Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1882-06-16
there was silence. Then Deacon simmon.

there was silence. Then Deacon Simmons
arose. and said, like second Adam
Il hope you won't take no offence. nor
think nothin' more about this, Mr.. Stock
bridge. It's somethin' that the women
folks have got up amongst themselves, and
guess it don't amount to but dretful lit
/ tle.''
ITO relieve any further curiosity about
the matter" said the minister, looking
! straight at the committee ''perhaps had
better explaln-although it is an explana-
! tion which a man doesn't often make in
publlc-that the position which I offered
Miss Semple, and which she declined, was
that Of your minister's wife,
Mis- Ichabod always averred that if it
hadn t been for bit of cinnamon which
she had on her tongue, she would have
tainted then.
The church-meeting broke up suddenly,
the sentiment which Mis- Hosea Blodgett
expressed being apparently the sentiment
of all-that she should have died in Eve
minutes if she couldn't have got out where
she could talk it over.
''Don t talk to me about that grill" ex-
claimed Miss Nancy Perkins, with deep
feeling. There never was man that it
took SO much faculty to get as the minis
ter.''
"And she wouldn't have him? Depend
upon it. there's more in that than meets
the eye. She's Deep" said Mis- lchabod.
''What do you think Mis- Moses Gregg
whispered to me in meetin'? said Mis-
Hosea Bledgett. ''She says Pamely sells
! the pictures she paints for money-sends
'em off to the city. And besides support
ihg her and Ketury. she's a-goin' to pay
off the mortgage on the farm"
II hahn It never been sorry that I was
brought up to work. said Mis- Ichabod.
VANITY and folly may prosper for sea-
son. but we all know where the downward
path ends. If Pamely Semple hadn't been
sent away to that academy, she might
have been as likely and we'll behaved as
any girl IN Brlmblecom-if she hadn't any
faculty."
And with these remarks Mis- Ichabod
withdrew herself from the council.
On the even tenor of her way went Pa
mela, working early and late with her
brush, and before long report found its
way to Brimblecom that she was consid-
cred remarkable artist, and some things
were evident to Brimblecom senses; the
mortgage was being paid off, the crops
were in prosperous condition, and old Ke-
turah was renewing her youth.
Brlmblecom began to be proud of Pane
la. It almost forgot that it had ever been
afraid she would become a pauper. No
body seemed to remember that she had
been thought to have no faculty-nobody
but The committee.
One or two persons were actually heard
to say that il was pity she wouldn t mar
ry Mr.. Stockbridge, but perhaps she had a
right to look higher than the rest of Brim-
bleeom girls. Mis- Ichabod always shook
her head with mysterious meaning when
Pamela was mentioned, and said grimly,
"Them that lives longest will see most
One day triumph came to Mis- Ichabod.
"The committee were in the post-office
Mis- Ichabod and Mis- Hosea Blodgett
were often so kind as to assist Miss Nancy
Perkins in asserting the mail-when in
came Mrs. Deacon Simmons, who was fat
and scant of breath, ard in such state of
excitement that the committee had, all
and severally. to fan her vigorously be-
fore her news could be extracted.
''Don't you think, as true as 1 IN a living
woman and not corpse, as might expect
to he, hearin' such upsettin' things and
hurryin' So"
"Ge on, 60 on! dom It lose your BREATH"
cried the committee, in chorus, tanning
vigorously. "We'I never breathe it to
soul''
"Oh, it's all over Brimblecom. That good
for-nothing cretur Ben Seaverns has come
back, without hardly so much as coat to
his back, and the rheumatic fever Been
cast away on desert island, and eat up
by cannables 'most-which nobody can't
say wasn't exactly like him-and nothing
but skin and bones, and the doctor says
most likely won't never be good for any
thing again, not to mention that he never
was. And Pamely's took him in, and she
and Ketury is a-nussin him up. And that
amt the worst of it: the minister went up
and married 'em! She's took that good
for nothin cretur to take care of for life
her that might a-had the minister I"
"They never got me to believe that she
had any faculty." said Mis- Ichabod.