The Expositor. (Waynesboro, GA.) 1870-187?, February 15, 1873, Image 1
fiiKflH JOlK\lilf
OT W. 0. HIIYANT.
* FMtlir, That knowest beat,
Tlii* thought Is nil my stay }
I see blit just tilts step ahead,
Thou knowest all the way.
To me, us on T walk,
The way seems nil obscure,
lint Thou wilt guide my troubling leot,
Ami make my footsteps sure.
K'eu though the darkness falls.
And hides the path from view,
Thy rod and staff direct me still,
And will my strength renew.
Father, the way seems long,
My strength is very weak ;
Support me still by Thy right hand
And words of comfort speak.
OVER A CABIN TABLE.
li the summer of 1 So—, Frank Manly
and T were homeward-bound, from China
to Boston, in the splendid clipper ship
Sunset,
Wc were children together, and had
followed many a butterfly in company
Iu later years, we had often ruu after
those marvelous butterflies iu pink sun- I
bonnets those Will-o’- the-Wisps in
dimity —in other fields; rather as rivals, i
though, than sidc-by side companions, |
to confess it.
This was Frank’s first voyage as
master. He was now. at two-amd-twen
ty, every inch a sailor and a man. I
was his only passenger, running home
after some years’ truancy, in :t period
between a closing clerkship and sin
opening partnership at Canton. These
were to me delicious days—care free,
and every hour with my old playfellow
was communion of a rare order.
We were chatting one evening openly
—for there was now nothing between u>
but the cabin table. The light burned
just low enough for the quiet dreann
hour that Frank reeled oil to me the
small-talk of the dear old town, of which
his memory held an unreckoimlde cargo.
There was May who had married Jan
uary, and the squire who had drank him
self from affluence to the poor house.—•
He told of young Skimicm, who in boy
hood won marbles, and sold them again
to the losers at a hundred per cent, ad
vance upon regular rates —who never
played ou the ‘‘Fourth,’ hut opened a
curb-stone bazar of pop beer—of hisown
brewing—tirc cracke s, peanuts, and a
full line of dried apple tarts —of 11 lo>v
grade. Now he was piously loaning
money Saturday afternoons to gain Sun
day, at two per cent, a month, and won
derin" what this world would be wit! out
interest. Ilc'had bought a book, “Busi
tiess iu Heaven,” which proved to him
Shat the occupations of earth are con
tinued above. He dwelt with miserly
unction upou the life to conic.
The steward now appeared w'tfi our
evening coffee, 1 hen came the u*ual
cigar, and wc swung apart in meditation
as lightlv as two vessels parting com
pany after exchanging sca-cmrtesies.
“Captain,” said I, suddenly, as if
something had just come to mind, tho
the question had b en balancing, on my
tongue for au hour—
“ Hal,” interrupted my companion,
“don’t Captain me oft deck, here under
the cabin-light, if you love me.”
“Well, then, my modest old desk
mate, how is that little my Woodson
whom you used to eudow so bountifully
in school-days with pickled limes and
chcwing-gum ?"
My captain—the splendid follow—to
show his unconcern, breathed a couple 1
of smoke-wreaths out of his mouth, and
replied with counterfeited sadness :
“Hal, I shall never have faith again
in the power of piokles with school
girls, and I am a doubter for ever of
the virtue of spruce gum. So, so, my
#ily hoy* you were on that track, too,
were you ? But you may as well emu
late the example of your forefathers,
and throw that chest of breakfast-ten
overboard, for father A\ oodson has gone
where tea-drink’ng is neither a blessing
nor a sin. No, no, Hal, Roy Llw-ml
weathered us all. By Jove, to think of
it! The little toad that I nursed thro’
vulgar fractions and the rule of three
who never had spunk enough to kiss a
girl under four eyes—to marry Amy !
But the ways of women are wondrous,
Hal. The Sunset is my choice. Isn't
she a beauty? I am wedded to her,’
Then he laughed, drew himself up,
aud I thought, ‘How could a woman
resist you, my handsome captain ?’
