The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1883-09-26
THE DEACON'S son.

haNm0nu Sdlu, lOoklnS luIliNcIy III
to his mothers face.
A sad, troubled face his mothe
turned toward him for an instant
but she said nothing.
She stood at the table in the broad
low. old fashioned kitchen, busy
with some household task, ane
Frank-a boy ofsixteen-was sitting
on the lounge in the corner of th'
commodious room, with his caT
slouched over his eyes with hal
defiant look upon his face as h'
watched his mother.
It's no use,' he said, father won'
give me a chance to know anything
| must work from morning till night
He says / don't need to study TO bt
a farmer. / had a book hid at th,
barn that have been studying wher
| had time; he found it just now
and boxed my ears with it,,then tor,
it up and threw it away. He said ht
guessed he'd stop that nonsense
Father is rich man and l am the
only boy. Why can't he give me q
chance to know something, moth
er?'
|. MY boy Mrs. Raymond said, in
gentle tone, your father had only
a common education, and he has
been successful in business. He
thinks others can do as he has DONE
Perhaps you had better wait little
longer. Try to be patient
Mrs. Raymond sometimes had
more than she could do to smooth
the ruffied temper of her impulsive
boy.
Her husband, deacon Raymond,
believed in walking in the beaten
track of his fathers, any inno-
vation that caused the slightest de-
Walton from the old way was looked
upon with pious horror.
He was one of the deacons of an
orthodox church, strict and upright
with his dealings with other men,
but he was Puritanical in his views
and rigid in his family relations.
There were no fond words or Ca
resses in his family circle, home was
simply the place where he took his
meals.
His broad acres yielded fine crops.
Every year he deposited a large sum
in the bank. He paid his proportion
of church expenses he gave liber-
ally to charitable enterprises and
foreign missions, while in his own
house boy-his son-was growing
up almost heather in point of
knowledge.
Was it strange that, with boy s
keen perception. Frank Raymond
was discontented?
Mrs. Raymond did all that lay in
her power to make the rough place
smooth for her son, but it was COM
paratively little she could do.
The deacon did not believe that
the women were good financiers, so
he held the purse strings, handing
ont in homeopathic measures and
allowance that he deemed sufficient
for woman's need.
Mrs. Raymond was one Of those
women who say little, but resolved
if any more trouble occurred between
Frank and his father, not to oppose
his leaving home.
Matters reached a crisis a few
days later when Deacon Raymond
sold a beautiful colt that Frank had
been permitted to call his own.
Frank had petted the beautiful
creature, and had lavished upon it a
wealth of affection that the colt SEEM
ed to understand.
1t would dash across the pasture
to meet him. and lay its fine arched
neck over the boys shoulder in per-
feet contentment.
When Frank knew that his pet
was sold he went to the house, and
lying his head down on his mothers
lap he wept as if he had lost kind
friend.
Don't try to keep me any longer,
mother Frank said, when his grief
had exhausted itself. Father fog
ged me just now because | told him
that the colt was mine. He said he
would teach me not to interfere with
his affairs. / shall come home some
time, mother, to see you,' he said,
jumping up and throwing his arms
about her neck in a fearful embrace,
but father does not love me. l heard
him tell the man that bought Kitty
that BOYS were more plague than
profit. Tomorrow father will be
away all day. / shall do the work
he leaves for me, then l shall leave.
Tonight will pack my valise, it
will hold all l shall need, and Frank
Raymond busted himself while Dea-
con Raymond was sleeping the sleep
of the just that night, in packing up
the few articles that belonged to
him.