The Carolina Spartan. [volume] (Spartanburg, S.C.) 1852-1896, 1860-07-05
OUR STORY.
God'll Show Ne the Way.

'"Yes, SIR said the man, running his
hand through his shaggy locks, his harsh
face showing marks of unusual Intelligence,
t'mining in this region is hard life, but
think we've all been better since little Pinky
went away"
"And who was little Pinky?' asked the
gentleman, while the dark eyes OF the lady
at his side sparkled in anticipation Of a
story.
"Well, you sec-it be something of tell
and if ye'd move further on in the shade
of the old oak yondcr, it'll mayhap be plea
santer for the young miss, for tn sun be
hot"
The lady and gentleman followed the
brown and weather'beaten man to the cool
shadow of the oak, and finding seat for
the young lady on convenient root that
came squarely up from the ground, the
miner began, with his usual preface:
"You sec-Pinky were the son of Jesse
Pinkham, u young man, and regular good
one, as the saying goes. l reckon Pinkham
was the only man of us as ever said the
Lords prayer, Or any other prayer. lie
were nice. young fellow, that's the fact
But, we're q rude set, sir, we Of the mines,
and specially in this place; We uidn't like
anything that was what we call 'pious
Sunday, sir, used to be regular--wel,, |
might say, devil s-day, with us. 1t was no
thing but drinking and dancing, pitching,
and cards, and swearing
"W ell, sir, you sce-Jessc he got mar
ried to q regular lady-likc girl, sir, and it
turned out pious one. They didn't none
of 'em-that is, Pinkham, his wife, and old
mothcr--jine us In our merry -Intkings on n
Sabbath, but sometimes the young lllun and
Bessy-that S his vile, sir-would walk five
miles to hear Parson preach. w, was all
down upon Jesse, sir-you see the real
thing was he made us ashamed of ourselves
by his goodness, and was worse than the
rest, trying my best all the time to pick up
a quarrel with him. Well, sir, one Satur-
day night what did we see but notice
stuck up on this very tree, that thercd be
parson from Frankstuwn on the morrow.
to preach ~ us. We didu't like the news.
and we could tell pretty well where the
move come from cause you see, we knew
Jesse was piOus. So He determined, the
greater part of us, that we wouldn't have
any psam-singing-no canting prayer--no
reading olt OF the Bible 4
"W ell, the minister came, and he found
Babel We ali got together, and we
IA ed, and lau shed, and pitched quoits, and
made such IA noise that the parson had to
give 1t up He tried agin and agin, and
came right among us-he was plucky, tell
ye--but we hooted in his ears, and threw
mud on his bettermost clothes, aud so he
was fairly driven otf-'causc VA see We had
liquor enough in us to set Us all crazy
"Poor Jesse! how we jeercd him after
that, but he bore it meek, sir, aud | was of
ten ashamed OF myself, though Id died
afore Id coh;esse4 it. But | am sorry
enough Tor my part of it; for one day there
ciihe llmbllng. heavy noise, shaking the
earth, aud then crash like rafting thun-
der beneath our feet, and we knew that
somebody was buried alive. 1t was in the
working shaft where Jesse was, and lhcrc
didn't happen to be soul in the place ex-
cept him, poor fellow! They'd all gone
into another shaft, where he didn't like to
follow 'em,'cause they were such wicked
set; and as they was eatiag their dinners,
and he his, the accident happened
"We dug him out, sir ! lie was awful
nrushcd--all but his face--that looked s,ni-
ling and pcaceful-like, and we couldn bear
the sight; it made US think how we'd
a-treated him. SO we carried him home to
Bessy. She didn't cry and take on, as
most the mems wives do when an accident
happens, tut it were awful to see how still
and white she were! Awful, sir, and
never want to see a sight like it again.
'"We all felt bad-tor poor j Jesse hadn't
never said harsh word to one of us, and
ne d borne many an insult
eWa couldn't see through it when he
were living, but used to call him weak
headed, and Il tame covcy; and as he Law
there i'll his coffin, there came = different
itteellng over me, sir, you may depend upon
1T. Oh. if I'd a heard then to the lesson
that was telling of me, if Id only listened
then to the voice of God, speaking as it
were from the lips of that crushed dead
body, Id saved myself many day fsuf-
,ferin--many an hour of torment. But |
didn't
."We all walked TO the grave, and tell
.ye 1T touched even hard fellows like us, to
SEQ that young widdcr with her little o,a.n,d
in her arms, foller close to the coffin-never
crying, only holding her head down as if it
were heavy bowed with her -sorIow to keep
it up
"Well, we had a talk at the grave by the
same parson as we'd treated so badly. /
don't know what his good words would
adone in after days, if hadn't been lead
es " wickeedness, hater of pious people,
and everything that had to do with religion,
wicked, swearing, worthless sinner [ say
u TO my shame. don't boast, sir, God for
bid. wish | could shut out my thoughts
all the years of my life that ain't spent
piously' But God, hope, II be mersiful
to me.
"Well, sir-his wifs---the poor young