•(poor puss, she had a coufounded
rough way of it, ' lie continued.
“What do you mean
(‘Why, haven't, you heard of it ?”
By Jamea K. Frost. II
VOL. II Li
“Vague rumors only. Her father,
cashier of the bank. Wasn’t there
trouble 't Mas it all true V Proud
old inau! His heart broke, I fancy.
For Heaven’s sake, Frank, tell me what
you know,” I demauded.
“Well, well, old quill-driver, don’t
rough up so. Ido know about it, and,
though I say it, more than any but a
verv few iu the old town. I never was
any band at a yarn, but if you will
have it, maybe 'twill harrow you some,
seeing you were a little sweet on Amy.
“Come, come, captain— thej?, chum
my, then—begin. But, by George, if
you exaggerate one iota, I 11 call tlie
Sunset —a clumsy old nooler .”
“Well, I needn’t ask if you remember
Amy,” began my vis-a-ns, fofmentingly,
“nor tell you of her step in the dance,
of the color of her hair and eyes, nor
what her laugh was like, nor what a
woman die has grown. Le me see.
you left homo in forty—”
“Eight.”
“Ail 1 yon remember Gen. Woodson,
then, as a cheerful, elastic old gentle
man, who, at the bank-counter, told oft'
the notes with a celerity little less than
magic, to our unaccustomed eyes. 110
was a favorite everywhere, you know.
With a lad’s help lie performed all the
labor of. the bank, except when Amy
would couie down once in a while to
r>ivc him a lift on the books. Amy
was her father’s housekeeper, too . her
mother died just after you lift home, I
guess. You see the young girl had fish
enough to fry.: Fur all this, -he alwny
had a spare hour and some nicknrtck of
her needlework for us sailor-boys when
about leaving homo; And the old gen
era! would say, ‘Luck to you, my lad,'
in a mighty good manner that won us.
But I never could sec that she favored
one much above another, (bice I had
bidden her good-by, I remember, and
afterward seeing Ben Boltrope call at
ber bouse, I stood out of sight and
timed him—you laugh—watch in band,
and 1 bad the better of him some odd
mimiH'S, or it may have been seconds.
[ always think of it when I meet Ben’s
widow in the street. Ben married the
milliner s daughter, Melissa Bliss, whose
name we young sea-dogs changed to
M'lissy Blissy. lie went oft' to Singa
pore a month after, second mate of the
bark Meimher , and was never beard
from. Her widowhood began, you see,
as soon as her honeymoon ended.—
Melissa wears mourning for him now,
and always will. Aud Ben was worthy
of all her tears—as good a fellow a*
ever learned a rope. Go and see her,
Hal. But where am I running. Le‘'s
tack ship.
“You know the Woodson homestead,
on the corner of India street ? Yes,
but you don’t know—as we young fel
lows never think of such things—that
the grand looking place had been in the
Woodson family for some generations,
and that the general’s father left it to
him encumbered. The mortgage was
never lifted by the latter. The general
lived pretty well, thinking his.position
required it. Then in an evil time all
Bramblchead ran wild witli a land fever
—a speculation that promised to make
the poor rich, and the rich happy. All
the old stockings in all the dark corners
in town were emptied of their shillings
to buy land in Koostock. Why, peopl >
old people, took money out of their ;
Bibles that tircy had laid away to bury |
them, to invest, expecting it to return
them a bund red-fold before it would be
needed. Burial day always seems so J
distant to us, especially if there is a
chance to make any money to-morrow.
Amy's father was bitten by the going
madness. He gathered the little he
could togctliu’. He drew his salary
regularly', and let his household bills
run. He sold wrongfully a few bank
shares that ho hold in trust for Amy,
which an uncle had willed to her, and
invested the money in the golden land,
secretly, in the name of a brother in
“SALXJS POPULI STTPBEMA LEX ESTO.”
WAYNESBORO’, G A., SATE 111) AY, FEBRI'AItY 15, IST.I.
