New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-01-11
IN LNDOOR TR1GEDY.


Well nigh half century ago q newly
married couple settled in one of the western
counties of Pennsylvania. They had what
their neighbors deemed fair capital with
which to begin life-a well-stOcked though
small farm, sound health, good common sense,
and more than average amount of shrewd
intelligence and culture Under all this was
sincere trust in God and a jealous, sensitive
love for each other, neither of which their
neighbors knew much about. American back
woods farmers take pride in covering their
emotions under a hide as tough as that of
their own beeves. They had three or four
children, and night after night, over the
kitchen fire, the problem they set themselves
to answer was, what is the best thing we can do
with them, and for them thequestion asked daily
with such wrenching of heart in myriads Of
homes. and answered so differently. The fear
of God seemed to Jacob and his wife the best
heritage to give them the next best plenty
of money. To give them the first, they began
by hedging the children's lives with a system
of rules, borrowed half from the Jewish laws,
half from the theory of their Sect Strict
morality the keeping Of Sunday as periodi-
cal day of penitence and wretchedness. the
learning under penalty of dark closets and
thrashings of the chief duty of man, therein
was their religion. Life they were shown as
strait and hard path through dark valley
with the terrOrs of Sinai behind, and the
traps and pitfalls of flaming hell on either
side. Even Jacobs wife, Mary, holding her
darlings to her breast, than which no
mothers ever 'ached or throbbed with
more tenderness, had no other sermon
to preach to them. 1t never occurred to her
or her husband that it was into just such
fields of grain as those about them, under just
such towering cedars, that Jesus led his dis
cipes and taught them, by the sunshine and
the rain, the tender mercies of God. The
world grew green around them, faded again
and wrapped itself III snow, year after year;
the river sang its mysterious song to the
woods at their very door; and overhead the
stars that had declared to the patriarchs of
the old world the infinite secrets of Jehovah
blazoned them forth STILL unregarded. Day
unto day uttered speech, and night unto night
showed forth knowledge of Him, but both
farmer and wife were deaf and blind. God
was to be approached only through dog
cared catechism, and fields and river were
worth only so much fish and wheat per year.
The children's salvation being thus provided
for, the next thing to be insured was money.
Husband and wife worked and stinted as
only Scotch Irish farmers family can work
or stint. All produce that was salable went
to the market; the children were reared on
the refuse, the skim-milk, poorest bacon, and
watery potatoes Their clothes were coarse
and patched, their feet bare and chilblained
The house grew barer year by year, the
fathers back more bent, his face harder, but
the balance in bank increased dollar by dol
lar. AS for the plump, bonny Mary she had
long ago joined that sisterhood of lean, yellow
skinned, toothless women who, with dirty calico
dresses and wisps of hair twisted up behind, are
sometimes found in farm-houses like CHASTITY
megrims, or daylight specters of wasted life.
When churning and scrubbing were done she
would sit up until near morning washing and
darning their clothes, that they might look
more ."igenteel' than she, dragging her aching
body to look at them when they slept
praying for them with a fierce longing to have
power to be God himself-to be able to pro-
tect and care for them. The boys had
certain strong animal propensities, and physi-
cal. tendencies which required skill and
knowledge to guide or restrain. One had
morbid imagination; another tendency TO
alcoholic poisoning, against which his diet and
training from infancy should have defended