Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1883-06-21
GaIts a,to Sketfkts.
me NEW MINISTER
CONTINUED from Yesterday

II can & endure ne1r unIr1eDQiy GAZE
/ should display all nv womanishness. 1
should blush, I should tremble, ] might
faint. should be stumbling block to
the women who are following in the same
pathway don't mean to be that. NV
work in Scragg End suffices me, and am
80 thankful for it,
II am sorry you feel so about Ponka-
pawket, because have proposition in
! my mind much more audacious than the
one that made" said Mr.. Ericsson.
Miss Barton raised her eyes inquiringiy.
and dropped them again Instantly under
the minister's gaze.
"Ithought we might unite the churches"
Mr. Ericson's voice trembled little, as
If be were afraid.
II don't see how ie could be done, - said
Miss Barton, frigfdly.
"Of course there is but one way" said
Mr.. Ericsson, quietly. Il dared not ask
you TO be my wife without suggesting to
you the fact that your work need not be
given up"
The girl rose to her feet. Lysander's
stocking fell from her hand and was blown
away by the wind unheeded. II don't
know what have done to deserve this
this insult. thought that at least You re :
spected me, and / thuoght my calling
made me sacred from such--such attacks
altogether"
II am sorry that you should think it an
insult. can hardly see how man could
give you better proof OF his respect than
to ask you to become ais wife"
'But IL am a woman" said Miss Bar
ton, sitting down again and covering her
face with her hands.
1.-The more reason why you should be
married." said Mr.. Ericsson, calmly. You
need a protector.
II am perfectly sufficient for myself.
And shall never care for anybody-any-
body-any my work"
Mr.. Ericsson arose. Il am sorry to
have troubled you." he said, gently. II
love you, and / have never known what
it was to love a woman before that is all
my excuse"
Miss Barton watched him as he went
down the road, with the yellow leaves
falling upon him. She observed. as she
had never done before, how finely his
head was set upon his broad shoulders.
what manly grace there was about his
strong, well-knit figure.
'But he has no business to love me, -"
she said. drawing her brows into a tight
frown.
Then suddenly she remembered Ly-
sanders stocking. and went down in the
grass to look tor it. 1t had blown over
the fence into the field. She stretched
her arm between the Stats and drew it
back As she did so she caught sight of
Lysander. He was gathering squashes
and pumpkins on the little south hill she
saw his figure In silhouette against the
sky. Tie started to come toward the
house, and she waited for him-waited
until sudden thought sent fame of
color over her face.
1T can't be- she said, half aloud,
inquiringly. II will keep that out of my
life. won't be II failure | won't be ~
And she rushed up to her room and lock-
ed herself in.
She came down as calm and grave as
ever when the tea bell rang, and after tea
she and Lysander read their daily quantity
of Greek, for Lysander was. pursuing his
studies with benewed avidty since he had
companion to help him. and had not yet
given up his long-chershed hope of study
ing for the ministry, though there seemed
no prospect of his being able to leave the
farm.
Alter that day Miss Barton devoted
herself more zealously than ever to her
work. She darned no more stockings.
When she wasn't writing her sermons,
she was visiting the sick and the poor.
and making. or suggesting and inducing
others to make. improvements. sanitary
and moral. us well as religious.
''She was as practical and efficient as il
she was not a woman" many people said
and old Jeremy Grimes, who had wished
to tell her when she came that they didn't
want woman preacher, said: They
couldn't have had such women in st.
Paul's time. or he never would have writ
ten what he did.
But Mrs. Hewitt had grievance. Miss
Barton didn't seem to make herself one OF
the family as she used to. She was shut
up IN her own room almost all the time
now, and she and Lysander didn't seem
to get along together as they used to. She
never came into the kitchen and wanted
to help make cake now. or sat with them
around the fire in the evening while
Lysander read aloud. She didn't seem
to have anything against them, but she
wasn't free and sociable any more"
Lysander was teaching school this win
ter and attending to the farm work in his
leisure time. His habit of studying with
Miss Barton had gradually died out. To
his mothers persistent questionings Ly-
sander replied that neither OF them had
any time for it now.
Mrs. Hewitt could not make it out.
pa" who prided himself upon being
long-headed, limited that he could. but he
would not say outright what he thought,
and his wife regarded his hints with lofty
scorn.
One afternoon. after school hours. Ly-
sander went down to the woods back OF
The house to superintend the operations OF
some men who were cutting timber. Just
at dusk Miss Barton, coming home from a
visit to sick parishioner, encountered four
men carrying on an improvised stretcher
Lysander's apparently lifeless body. He
was lying white and rigid. and there were
scarlet spots upon the snow all the way he
had come. Down on her knees in the
snow fell Miss Barton. md threw her arms
around him.
ssOh. my love my love have you gone
so far away that you cannot hear me say
do love youp" she cried. II was cold
and hard because l thought it was my
duty. but if you would only come back
And then they had to raise Miss Barton
and carry her into the house, for she had