Ohio. The voyage turned out mighty
poor. The land was well timbered, but
a hundred miles away from liver or tide
water. The bubble burst. So the rich
became poor,and the poor became happy,
thinking how their betters had com*
down. They were sure of a burial, fob
nobody was ever 100 poor for that.
“The old gentleman aged. He grew
fretful alid absent-minded. The grocer
and the butcher called again and agnin
for their dues—at tho front doer, too.
The milk-boy was even more malicious, j
lie chalked on the garden-gate, ‘Warn- ,
in’, pay up ol’ boss,’ and chuckled to
himself around the corner, as he peeped
and saw Betty Floyd, the old domestic,
spend many minutes spelling out, and
many more in scouring off the words,
and shaking her clotii at the empty
street. Thrift had abandoned the house
hold. Amy knew but little of the truth.
He said he had only the amount of two
or three quarters’salary in the lamented
slide. She saw the failing step, and
that he did not like to have her note it.
lie was glad, though, of her help at the
bank, which was needed now oftener
than ever. The toil began to tell ou
little Amy. Phe didn’t 10-e her beauty,
though. I don’t believe she will ever
lose that. My boy, am I tedious V”
“Very. Go on.”
“Don’t blow your smoke iu my eyes,
then, or you'll swear I'm crying.”
“Well, well; forward V
‘ Where was I ? This went on awhile,
the old man keeping the ship on the old
tack, close-hauled, flag at the peak, and
pumps a-going. But there came a day
when the world could do little for
Abram Woodson, and he could do less
for the world. One morning, when
Amy was holing him on with his coat
to go to tho bank, he staggered and fell
upon the sofa. The doctor came and
said ‘Paraly-i.s.' lie revived somewhat,
but the old general \ as a wreck of the
saddest kind. He couldn't speak an
intelligible word. Ainy became his
hands, eyes, and mind. Huy Elwell
was appointed acting cashier, fur the
directors would not supersede him at
mice. lie lingered for months with Li*
faculties at sixes alio sevens, (hie day
he said something that sounded like
‘May tenth,’ and soon after he dropped
anclioi for the last time.
“The bank officers, when examining
his cash and accounts, discovered a de
ficieney of between one and two thous
and dollars. And they who had held
the old general as incorruptible said,
‘There is none true under the sun.'—
His bondsmen were called upon, and
the few, which finally mean* the many,
thought they knew the,cashier had used
the funds in his keeping.
“Amy, living secluded with her old
domestic, Betty Flo\d, was ignorant of
the affair at the bank. She knitted
worsted work, and fitted ball-dressc, for
her schoolmates of old days. Young
Skimicm offered her what he called his
heart. By Jove, twenty young fellows
would have come forward for bur hand,
but there was something in her way that
| wouldn’t let a man with a decent heart
: offer it. Skinnem thought his magna
nimity twenty p< r cent, above par.—
He find inherited from his father the
mortgage on the Woodson homestead,
which he threatened to foreclose.—
Troubles came iu troops.
•‘Looking over\t?r father’s papers one
day, Amv discovered a note iuTdressed
to her. It was in the ueat hand of the
general. It told her that he wrote this
for her in case anything should happen
to him—that the world, after lie was.
gone, might judge him amiss. That he
had, it is true, wronged her, his sweet,
beloved daughter; that lie had been
false td bis trusteeship; that their
means were all gone with the broken
land bubble—that his heart and thought
were long sick with the secret of it;
that, May the lOth of such a year, he
had found his cash unaccountably short,
and lie man yet knew it. If he live t
v A
long enough ho should make it up; yes,
make it'up, every cent ; but Amy .must
wait for hers; perhaps he could never
make .that up, and if ho did not. would
his darling daughter forgive' him 'i
“Amy bowed benealh this blow.—
Now appeared tho reason of the unpaid
bills and the ill-supplied household. —
And thought came to the stricken
girl, how once she had proposed to sell
a share of her bank stock and buy a
gold watch and chain, and on New
Year's morning she found them under
her breakfast cup, a present from her
father. I get all this from sister Nell,
of whom she made a confident. Yes,
Hal, Amy bowed as the lily bows when
blown upon. She was lily without and
rock within. She sent for Hoy Klwell.
