Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1868-03-25
THE BARLEY LOAF.

| cAOA tioSho 1OLhp"6 AZ VIC SdluOh Wdiho,
then the much coveted jacket and trowsers,
and the going to school then the ambitious
boy, passing from school to college then
the farewell address and crowning honors of
college life, and out into the world to find
joy or sorrow and then the closing of the
eyes and rest of the restless heart, and to
how many comes all this within the space
of thirty years
If any one had said to Master Elias, on
his thirtieth birth day, Master Elias, there
will come beggar to your door to day :
give her one of those two barley loaves, of
yours, and thirty years from to-day you will
| be paid for it-and good price too. Mas
ter Elias would probably have started at
this announcement, and might, in truth
| have answered that there was charity e.
nough in his heart to give loaf of bread
to beggar, without hope or promise of be-
| ing paid for it, either in thirty years or at
any other time
Master Elias, | must tell you, was the
village schoolmaster but he did not live as
country schoolmasters usually do--boarding
around first at one house and then at an
other. When he came to the village, three
years before, he brought with him little
sister,a pretty child, about twelve years old;
they two were all alone in the worl1 and he
seemed to feel the need of some place that
he could call home for himself and her 1; so
he hired little cottage and took into it a
poor old woman, who for her support was
willing to be his housekeeper. After two
years she died, and then the little girl be-
came housekeeper.
Whether Master Elias had little store
of money when he came to the village, and
spent it all at his attempt at domestic COM
tort, [ cannot tell but certain it is that he
grew poorer and poorer, and now was very
poor indeed.
1t was poor village where he taught
each one of the villagers thought that the
others were all doing great deal for the
support of the schoolmaster so, being eve
rybody's business to support him, it be-
came in the course Of time, nobody's busl-
ness and so it happened that, on his thir-
tieth birthday, a bright September day,
when he and his little sister sat down to the
grand banquet on the occasi0n-the grand
banquet consisted of nothing but bread and
mi lk-the contents Of the pantry having
been reduced to two barley loaves.
But bread and milk is a very good thing
to anybody with good appetite and good
conscience, so the two sat long and merrily
over the repast and just as they finished,
came a rap at the door poor girl in rags;
her mother was sick in the howell on the hill;
she was begging for food. Master Elias hes
itated for one instant only. If L give a.
way the bread, what will we eat to morrow?
thought he. 1t was passing thought, and
he put it from him, and felt trustful in Di-
vine Providence for the morrow.
| will give you half of all have; [ can
do no more" he said and gavethe girl one
of his barley loaves. and divided with her
the scanty fuel that he had to cook the
morrow meal, should there be one to cook;
and the girl departed.
The long, cold winter passed !; night after
night, when his labors were over, would he
sit by his solitary fire, with his little sister
by his side, teaching her, telling her stories,
and thinking of the time when she would
be woman-a good and beautiful woman,
with bright, happy home of her own.
But toward spring there came time
when he had to dismiss school and shut up
the schoolhouse, and tell his boys his little
sister was sick, and there would be no school
for few days, until she got well again and
the days grew into weeks, and there was no
school,
And there came aA evening when Mas
ter Elias sat quite alone In his cottage, and IN
the village churchyard in the valley there
was fresh grave heaped up, and the dews
were falling on it, and the winds whistled
over it. Master Elias never opened his
the village, and no one knew whittier he
had gene.
Years passed on ten years passed many
new faces were seen in the village, many old |
ones have disappeared from it. Ten more
years have passed and still greater were |
the changes. New houses, and churches, !
and stores, whole new streets, and when
yet another ten years had gone, little, very
little indeed was left of the village Of thirty |
years before The old men and women of |
the ivy covered church in the valley the
young ones had mostly scattered and travel |
ed to other places. But there were some
little legacies that the old village had be-
aueathed the new village one was the !
stage coach, which had not yet given place
TO railroad another was the village inn,
a time worn structure under the great elms
and poplars at the entrance of the village {; |
another was the buxom wife OF the inn
was born in this village, and had
passed here her whole life and lastly there
was an especial legacy of her own, that she |
kept and cherished as something better than
gold and silver, that had been as she said,
the blessing of her life, and was certainly
blessing to the poor within her reach-and
this legacy was what she called "lHdSter II |
las rule.
When any poor soul in distress went to
her for help, she might be able to give but
a little, but that little she gave with such
kindness and sympathy that it seemed
great deal, and she would say, in giving it !:
FIT is Master Elias rule Did any poor
traveller come along who could scarcely af-
ford to pay for his supper and bed, he got
them for nothing for Master Elias rule. !"
Did the good man, the farmer and iinkeep-
er, gently demonstrate sometimes when her
charities seemed beyond prudence, she
ii = .sIIauo me- not nrnsnered well In