The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1881-01-20
TIE DEACON,s VOW.

The sword of a terrible suspense was
quiyering over the household of Deacon
Cameron and his wife, In thesmau white
curtained chamber over the sitting-room
their only daughter, Agnes, lay between
life and death. The doctor gave them lit
tie reason to hope that the feeble spark
which was Pickering, and nearly ready to
expire, could be again rel1indled. For days
and weeks all that love and skill and ten
der nursing could do had been done, to
win back health to the feveT-stTicken girl /;
but so far it seemed 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 everything ex-
cept 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 cloud
ed by the mystery which always hOvers
about the bedsides of the departing, even
when the prospect is bright with trust in
Him who says: II am He that iveth and
was dead, and behold! am alive forever
more"
Agnes was the DeacOn's darling. Stern
and grim to others, he had invariably been
gentle and indulgent to her. In her baby
hood 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 a child, her seat at the table
had been next to his, and her place in the
pew by his side, As she grew into fair
wOmanhOod, she had become his companion
and friend and almost his second self. Now
that his eyes were beginning to fail and his
ears to grow deaf-infrmities Of advanC-
ing age which he resented, yet was COM
PEELED to acknowledged 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
q silver coin for finish. The Deacon loved
his daughter as he loved no 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 best? He supposed so (;
and still there was a doubt Of it in the
minds of his friend. Deacon Cameron had
another idol, and that was money. He hug
ged it closely and wOrshipped it slavishly
It cost hLL bitter pain to part with it, IN.
less it were in some way which he knew
would return it In kind and increased.
Honest, Just, defrauding none, he was
scrimping and niggardly in expenditure 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, deprived Of opportunities
and privileges for which they longed, and
lorced to live narrow, contracted lives un-
der the old roof, where ragged many a
storm of passion that only God and mother
knew any thing about.
It was q winters morning, but soft and
mild as spring, with blue skies, undimmed
by cloud, and gentle south winds stirring
the leahess branches. The physician had
told the father that there was little prOba-
bilty that Agnes could recover, and that
the issue would 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 and
the vineyard, and over the wide meadows,
that were his pride. The mans soul was
desOlate. He felt as though hurricane
had gone over him, sweeping him bare Of
what the good years had given. The cry
Of his heart was: Lord, take the rest
Take all, but leave me Agnes~ For the
first time in his experience his wealth was
a matter of utter indifference to him, He
walked on, looking strangely older than
ever before, and the bowed head, shrunken
stature, and tOttering feet were curiOusly
unlike the self-assertiye, arrogant man,
whose very gait was usually the uncOn-
sciOus expression Ofa will that would have
its way, encounter what opposition itmight.
There was q great spreading oak which
stood on the edge of his land, shadOwing
equally his farm and that Of his nearest
Harmon Murray. The MurTays
were the opposites of the Camerons. Gay,
Hght-hearted, spending money layishly