Nowhere in the annals of the county nor in those lymphatic biographical
histories, quarto, half or full leather, profusely illustrated with
steel engravings, which adorn the bookshelves of posterity, is there
any mention of General Woolwine’s partner and man of business. This
was Christopher Gib, cold, and logical, with a large broad face, dull
blue eyes, a long bleak mouth line and a hard apple chin. People feared
him instinctively. He inspired them with dread, anxiety and a sense
of injury; yet in practical matters, especially in great emergencies,
he commanded their utmost confidence. Those who complained of his
oppression were certain to have been weak or wrong. That made no
difference,--or made it worse. In every dispute he was technically,
legally, perhaps morally right. By all the rules of law his acts were
blameless. Nevertheless they outraged that subtle sense of the heart,
higher than the sense of right and wrong, to which human conduct is
referred for ultimate judgment. He acquired his rights fairly. His way
of making a bargain was to let the party of the second part propose
the terms. Then he would say yes or no, and that was final. Higgling
disgusted him. But having made a bargain he insisted upon it in a
relentless, dispassionate manner. No one could say he was unjust.
But from one who is never unjust you shall not expect generosity.
Human beings do not crave justice; they accept it. What they long for
is understanding through sympathy. Christopher Gib had no chemistry
of sympathy. It was left out of him. Therefore he had no emotional
understanding of people and people had no rational understanding of
him. His tragedy was invisible. He was denied what he could not give,
namely, bread of the sweetened loaf without price, for which everyone
hungers. Contempt for all the sentimental aspects of life was the
self-saving device of his ego. He treated people as children. The more
they disliked him the more bitterly he took his due.
He was ten years younger than General Woolwine and dominated the elder
man in all their joint affairs, as a rational nature may dominate a
romantic one. They quarreled a great deal;--one in a low, cynical
voice; the other in loud, righteous tones. These disagreements were
private. Outwardly to the end they maintained an appearance of unbroken
amity. As to his ideas the old founder was immovable and pursued his
own way. In matters of business he would sooner yield than continue
the argument. One neglected business; the other lived for it. As the
Woolwine estate declined that of Gib increased. There was no inequity
in this. It was inevitable. The General drew out his profits and spent
them; Gib reinvested his in undertakings outside the partnership. At
the beginning the coal and iron lands were divided between them in the
proportions of one-third and two-thirds, according to the amounts of
capital respectively invested. The one-third was Gib’s share. In the
end the proportions were exactly reversed. The Woolwine estate owned
one-third and Gib two-thirds. It was all perfectly correct and legal.
At the age of fifty Gib married Sarah, of the Withy family, that came
from New Jersey and built the first grist mill in New Damascus. Sarah
was a dutiful, reconciled woman of strong, uncomplaining fibre, who
could not fold her hands until the work was done. She never understood
her husband. He never understood her. It wasn’t necessary. She was
thirty-five and had once loved a young man who never even suspected it.
Of this inarticulate union came one son, named Enoch, born on the same
day with Aaron Breakspeare, Rebecca’s child, grandson of the founder.
Christopher Gib lived fifteen years more, growing steadily richer and
more misunderstood. Then he built himself a tomb, the walls of which
were three feet thick, reinforced with bar iron, and died in the night
alone.