The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1874-04-23

n Patty will not marry any of the sui
n ors who calculate the infrm health ,
!. her father and the probable diviso
1 of his estate, and who mentally trans
I fer to their future homes the thrift an
< orderliness they see in Captain Lums
den's. BY refusing them all she ha
won the name of a proud girl. Their
are times when out Of sight of every
body she weeps, hardly knowing why
, And since her mothers death sh,
J reads the prayer-book more than ev
J CT, finding III the severe confession.
, therein framed for US miserable sin
ners, and the plaintive cries Of the lit
any, voice for her innermost soul
Captain Eumsden fears she will
marry and leave him, and yet it an.
gers him that she refuses to marry
His hatred of Methodists has assum-
ed the intensity of a monomania since
he was defeated for the Legislature
partly by Methodist opposition. All
his love of power has turned to bit
terest resentment, and every thought
that there may be yet the remotcst
possibility of Patty's marrying Nor
ton atilicts him beyond measure. He
cannot fathom the reason for her OBJ
stinate rejection Of all lovers; he dis
likes her growing seriousness and her
fondness for the prayerbook. Even
the prayer-book's earnestness has
something Methodistic about it. But
Patty has never yet been in a Meth
odist meeting, and with this fact he
comforts himself He has taken pains
to buy her jewelry and "artificials' y
in abundance, that he may, by dress
ing her finely, remove her as far as
possible from temptations to become
a Methodist. For in that time, when
fine dressing was not common and
country neighborhoods were poplariz-
ed by the the advent Of Methodism in
its most aggressive form, every arti-
fetal flower and every earring was IA
banner of antagonism to the new sec. /;
a well-aressed woman IN congrega-
;ion was almost defiance to the
preacher. 1t seemed to l.umsden,
therefore, that Patty had prophyat-
ic ornaments enough to save her from
Methodism. And to all of these he
added covert threats that if any child
Of his should ever join these crazy
Methodist looms. he would turn him
out of doors and never see him again
This threat was always indirect re-
mark dropped incidentally; the pro-
noun which represented the unknown
quantity of Methodist Lumsden was
always masculine, but Patty did not
fail to comprehend.
One day there came to Captain
Iumsden's door that out east of New
England tin-peddler. Western
people had never heard of Yale Col
lege or any other glory of Connccti-
cut or New England. To them it was
but a land that bred pestilent pcripa-
tetic peddlers Of tin-ware and wooden
clocks. Western rogues would cheat
you out of your horse or your farm if
a good chance offered, but this vile
vender Of Yankee tins, who called a
bucket pail" and said "noo" for
new, and talked nasally, would work
an hour to cheat you out OF ''fpen.
ny Bit" The tin-pcddler, one Nun
son, thrust his shapencd visage in at
LumsGen's door and ''made bold'' to
inquire if he could git rights lodg-
ing, which the Captain, like other set
tiers. granted without charge. Hav-
ing unloaded his stock of '.tins" and
'sput up his horse, the Connecticut
oeddler made bold to ask many
leading questions about the family
and personal history of the Lumsdcns,
collectively and Individually Hav-
ing thus taken the first steps toward
acquaintance by this display of an ag-
gravating interest in the welfare Of
his new friends, he proceeded to give
elaborate and truthful aceounts-with
variatlons-of his own recent adven-
lures, to the boundless amusement of
the younger Lumsdens, who laughed
more heartily at :he Connecticut
mans words and pronunciation than
at his stories. He said, among other
things, that he had been to Jinkins-
vile t'other day to what the Meth
odis' called "basket meetin'." But
when he had proceeded SO far with
his narrative, he pruden,ly stopped
and made bold to inquire what the
Captain thought OF these Methodists.
The Captain was not slow to express
his opinion, and the man of tins, hav-
ing thus reassured himself by taking
soundings, proceeded to tell that they
was a dretile craoud of folks to that
meetin'. And he, havin' "a sharp eye
to business, he'd went forrard to the
mourner's bench To be prayed fer
Didn't do no pertik'ler harm to hey
folks pray fer We, We know. Well,ye
see, the Methods they wanted to in
courage a seeker, and so they all
bought some tins. Purity nigh tuck
the hull load often his hands. (And
here the peddler winked one eye at
the Captain and then the other at
Patty.) Fer they was sech dretile
lot of folks there. Come to hear a
young prt acher as is main elo'kcnt
-Parson Goodwin by name, and he
was "good one to preach, sartin
This startled Patty and the Cap
tain.
"Goodwin." said the Captain:-
"Morton Goodwin
The very identikle," said the ped
dler.
Raised only half a mile from here"
said Lumsden, land we don't think
much of him"
"Neither did H. said the peddler,
trimming his sails to Lumsden's bree-
zes. Il calkilate could preach cen
Almost as well as he does, myself, and
] want broughtup topreachin' moth
er. But he's got a good wee fer sing
in'-sich ring tot, ye see, and he's
got smart way 1hct comes the sym
pathies over the women folks and
wcakeyed men, and sets 'em cryin'
at a desp'ate rate. Was brought up
here, was he? Du tell! He's power
full poplar Then, catching the Cap
tain's eye, he added: "Among the
women, ! mean"