Sharp County record., 1880-04-15

awhile Dala but Deduulul, Slle looulhO"
her. Mace iI the household and took up
one bv one her old tasks. Like lily,
like a wild rose, like bit of mignonette,
she brichteIed and sweetened the place
whore She hwelt. Hers the mission
which no vbman need despise, to make
neonIe haNtv, to charm away their sui
len moods Ind to diffuse pleasantness
wherever ste appeared.
ONLY will her father she had lost her
old magic His smiles grew infrequent
and his n Ehper more capricious and I'M
certain than ever.
~ dom know what to think Of Dea-
con Game on" said the pastor, Mr..
Denbigh. Who for thirty years had Ia
bored in TIE Hillside Church. He was
talking cSnfdentially with his wife;
"He is ! becoming more cranky and
a magJ,attrs every day. | did hope thaV
ing at the of his child would have
tqvr5udht ,p change; but, if SO, it is a
change for the worse. | am informed
that he forbids young Murray to enter
his door; and when asked him to IN
crease his subscription to our Domestic
Board, he'treatcd me as though L were
begging for myself. Adversely hardens
a man ma when it does not refine him."
alt MAY be-" said the pastors gentle
wife, -sstlat God is striving with the
Deacon. There is good in him, | am
sure. think he is not at peace with
God, or with himself, just now. lie
know9en is in the wrong about Agnes,
and he is, therefore, not comfortable
Perhaps, dear, we have not prayed Tor
him as we ought"
The plain fact was that the Deacon
was exceedingly uncomfortable in his
mind 4 He had offered genuine pray
er and pledged an honest VOW, fully
meaning to keep his word, while
in his 1heart had been a vague
idea of Precipitation, as he knelt bes
meath the oak. When Agnes had first
begun to grow stronger, his resolution
had been firm to fulfill his word; but as
she had crept onward to health, it had
loosened its hold upon him. Could a
miracle have been performed, and the
maiden have arisen from her couch, at
one triumphant bound, from death to
life, he would have been awed and over
whelmed and in haste to make good his
word to the Almighty. The compara-
tive slowness of her restoration had
ciyen time to his nature to assert Itself,
oo,ds,La was really more ill-tempered.
crd tirained and churlish than ne had
bed Mbefore. Even to Agnes he was
sodlNihes harsh; the more so that,
undI her soft exterior and winsome
ways, the slender girl had an underIly-
ING subsoil of granite, not unlike his
own character and far tougher and
frmer than the fabric of which her gen.
tie mother was made.
Agnes loved her father, but she loved
her friend too. Ii Edgar were prohlb-
tied from visiting her at her own hearth,
she was not ashamed to meet him openly
,sle constitua V ito walk with him to the
chs tYrexsapsaI5; and to- 60 'fidfng with
his sister, while he held the reins and
his swift horses, the admiration OF the
county, trotted smoothly up hill and
down vale and over the hard, beautiful,
tioor-like roads which swept around
mountain sides, skirted limpid streams,
and intersected the thriving villages
which dotted that portion of the State.
Had any other member OF his family
thus dared his displeasure, the Deacon
would have met them with prohibition
and threatening; but it was too late to
becin this course with Agnes, whom he
did not wish to drive into entire es-
arrangement. So the year wore on,
darkling and sorrOwful in the Cameron
household, though outwardly all things
prospered and whatever the Deacon
touched turned to gold.
His main trouble was with his Bible
Turn where he would, the verses famil-
lar from his childhood Knocked him
The word VOW seemed to stare at him
from every page. 1t was David who
said Shall offer to the Lord sacri'
fees of that which cost me nothing?'
And David had always been his favorite
character. But they all paid theil
vows.
Even Jephthah, whose rash and
sweeping pledge to the Deity had in
volved the offering of his only daughter
in dark and mysterious doom, had moi
shrunk from the terrible exaction
Saul, in moment of haste, hac
condemned possible offender to
death; and 10! it proved to be Jonathan
who must meet the bolt of fate, and only
the majestic protest of the united nation
had availed to save him. The Bible wa:
an an. armory which bristled with weapons
turned constantly against the Deacon''
conscience. And while he sat at tht
head of his table, silent, constrained
and gloomy, imposing an unwholesom'
and irritating repression on wife an(
children, a fiery battle was raging with
in him. He grew to dread Agnes
sweet, composed face, where the patience
which could wait indefinitely, and hole