The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-01-17

Nobody could have made me believe
that would do such thing. l am
as surprised aod panied as you can
possibly be, for had no idea that mad
such a streak of weakness within me!
St. Paul must have foreseen me, fol-
sure, when he warned men to take heed
lest they fall, while thinking that they
stand
"Poor Obed! l had never seen him
so mortified and Inundated, and all on
account of what he so fifty termed that
'peskv church.
Then asked him to tell me how il
happened and he described the method
employed by the bishop and his Off
Gals to raise the six thousand dollars.
The officials each went among the
congregation, soliciting subscriptions
from occupants, of each pew /;
then, as the amount subscribed
failed to reach the desired sum,
new appeal was made, and persons
who had refused to subscribe at the
first round were again besieged. There
was much joking by the various per-
sons brought there to talk money out
of the people, and one of them, in
speaking of certain pews, said the
'swaths had not been moved clean.
So the moving was done over and
over, and it was in the last moving,
when the last thousand dollars was
being raised, that Obed, after repeated
ly saying he could not subscribe, was
overcome by the combined persuasions
of two parsons to allow his name to be
put down for hundred dollars-sur-
prised, the moment he yielded, and re-
GREETING it as you have heard.
But we can't pay it, so what was
the use? l argued, in woman fashion.
$50, IshaU pay 1t, Nell' he cried,
desperately, if for no better reason
than as punishment for my weakness.
But you shan't suffer from it, he added,
stoutly.
"' Don't be too sure,' 1 said, quietly.
" He WINGED and replied:
"' True, Nell, l can never again feel
sure of anything
"As comforting rejoinder quoted
tAll things work together for good to
them who love the Lord and keep His
Gull lldHum6nUS.
eve concluded the talk by Obed's
asking me to promise never to allude to
the matter again until the subscription
was paid, which 1 did, and then free
ing himself of final anathema against
his own weakness and that pesky
we dropped the subject and
went to the dinner table, which we had
for the time being forgotten.
"Well, within the following two
years Obed paid that dreadful subscrip-
ton. l remember well the night when
he came home, and, catching me up in
his arms as if he had gone daft, ex-
planned his behavior by saying that the
9 uncomfortable horror was at last can
celed, the hundred-dollar subscription
was paid, and that if we only had a
6 fatted calf we would kill it in honor
of the occasion.
Although neither Obed nor during
these twoyears had mentioned the mat
ter, it was like a skeleton behind the
door. My keen eyes detected his new
economies; the retrenching screw had
received another turn, and it made nv
heart ache. Unknown to him |, too,
made my new economies, in behalf of
the same cause, until 1 felt mean aud
scrimped to the furthest degree. Lcan'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 it. The effort to
make it aristocratic failed, and its en-
tire history has been series of strug-
giles to pay the preacher and keep up
STYLE
1.-Two years ago Obed, almost en-
tirely at his own expense, for he had
come into possession of his patrimony
then, reftted 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 little speech, in
which he said that rather than have
single man or woman subscribe far
thing beyond what he or she was album
dainty able to give, he much preferred
to bear the entire expense himself; and
that all subscriptions to the fund must
be voluntary. 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
9 dreadful subscription he would wor-
ship in barn to the end of his days.
l often think if people who solicit sub
scriptions with a persistence that
amounts to insolence would but con-
slider the possible harm they commit
that they would ply their business with
more consideration, remembering that
overcoming a good mans sense of fright
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 a bright
laugh, "only that wish to suggest to
you that, if ever you have an sObed'
bound for church dedication, you had
better go with him, unless you happily
more abound in filthy lucre than we
did ten years ago; for Obed said after
ward that if l only had been with him
we should have been spared the history
of that dreadful subscription. -
Mary Wager Fisher, in Good Company.
Her New Shoes.