The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-10-16
ovERTAKEN BY JUSTICE.

lubble 3 ClObQGS-llQe. NINE n8d sig
nailed the gentlemaD's sorrow for the
first Mrs. Tuttle, but four of those had
been great silk squares, capable of be-
ing wet through, dried in the brine
saturated and dried again indefinitely.
50 that the number was no criterion oi
the mourner's comparative grief upon
the two occasions. He felt very badly
indeed. No one could doubt that who,
the Sunday after the funeral, saw him
in his suit of black pass slowly up the
fore him in that melancholic, deeply
detected way, peculiar to the newly
widowed. 1t was very touching, espe-
cially to the female portion of the con-
gregation.
Inc Rev. Titus mind being unset
tied, the Rev. Theopolis, of the Meth
odist persuasion, this day olficiated for
him. When the Rev. TheopOlis prayed
that the Rev. Titus "though cast down
might not Re forsaken and that this
affliction, though for the present not
joyous but grievous, might work out q
far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glOry"-then every female head in
the congregation was bowed, and every
female right eye turned outward to see
! uO" 1lbuS LOOK IT, Ii WOuIu nave
been interesting had Titus at that mo-
ment turned his right eye down on the
congregation to see how they were i'm
pressed but he didn't. B essed man
there he sat on the ecclesiastic velvet,
his face buried in the fourteenth pocket
hardkerchief-one of the half dozen
with black borders he had purchased
while mourning for the first Mrs. Titus.
/ To \ eI,o1 I,
missive certainly had a very mellowing
feet, and it would have required bat
little further infusion of the enthusiasm
of humanity to set one-half the congre-
CATION including his case in their pri-
vate prisons.
At the close of the services, Mrs.
Pattypans, mother of five daughters of
marriageble ages, but unmarriageble
iawbOnes, grasped the hand of the Rev.
Titus in the aisle.
cts mysterious dispensation, but
it may turn out for the better" quoth
she.
go, Mrs. Pattypans, responded the
/ pastor, wringing the parishioner's hand,
"nobody knows what it is until he's
passed through it."
you've passed through it, haven't
You, pa ?" asked Mrs. Pattypans, some
what snuffngly, addressing Pa Patty
pans.
Pa Pattypans was f1orid gentleman,
with large neck and heavy chin. Pa
/ had buried one wife before he met the
mother of the five.
"Ye-yes, answered Pattypans,
| drawing himself a little ont from his
collar. go, yes, I've passed through
it,"
| Indications of amendment in the Rev.
Titus case appeared in about six weeks
! from the demise of the second Mrs
| Tuttle At that date he escorted Miss
Polite Plum home from Thursday pray
er-meeting. 1t a calm, still night,
! like that on which Lilly Dale, of olden
memories, was buried, and the spring
| atmosphere was favorable to spiritual
soothing syrups.
You cannot know how irrepressibly
lonely I am during these days, Miss
Plum" said Titus.
Polite supposed she couldn't.
Il do not know in what light my
parishiOners may view the matter, "
continued Titus, with a little cough.
"But there is no time in mans life,
Miss Plum, when he more needs the
supporting influence of a womanly sym
pathv than under such a bereavement
as mine"
Polite felt that a man ought not to
cut himself off from supporting infu-
ences" because of the speech of a carp
ing and ungodly world.
"Woman seems TO possess an intui-
tive knowledge of the nature and needs
of sorrow, and it seems ordained that
man in the dark hours of life should
turn to her for light"
Polite thought so, too.
"The consultations of religion are, to
our weak faith, sometimes vague and
unsatisfactory, and we yearn for the
sweet ministrations of human sympa-
/ thy"
PoIlie did not doubt it.
"I hold it mans duty never to yield
| to dark despair, but to seek out way
/ through the furnace of 8tflietion, and
! therein gain strength for the future"
Polite approved that doctrine.
On the ninth prayer-meeting evening,
quoth the pastor: "YOu little realize
what a precious source of consolation
your sympathy has been to me, Miss
Plum"
Polite made a little noise in her
throat. AS a sound it didn't amount to
mgch as an expression it meant she
didn't see how that could be-she so
weak and unworthy; but if she was
"sOurce of consolation" she was so
glad.
"When man loses his-his partner"
continued Titus, what he most misses
isis a certain responsiveness the world
can never give. Figuratively speaking,
he finds himself 'thirsting and alone in
a land of sand and thorns.'"
Polite hadn't any idea that it was so
bad as that.
By the twelfth Thursday evening tho
sympathy, responsiveness and general
softness filled with the moon, and the
climax was attained in accordance with
conventional statutes.
"'Tis not that love MolIie and Dol
lie the less, but you, Pollie, the mere, :"
said Titus, looking off on the top of the
cypress, alias locusts, that waved over
the vi lage cemetery. L do not think
those two sainted women wish me to
travel the remaining way through the
desert of this world alone. / do not
doubt that could they but speak, they
/ would approve of my course. Perhaps
I they are even now looking joyfully
/ down upon us from yonder starry realm. l"
Pollie shuddered, and looked up
through the maple leaves apprehen-
/ sively.
Thereafter the Rev. Titus not only
saw Pollie home, but every other Friday
! evening gave her a species of "prepar-
atory lectures" his prime pies not allow
ing him to attend to secular busine on
Sunday evening. No more was said in
regard to the spiritual ministrations of
the late Dellie and Mollie. Those two
ladies were conveniently supposed to
be pleased with the new arrangement,
and it was Just as agreeable to the sur
vivors that they should project them
without their assistance. As the Rev.
. Titus cardinal difficulties amended, his
bronchitis, owing to taking his consola-
/ ton in too much evening air, rather IN
/ creased. One Friday sfternoon he was
F obliged to send for his physician. Phys
+ ician forbade him going outdoors; but.
as evening advanced, he felt he must
/ have a word with Pollie.