Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1882-03-18
A HASTY PROPOSAL.

81 wonder he didn't take the parson, y
unused the deacon's housekeeper, as the
deacon drove off alone to the Annual
Conference. "He's commonly master
thoughtful about lookin' ont for folks.
What husband he vast
Yes, Asa Phoenix had been good
husband. All the neighbors agreed
with Mrs. Dubbs in that particular
He had waited upon his fussy invalid
wife, dying by inches for thirty years,
making her as happy as she would let
him and when her summons came, he
had closed her dying eyes tenderly, say
ing, even with tears:
"Poor sufferer, she is better off -
That he was better off he never limited
by word or look. He wore his widower's
weeds with sad decorum he reared in
memory of the departed Lucinda a
monument which the most fastidious
deceased might have envled'; he grieved
faithfully for the full allotted years of
mourning. If now, from the ashes of
his funeral pyre, like his feathered name
sake of fable, he was springirg up with
renewed youth and freshness, WAS it not
well?
III IL ulby lIuu AOI SStu III
to confide this fact to Mrs. Dobbs,
Deacon Phoenix had sighted the min
lister deliberately and with malice afore-
thought.
Nor was it of the Conference he was
thinking that fragrant June morning,
as he whirled away, tucking the lap
robe well about his glossy new broad
cloth. For once in his hitherto blame
less life he was essaying to hide the
secular underneath the spiritual. He
did not mean to 60 straight to meeting;
it was his willy intention to make wide
circuit and call on Miss Olive Wayne,
in the town of Chester. he had ques-
ton to ask her, and did not want the
parson with him he hoped he might
want him later.
Pretty, cheerful Olive! How fond he
had been of her, years ago, when she
! attended school. If he had not then
been in love with Lucinda, he was sure
he should have fallen in love with her,
mere child though she was. He had
never lost sight of her, and he thanked
Providence that he had been enabled by
money and influence to help her family
over some hard places. Please God,
the dear girl should henceforth have an
easy life. Girl! Why, little Olive must
be fifty.
The good deacon laughed at the
amusing recollections. Well, she would
always seem young to him. And as for
himself, at sixty odd, he was hale man
yet; he could jump five-rail fence as
well as he ever could-give him time.
His thoughts continually reverted to
Olive, SO patiently devoted to her invalid
father. She should bring the old gen.
tleman to his house il she wished, or ne
would provide for his maintenance at
her brother Reuben's. He was inclined
to consider that the better plan. The
money would be an object to Reuben.
In these cogitations the morning
passed, and noon found Deacon Phoenix
at the little hotel in Chester. Impatient
of delay, after hasty dinner he set out
almost Immediately for the Wayne home
stead.
Arrived at the gate, he spied Miss
Olive at the window, and alighted with
youthful agility not altogether prudent
in man who lad twinges of sciatica.
And yet-strange inconsistency of hui
man naturei-he dallied at the hitching-
post, and aftcrward, with his hand on
the very knocker, he paused to sean the
distant horizon as though he came
mainly for a view of the mountains.
Miss Olive opened the door, her cheeks
flushed like late October peaches. She
would not have been a woman had she
not OWNED the deacon's tender mission.
proclaimed by every detail OF his i'm
maculate toilet, by the grasp of his
hand, by his nervous, expectant air.
And, moreover, Miss Olive was an at
tractive woman, not IMMERSED in lovers
ways.
"Happy to see you, Mr.. Phoenix.
Walk in, said she furriedly, ushering
him into the sitting-room, where her
aged father dozed in his arm chair.
"Who is it, Olive ?" said the old gen
tleman, waking with bewildered
stare.
"Mr. Phoenix, father. You remem-
Der Mr.. Phoenix, I'm sure"
al don't know as l do" said he,
querulously, fumbling with the guests
outstretche'd hand. What's he come
for, Olive?'
The deacon looked as if he were sud-
denly feeling the hot weather; Miss
Olive was positively feverish, but she
deity avoided the troublesome quest