Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-03-26

darling, the one precious thlng OF my /
lifei Let her not die. / beseech Theel |
Lordi listen. Thou hast ten thousand |
times ten thousand in Thy Heaven.
Why dost Thou want my little eve |
lamb7 Oh let her livel Let her live, |
and / will give Thee whatsoever Thou |
shalt require. My money, II Thou ask |
est IL, TO the uttermOst farthing. My /
will-if it be counter TO Thine, win |
surrender IL wholly. Yea, Lord, let |
Agnes live, though she sit at the fire. |
side Of another and break bread in the !
house that / hate. Take not the sun.
shine out Of the world, Lord, though IL
shine not on me. Hear my prayer, for
Thy dear Sons sake"
"Amenw said low voice, and, look
ing up, the Deacon saw that his prayer
had bad another than a divine listener.
Edgar Murray, walking hOmeward on
the other side Of the boundary-line, had
heard the flow of the Deacon's petit
tion; and as he stood there, bare
headed, the Amen had welled up from
his heart almost before he was aware
of it.
"Can man 60 nowhere to be
aloneP" exclaimed the Deacon. "Must
he be followed and spied upon under
his own trees and on his own groundpn
The instructive animOsity was dom
inant in a moment, though the prayer
had scarcely died upon his lips.
81 beg your pardon, sir, " said Edgar,
humbly. 81 did not mean to intrude;
but have Just come from the house,
and Hugh tells me there is a shade, at
least, of hope. Agnes has fallen asleep.
L.. 81.
The shade of hope was not an halluci-
nation. Very slowly, very tremulously,
almost imperceptibly, the young girl
passed into the several stages of conva-
lescence So gradual was her improve
ment that it was measured by weeks.
From day to day no change was appar-
| ent, but from week to week q slight
progress was visible, and, after awhile,
pale but beautiful, she resumed her
place in the household and took up one
| by one her old tasks. Like a lily, like
a wild rose, like bit of mignonette, she
frightened and sweetened the place
where she dwelt. Hers the mission
which no woman need despise, to make
people happy, to charm away their sui
len moods, and to diffuse .pleasantness
wherever she appeared.
Only with her father she had lost her
old magic. His smiles grew infrequent
and his temper more capricious and un-
certain than ever.
81 don't know what to think of Dea-
con Cameron" said the pastor, Mr..
Denbigh, who for thirty years had la
bored in the Hillside Church. He was
talking confidentially with his wife.
"He is becoming more cranky and
crotchety every day. l did hope that
the illness of his child would have
wrought change; but, if so, it is a
change for the worse. 1 am informed
that he forbids young Murray to enter
his door; and when this morning
asked him to increase his subscription
to our Domestic Board, he treated me
as though were begging for myself
Adversely hardens man when it doe'
not refine him."
at may be-" said the pastors gentle
wife, "that God is striving with the
Deacon. There is coed in him, an
sure. 1 think he is not at peace will
God, or with himself, just now. HI
, knows he is in the wrong about Agnes
and he is therefore not comfortable
Perhaps, dear, we have not prayed fol
him as we ought. -..-.--.----..-
The plain fact was that the Deacon
; was exceedingly uncomfortable in hi
! mind He had offered a agenuine praye
: land pledged an honest vow, fully mean
ing to keep his word, while in his hear
/: Phad been vague idea of Precipitation
1 as he knelt beneath the oak. Whel
{ Agnes had first begun to grow stronger
, his resolution had been firm to fulfil
his word; but as she had crept onwar,
r to health it had loosened its hold upoi
him. Could miracle have been per
3 formed, and the maiden have arise
: from her couch at one triumphan
Y bound from death to life, he woul
Z have been awed and overwhelmed an
{ in haste to make good his word to tn
Almighty. The comparative slownes
+ of her restoration had given time to hi
nature to assert itself, and he was rea
Il ly more ill-tempered, cross-grained an
! churlish than he had been before. Eve
"a to Agnes he was sometimes harsh; I'll
\ more so that, under her soft exteriC
,s and winsome ways, the slender girl ha
" an underlying subsoil of granite, M
= unlike his own character, and fl
n tougher and firmer than the fabric
N which her gentle mother was made.
te Agnes loved her father, but she love
,e her friend, too. If Edgar were pr
IS hibited from visiting her at her OW
,e hearth, she was not ashamed to me
IS him openly under the sky; to walk wit
's him to the choir reheArsals; and to {
a riding with his sister, while he held Il
IN reins and his swift horses, the admir-
40 ton of the county, trOtted smoothly I
ly hill and down dale and over the har
at beautiful, floor-like roads which swe
le around mOuntain-sides, skirted limp
al streams, and intersected the thriviI
at villages which dotted that portion
a the State. Had any other member
Id his family thus dared his displeasuT
IN the Deacon would have met them wi
he prohibition and threatening; but it W
to too late to begin this course with Agne
e, who he did not wish to drive into e
ay tire estrangement. So the year wo
Il. on, darkling and sorTowful in 4
Id Cameron household, though outward
re all things prospered and whatever t
ce Deacon touched turned to gold.
wv His main trouble was with his Bib
zee Turn where he would, the verses
ad miliar from his childhood Knocked hi
les The word vow seemed to stare at b
He from every page. II was David W
Ise said. "Shall l offer to the LO
in sacrifices of that which cost me moi
he ingP' And David had always been
ire fayorite character. But they all pi
in their VOWS.
Even Jephthah, whose rash a
He sweeping pledge to the Deity had
~ ,rolvad the offaTino, OF his onIv dauUh