Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1874-05-09
TaE mINIsTEH,s DAUGHTER.
By EDNA DEAN PROCTOR.

d EDNA OEAN fEOCTOh.
The Rev. Reuben Hyde was a
graduate of both Amherst ami An
dover. His parents, who had made
great sacrifices to give him such ad-
vantages, looked forward to his be-
coming a shining light in the church,
and even had hoped that the first
pulpits of Boston would be open to
him when he left the seminary. But
alas! for the vanity of human ex-
pectations, his sermons were only
dry statements of the views of Ed
wards and Stuart; and after preach
ing as Candidate" in. several large
towns, only to be rejected, disap-
pointed and done with ambition, he
drifted into the small, remote parish
of Marston, where kindliness and
frequent pastoral visits were more
highly prised than powerful dis
courses His slender salary was eked
out by The productions of the gar
den and field belonging to the par
sonage, the tilling of which occupied
his leisure hours, and having, through
his failures, dislike for the great
world, he rarely left home, except
now and then to exchange with some
brother minister as unknown and un-
expectant as himself.
Mrs. Hyde was an amiable, indus
triOus woman, never absent from
the prayer meeting or the sewing.
circle, and untiring in her thrifty
household cares. Their children were
Bessie, a grave, patient, gentle girl
of ten, with round, innocent face.
brown curls, and an appealing look
in her blue eyes that went straight to
your heart; and Baby VIII, a yehe-
ment little fellow, just enteri g his
second year, and who went far to
prove tie theory of some Scottish
philosopher, that children inherit the
dormant rather than the active facul-
ties of father and mother
Such was the Hyde family, when
at nine years old, | went to Marston
to spend the summer with my aunt,
who was their next door neighbor;
and this was the way Bessie and
became acquainted.
| had been three days at my
aumt's, and had gone through and
through the rooms, and explored the
garret, and examiped over and over
again the few picture books among
the Old volumes Oh the hanging
shelves. had found every nook Of
me garden, and counted and fed the
chickens, and seen the COWS MIXED.
and frollcked with the two gray
kittens until the cat, alarmed at our
familiarity, had carried them off to
their inaccessible nest in the barn:
and was beginning to be weary of
the stiffness, broken only by the
ticking of the tall clock in the cor
ner, and thinking rather sadly of
Ned and Fanny at home, when my
aunt looked up from her work aud
said:
'You feel lonesome, don't YOU.
Mary? Put on your bonnet and 90
out and play with Bessie HYDE.
There she is,drawing her little broth
er up and down the path"
Charmed with the prospect of
company, and yet little afraid of
strangers, acted upon her sugges-
ton, and going cautiously to the
foot of the garden looked through
the palings at Bessie. There she
stood in her dark gingham gown
and Shaker bonnet, her brown curls
clustering in her neck and her cheeks
flushed in her efforts to please Mas
ter VIII, who sat as erect and proud
in his clumsy wagon as if he had
been heir to all the Russias. She
saw me, and now and then looked
t!~idly tUvsVd mel end ] kaSw uSk