The Kanzas news., 1857-10-24

a sailor from mere habit and forgetfulness,
for no man, not professedly religious, had a
diYiner instinct of reverence and worship
than he; but it was as instructive In him to
swear as it was to breathe, and some of our
boldly speculative and law-despising young
sters held that it was no harm in him, any
more than gosh and thunder were in us;
for really he meant no more.
However, Uncle Josh did not quite recip-
rocate the contempt of the sex; before long
he began to make Sunday night visitations
at Deacon stones, to brush his hat o. NOR
nings,' to step spry, and wear stiff collar
and stock, instead of the open tie he had
kept, with the pig-tail, long after jacket and
tarpaulin had been dismissed the service; so
the village directly discovered that Josh
Crane was courting the school-mistress,
Miss Eunice,' who boarded at Deacon
Stones. What Miss Eunice's surname
might be / never knew, nor did it much
matter; she was the most kindly, timid, and
loYeable creature that ever tried to reduce a
district school into manners and arithmetic;
she lives in my memory still, tall, slight
figure, with tender brown eyes, and a sad
face, its broad lovely forehead shaded with
silky light hair, and her dress always dim
tinted, jaded perhaps, but scrupulously neat
and stable.
Everybody knew why Miss Eunice look
ed so meekly sad, and why she was still
Miss Eunice; she had been edisappointed;'
she had loved man better than he loved
her, and therein copying the sweet angels,
made a fatal mistake, broke her girls heart,
and went to keeping school for living.
All the young people pitied her; all the
old women agreed that she was "a real clev
er little foolP and men regarded her with a
species of wonder and curiosity, first for hav-
ing breakable heart, and, next, for putting
that member to fatal harm for one of their
kind; but boys ranked Miss Eunice even
above Uncle Josh; for there lives in boys a
certain kind of chivalry, before the world
has sneered it out of them, that regards a
sad or injured woman as a creature claiming
all their care and protection; and it was
with a thrill of virtuous indignation that we
| heard of Josh Cranes intentions toward
Miss Eunice; nor were we very pItiful of
our old friend, when Mrs. Stone announced
to old Mrs. Ranney, (who was deaf as post,
and therefore very useful, passiyely in spread
ing news cOdfded to her, as this was in the
church porch) that Miss Eunice wan'nt a
going to hev Josh Crane, cause he wa mt
professor; but she didn't want nobody to
tell ont, so everybody did!
1t was beside, true, Miss Eunice was
sincerely religious woman, and though Josh
Cranes simple, fervent love-making had
stirred a thrill within her she had thought
quite impossible, still she did not think it
was right to marry an irreHgious man, and
she told him so with meek frmness that
quite broke down poor Uncle Josh, and he
went back to his farming with profounder
respect than ever for Miss Eunice, and a
miserable opinion of himself.
But he was a person without guile of any
sort; he would have cut off his pig-tail,
sold his tobacco keg, tried not to swear for
her sake, but he could not pretend to be pi-
Gus and he did not
A year or two afterward, however, when
both had got past the shyness of meeting,
and set aside if not forgotten the past, there
was revival of religion in Plainfield-no
great excitement, but quiet sprouting up
of good seed sown in past generations, it
may be, and among the softened hearts and
moist eyes were those OF, Uncle Josh. His
mothers prayers had slept in the leaves of
his mothers Bible, and now they awoke to
be answered.
1t was strangely touching, even to old
Parson Pitcher, long used to such inter-
views with the oldest of all people under ex-
citement-rugged New Englanders-to see
the simple pathos that vivifed Uncle Josh's
story of his experience; and when in the
midst of sentence about his dead mother,
and her petitions for his safety, with tears
dripping down both cheeks, he burst into
hallelujah meter tune, adapting the words
Though seed lie buried long in dust" etc.,
and adding to the diversity of rhythm the
discordance of his sea-cracked voice, it was
doubtful matter to Parson Pitcher whether
he should laugh or cry; and he was forced
to compromise with hysterical snort, just
as Josh brought out the last word of the
| verse on a powerful fugue,
| "Cro-o-o-o-opi''
| So earnest and honest was he, that, for
a whole week after he had been examined
and approved by the church committee as a
lprobationer, he never once thought of Miss
Eunice; when suddenly, as he was reading
his Bible and came across the honorable
mention of her name by the apostle, he rec
objected with sort of shamefaced delight,
that now perhaps, she would have him; so,
with no further ceremony than reducing his
| f1ax-colored hair to order, by means of a.
pocket comb. and washing his hands at the
pump, away he strobe to the school house,
where it was Miss Eunice's custom to linger
after school till her fire was burned low
enough to rake up
! Josh looked In at the window as he sbro't
to- IN his own words, alongside the school
u.s. and there sat the lady of his love knit
ting blue stocking, with an empty chair
most propitiously placed beside her in front
of the fireplace. Josh's heart rose up
nightly, but he knocked as little knock
as his great knuckles could effect was bid
den in, and sat himself down on the chair
in paroxysm of bashfulness, no wise help
| ed hv Miss Eunice,s hrnnned ewes and uar-