Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1860-10-13


went to Prudence and exhorted, and entreat-
ed, and commanded her. to tell where she got
the ring, and to take it off Her only an
swer was, at would be unlucky; cannot
do it." Here was pretty fix. Jewelry worn
an9 parental authority disobeyed, and by one
rigldly brought up in the faith, and blessed
with name that ought to have been bar
rier against all such worldly ways. Day af.
ter day the parents attempted to regain their
lost authority, but to no purpose; and MS
last resort, Farmer NJ determined to Law the
affair before the church. meeting was call.
ed of tho elders, and Prudence was arraigncd
before that tribunal which has caused so much
terror to many seeding Quaker The reg
ularly ordained preachers cxhorted Those
whom the spirit moved drawlcd out their
opinion of the hciniousness of Prudcncc's
crime. The old women stretched forth their
lone and unadorncd hands in suppication to
her, and the old men denied ever having Civ
en- love tokens in their youth, and dwclt upon
the folly of wearing jewelry. The only ring
which Farmer n. thought was of any use
hung in the nose of his bull, and his wife
thought she could imagine something of the
same kind through the most prominent part of
the farmers face, by which she managed him
" Prudence" said the presiding elder,
| luC plliJ naln lllOVcu me TO speak unto thee,
and, inasmuch as thou has left the faith and
departed from the ways of thy father, to de.
nounce thy course and pray for thy speedy re-
| turn unto the doctrines of flial obedience,
and that simplicity of dress which shuns lew
elry and fine raiment, and robes itself in the
sober colors of thy sect. And for the young
man to whom thy spirit cleavcs he is of the
worlds people, and not for such as thee to
consort with, lest pcradvcnturc, thou shouldst
come to evil, and thy days be numbered, and
the hair OF thy parents when it is turued gray
be brought in sorrow to the grave"
Poor Prudence Love she had not before
thought of, but now it sprang up strongly
within her. Persecution (for she thought
she was pcrsccutcd) wakcned her heart from
its timidity, and it beat loudly for the one who
placed that ring upon her finger She had
gone to church in the slippers which he had
made but now she had returned, they were too
precious to ever again be worn That ring,
whose sole advocate had been superstition.
now had love to plead for its remaining upon
her finger. Under the support of the first,
it had wthstood father, mother, and the soc
ETY.; under the joint influence Of the two, it
would bid defiance to the world.
Poor Charles No, not poor, he had accom-
! plished his purposc,-Pmdencc loved him,
and might yet be his. The hammer, as it fell
brisk and heavily upon the stone in his lap,
told of the strokes he must make for fortune,
and the well waxcd thread, as he drew it
through his worN, sung of the happy termin-
alton of his lubors
Second day came, and Prudence was sent
to Providence. For three long years she
staid there, and, saving the golden crcet
about her finger, her garb presented the So
| Al
kers; but III her heart covered by it's warn,
folds, she wore jewel which no church creed
could deprive her of, and which, like the da
mond sbone the brighter for the cut it had re-
ccivCd
For the first year after the departure of
Prudence, Charles continued to work at the
bench; but after that time the qualities OF in
dustry and honesty which he possessed won
Tor HIM the good opinion OF n merchant in
ncighboring city, and he was offered place
IN his cOuutng-room. When the three ycars
had passed away, Charles was admitted into
the tlrm. and the intellectual energy of his
character had won for him high place in the
the opinion of his townsmen
The Quaker society had in the meantime,
begun to decline. Coats, with the tails tr-
lie shorter; bonnets, the scoop of which are
not quite so deep made their appearance with
in their walls each Sunday, and the sliding
panncis which separated the sexes were sal
dom closed
The elders nodded to each other with be-
coming gravity while they slept, but the Young
ones smiled across the house, and induced in
dreams more finciru than Son.nus ever in
| spired. Jowclry and high coored cloths
might be denounced, but pretty Quakorcsses
would long for them, and out of the society
they married whenever opportunity was pre-
scnted. Music had its charms and the dangh
ters of Fox could appreciate and execute it as
well as the daughters of. the world. The
times had changed
Prudence returned. Farmer N saw
the ring upon her finger; his wife saw it, too.
Quaker bcaux called and went away Charles
called, but did not depart until the day WIS
fixed, and the reluctant consent of the farmer
and his wife obtained
Many Yearly Meeting has been celebrated
since they were married but the ring still
rests on Prudcnce's finger, and the slippers
are preserved in remembrance of her love and
its trials; aDl when the children crowd
around Charles in the evening, they do not
have to coax much to make father tell them
the story of the RING AND THE SLIPPER.
| ---~.
| n TENNESSEE youngstcr showed good grit
according to the note of a correspondent in
that State, who writes:
"The worthy gentleman who rules the ri
sing generation of boys in this town had oc
casion to correct little fellow, named Johnny
and hastor Jobnn,, boJ 80 80