Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1883-02-17
The Deacon's Son.

Frank Raymond, looking furtively
into his mothers face.
A sad, troubled face his mother
turned toward him for an instant,
but she said nothing.
She stood at the table, in the low,
broad, old-fashioned kitchen, busy
with some household task, and her
son Frank, a boy of sixteen, was
sitting on a lounge'in the corner Of
the room, with his cap siouched over
his eyes and half defiant look upon
his face as he watched his mother.
"It's no use," he said, "father will
not give me a chance to know any
thing. l must work from morning
till night. He says don't need to
study to be farmer. | had a book
hid in the barn that / have been
studying when l had time he found
it just now, and he boxed my ears
with it, then tore it up and threw it
away. He said he guessed he's stop
that nonsense. Father is a rich man
and l am the only boy. Why can't
he give me chance to learn some
thing, mother ?"
"My boy" Mrs. Raymond said, in
a 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. Per-
haps you had better wait a little
longer. Try to be patient"
Mrs. Raymond sometimes had
more than she could do to smooth
the ruffled temper of her impulsive
boy. Her husband, Deacon Ray
mond, believed in walking in the
track of his fathers, and any innova-
ton that caused the slightest devia-
ton from the old way was looked on
with pious horror.
He was one of the deacons OF an
orthodox church, strict and upright
in his dealing 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 large sum
in the bank. He paid his proportion
of church expenses; he gave liber-
ally to charitable enterprises and to
foreign missions, while in his home,
boy, his own son, was grow
ing up almost heather in point of
knowledge.
Was it strange, that with boys
keen perception, Frank Raymond
was dissatisfied ?
His mother did all that lay in her
power to make the rough places
smooth for her son, but it was COM
paratively little that she could do.
The deacon did not believe that
women were good financiers so he
held the purse strings, handed out
to his wife an allowance that he
deemed sufficient for woman's need.
Mrs. Raymand was one of those
women who say little, but resolved
if more trouble occurred with her son
and his father, not to oppose his go
ing away.
Matters reached crisis few days
later when the Deacon sold beau
tiful colt that Frank had been per-
mitted to call his own.
Frank had petted the beautiful
creature and lavished upon it much
affection. 1t would dash across the
pasture to meet him, and lay its
finely arched neck over his shoulder
in perfect contentment.
When Frank knew that his pet
was sold, he went to the house, and
laying his head down in his mothers
lap he wept as if he had lost friend.
Don't try to keep me any longer,
mother" Frank said when his grief
had subsidized. "Father flogged me
just now, because l told him the
colt was mine. He said he would
teach one not to interfere with his
affairs. will come home sometime
mother, to see you," he said, jump
ing up and throwing his arms about
her neck in a fearful embrace, "but
father does not love me. | heard
him tell the man that bought Kitty.