know
the day the wedding was to take place
and disdained to stop. il. He washe,
his hands of Harry Church, and o
Amy, his wife. She wrote home after
wards, over and over again, but Mr.
Golding sent all the letters back unop
ened. Subsequent to that they disap
peared from town; and he had neve
heard what had became of them.
was at least ten years ago now
1t seemed very strange that thes
things should have come back to-nich
to haunt him-and with a wild remorse
plying regret. He had done nothin.
to recall them. Could it be his sense o
failing health that brought them ?-if so
what sort of anguish might he not lool
for as he drew nearer and nearer to tn
ending? He began to wish that b.
knew what had been in those reiecte,
letters-w whether Amy had been suffer
ing for anything that money could sup
ply. The next thought that struct hin
was, why he had opposed the mariag
so virulently. 1t is true Harry Churcl
had been clerk in his own employ; bu
he was well-educated gentleman, an,
would rise with time. Faithful, intelli
gent, preserving, respected-but poor
In that last word lay the head an,
front of Harry Church's offending. Fl
Joseph Golding, was rich then; he wa
far richer now; but he could not he'll
asking it, what special good were hi
riches bringing him? He was an oil,
man, the span of life running quick,
on, and he was alone Who would tax
, his gold then? He could not carry
along with him. All IN a moment-h
s..w it clearly-the dreadful truth stoc,
naked and bare; his life and its objec
, had been mistaken ones.
"All anone! all aloner' he kept say
ing to himself, in sort of vague sell
! pity. i've toiled and worked for moth
, ingr'
! But during this time, even now, a
he sat there, a message of love wa
, on its way to him. Perhaps HeaveI
had but been preparing his heart t
receive it.