The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1874-02-05
THE MINISTER'S DAUGHTER.
by EDNA DEAN PROCTOR.


The Rev. Reuben Hyde was graduate
of both Amherst and Andover. His pa
rents, who had made great sacrifices to
ward to his becoming shining light in
first pulpits of Boston would be open to
him when he left the seminary. But,
alas! for the vanity of human expecta-
tons, his sermons were only dry state
ments of the views Of Edwards and
Stuart; and, after preaching as "candi-
date" in several large towns, only to be
rejected, disappointed and done with am
bition, he drifted into the small, remote
parish of Marston, where kindliness and
frequent pastoral visits were more highly
priced than powerful d:scourses. His
slender salary was eked out by the pro-
auctions of the garden and field belong.
ing to the parsonage, the tilling of which
occupied his leisure hours, and having,
through his failures, a dislike for the
great world, he rarely left home, except
now and then to exchange" with some
brother minister as unknown and unex-
pectant as himself.
Mrs HYDE was an amiable, industrious
woman, never absen: 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 cu-ls, and au appealing look
in her blue eyes that went straight to
your heart; and Baby Will, a vehement
little fellow, just entering his second year,
and who went far to prove the theory OF
some Scottish philosopher, that children
inherit the dormant rather than the active
faculties of father and mother.
Such was the Hyde family when, at
nine years old, l went to Marston to spend
the summer with my aunt, who was their
nextd0or neighbor; and this was the way
Bessie and l became acquainted.
had been three days at my aunt's, and
had gone through and through the
rooms, and explored the garnet, and exam.
ined over and over again the few picture
books among the old volumes on the
hanging shelves. had found every nook
of the garden, and counted and fed the
chickens, and seen the cows MIXED, and
frolicked with the two gray kittens, until
the cat, alarmed at our familiarity, had car
ried them off to their inaccessible nest in
the barn; and I was beginning to be
weary of the stiffness, broken only by the
ticking of the tall clock in the corner, and
thinking rather sadly Of Ned and Fanny
at home, wher my aunt looked up from
her work and said:
"You feel lonesome, don't you, Mary?
Put on your bonnet and go out and play
with Bessie Hyde. There she is, draw.
ing her little brother up and down the
path"
Charmed with the prospect of company
and yet little afraid of strangers, l acted
upon her suggestion, and going cautious.
ly to the foot Of the garden, looked
through the palings at Bessie. There she
stood, in her dark bingham gown and
Shaker bonnet, her brown curls clustering
in her neck and her cheeks flushed with
her efforts to please Master Will, 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
timidly toward me; and know not how
long we should thus have regarded each
other had not great orange spotted but.
teriy come fluttering over the walk
and alighted on current bush just be
side the wagon. The baby shouted with
delight, and held out his hands to catch
the dazzling rover; when away it flew
above my head and disappeared in the
near orchard. The child set up scream
of vexation that might have been near0
through the village, and scorned all his
sisters attempts to console him. A
device occurred to me. The ministers
garden had only few pale flowers; but
my aunt's was gay with various blooms
l ran to the beds and plucked . nosegay
of the brightest roses, columbines, scarle,
geraniums, and hurrying through the gate
and along the path, laid them down be
fore the riotous boy. He looked up
laughed in spite of his tears, and then
gathering them in q confused heap In hi
arms, and doubtless thinking them q
many captured wings, he was soon tn
image of content.
"Thank you!" said Bessie, from unde1
her bonnet
"How Loud he did scrsamv said !.
"'Twas the butterfly made him." "a