Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1878-04-25
EIDERsSaUST AND SISTER SCRUD
q Story that has WI de
Application.

celebrated as stronghold or Meth
odism. It is an out.of-tEe-way
neighbo1 hood, yet no place in the
whole country is better known or
more highly esteemed. In the cen
ire of the settlement, just where
two roads cut each other at right
angles, making ''four corners" is
the school house, painted red, and
Dong familiar as the only place of
public worship in the settlement.
The people are all well off now, and
have built ri and commodious
church, on the opposite corner. \
Few rods up from the school house
lfved Squire Scrub. You could tell,
at first sight, that the esquire" was
''well to do" in this world, for ever
ything about him denoted it. There
was MS picket fence all around his
garden, painted red, AID the top tip
ped with white there was his
house, modest one story and a half,
with a leaning to It in the rear,
spainted white all over there was
the barn, q large, well filed barn 1t
was there was a farm, choice lot
= of onerbuadred acres, we'll cuitiyAt-
: ed and besides all this, there were
the honofs and emolumentS or the
! important office of Justice OF the
4.Peace.H The esquire" was, Of course,
:. % man of note in his town. tie had
teen a justice several terms in sue
ecession.. lie was trustee ct the
sschool district, -and he was both
cnlass leader an5 steward in the
Methodist Church. I have nc doubt
That he would. have received other
hoaOrs at the hands OF his fellow
toTnsmen mllbrethren Lad lie been
eligible. Stilt-he was, quite an un
assuming man and verify believe
he thought more OF his religion than
all of his ecclesiastical and civil
honors. His house was sthe timer
ants home and a right sweet
pleasant home II, would have been
bnt for certain unfortunate weak
.aess OF the every ether way excel
lent Sister Scrub. The weakness |
: ;all lde to was, or at least it was ex-
pectad te be, the :l0Ye of praise.
Now, the good sister was really wor-
thy of high praise, and she often re-
!. .-ceiyed it !; bu5 she had way of dis
:. paraging hersaIf end her performan-
ces which some people thought was
inten led to invite praise. No
!, house wife kept her floors looking
30; ;cleln and her walls SO well white
!. wash d as she. Every board was
!. scrubbed and secured till further
--scrub)lng and securing would have
been labor wasted. No one could
iock on her white ash floor and not
admire the polish her industry gave
1T. .The esquire" was 4 good pro-
vide and Sister Scrub vas an ex-
..csRent cook and so their table
gresned uad.r a burden Of good
things on all occasions when good
cheer was demanded And yet you
coul never enter the house and sit
half an hour without being remind
ed that "EEsband held court yes
trrtiay, and she couldn't keep the
house decent.'' If you sat down to
eat with them, she was sorry "she
hadn't anything to eat" She had
t,een scruubing, or washing, or iron
ing, or she had been half sick, and
she hadn't got such and such things
as she ought to have. Nor dill it
matter how bountifui Or well prepar-
cd the repast really was, there was
always something deficient, the want
oS which furnished text fora dis
paraging discourse on the occasion.
I remember once that we sat down
to O table that a king might have
neen happy to enjoy. There was
tae@light snow-white bread, there
was the chicken swimming in gravy;
there were the onions and turnips,
and | was sure Sister Scrub had
gratilied her ambition for once. We
eat down, and blessing was asked.
Instantly the good sister began :
She was afraid her coffee was too
much burned, or that the water had
been smoked, or that she hadn't
roasted the chicken enough. There
ought TO havo been some salad, and
il was too bad there was nothing
nice TO offer us.
We, of course, endured these un-
jnstifiable apologies IS well AS We
could, simply remarking that every
thing was really nice, and proved by
our acts that the repast was tempt
ing to our appetites.
Twill now introduce another ac-
tor TO the reader. It Is Elder Blunt,
TIE circuit preacher. Elder Blunt
as good man. His religion was
the genuine experimental kind.
Ile Was very plain an.IIe.