Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1866-04-25
The Puritan Of 1858.
BY MRS. R. E. C. ROBBINS, x1DDLEBURr, c

BY MRS. R. E. C. ROBBINS, MIDDLEBURY, CT
1t was in the early part of October,
the Rev. Mr.. Allen started to walk to
farmer Owens, over the hill. He had to
cross the spurs of the Green Mountains,
and as he climbed to the top of the Sec
ond, the rich valley of the Otter Creek
| lay spread out before him. At any other
time he would have stopped to admire
| its gentle undulations, its great flower
garden of forest trees, rich in every
color and hue, its silver threads winding
their way 10 the waters of lake Champlain,
and the glorious autumn light which lay
| like a golden mantle over them all. But
this afternoon he seemed oppressed by
the beauty that surrounded him. He
looked upon it with eyes misty with tears.
There was a dull, heavy weight upon his
heart-a weight which even the long, fer
vent prayers that he had uttered so un-
ceasingly since noon had failed to move.
Between him and that landscape, we
might almost say, between him and the
mercy seat, there moved slight, tall boy,
with laughing blue eyes, clustering brown
hair, and lips always ready with a merry
pleasant word. To-day, there was no
Bennie, nutting under the bare, brawny
arms of the butternut tree; throwing his
line into the brooks that came babbling
down from the steep mountain side;
driving his COWS along the narrow foot
path; standing with Blossom under the
bright maple, and shouting with pride
and joy as he wreathed her pretty face in
the gay leaves.
"Oh, Bennie Bennie !" Mr.. Allen
hardly knew he was calling the name,
until it came back to him with such an
empty, mocking sound, from the heartless
echo; almost" Mr.. Allen thought,
startling himself by the seeming impiety
of the words, "almost as if there were no
great, kind Father over US all"
As he came near farmer Ovens house,
he saw his oxen yoked to the plow. He
knew they had been there since the tel
egraph. Mr.. Owen mad read it in the
field, gone to the house and forgotten
them, and no one had dared to put them
up. He was man fully capable of tax
ing care of his own affairs under any cir
cumstances, never having been known
before to forget.
Mr.. Allen beckoned to an Irishman
who was passing, and asked him to take
care of them. The man came with an
awed look upou his face, as if even there
he stood If the presence of a great sor
row, and without the least possible noise,
obeyed.
Mr.. Allen walked on slowly towards
the house. He had known Mr.. Owen for
many years and he knew him well. In
deed, there was a peculiar bond of sym
pathy between the two men. In all his
large parish, there was not one upon
whom the minister relied as he did upon
the strong, sturdy farmer. Many and
many an hour he had walked by his side
when he was upturning the brown earth,
and had discoursed to him on topics
which would have sounded harsh and re-
pulsive to common ears, but which were
frought with deep and vital interest to
them,
Mr.. Owen was direct descendant of
Puritans, and every drop of blood in his
veins was tinged with as strong and true
a "blue" as if he himself had landed in
the Mayfiower. He took naturally to the
sterner doctrines of religion, while Mr..
Allen, Versed in all the mGdern lore,
questioned and doubted. The keystone
of Mr.. Ovens theology was the sovereign
/ the earth do right?" This was the man
upon whom God had now laid his hand
so heavily; and Mr.. Allen felt that if the
trial brought no murmer, no rebellion
against that mighty SoyreigE, the stern
old faith were indeed rich one in which
to live and die. He knew that one ele.
ment in this war was Puritans. Sons Of
Roundheads filed up the ranks of the
Northern army. They marched to battle
to strains of the old tunes that had lin
gered in the nursery and the sanctuary
from the days when Cromwell and his
soldiers ehanted them on the Marston
Moor All down the allies of Time, came
trampiDg to the music mailed men, bear
ing on. their shields the two words Liber-
ty and Equality.
They trembled on Mr.. Ovens lips with
his parting blessing to his boy. Would
he remember them, and would they com.
fort and give him strength nOW?
Where there is af1iction in a house
the minister is at home. Mr.. Allen en-
tered without knocking, and made hi;
way to the large, old fashioned kitchen
in which he was sure of finding the fam
lily.
There, by table, with his arms folded
and laid heavily upon it, sat Mr.. Owen
his wife was in small rocking chair BY
the fire, and Blossom, a young girl sal
between them.
Mr.. Owen rose to welcome him so did
Blossom; but the wife did not notice him
she sat still, rocking herself TO and fro
looking at the blazing wood.
i Mr.. Allen put hand upon the brawny
one that was held out towards him, and
laid the other on Mr.. Owens great heav
ling breast. my friend" he said. how
lis It with the DEGREES of God !"
"Just and true are all thy ways, thou
King of Saints" faltered out the honest
man.
There was something strange In hii
voice-a thin, womsnly sound, so unlike
the deep, stentorian tones in which ht
had always spoken before. Mr.. Allen
: when he heard it, almost felt as if he haC
dealt him blow.
THANK God He has not, then, for
saken you, and from the depths of thii
great trouble you can still say, The Ma
ker of all doeth well.'"
"Yes, yes"-and for an instant there
glimmered from his dull eye a spark o
the the old controversial fre-''you dom
supposed PEe held on to that ancho
when the skies were cloudless, and the
little waves just rocked my bark, to le
go of it now-now, when the great waves
and pillows are going over me, do you? p
I've planted it firm, and it don't yield
no, no, It don't yield, but the strain is terri
BILE. God send it may carry me into port
o, Mr.. Allen, say it will 1t has seemed
: to me to-day so dark, so wonderful, so in
: scrutable, that he-my Benniel Mr.. Al
.. len, there is good, wise purpose behint
r it all. Can you see it 2"
"To bring you nearer the kingdom,
= said the minister.