Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-03-26
THE DRACON,s VOW.

the feeble spark which was flickering, |
and nearly ready 70 expire, could be |
again rekindled. For days and weeks |
all that love and skill and tender nurs-
ing could do had been done, TO win |
back health to the fever~stricken girl; |
but so far itseemed in vain. Her mother |
and brothers were tireless In their watch |
ing and devotion, and an arrest, in the |
last few days, had been laid on every
thing except the most necessary work,
while they waited, in that solemn hush
which Is less of hope than of despair,
for what the next hour might bring TO
pass. House, fields, business, life were
all overhung and ciouded by the mys-
terry which always hovers about the
bedsides of the departing, even when
the prospect is bright with trust in Him
who says: II am He who liveth and
was dead, and behold l am alive for
evermore."
Agnes was the Deacon's darling.
Stern and grim to others, he had in
variably been gentle and indulgent to
her. In her babyhood It had been his
| delight to have her nestle against her
fathers broad breast and play with his
/ long beard or fall asleep in his arms.
] AS q tullug utI Stdb az llb lhDlb Ahu
| been next to his and her place in the
pew by his side. As she grew into fair
womanhood she had become his com
panion and friend and almost his second
self. Now that his eyes were beginning
to fail and his ears to grow deaf-in-
firmities of advancing age which he re-
sented, yet was compelled to acknowl-
edge-it was Agnes who read to him,
and talked to him, in her clear voice,
never loud, but distinct and pure in its
utterance. so that every syllable was
like silver coin for finish. The Dea-
con loved his daughter as he loved no
1 one else in the world. Even her mother
knew that her own was the second place
in her husbands heart. Yet she was
contented for hers was a sweet and
easily-resigned nature, and she, too,
idOlized her Agnes.
Did he love her bestP He supposed
so; and still there was a doubt Of it in
the, minds of his friends. Deacon
Cameron had another idol, and that
his money. He hugged it closely and
worshiped it slavishly. 1t cost him
bitter pain to part with it, unless it
were in some way which he knew would
return it in kind and increased. Hon
est, Just, defrauding none, he was
scrimping and niggardly in expendi-
ture for his family; nor could he bring
himself to part with an acre of ground,
nor the price of portion of his crops
to aid the poor, to assist the church, or
to further mission work. His children
had been stinted in their education, de-
prived of opportunities and privileges
for which they longed, and forced to
live narrow, contracted lives under the
! old roof, where ragged many storm OF
passion that only God and mother
knew anything about. G..
/ 1t was winter morning, but soft and
mild as spring, with blue skies, un-
l dimmed by a cloud, and gentle south
winds stirring the leafless branches.
The physician had told the father that
there was little probability that Agnes
could recover, and that the issue would
e ere long be decided With pale face
and haggard eyes, he left the house
and wandered on past his ample barns
= through the great apple orchard ant
the yineyard, and over the wide mead
ows, that were his pride. The man'i
r soul was desolate. He felt as though
a hurricane had gone over him, sweep
+ inc him bare of what the good years
had given. The cry of his heart was
4 "LoTd, take the restl Take all, bu
leave me my Agnesr' For the frs
time in his experience his wealth was |
matter of utter indifference to him
He walked on, looking strangely oldel
d than ever before, and the bowed head
shrunken stature and tottering feet wert
- curiously unlike the self-assertive, AFRO
). giant man, whose very gait was usual,
y the unconscious expression of a will tina
lie would have its way, encounter wha
opposition it might. ....... .....r
There was great spreading oa
which stood on the edge of his land
shadowing equally his farm and that {
his nearest neighbor, Harmon Murray
5, The Murrays we're the opposites Of th
q Camerons. Gay, light-hearted, spend
y ing money lavishly, sending the boy
as off to college and the girls to cit
e. schools, buying books, music and pic
ures, filling the house with guests 9
. midsummer and in the holidays, DeaeO
Y. ~ Cameron could not help having priYai
e, doubts as to the Christianity of tn
?. Murrays. Though Harmon Murray wi
a liberal subscriber to every good caus
an and regular attendant on the service
of the church, he was, in the Deacon
preiudiced eyes, heather man and
in publican. It had been an aggravatiC
of his grief that the gloom in his hon
in. was shared in his neighbours. Especial
Ily had he chafed and struggled again
the knowledge that one member OF Il
th family so antagonistic to his own care
Is for Agnes with love deeper than tn
of kindred. The Deacon, though
strong man, was selfish. He won
have looked with aversion on any ms
. who might have desired to win Il
AZ affection of his child; for he meant
Tas keep her as his own particular treasuT
if he could. But that Edgar MurrI
should aspire to her hand, and this
even timidly and afar of, Agnes shou
mp venture to regard him as her tutu
feP lord, had awakened in him a resistan
as violent as it was stubborn. Till nc
e he had been fiercely angry when thr
or four times day the young man h
presented himself to inquire for Agn
nv or to bring her fruit and flowers.
had been Indignant at his wife, becau
Inn she had accepted Mrs. Murray help
caring for the sick one; nor could
; forgive her for ignoring his displeasu
ing and sending to the Murrays for aid
oor this emergency.
But now he was in extremity.
staggered to a seat beneath the OF
the very seat where Edgar and Agr
6,a had been accustomed to rest after Tn
occasional saunterings together by
creek or along the embOwered Ian
- l. = -o-,,o,, kooa rraut doxyn nvnOn