Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1882-06-16
sTAUNToN, vIRGINlA FRIDAY. JUNE Is, 1882.

UclSIo Gu0y succeeded. Ii Ne QaQ Dee0
anybody but minister! they could not
have avoided the painful suspicion that he
slipped out the back door when he saw
them coming. And when at last they did
fnd him at home, his report was not alto
gether satisfactory.
Miss Semple did not care to accept the
position Of housekeeper to Mr.. Hiram
Hutchinson, he said, as if Pamela were
the greatest lady in the land, and could
pick and choose positions! But then hs
was minister, and ministers couldn't be
expected to talk just like common people.
"What is she goin' to do, then?" de-
manded Mis- Ichabod, severely. II don't
know of any other chance for herr
CT offered her position, but she de-
clined that also," said the minister.
The committee looked thunderstruck.
II do hops it WANT to keep school,
said Mis- Hosea Blodgett, recovering her
self suddenly, "for she hain't mite oil
faculty, everybody knows. Why, I asked
her once if she understood mathematics,
and she said she could do addition if you
gave her time. My Angela understands
mathematics, aud besides beautiful learn,
in, she's got real faculty for keepin
school
sit was not a position as school teach.
er," said the minister
s'She could kind of get along with
Homework, though she hain't any facul.
ty. I hope the folks amt very partiker-
ler," said Mis- Ichabod.
''As she declined the position, it does
not seem to matter whether they are or
not" said tho minister.
If Mis- Ichabod had not stood very
much in awe of the minister, ne would
have then and there received "a piece d
her mind" as she afterwards declared;
s'for if there was anything that provoked
her beyond endurance, it was a close
mouthed person." But as he was the min
lister, there was nothing to do but to take
leave of him with GOODNESS and dignity
whichDhould give some token of their
displeasure.
AS if he couldn't tell them just as well
as not who wanted to hire Pamely to do
house-work! But there was one comfort
the committee knew there was nothing
going on in Brimblecom that they couldn't
find out.
And just after she had expressed that
opinion Mis- Ichabod was so overcome by
some sudden thought that she fairly gasp
ed, and leaned for support against the
town pump, which providentially stood in
her way.
II heard that Joanna Leach wanted to
go home because her sister twins had the
measles. The minister wanted Pamely to
keep house for him!" she gasped.
swell, Mis- Ichabod. if you hsin't get
an understanding worth havlnI And
though I never breathed it to mortal be-
fore. I've had my suspicious that the min
lister wa MT all he'd ought to be,'' exclain-
ed Mis- Blodgett.
81 never knew man to have one white
eyebrow for nothing" said Miss Nancy
Perkins, darby.
Before night the report had spread all
over Brimblecom that the minister had
asked Pamela Sempls to keep house for
him. Mr.. Stockbridge was certainly the
last person to be suspected Of an impropri-
city, but appearances were deceitful. He
surely must know that he ought to have
housekeeper who was at least fifty, and it
was eminently proper that she should be
toothless, cross-eyed, and disfgured by
the small pox, as Joanna Leach was. II
Pamela were an especially capable person,
the case would be somewhat different; but
to be willing to bear with housekeeper
who had no faculty, he must have per-
sonal regard for her.
The oldest inhabitant could not remem-
Der such An excitement in Brimblecom.
The Rev. Mr.. Caldwell IS heresy had been
tame, and the report that DR.. Saunders
had another wife living, only mildly ex-
in comparison.
But several weeks went by before any
sound OF it reached the minister's ears
Happily for him, Brimblecom had whole
some fear of the minister. But at length,
owing mainly to the efforts of Mis- Icha-
bod. Mis- Hosea Blodgett, and Miss Nan
cy Perkins, it was decided that at the
next church meeting one of the deacons
should question the minister concerning
the matter. Such a crying scandal must
no longer remain uninvestigated.
1t was great day for Brimblecom.
There had not been such an attendance at
4 church meeting since the Rev. Mr.. Cald-
wells trial for heresy. Mrs. Deacon Sim
mons said it seemed so much like county
conference that she got up at 4 O'Clock,
and went to baking great batch of
pumpkin pies before she remembered what
lay it was.
If the Rev. Mr.. Stockbridge knew what
it all meant, he gave no sign, and when
Deacon Simmons, with awful solemnity,
and with long preamble concerning the
1uty of minister to set an example to
his flock in Righteousness, asked him if he
thought it sesmly and becoming to ask the
laughter Of their late Deacon, Ephraim
Semple to become his housekeeper, the
minister quietly replied that he had never
lone so.
The committee looked at each other,
Ind everybody else looked at them. NJ ISIS
Nancy Perkins felt. as she afterward ex-
pressed it, as if she ''would like to go
through to Chiny;" but Mis- Ichabod bore
up nobly, and Mis' Hosea Blodgett relied
upon Mis- Ichabod.
Didn't you tell a committee consistin'
If Mis- lchabod Badger, Mis- Hosea
and Miss Nancy Perkins that
you had done sop pursued Deacon Sim
mons.
81 did not," said the minister, with an
air of bland and innocent surprise.
This was too much for Mis- Ichabod.-I
She arose, and shaking her fore6nger i'm
,ressively at the minister. demanded: