River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1883-10-25
How the Deacon Proposed.
BY PERsIs f. CHASE.

How the Deacon Proposed.
BY PERsIs f. CHASE.
81 tell you what it's Jacob, come
here when Mary Ann died so sudden,
and left you with them three motberless
children, and took right hold and looked
after things same's ef they were my
own, don't know as you hev much rea-
son 10 complain, and hev had your victu-
ais and there han't ben nothin' wasted.
The milk's been took care of well, V on
know you get more for your butter than
eny one round here. | don't see no
call for you to go and get married, at
your time of life too, and you deacon
of the church."
81 don't see what you are talking so
for, Jesusha, haven't found any fault
have I?'' guess I shan't get married to
night"
"Wall l ain no fool. Jacob, you
didn't used to STAN before the glass
brushin' hair half an hour jest tn go tn
evenin' meetin'., and | amt the only
one that has noticed how you are spruc-
ing up lately. Miss Green was in here
this afternoon, and abe spoke bout it,
She said she shouldn't wonder a mite
of YOU was married before winter"
MRS. Green is good hand to mind
other folks business. She better stay at
home and take care of her family"
"Wall, all hev tn say IS, eff you must
get married don't for messy sakes hev
that Clarissa Howe; what'll she know"
The deacon who had finished his tot
let, did not want to hear the rest of Aunt
Jerusha's remarks, but went out of the
| room, closing the door with just little
slam, and walked rather faster than
usual toward the little church, to take
part in the Tuesday evening prayer
meeting. Deacon Grover, was not, by
any means, an old man, as his half-sister
Jerusha, had limited, only forty. Tall,
and as erect as if he were soldier in
! stead of farmer, with hardly silver
| thread in his glossy, black hair.
1t is now three years since Mrs. Gro
yer. the deacon's wife died, leaving
| three children, two boys and little
daughter three years old. The deacon
| had been very fond of his wife, and had
sincerely mourned her loss.
She was sadly missed in her home, for
| she had been one ''who looked well to
the ways of her household, and ate not
| the bread OF 1dien6SS.
Deacon Grover had been glad to accept
the services of his sister, to look after
his house and children, especially little
Mary, who was delicate child and
needed constant attention, and had got
along very well with Jerusha, account
| ing for eccentric ways by remembering
| a DISBURSEMENT in love, which had
made her the old maid she was.
AS Jerusha was several years older
| than her brother, she did not hesitate
| to express her opinion at the way he
| managed his affairs, and give him plen-
| ty of advice. "She had done her duty
BY Jacob and the children, and took
right hold and looked after things same s
| of they's my own" so she told Mrs.
Green, but the children wanted some
thing besides wholesome food and clean
| clothes, and doses of herb tea; they
missed a mothers love. Little Mary
found out it was no use to ask Aunt
Jerusha "to sing to her, or tell her a
story, as mamma used to-" the reply
was sure to be, II hain't got no time,
you go and set down in your little chair
and be good girl" so when papa was
not about she lavished her aIteetions on
her kitten or doll. @
SO the months and years passed, and
the deacon had never gwen any indlca-
cation that he intended to change his
lonely condition. In vain did sister Bah
bitt, huxom widow, express her
sympathy for him, End was evidently
willing to unite her fortune with his IN
the tenderest of ties"
About six months before the date |
am writing, Clarissa Howe had come to
this little village among the Vermont
hills, to try to earn her living by dress
h, A I1yb mo
farmer had written her, that the only
dressmaker in the place, had been
obliged to give up work on account OF
her health; so Clarissa, whose early
home had been in the country, gladly
left her little room in the top of cheap
city boarding-hous and went to Har-
land, where she made her home with
her cousin, going about from house to
house, cutting and making dresses for
seventy-fve cents day. Although she
worked hard, for every one was anxious
to have the city dressmaker, the pure
country air, fresh milk, and homemade
bread, and perhaps lighter heart,
brought back the color to her cheeks,
and sparkle to her eyes. Her cousin
told her she was growing Young. Cla-
rissa was now twenty-eight. Her parents
had died when she was sixteen, leaving
her almost entirely dependent upon her
own exertions for her support. When
she was about twenty, she became en-
gagged to a young man she had long
known, and was looking forward to a
home of her own, if only humble one,
when a dreadful accident occurred on
the railroad, where John Porter, her
lover, was brakeman, instantly killing
him. Since that time Clarissa
had worked on, taking but fittle inter
est in anything, and only caring to earn
enough to keep out of debt. This change
from the city to the country had been
Just what she needed. She arrived at
Harland in April, when all nature was
awakening to new life, The meadows
and hillsides were beautiful with the
fresh grass of spring. On every tree
and bush the brown buds were bursting,
and the tiny green leaves peeping out.
Robins were singing blithely as they
siyly watched the ploughman turn over
the brown burrows, knowing they would
not have to go far for their dinner.
So with the sweet spring time new
hone and courage sPrapg up in Clarlssa's
heart. Life had good deal of bright
ness in it, for her, after all.
As deacon Grover walked toward abe
church, with Jerusha's remarks ringing
in his ears, he was obliged to admit that
luE ASdIGSl " ISL vi LIS nGdib NdS W
make Clarissa Howe his wife The first
time he saw her at church, and heard
her sweet voice singing the old familiar
hyms, he bad almost fallen in love with
her. and afterward seeing her at the
evening meeting. With her cousin who
had given him an introduction, be was
still more pleased with her. Never, in
his young days, wnen he was paying
much attention to Mary Ann, had he
been 80 much in love. When he was
about h.s work he found himself think
ing of Clarissa His field of ripening
wheat reminded him of her golden
brown hair. and the blue violets, that
little Mary picked down by the brook.
and brought to him to put in water for
her. Just matched her eyes.
He had never paid any particular at
tention to Clarissa, but some how it had
begun to be whispered around that
deacon Grover was all took up with the
new dressm aker."
Mrs. Green had been the first to car
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