Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1873-10-04
WHOLE NUMBER 1899.
gbe Convened oxen.
ny tnE4Dssr Nuns, Or wAnAsn oo1rron

not his name, but it will do Just as well
as the real name for the purposes Of
this article--was man Of acute angles,
In fact his angles were 50 sharp as to
amount to ah unpleasant peculiaritv.
He found many things. not quite right
in the affairs of the ueighborhood, and
lie had fine faculty Of letting people
know what he thought His rhetoric
was quite energetic, and when one met
bin it was not quite certain whether he
might not say something sharp, or
thrust his angular elbows into his side.
wish not to be understood that Mr..
Angle WAS dishonest, or untruthful, or
hard-hrarted. lie was far from either
Of these faults. in fact he was s'honest
to a fault pridcd himself on stating
any fact exactly, with all the ins and
outs, as he was wont 10 express it, and
his heart was Is tender as a child's to
any appeal for pity from a real sufferer.
And yet he bad a peevish irritability
that was constantly showing itseIf in
the house, aud by the way, " hen he sat
down and when he rose up. To this
general RUE there was one exception.
lie fully believed his minister to be
/ Just right lie had lived not far from
him for many years, bad been married
by him, aud had felt kind of daily
bcIedictiUn from the good pastor He
had narrowly scanned his walk and con-
versatiou, in tnat difficult and hard
field. He had seen him going into the
mountains aAd among the valleys of his
rough parish, entering every house with
a gentle dignity and Christian love that
woH h,m q welcome eycrywhere. ale
wa, no rich mau's minister" but he
sought the rich and poor alike, with
fidelity that w.s as fruitful as it was
marked.
Mr.. Angie did not spare lis approba-
ton OF tie pa.tor-and knowing as [
did the great winner of souls, did not
wonderland lie was wont to say: 'He
is good man, and 10 mistake. If all
church members were like him, We
would te better olf in these parts!"
The pastor, like Il wise man, chose his
times ana modes of approaching his un-
! converted paiishigner on the one theme
Of bis personal salvation. Now he
sought to arouse his anxiety for his
chldren-a house full there was-and
to ask if it were quite right to lay the
whole burden vi their religious training
on his wife.
Ut another time a reigibor had died
suddenly, leaving u his friends no
cheering hope that lac had attained 80.
better country" and was it fright for
Mr.. Angle 10 leave the great thing un-
| done"
And at another time he bombarded
! him with the word OF God, and brought
the authority OF bis statements as TO
mans ruin and salvation to bear on him.
And it was no unfIe9uent thing for the
pastor to kncel in llr. Angles house to
pray for him and his houeshold.
Why wonder then that Mr.. Angle
became uneasy and disturbed concern
ing his relation to God as just and Je-
sus Christ the only Savior? He had
tried sharp words with the pastor to
parry his blows. He had enumerated
formidable list Of faults in the saints
Of the parish"--as lie waspishly termed
theln-but it did not silence the one
reply, "Well, Mr. Angle, and what
good does all this do yoU: If these are
what you say, does that make y0u Whit
! God says you must be-"
And sure enough Mr. Angle broke
down il the defense, rs lie ought to in
SO unworthy a cause, and in the use of
/ such unworthy means. He seemed Cn
| the point of becoming a Christian.
But, as if his acute angle must be al
lowed II presentation even on SO thrill
ling occasion, lie suddenly said to his
pastor, "You know what scoldI have
been: how have often fretted in the
house, aud picked at my noighborS
whenever had a chance. Indeed / am
a very passionate man, and there is one
thing that now worries me. You ask
me to become Christian, and I want
to he one: but what shallI do when.I
try 10 drive the most contrary yoke of
oxen that ever plagued q man? Lam
certain they Will drive me distracted;
and then people will say, "And SO Angle
| is converted is he:"
Some may smile, bat is not life made
up Of trials quite is trivial as that which
Mr. Angle was mentioning to his min
lister?
"Never fear the oxen" said the pas.
tor. ''If you find them getting contra.
ry, stop little while and thinl: of Him
who to-day is asking for your heart"
Ny article needs only conclusion
\ day or two after this conversion,
Mr.. Angle told his minister, that what
was stranger than his own conversation
was that Of his oxen; ''for since God put
into my heart the hope that | am
Christian, my oxen have been all want
ed them to Le,'
Do YOU laugh at the notion of Mr..
Angles converted oXen?' Many a
poor beast in yoke or harness has felt
the whip, and heard the enraged words
Of savage men, who have vented the
unrest and anger of their unconverted
and unhappy hearts on the beasts they
were driving. They tried to apologize
to themselves for this brutality by say
ing, as Mir. Angle did, that nobody ev-
er had such vicious aud contrary beasts
as they. Nag, worse than this some have
'displayed their ilihumor at the hearth
stone, at the table, and ia the family,
aud felt themselves to be real martyrs
to unloving children and possibly to
very unsympathizing wives! The case
is only To be changed little to suit
,.,,,,, n frattul aud scoldinu wife