The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1880-01-15

prised, the moment he yielded, and re
GREETING it as you have heard.
"sBut we can't pay it, SO what wa,
| the user argued, in woman fashion
$50, 1skdu pay Il, Nell he cried
desperately, If for no better reasor
than as punishment for my weakness
But you shan't suffer from it. he added
stoufly.TD ctn ife Z 411
"'Don't be too surs.' I said, quietly
q" He WINGED and replied:
"tTrue, Nell, can never again fee
sure Of anything p. h.
"As comforting rejoinder I quoted
All things work together for good to
them who love the Lord and keep His
commandments -t.-... ....-
"We concluded the talk by Obed's
asking me to promise never to allude to
the matter again until the subscription
was paid, which I did, and then tree
ing himself of final anathema against
his own weakness and that pesky
church, we dropped the subject and
went to the dinner table, which we had
for the time being forgotten.
ss'Well, within the following two
years Obed paid that dreadful subscrip-
ton. remember well the night when
he came home, and, catching me up in
his arms as II he had gone daft, ex-
planned his behavior by saying that the
'unmentionsble horror was at last cam
celed, the hundred-dollar subscription
was paid, and that il we only had .
'fatted calf we would kill it in honor
Of the occasion. 49,.
e" Although neither Obed nor during
these twoyears had mentioned the mat
ter, it was. like q skeleton behind the
door. My keen eyes detected his new
economies; the retrenching screw had
received another turn, and 1t made my
heart ache. Unknown to him I, toof
made my new economies. in behalf o,
the same cause, until I felt mean aud
scrimped TO the furthest degree. can't
tell you how much we endured because
of that hundred dollars, which went to-
ward paying for carpets and cushions
and other luxuries that the worshipers
in the old church had always done with
out. .--'.
"Of coure that 'pesky church still
stands, but from that day to this we
have never entered il. The effort to
make it aristocratic failed, and its en-
tire history has been q series of strug-
giles to pay the preacher and keep up
style.' 90. -
1.-Two years ago ,Obed, almost en-
tirely at his own expense, for he had
come into possession of his patrimony
then, refitted the old church, which,
after all, has come to be fashionable as
well as useful. When the suggestion
was made to have the old church re-
paired Obed made y little speech, in
which he said that rather than have q
single man or woman subscribe far
thing beyond what he or she was abun-
dainty able to give, he mLch preferred
to bear the entire expense himself; and
that all subscriptions to the fund must
be Uolustayy. He afterwards said to me
that rather than have any person sub
jected to the pain and humiliation that
we had undergone because of that
dreadful subscription he would wor-
ship in barn to the end of his days.
often think If people who solicit sub
scriptions with q persistence that
to insolence would but con-
slider the possible harm they commit
that they would ply their business with
more consideration, remembering that
overcoming good mans sense ofright
and duty is leading him into the temp
tation from which he daily prays to be
delivered. And now Pm through"
concluded my friend. with bright
augh, g only that 1 wish to suggest to
you that, if ever you have an sObed'
pound for . church dedication, you had
better 60 with him, unless you happily
more abound In filthy lucre than we
lid ten yesrs ago; for Obed said after
ward that if I only had been with him
We should have been spared the history
# that dreadful subscription ~
Nary Wager Fisher, in Good Company.