She pressed Koy until.she drew from
tho reluctant fellow tho affair as viewed
by the directors. It was a plain case
to them. A land enterprise—an op
portunity for making money—and the
cashier 3 ielded to temptation, borrowed
the funds of the bank, thinking to en
rich himself, and return the uioucy.—
They were all the more ready to look
on the dark side for him, as mfiny of
their dollars had gone the way of his.
Tlio fever had been among them, too.
This point of view was not plain to
Amy. Through Elwell, who had been
made cashier after tho death of the
general, she obtained permission from
the officers to make a personal examina
turn of the books, to be aided by Roy.
Her knowledge of bank routi.ic was
serviceable.
“About this time I returned from an
India voyage. I served as hoy in the
bank awhile, you remember, and Rov",
with her consent, invited me to lend
them a hand. I was glad for her sake,
not to say my own.
“Hal. are you yawning
“Spin away, spin away, my old hoy.”
“Well, we met an! made our plans,
ngicuing to make researches after Elwell
had finished his day’s work. By George,
Hal, you ought to have seen the girl. —
Her perceptions were all quickened by
pride and love for the honor of the old
man The theory of the directors was
not tho theory of the daughter. She
admitted nothing but 1 lie existence of
no error that might yet be revealed.
Koy and l followed her with a low
assent. Wc began. Wc turned to that
‘May the 10th.’ which lie mentioned in
the note and named in the night of his
speechlessness. We took the first entry
of the deposit*) ; we analyzed it. If
bills, it was not so noted; if checks, wc
followed them to their final entry. Aid
s‘o through each and all. Amy sur
prised us by her thoroughness. Items
that Huy and I were willing to check,
us being correct beyond questiofi, she
looked to again and again before dis
missing. The general bad been too
much harrowed by the trouble to make
any Systematic aunty-sis of that day’s
transactions at tlie time. Who knows
but the error, if one, would have been
detected had he called his quicker-eyed
daughter into his confidence 'i
“Wo finally arrived at tho end of that
day’s labor, and summing up the figures,
we found the balance on hand was two
thousand dollars le-s than the amount
required. Here now was n chance for
speculation. What became of the sum?
Amy was not long in deciding that its
equivalent had been mislaid, some check
misplaced ; but this was merely guess- |
work. Her proposition at the next
meeting, was to search thoroughly the
papers in the safe. Not, succeeding
there, books and papers in the vault
were taken, one by one, and turned, leaf
by leaf. Thorough ? I think so. It
was a slow, laborious process. Her
patience was astonishing. Her glance
seemed as though 'twould burn the
papers it fell on. But they could not
reveal a secret not in their keeping.
“Where was the waste paper put?
In a basket. And emptied where?—
Roy couldn't say. The old woprau who
II ;t year, in advance,
swept the rooms was called. She emp
tied it, when full, into the dark closet.
Sometimes when out of shavings she
used a little of it to start the fire.—
Amy turned pale. The search nmong
the contents of the closet was assigned
for tho next day. Was it narrowed to
this, the chance of finding a valuable
paper in the rubbish ‘t She would have
had more heart, but for the knowledge
of tho.ie occasional handfuls taken for
kindling. Piece by piece wc went thro’
this accumulated hcapbf dusty, goue-by
papers, and without success.
“Roy and I had not foreseen tho end
failure. We didn't anticipate having
to see that noble girl sit down disconso
late, with the tears falling upon her
fallen hands, By Jove, I wouldn’t have
begun the work. It was joy for me to
labor with, her all the way, but. when
that labor was brought to the bitter end
—to sec hope go out of.lier heart, by her
blessed blue eyes! llov attended her I
home. |
“The next day he and I were seated
in the bank, talking over the affairs. :
‘Roy,’ said I, ‘the Yh/m'o,G'hurlieLane,iß
due; can’t we see, from the skylight in
the garret, if she is in the bay?’
