The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1883-02-24
THE DEACON'S DILEMMA.

81 wonder he didn't take the parson,
mused the deacon's housekeeper as the
deacon drove off alone to the Annua
Conference. Giles commonly master
thoughtful about looking out for folks
What husband he was ~
Yes, Asa Phoenix had been a good
husband. All the neighbors agreed
with Mrs. Dubbs in that particular
He had waited on his fussy invalid wife
by inches for thirty years, making hel
as happy as she would let him; anc
when her summons came, he had CLOSED
her dying eyes tenderly, saying, even
with tears
"Poor sufferer, she is better off"
That he was better off he never hinted
by word or look. He wore his widow
er's weeds with sad decorum; he reared
in memory of the departed Lucinda a
monument which the most fastidious
might have envied; he grieved faith
fully for the full allotted year of mourn
ing. If now, from the ashes Of the
funeral pyre, like his feathered name,
sake of fable, he was springing up with
renewed youth and freshness, was it not
we'll?
In truth, though he had not seen fit
to confde this fact to Mrs. Dubbs,
Deacon Phoenix had sighted the min
lister deliberately, and with malice afore.
thought. Nor was it of the Conference
he was thinking that June morning as
he whirled away, tucking laprobe well
about his glossy new broadcloth.
For once in his hitherto blameless
life he was essaying to hide the secular
underneath the spiritual. He did not
mean to go straight to meeting it was
his willy intention to make wide cir
cult, and call on Miss Olive Wayne, in
the town of Chester. He had a ques.
ton to ask her, and did not want the
parson with him; he hoped he might
want him little later.
Pretty, cheerful Olive! How fond he
had been of her years ago, when she at
tended his school II he had not then
been in love with Lucinda, he was
sure he should have fallen in love with
her, mere child though she was. He
had never lost sight of her, and he
thanked Providence that he had been
enabled by money and influence to help
her family over some hard Places
Please God, the dear girl should hence
forth have an easy life. Girl Why.
little Olive must be fifty
The good deacon laughed at the anus
ing recollection. Well, she would al
ways be young to him. And as fol
himself, at sixty odd he was hale man
yet! he could jump fve-rail fence now
as well as ever he could-give him time.
His thoughts continually reverted tc
Olive, so patiently devoted to her inva
lid father. She should bring the old
gentleman to his home if she wished
or he would provide for his maintenance
at her brother Reuben's. He was in.
clined to consider that the better plan
The money would be an object to Reu
ben, and Olive would be relieved.
In these cogitations the morning pass
ed and noon found Deacon Phoenix at
little hotel in Chester. Impatient o.
delay, after hasty dinner he set out
almost Immediately for the Wayne home
stead. Arriving at the gate he spied
Miss Olive at the window, and alightec
with youthful agility not altogether
prudent in a man who had twinges O.
sciatics. And yet, strange inconsistency
of human nature he dallied with the
hitching post, and afterward, with hi!
hand on the very knocker, he paused
to scan the distant horizon, as though
he had come mainly for view of the
mountains.
Miss Olive opened the door, he
cheeks flushed like late October peaches
She would not have been a woman haC
she not OWNED the dsacon's tende
mission, proclaimed by every detail o
his immaculate toilet, by the grasp o
his hand, by his nervous, expectant air
And, moreover, Miss Olive was an at
tractive woman, not unversed in lovers
ways.
"Happy to see you, Mr.. Phenix.-
Walk in" said she, furried, usherin&
him into the sitting room, where her
aged father dozed in his arm chair.
"Who is it, Olive ?" said the ole
gentleman, waking with a bewildereC
stare.
"Mr. Phoenix, father. You remem
Der Mr.. Phoenix, I'm sure"
"I don't know as l do" said he
querulously, fumbling with the guest!
outstretched hand. "What'S he come
| for, Olive ?"
The deacon looked as if he was sud-
denly feeling the hot weather. Miss
Olive was positively feverish, but she
deftly evaded the troublesome question
by diverting ther fathers attention.
His peppermint tea was ready-would
he not drink it AS she hovered abou
the invalid, Strengthening his footstool
arranging his pillows, steadying the cur
while he drank, Mr.. Phoenix regarded
her admiringly. How young she seemed
still Not gray thread in her colder
hair; scarcely wrinkle in her face
That was because of her excellent dis
position. He waited till she had sooth
ed the old man in slumber, then in q
direct, manly way introduced the sub
ject that lay next his heart.
Miss Olive interrupted him by an elo
quent glance toward her father.
"He is very childish and dependent
He cannot do without me. ;"