The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1874-04-30

| oouN. j nave always uelenucu In
poor and the helpless. She toll
me her story one day. and | felt sor
rv for her. determined to befrien,
her" Here Mor,on paused in som,
embarrassment, not knowing Just hov
proceed.
| "Befricnd woman. That is tn.
most imprudent thing in the wo,lt
world for minister to do, my dea
brother. You cannot befriend wo
man without doing harm"
"Well. she wanted help, and
could not refuse to give j, to her
She told me that she had refused Bol
Hoiston five times, and that he KEEP,
troubling her. | met Bob alone one
lay, and ! demonstrated with hin
ret,y earnestly, and he went all round
the country and said that | told him
was engaged to Ann Eliza, and
wonla whip him if he didn't let hcl
done. What | did tell hun was. ,ha
was Anna Eiza's friend, becaus,
she bad no other. and that | though
as gen leman, he ought TO take five
refusels as sufficient, and not wait
i'll he was knocked down by rclusals ;
"Whv, my brother, said the elder
when You take up woman's caus.
that way, you have got to marry hel
or ruin her and yourself, too. Ii you
were not minister YOU might have
"A female friend or two; and vo,
might help a woman in distress. But
YOU are sheep in the midst of-of :
wolves. Hall the girls on this circui'
would Ike 10 marry you, and il you
were to help one Of them over the
fence, or hold her bride rein for hel
while she gets on the honse, or taxi
for FIVE minutes with her about the
turnip crop. she would consider her.
self next thing to engaged. Now, as
10 Sister Ann Eliza, you have given
occasion 10 gossip over the whole cir.
cut
'Who told you SOP asked Norton
with rising Indignation.
"Why. everybody. hadn't more
than touched the circuit at Boggs
Corners till ! heard that you Were
to be married at this very Quarterly
Meating And | felt little grieved
that you should go SO far without any
consultation with me. stopped al
Sister Sims'--she's Ann Elias aunl
| believe-and told her that sup.
posed You and Sister Ann Eliza were
going TO require my aid pretty soon
and she burst into tears. She said
that if there had been anything be.
tween YOU and Ann Eliza, il must be
broken off, for you hadn't stopped
there at all on your last round. Now
tell me the plain truth, brother. Die
YOU not at one time entertain q
thought of marrying Sister Ann Eliza
Meacham?"
Il have thought about it. She il
good looking, and l could not be will
her without liking her. Then, too
everybody said that she was cut on
for preachers wife. But neve
pail her any attention that could h
called cou'tship. ! stopped go'n!
there because somebody had banter
ed me about her. | was afraid 0
talk. ! will not deny that | was
Iii,le taken with her al first, but whel
thought Of marrying her | fonnt
that | did love her as one ouyh
to love wife--as much as | ha
once loved somebody else. And then
too. vul know that nine out of every
ten who marry have to locate sooner
or later, and don't want to give uI
the ministry. think IT'S hard if i
man cannot help a girl in distres.
without being forced to marry her.
"Well, Brother Goodwin, We'll no
discuss the matter farther said th'
elder, who was more than ever con
vinced by Mur,on's admissions tina,
he had acted reprchcnAb'y. II have
confidence in YOU. You have don,
a great wrong, whether you meant il
or not. There is only one way of max
ing it right. It's a bad thing for a
preacher to have broken heart laid
at his door. Now | tell you tha,
don't know anybody who would max,
"A better preachers wife than Sister
/ Mcacham. II the case stands as il
does now may have to object to the
passage of your character at the mex,
conference
This last was an awful threat. In
! that time when the preachers lived
far apart. the word Of presiding el-
| der was almost enough to ruin a man
Bu, instead Of terrifying Morton, the
threa, made him sullenly stubborn
/ If the elder and the conference could
be 50 unjust he would bear the con
sequences, but would never submit
The congregation was too large ,e
! sit in the school house, and the pre-
siding elder accordingly preached in
the grove. All the time Of his preach
ING Morton Goodwin was scanning
the audience 10 see if the jealous
Ann Eliza were there. But no Ann
Eliza appeared. Nothing but griei
could thus keep her away from the
meeting. The more Morton medita,
ted upon it, The more guilty did he
feel He had acted from the highes,
motives. He did not know that Ann
Eliza's aunt-thc weak-looking Sister
Sims had adroitly intrigued to give
his kindness the appearance OF court
ship. How could he suspect Sister
Sims Or Ann Eliza of any designi
Old ministers know better than te
trust implicitly to the goodness and
truthfulncss Of all pious people
There are people, pious in their way
in whose natures intrigue and fraud
are SO indigenous that they grow al
unsupported by themselves. Intrigue
is one. of the DiaboloniaDs of whom
Bunyan speaks--a small but very
wicked devil that crecps into the city
of Mansoul under all alias.
A susceptible nature like Morton,
takes color from other people. liz
was conscious that Magruder's conf
dence in him was weakened, and i
seemed TO him that all the brethrel
and sisters looked a, him askance.--
When he came to make the conclud
ing prayer he had a sense of hollow
ness in his devotions, and he reall,