Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1882-12-27
THE DEACON'S NEW YEARS GIFT.
BY MARY LOWE DICKINSON.

The deacon stood in his shirt sleeves
b efOre the tiny square mirror in the
front of the kitchen clock He stopped
and WrIthed and made astonishing faces
at himself IN the hopeless struggle to fit
the buttOnhOle In his collar to the button
at the back of his shirt. He did not
swear, but the gray cat, blinking her
eyes drowsily from her sleeping place
ind er the stove, suddenly sneaked past
INN into the sitting-room and took
refuge III the skirt of Mrs. Deacon's
calico gown. There were thunders and
hgh Things portentous IN the atmosphere,
and the good woman looked up from the
stocking she was darning barely in time
to escape the storm.
''Why, father What's the trouble?
Here. let me button if Sit right down
here, and let me fix you off !" and the
pale, worried-looking woman laid her
hand coa1ngly upon his arm.
''Well, button it, then, if you're 60
ing to [ should like to know if I'm
never to have button right as long as
live. Two women folks, and nobody
to take stitch III my clothes Where's
Mary? She's always out of sight when
she's wanted"
There was no fault with the button or
the hole, but only with the stiff, clumsy
fingers unused to any service SO small.
But his wife did not tell him that the
secret Of his inability to manage his col
lar lay IL the very fact that ali his life
''tw0 women-folks had done it for him.
She only fastened the neck-tie, brushed
his hair, and helped him on with his
overcoat, saying gently, ST presume
Mary's getting ready to go with you.
You know yon always liked to have her
go to meeting with you on the last night
of the year.
"Ihen if she's going, tell her to come
along! I can't wait for her to put on all
her furbelows I want to stop at Squire
Nelson's about that mortgage. OF
course he means to foreclose."
"Oh, no! / don't believe it, Gideon,
He isn't any such man" and the poor
woman's face grew shade more weary
and white; "but you go right along, and
Mary viii go when size is ready. It's a
beautiful night, and I'll walk down with
her myself. You'll be there to come
home with her?"
"Of course [ shall. I'll be there il
for nothing else than to keep George
NC1SOu IOm COLu1uSs ne uO0UA tu1uh
I'm going to let the girl and the farm
both go into his fathers family"
"Now, Gideon, don't talk SO! You've
been behind on the interest before this,
and Squire Nelson was willing to wait.
I don't believe he will touch the farm. y
And the deacon didn't believe it
either; but he didn't get much comfort
from that, since it did not alter the fact
Of his not having themoney due, or save
him from the rasping duty of saying so
TO the bland old squire. And Deacon
Frost was the last man In the world to
let bis wife be comforted, if he was I'M
comfortable himself He always told
her the darkest side, and with an air
that made the meek soul feel in some
mysterious way responsible for all bis
woes. He looked and acted as if they
were her fault; and she had grown SO
used to it that she often acted herself as
if it must be So So when he added
sulkily that if his son had Fbehaved
himself and stayed at home and helped
him, the mortgage would have been paid