The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-03-10
Deacon skiles' Visit.

worship L0aG evening. he was tired
and frustrated, and stiff from his long
ride, and awkward in my presence, and
he blundered badly. He read the irst
chapter of Matthew, all about land
Aram begat Aminadab, and Aminadab
begat Naasson, and Naasson begat Sal
mon, and Salmon begat Booz," ETC.,
nothing at all appropriate to the occa-
sion, not a word about immersion, or
means of grace, or regeneration, or any,
thing relating to Baptist principles.
I was disappointed, more especially
when he chose the hymn commencing,
"Hark from the tomb a dolefuI sound,
Mine ears attend the cry"
Deacon Skiles always did sing more
through his nose than his mouth, and
this time his nose twanged like great
brass horn.
Fathers lower jaw hung dolorously,
and grandma sat with her little, knotted,
veiny hands crossed in her lap, while
the rest of us behaved becoming the
| family of Deacon A. Potts.
Would you believe it? in less than
| five minutes after the 'amen-ah,"
| father, and granny, and Jonathan, and
the girls, had scooted off to bed, and left
the deacon sitting with his feet on the
lstove-plate and his hands swinging by
the thumbs from his vest pockets, while
was twiddling the corners of my black
delaine apron. Iwould have given him
the lamp and shown him up stairs in
stantly, the poor old shriveled vegeta-
rian, only-I might as well confess it,
it's human and it's womanly-my years
were stealing on apace, and it might be
that the deacon was my last chance. /
thought of my hair, so thin that the
IL. = l. IL 4 Al l.
way that looked decidedly threadbare;
of my pinched, shrunken nose, that
hooked over like an eagles beak; of the
teeth that had gone the way of all good
teeth long ago, and l sighed and sat
still and stared at the red embers gleam-
ing through the CRATE.
Well-what was said, none heard but
the deacon and myself-a weight of
pain lay on my heart as he took the
lamp, at half-past eleven, to go to the
company bed," in the chamber joining
the square room. AS l bade him good
night, l said, "Be kind to your seven
little, motherless children, deacon; don't
be cold and unloving and keep them
away from you"
"Never fear that" said he, glibly.
'Tm allus merry, only at a burying. |
make it a pint to be as jolly as fiddler
in my family. Yes, may say it, in a
moral sense, I'm aLLus merry. l neveI
let my boys go up to Mansfield with a
! wagon-lOad of produce, but that l give
'em half-dollar for spending money,
and they allus bring home half a keard
or SO of gingerbread that they didn't
eat"
J My heart was touched with pity fol
! the poor maD-if he'd reached out hi:
. hands brokenly and wanted to have
kissed me, wouldn't have covered my
face with my apron, or ran away, ol
! been bit silly, though really, for the
: love of it, I'd as lief have gone into th'
closet under the kitchen stairs anC
kissed the brown old bladder in which
granny had kept her snuff from timI
immemorial.
l While we were at breakfast the mex
morning a little thing happened tina
mortified me exceedingly. Deacon
/ Skiles reached over and speared into /
D potato, and when he went to lift it Il
his plate, the fork stuck in the potato
and the handle staid in his hand. Th,
children nudged and pinched eacl
T other, and Jonathan's cheeks swelleC
3 out with laughter, and that only shame'
\ me the more.
1t is so hard to repress the spirit o
: fun in young people. L had alway
4 taught them not to laugh at another
. mishap or blunder, and though dreV
= my brows and looked stern, it did n
good. 1 blushed, and the embarrasse
deacon fumbled in all his pockets, the
o ducked his head down and took sud
s den swallow of fathers hot coffee-s
! hot that it made him roll his tongue u
- like a scroll, and the unbidden tear
{ come into his eyes. In his embarrass
y ment he took out his glasses and pu
Is them on, cleared his throat, rubbed hi
l. ears, and then settled himself by &C
:. justing his wide shirt-collar.
Grandma looked as serious as she use
Of to when calculating" the web on tn
% warping bars; but the three younge
% members of the household looked 8
=, though they all had the mumps in
- cheerful way.
ii Just then fathergave the conversatio
Is new turn by remarking that if por
10 was only four cents pound, live weigh
he believed he'd run the risk and NJ
sell before the spring market opened
al March.
N We all went out to the mounting
10 block, and saw Deacon Skiles safely O
his horse, with the ample skirts of b
y "sheep's gray" overcOat tucked warml
to about his legs, then father let hi
or through the bars. 1 thought his gra
eyes fingered wistfully upon me as
e stood leaning in picturesque attitut
OIL against the gate-post. For effect l hf
re left my hair hanging all spread out lii
of a mist over my shoulders, and I had N
10 Bay-State shawl draped gracefully abol
my form.
e. Perhaps it was only conjecture, tn
E. tender glance of the deacon's-his ey
j. do have a weak, watery way of restir
is themselves sometimes, observe.
n Just as soon as he went down the hi
out of sight, twisted my hair all up
N a snug little bob, and wtile the wOur
70 was fresh 1 proceeded to gather up 8
nt the shaky knives and forks 1 could fin
at and mended them, so that they we
no better than when first bought. t.-ArthuI
Iv Home Magazine.
en- TEMPERANCE INFLUENCE.-It is
do common mode of argument amor
ep those who excuse themselves for dis:
|, | Thnk OHi iG ~