The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1879-01-01

/ usually BY the poorer sort of people
and where it happened that there wer,
girls in the family, il Was not though
best to employ her at ell. so thaI
sometimes she was driven home, q.
il were, for lack of work; but shs
kept herself almost . prisoner there
her face scarcely ever even seen .,
the window. Sometimes there would
steal out into the evening air sweet
quavering sound, more like the plain.
tive cry of . lone bird than song
and then the passer knew that Lucy
was ct home She was allowed to
wait upon the sick, but was virtuous.
" excluded from social intercourse
and from church, that refuge that
ought to be for ell, according to the
teachings of the one who lifted tie
wretched MAgdalene from the slough
of despond.
In eleven years she had never at.
tempted to enter the church but once,
and then the stir and whisper tha.
ran through the house be bexildercd
her as the blaze of the sunshine does
the eyes of tho creature used only
to the night. She stood still at frst,
then wavered and irembled like the
slender reed fefore the incoming tide,
and finally suffered herself to be
borne back and thrust from the door
Of the church like . thing of evil. on.
" caring to get from sight even
through death.
The disgraceful enactment took
place on the occasion of John Har.
ris' wedding with young girl of the
place. John Harris, ber old lover,
if courtesy may be so perverted, had
come into still more fortune, and had
married daughter of one of the
deacons of the church. q proud, con-
ceit.d girl of little pretensions to
beauty. Being considered q "wed-
ding in high life," in the village,
nearly every one was there, so the
old meeting.house was one glare and
bustle from side to side.
The prayer bad just been offered,
aad the stern minister had Just risen
to read the hymn, when over the
worn door sill, still as shadow,
came Lucy Nesbit. dressed in all her
poor best, her sad eyes dropped and
her two cheeks the color of dying
rose leaves The preacher stopped
reading; the lovely young bride
dashed her veil aside, then turned to
shut out the disgraceful sight; some
of the women half rose in their seats;
and no one stirred to open his pew
door except one. and that, DR.. Bow
les. He muttered, "By Heaven, it
is too bad in Christian meeting
house, too" But she did not see
him, for by this time confusion over
powered her, aud she was led out of
the house-I cannot call it church
and with bitter. singing words, left
alone.
What moved that poor girl to 60
to church that day? / do not pre-
tend to know l was too much of q
child at the time to understand, and
perhaps SONS things that might have
thrown light upon it have passed out
of my mind. Perhaps che wished
to see the wife John Harris had mar
ried perhaps she was curious to
know if the fatal spell that had
once bound her had broken; pos
sibly she had still the consciousness
of the honor and dignity of woman.
hood, and was willing to show the
assembled multitude that she dare
approach humbly and purely Him
who said once "Neither do / con-
denim tbee-tby sins are all forgiv-
en-" Whatever moved her to GO,
she did go. and was received and ex-
PEELED as stated
1t was about this time that my
dear, fearless mother brought upon
herself the severe reproof of Deacon
Burnell's wife-John Harris mother
iD-law-by engaging Lucy Nesbit to
do our winters spinning. Said she,
"What an example for your daughter
To countenance her is to encourage
vice, and if had my way l should
drive her out of town, her and her
troublesome old mother and her
heifer, (she looked at John the
other day } and Mercy and all together
they are 8 disgrace to the whole
community, that's what they are,
and you are going to hire her and
pay her full wages, l dare say ?"
81 shall certainly hire her and pay
her full wages" my mother said,
"out while you are about it, where is
your condemnation Of John Harris?
His sin was, in nv mind, far greater
than hers, for be was twice as old
she fourteen and be twenty-eight-
when this took place. Nobody l can
hear has q word of reprosch for
him."
Hmm, well, be is man, you
know, and she is shameless hussy
to dare to come into church, jus. as
if that would have broken the match.
John is good boy, only he forgot
himself for once and suffered himself
to be tempted like Solomon" She
probably meant Sampson.
well" said my mother. her hot,
quick blood rising, Il know one
thing, there are men, yes, and women
too, who deserve some punishment
which has never yet been conceived.
l don't believe in hell as a general
thing but l do believe there is
place where these evil-minded sedu-
GERS will get their deserts and per-
hsps their redemption and puri6cs-
tion at the same time. And l hope
that sbiny-mouthed hypocrite John
Harris may 90 there l'
Mrs. Burnell gathered up her skirts
it's and shook the dust from her feet
from our house pretty lively that af-
ternoon.
One morning before sunrise in the
month of December, Widow Nesbit
was seen coming across the meadow
with . wheel Stand on her shoulder,
the band. wheel-pin, and spindle in
her hand, and followed by Lucy,
carrying the wheel itself. They
soon had it set up 10 the garret, and
Lucy, separating . bunch of the
soft, white rolls from the rest, hung
them in the little east window, in
the sun, said good bye to her moth