The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1858-08-26
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.


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In one Of the Eastern States there is a settlement
which has long been celebrated as q stronghold Q
Methodlsm- 1t Is an out-ofthe-way neighborhood
yet NO place in the whole country is better know
or more highly esteemed. In the centre of the set
thement, just where two roads cut each other at RICH
angles, makinga . four corners, . is the school-house
painted red, and long familiar as the only place o
public worship in the settlement. The people arr
wen of now, and have built a nice and commodioui
church, on the opposite corner. A few rods up the
road from the school-house lived Squire Scrub. Yor
could see at first sight, that the Squire was well t.
do in this world, for every thing about him denoted
It. There was his picket-fence all around his garden
painted red, and the top tipped with white ; there
was his house, a modest one story and n half, with a
lean to II IN the rear, painted white all over; there
was . barn, q large, well-6led barn it was ; there was
the farrn, q choice lot of one hundred acres, well cult
waited ; and besides all this, there was the honors and
emoiuments OF the important Office of justice of the
peace. The Squire was, of course, a man of note in
the town. He had been a justice several times in
succession He was a trustee of the school district,
and he was both class-leader and steward in the
Methodist Church. l have no doubt he would have
received other honors at the hands of his fellow
townsmen and brethren, had he been eligible. Still
ne was a quiet, unassuming man. and | verify believe
he thought more of his religion than of all his eccle-
ssasflcal and civil honors- His house was the itine-
rants home and a right sweet, pleasant home it
would have been but for a certain unfortunate weak
ness OF the every other way ~erceiient Sister Scrub.
The weakness l allude to was, or at least it was sus-
Pected to be, the lore of praise. Now, the good SIS
ter was really worthy of high praise, and she often
received it but she had a way of disparaging herself
and her performances, which some people thought
was intended to invite praise. No housewife kept
her floors looking so clean and her walls so well
whitewashed as she. Every board was scrubbed and
secured till further s~crubbing and securing would
have been labor wasted. No one could look on her
whitened floor, and not admire the polish her indus
try gave it. The Squire was the good %provider, and
Sister Scrub was an excellent cook and so their
table groaned under q burden of good things on all
Onna a1onC El1n Oon1 cbaor ~ dor,an1aI And ra%
you could never enter the house and sit half an hour
without being reminded that Husband held court
yesterday, and she couldn't keep the house decent"
If you sat down TO eat with them, she was sorry : 9 she
hadn't anything fit to eat" She had been scrub
bling, or washing, or ironing, or she had been
halfsiek, and she hadn't got such and such
things that she ought to have. Nor did it matter
how bountiful or how well prepared the repast really
was, there was always something deficient, the want
Of which furnished a text for a disparaging discourse
on the occasion
remember once, that we sat down to a table that
a king might have been happy to enjoy. There was
the light snow-white bread, there were the potatoes
reeking in butter, there were chickens winning in
gravy, there were the onions and the turnips, and l
was sure Sister Scrub had gratifed her ambition for
once. We sat down. a blessing was asked. H.
stautly the good sister began. She was afraid her
coffee was burned, or that the water had been smoked,
or that she hadn't roasted the chickens enough.
There ought to have been some salad, and it was too
bad that there was nothing nice to offer them
We, Of course, endured these unjustifable apologies !
as well as we could, simply remarking that everything
really nice. and proving by our acts that the re-
past was tempting TO our a~ppetites-
I viii now introduce another actor TO the reader
Elder Blunt, the circuit preacher. Elder Blunt was
q good man. His religion was of the most genuine,
experimental kind He was a rerg plain man. He,
like Mr.. Wesley, would no more dare to preach a fine
sermon than wear q fine coat. He was celebrated for
his common-sense way Of exhibiting the principles of
religion. He scould speak just what he thought, and
as he felt He somehow got the name Of being an
preacher, as every man l believe does, who
nsrer prevaricates, and always acts and speaks as he
thinks.
Somehow or other, Elder Blunt had heard of Sister
Scrub, and that infrmity Of hers, and hNresolved to
her On his first round he stopped at Squire
Scrubs, as all other itenerants had done before him.
John, the young man, took the Elders horse and put .
him in the stable, and the preacher entered the
house. He was shown into the best room, and soon
elt very much at home. He expected to hear soma
hing in due time disparaging the domestic arrange
nents, but heard it sooner than be expected. This .
lime, If Sister Scrub could be credited, her house was
III upside down it wasn't fit to stay in, and she 0
vas sadly mortified TO be caught in such a plight.
The Elder looked all around the room, as if to observe
he terrible disorder, but he said not a word. By |,
lnd-by the dinner was ready, and the Elder sat down =
the family TO a well spread table. Here again
Scrub found everything faulty the coffee
<asn't ft to drink, and she hadn't anything fit TO
at. The Elder lifted his dark eye TO her face ; for a
Moment he seemed to penetrate her very soul with