Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1883-05-17


winding up with one of the choice
little suppers for which Mrs. Newsome
was celebrated. On these occasions,
since distinctions would be invidious,
Gentlemanly Joe used to be present. in
all his glory, with Il very large white
frilled shirt-front, and another vitreous
fragment sparkling gloomily in the
middle of it. This, with watch-chain
which reminded one of the chain cable
of schooner, was his sole attempt al
ornamentation, for, as he used to say,
at amt good form to show you'ei
richer than your neighbors, even if you
are. Too much like Sheeny, don't
you knowp"
Joe was an endless source of amuse-
ment to Cissy Newsome, mischievous
dark-eyed little brunette of eighteen,
the sole child of the manager. We had
all fallen in love with Cissy at one
time or another, but had to give up on
finding that her heart was no longer
her own 10 bestow. Charles Welstead
had known her from childhood, and
the affection of early youth had ripened
into love on both sides. Never was
there a more fondly attached couple,
nor one to whom the path seemed to
lie so smoothly, for old Welstead had
been Newsome's personal friend, and
Charles prospects were of the brightest.
On these pleasant evenings which
have mentioned, it was great fun to
see Joe darling into the drawing-room
and endeavoring to secure a seat in the
neighborhood of the young lady, with
profound disregard for any claims
her parents might have upon his cour-
tesy. If he attained the coveted posi-
ton, he would lean back in his chair
with what he imagined to be an air of
easy gentility, and regale her with
many anecdotes of horses and dogs,
with occasional "reminiscences of the
''big nobs'' who had professional rela-
tons with his father. On such occa-
sions Miss Cissy would initiate him to
his face in the most amusing way,
looking all the time as demure as a
little mouse, while " elstead leaned up
against the piano, not quite sure
whether to laugh or be angry. Even
he usually broke down, however, when
the two came to discuss .'hetiquette,"
and Joe, in his character of gentleman,
laid down his views as to when q
''feller should raise is at" and when
not. The argument was generally
closed by burst of laughter from all
of us, in which Joseph would Join,
though protesting loudly that he was
unable to see the joke.
1t is a proverbially dangerous thing
to play with edged tools. | have not been
sure whether Smith knew how matters
stood between Welstead and the young
lady. am inclined to think that at
first he did not. Perhaps, if some one
had informed him of it then, he might
have mastered his feeling, and much
misery have been averted. 1t was clear
to us young fellows who had gone
through the same experience how things
were tending, but we held our tongue
rather than spoil what we considered
capital joke. Cissy may have seen it
too, and given him a little mischievous
ncouragement-at least young ladies
have the credit of not being blind in
such cases. Certainly Smith pursued
his hopeless suit with vigor which as
tonished us. During business hours he
lived a sort of day-dream, musing upon
his perch like some cogitative fowl,
and while every evening found him in
terfering with Welstead's tete-a-tete at
the high corner house in Eldon street.
At last the crash came. There was
no need to ask what had happened when
little Joe skunk quietly into the office
one morning with disheveled hair,
melancholy face, and eyes bleared with
the wakefulness of restless night. We
never learned the particulars of his
dismissal. Suffice it that he was in
formed once and forever that a gap
which there was no crossing lay be-
tween Miss Cissy Newsome and him.
self. He bore up bravely and tried to
hug his sorrow to his heart, and hide
it from the vulgar gaze of mankind,
but he became an altered man. What
had been a passing fancy with us had
taken root in his very soul and grown
there, so that he, who had hardly known
when it was planted, was now unable
to wrench it out The ordeal he had
gone through chastened him to great
extent from his vulgarity by toning
down his natural spirits, and though he
pNAstN NCniulttk 11dM HdN.
it was painfully artificial, and a good
deal more suggestive of dirge than of
merriment. The worst feature of his
case was that every week increased
the gloom which hung over him. We
began to suspect that our estimate of
his character had been superficial one,
and that there were depths in the little
mans soul of whose existence we had
been ignorant.
Four months had passed away. None
of us had changed much during that
time, with the exception of the Gentle
man. We saw little of him except in
office hours. Where he spent the rest
of the day was a mystery. Once / met
him late at night in the docks stumb-
ling along among ring-bolts and chains
careless of the fact that a trip or slip
might send him into eternity. Another
time saw cloaked figure lurking in
the shadow beside the house in Eldon
street, which fled round the corner on
my approach. His naturally unhealthy
had become so cadaverous
that the sandy eyebrows and moustache
stood out quite dark against it. His
clothes hung loosely on his figure. The
eye-glass was discarded. Even the
once gorgeous ring seemed to have as
sumed sombre and melancholy luster,
as if in sympathy with the feelings of
its owner. His manner had lost all its
old audacity, and become timid and
retiring. l doubt if any of his rustic
acquaintance would have recognized
the gaudy Joseph in the stumbling,
unkempt figure which haunted the count
ing-house of Ducat, Gulden & Ducat.
The termination of Welstead's en-
gagement began to draw near. II had
been arranged that after his marriage
he was to be promoted to the manage
ment of another branch in distant
part of the country. This approaching
breakup in our little circle drew us all
closer together. and made us the more
sorry that the general harmony should
be destroyed by the unhappiness of one
of our number. If we could have
cheered him we would, but there was
something in his look, for all his snob-
bishness, which forbade even sympathy
on a subject SO sacred. He endeavored
TO put on careless manner when he
Joined us all in wishing Welstead good
luck at midday on the Saturday pre-
ceeding the Monday on which the we'd
ding was to take place. We expected
then that we should not see our fellow
clerk again until he appeared in the
character of bridegroom. How little
did we guess the catastrophy which was
impending!
| remember that Saturday evening
we'll 1t was in January, and a clear
WintrN sky with q sn,c,,;n;cr e -.