The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1882-04-13


his forehead with the tips of his fin
ing recollection.
"That must be the very thing 1 was
trying to rememberl Wait moment.
l must have set it down somewhere"
And Parson Greeley drew from one of
the pigeon holes of his desk some loose
sheets of foolscap paper which had evil
IDENTIFY been used as a diary. Several
pages were devoted to memoranda;
these the minister read aloud:
Mem.-To confute the infdel ped
dler's argument by st. Paul, and
Mem.-To tell Deborah, mildly
but firmly, that so much saleratus is
not conducive to health.
Mem.-To punish Joseph and
Samuel for unseemly conduct at prayer
time.
"Mem.-To admonish Brother Bates
gently that he is becoming unsound
in doctrine.
Mem.-To endeavor SO far as lies
in me to restore peace to the singing
seats.
Mem.-To endeavor to exercise
such measure of wholesome restraint
over Moses and Samuel that they may
not become cause of scandal to the
neighborhood.
Mem.-To devote greater meas
ure of attention to worldly matters,
such as applying blacking TO my boots,
and brushing my raiment-
Mem.-To consider prayerfully
whether the use of hair-dye is incom-
patible with the principl es of the Christ
ian lision or the duties Of the Christ
ian ministry.
"'Mem. m.-That the singing reats are
in the hands of God, and that He causes
even the wrath of man to praise Him.
" Mem.-To consider prayerfully
the subject Of contracting q matrimo-
NAL alliance with Miss Cordelia Brew.
ster.'
"That's it I knew was not mis-
taken and felt that I had leadings
from the Lord in that direction; and
yet, in the midet of manifold cares and
distractions, it wholly slipped my mind,
weak and erring mortal that I am.
But it may not yet be too late" And
the minister seized his hat, giving it O
hasty brush with his sleeve, and hur.
ried to the door, turning, however, to
lay his hand with unwonted tenderness
upon his sons head, saying, solemniy:
samuel, l thank you for this sugges-
tion, and l would that could perceive
in you as lively signs of the workings
of grace as do Of wisdom and discern
ment beyond your years"
Samuel, left alone, looked after bis
fof how with a M e. faoo
6" For feller to go and do it himself,
that's the worst of it! I hadn't better
let on to Nose and the rest that I did
It'll No moro fun if she comes here;
she'll want a fcller not TO tear his
clothes and have his hair brushed
every minute, and no pie Or cake be-
tween meals. Well make it lively for
her, though-Mose aud Hose and 10
and T."
All unconscious of what WAS in store
for her Miss Cordelia Brewster was en-
gagged in inspecting and admiring her
green silk Dress which had just been
sent home f,om the dressmaker's. Miss
Cordelia was plump little woman,
with a pinkish bloom still lingering
upon her cheeks, and 40 trace of times
frosting upon her chestnut locks. Why
she had never married was a mystery.
For ten years after her father, the vii
lage doctor, had died, leaving her q
modest competence, the eossips had
been On the lookout for signs of matri-
monial intentions Oh her part. When
she had passed thirty and was still Miss
Cordelia, people gradually ceased to
speculate about her. For some inscrut-
able reason they decided that Miss Cor
della meant to be an old maid to the end
of the chapter. 1t was observed that even
John Parms snter, who had somewhat
indefinitely chung round" her for
years, "kind O dropped off," he no
longer sat in the singing seats, where
Miss Cordelia still serenely kept her
place, despite the rivalry of younger
choristers so they were not so fre-
quently thrown together, and he was
seldom seen to walk home with her
from the weekly prayer, meeting; his
old sorreI marc was very rarely seen
fastened to the hitching- post before
Miss Cordelia's door of Sunday night;
and only once or twice had he been
seen shyly to offer her q nosegay of
southernwood and cinnamon pinks,
which grew to great perfection in his
garden, and of which, in her girlhood,
Miss Cordelia had been very fond.
Many other admirers had Miss Cor
della, but she had turned cold shoul-
der upon all, and seemed perfectly con-
tented to live on in her comfortable old
house, with trim box bordered flower
beds in the front yard, and lilac bushes
crowding in at the windows, with her
handmaiden Tryphoss, who was not,
as her name suggested, blooming and
romantic young maiden, but an ancient
and angular spinster, who believed in
signs and omens, and always "felt"
coming events sin her bones" Try
phosa was now gazing at the green silk
with melancholy expression of coun-
tenance.
"Green means forsaken; there amt
no denyin' it. And Seliny Wilson, that
was merried in green, was laid out q
corpse in it before the end of the year;
and Mertildy Lyman, that was merried
in white muslin sprigged with green,
and green bunnit strings, she had a
drunken husband that fell off the hay
NOW and dislocated his spinal column,
and everybody knew her twins want
bright; and"
"But L am not goingto be married in
it, you know, Tryphosa," said Miss Cor
della, turning merry face up to Miss
Tryphosa's doleful one. "Perhaps it is
only uulucky as wedding dress. As
for being forsaken, there doesn't seem
to be anybody left to forsake me but