“He proposed going up to see. Roy
went ahead and uponed the skylight.—
The place was dusty as a grave, and
just as jolly. There Was no /toniro in
sight. Account books and bundles of
papers lay hero and there, with dust
upon ih*m nearly inch deep. And over
these things, that had ouo day a mean
ing and a value, and neither now, the !
spiders bad woven their litnAeg; and j
wore having in turn their little care*. !
Wc looked about us curious!*. Rov
remarking a book on top of a pile, less
du*ty than the others, proposed to me
to take it down stairs as! a curiosity.'
I did. The skylight was lowered, and
two sunburns, that had vanished as we
opened tho light, came back again and
lay athwart one anouher like bars of
dusty gold. Downstairs we sat and ex
amined our priz**. It was not n blank
book, but a ledger, evidently belonging
lo lie geiuril, rtnd filled with records
of dealings long years before, when in
the wood and coal business. The writ
ing wa- neatness itself. Rarely a blot ;
or an erasure did we see, as lloy sat j
rather indifferently turning t}ic leaves, \
Occasionally there remained au unbal
anced account. The fuel bad become
smoke and ashes long ago, and the deb
tor dust, may be. Here was one Job
Jones, charged with a cord of wood a
l generation ago. Out of this scanty ma
terial we imagined a history for this
later Job. Wo invented for him little
pleas for bis deliuqucuo. ; that lie bad
married a wife; that be hud left the
town ; that he never had it; that it was
only half a cord ; that he paid for it at
the time, etc. Nevertheless, it is a
shame. Job Jones, for you to owe for
ever for the fuel that, boiled your kettle
and blessed your burthstono, and, per
chance,' warmed to life one of the in
numerable little Joneses, wc concluded.
Didn’t bis cars burn ?
While wc were laughing over this, the
dopr softly opened, and Amy Woodson
appeared I had almost expected twas
the ghost of the said Jones.
“She wished again t 0..-•••) tho book
containing those entries of tho 10th of
May. Hoy brought it. Amy sat i t
one side of the table; Elwell and I at
j the other. She pored over the page, ns
Iter father had, doubtless, done Before
her, with dreamy, misty eyes. We men
tioned the reason of our mirth. I took
the book, carelessly, and opened it, Roy
and Amy looking on as I turned now
one leaf,’ then three or four together;
when my ‘heaveifs!’ T exclaimed.'—
They started. Amy leaned over the
table. Her breath went and came quick
ly. By Jove, I cart feel it now, on my
cheek. Never a wind can blow that
away. There, staring us all in the face,
were two one thousand dollar bauk hills,
i I swear i saw joy go into her oyis.
“It was piutty olunr to her. Thtfa
will fresh' writing oiitlfo' Credit side of
an account. The old general bad had
the book from the garret and upon his
table that 10th of May. Exchanging
llm bills for some customer, lie had laid
them on the open book and absently
I closed it. It was then returned to its
' old place In ITie garret. His mind be
-1 ing distracted by his pecuniary troubles,
the transaction of tho bills bad -made
no mark upon his memory,. This was
! our theory.
“Amy bad dreamed, singularly,’that
| she was greatly comforted by a book,
laud this was the reason of her coming
and calling for the one wc had first ex
amined.” j r, s!,l
“And you say Amy married Hoy f'
“Ay, ay; their boy they Vo named
Frank Manly Elwell. Turn in, Hal, 1
must look after my girl, the Sunset."
‘T obeyed; and in aWuoment more l
thought 1 landed ou a wharf iu Bramb
lclead, and the first sign that met my
eyo was “Job Jones,. Dealer in Goal,
Wood and Burl', For Cush Only. - ’ A
beak-nosed, fiery-eyed little old man
leaned over an oldfashioned door that
was divided in tin: middle, half shut and
half o|;eu.
“Job Jones,” said I, “Frank Manly
and Hoy ElwelLJhawa.judged you un
justly. Thai cord of wood they thought,
you owed for,”-1 ©entitled, as his glassy
eves seemed to demand nu explanation.
The little mint was silent, ‘ but he g.irc
’me a look which said pfairtly enough,
“What is Itußiam jns<iec to mo. or in
justice ,J ”
-And Job Jones, for ledtild notthhik
of him as any other Being, Became in
stantly a statue "of i&; a tear trickled
frdm each eye; ami another rumbled
splendidly from its nose, and in tho
sunshine they became-'— 1
I awoke; anil iifstead of Job Jones,
my eyo* fell upon Jim tlio steward, who
was setting at tlio breakfast in the
cabin of the S'aitset, mi the table over
which this tale Was Will to me as f tel!
it to j’oii —-only that drowsy gleam of
rli6 eaWn-liglit fills not upon the paper,
and never will.
I NO. 21.
a wrpu fijtef
“ tttk
A. G. WHITEHEAD, M. D.,
IVavnesboro, ga.,
Qjl co a(, old sland.yf Rukdkll <fe WiiJTF.nkab.
Uesidence, pomcT ’Whitaker and Myiic st<)
*■—• :
Special attpytiijH niveij to AccougLicnieut
ami Sui-gei'y.
Thanking tbc jmklic for past patfonage,
solicits a ooiitmuunce ot tlie Kitne. 3 155,
jut.L3— l y ( y f e
I >IGNTISTIINF.
GEORGE if AIERSON, D. D. S„
QFt'ICF NUXT rp FFJXpIUX- UOTEL,
A yxtis liO r6\ GA.
F.AMIIJES desirinii’ljis services at their
homps. in Hnrke, or adtolriitig IftMuitTes, can
address him at this place. doc2B-ly
A Ml Tv OntfKß
ATTORNEY AT LAW ,
WAYNESBORO, GA.
OFFICE .17’ TUFCO&IIT rtQl*F 2.
Fl~j7l (Y
ATTORNEYS AT LAW,
WAYNESBORO, GEORGIA.
OJJirt in Court House basement—niy-tfatul roam
txui *.'• iiook. j !.aiu>nki:
HOOK Sc O-A^HllDlSrEjet,
‘ATTmty }ttF AT LAW,
a r<; itsta ... imsu'i x ........ n bokoia
Will practice in Urn Au.i'MfHk i'ireiit aad in the
Unitpd States ItjstrietnndCircuit Courts fer the
State of Ceonria. Oases attended to in other
counties and iu Carolina har Fpoeial oou
trrud. janfS-Gm
'■ M . -..-11 I"-. IC'MI !! i. 1.1.1550.N
--ASi ETON '&
A TTORTEYK AT l A IF,
WAYNBSIWnHV. H. ..‘. vf'GEOfNSFA
■ ' {■' ' I #l fl f
Will iwact.ice in the Superior Courts cf the
Angela, Eastern; and Middle ChVults, the
Supreme CviuL of the Stele, and in the
District and Circuit, yourts of the United
States’, at Ratiuinafn Crams cdltected and
ens enforced. rvvltUly
& 1 AT. 15 ¥K RKINS”
PROF. OF SCIENCE AM) LITEIIATIiRB OF HI SIC
. Witt THAI II CL ASS-SIX(II Xtt,
Ct >\ U 101‘ MUSICAJ, vSUCILTI ES,
A TPI i fynhqß
Organize and Drill Chairs, with spocial reference to th
wants of the Church.
Address, M At T. FEIITIIFS.
jy‘2'2* ha.wtomi.He, Burke eft., 6*.
.1 KTll KOTIIOMAS,
A#.at.mt IN
family tiwwmpm
ni-vGboods
WAV NJCSBURU, LA.
\V\ A. \ViriKlN%i h*
nMU'M (x -yv- i* >w*.
DRY UOOIiS, UKOCHKIfiS,
RRIJtiS AND MK-DittlXUß,
TOILKT AUTLULESy.KTd., KTO.
WA V.y/AWORO, Gsi.b
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