Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1893-07-06

IL was a rare treat TO me TO observe
Goidstone from distant seat at the thea
tar. liked to see him frown upon the
stage villains, and Il was pleasure to see
him weep over the pathetic incidents In a
play and applaud the final triumph OF the
weak and helpless Whenever character
In play was exceptionally mean and hard
In dealing with the poor my friend would
hiss him Indignantly, and when his victim
would finally get the better Of the perse-
cutor Goldstons would wipe his eyes, and
his face would glow with delight.
Goldstone cut big figure at prohibition
meetings and In all crowds where religious
and moral reform came up for discussion.
Al these gatherings my tender hearted
friend always spoke eloquently, with the
tears raining down his face, and my eyes
never failed 70 grow moist when listened
to him.
Sometimes l thought that he was too
easily moved and that 1t would be better
for him II he would control bis feelings.
of his sensibility, and at the theater one
night heard young man says
"Look at that weeping wtllowp
That was what he called my friend, and
the remark made me very indignant.
One day found Goldstone looking very
blue. We had organized an antitobacco
society, and IL was proposed TO furnish free
chewing gum to the victims Of the tobacco
chewing habit az O harmless substitute for
the poisonous weed. This required some
money, and we counted on Goldstone for a
good subscription. He pleaded hard times.
and when l called ON him he was still la
menting his inability to contribute TO the
good cause. He talked 30 feelingly about
It that tried to comfort him, and finally
he wiped his eyes and reRained his usual
cheerfulness.
After this In q casual way discovered
that he did not subscribe anything to the
reforms he was so energetically pushing.
Yet he was rich man, and it was pretty
well known that he always had plenty OF
cash on hand.
tried to believe that the capitalist was
temporarily hard up when he was called on
for assistance, but in the course of few
months was forced to the conclusion that
he was more liberal with his issympathy than
with his money
IA good fellow" said to myself, "but
Just naturally stingy. He can't help It,"
The time came, however, when had to
revise even this opinion. was In Gold
stones Office waiting for him when heard
him out In the hall talking to his clerk.
He was instructing his clerk to turn one OF
his tenants out Against this the clerk
protested, sssing that the tenant was a
poor widow with several small children,
and as she had always paid promptly until
q spell Of illness had disabled her 1t was
cruel to turn her out In the dead Of winter.
But Goldstone was firm. He insisted that
the woman should be turned out.
Here's pretty thing" he said a mo-
ment later when he found me In his Office.
II was reading it this morning, and it quite
overcams me-"
glanced at the poem and saw that 1t was
full of pathos. But could not talk about
1t. The scene in the hall was in my mind,
and soon took my departure Goldstone's
conduct worried me, and spoke to an inti-
mate friend-a young lawyer-about 1t.
"Oh, the weeping Willow" he laughed.
"Well, he isa rare bird. He would rather cry
over the sorrows Of others than go to ban
quet, but he never gives cent to good
object, aud he is the meanest, hardest man
In business that can be found In the whole
city. His grinding methods have reduced
several families to beggary, and l have
never known him to lend money to man
without finally absorbing the victims en-
tire estate"
"What attracts him, then, to religious
prohibition and educational meetings, and
to the theater when there Is play that ap
peals to the hearth"
81 don't know" replied the lawyer. 81
have known other men just like him. They
undoubtedly have emotional natures where
their own interests are not directly con-
cerned, but they become strictly business
the moment they see chance Of making OF
losing dollar"
"You would not call him a hypocrite
them"
"By no means. He Is unconscious of his
own meanness. He Is simply narrow and
one sided I'm his own affairs, and broad
minded when he is disinterested spectator.
When he sheds tears and talks about his
tender heart, he Is thoroughly In earnest.
] called the lawyers attention to Gold
stones treatment of his sick tenant and
said that had seen him weep over similar
distress on the stage
EYES," was the reply, "but he thinks that
all his poor tenants are worthless frauds
trying to swindle him, while woman In
trouble on the stage is a prosecuted saint
In his eyes. This explains his cruelty In
the one oase and his sympathy in the
other"
! decided to cut loose from Goldstone,
and now we hardly ever meet Still can
not Judge him harshly. He seems to be a
good man SO constituted that he cannot do
good except with his tongue. When last
heard from him, he was bathed in tears at
the meeting of some charitable society.
From my point of view he is an emotional
lunatic.-Wallace p. Reed In Atlanta Con
stitution.
Ixa LAM