Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-06-13
resolved to himself that this should be

resolved to himself that this should be
plowed on Saturday.
All the week the boys had been hard
at work, and when Saturday night
came they were not sorry. Sunday
morning dawneG, serene and clear. not
a breath of wind stirring, and the
warmth of the sun drawing q spicy fra
GRANGE from the earth. Chores were
done as usual, breakfast-never a SO.
ciab,e meal-was disposed of, Mrs.
Weaver went into the Kitchen to make
arrangements for dinner and the Dea-
con himself, drawing his own. chair
back from the table, looked with min
gled disgust and anger at his sons.
They We're sitting lazily around, enjoy
ing the sense of leisure, the freedom
from work, which Sunday morning
always brought.
"Dawdle, dawdle!" said the Deacon,
sharply. "Where'd I be, if 1 dawdled
like you when rs a boy? Where'd you
be, I'd like to know? Come, get up ;
stir yourselves, or you won't get any
thing done to-day. Charles, you take
the roam, and go to blowing the three
acre. That fields tolab e rough; /
reckon Bill had better sit on the horse.
Isaac. you take some shavings and
matches, and fire the old stump at the
far end of the field. Quick, now, an
make up for lost time. I'll jine ye
before long"
The boys had been staring at their
father in open-mouthed CONSERVATION ;
but this exordium so reused Bills sense
of the ludicrous that invo.untarily he
snickered.
"You, sir!!"-the Deacon turned
sharp upon him-"what's that forp I'll
teach you to laugh;'; and a vigorous
slap certainly did alter the expression
on Bills countenance. '.Wcll"-turn-
ing to Charles-"why don't you
start:9".
Charles was-still staring at him in
bewilderment. ''But father" he be-
gan.
"But me no buts," said his father :;
"not another word; but do as l bid
YOU"
eyes, sir" began Charles once more,
''but-' The Deacon lost patience.
go to-thunder!!" he shouted. (Well
for him he was a deacon, else might the
expletive be worse.) $40 you mean to
stand here and jaw me all day? Not
another word, but do you go and do as
l tell you.'
By n common impulse the three
boys turned, disappeared through the
door, hastily crossed the road, and
when fairly inside of the barn, stopped,
and looked at each other. "Jee-Whili-
ker-c7vche,s:" gasped Bill at last, and
lay down OF the dusty floor in a con-
Eulsion of merriment, in which, though
less audibly. the others Joined. At
length said Charles: ..This won'td do. He
told us not to say a word, and we won't.
Hurry up, boys! let's get to the field
before he finds out;'' for already it had
dawned upon him that if his father was
the man OF his word he took him to be,
here was his chance for that years
schooling. And, as it happened, every
thing was in his favor and against the
Deacon.
Shortly after breakfast, Mrs. Weaver
was confronted with an accident.
Their own minister was i'll, and his
place that day was to be supplied by a
brother minister from a town ten miles
away. He drove over with his wife,
and they were to take dinner a Deacon
Weaver's. Pies, cake, and biscuit had
been baked on Saturday, and placed on
the hanging-shelf in the cellar. This
morning, whether as prologue to the
omen coming on" or from some
sudden jar on the old timbers, all
at once, without a moments warning,
the shelf gave way, dashing itself
and all it upheld upon the floor. 10
make the work of destruction COM
plete, the cellar floor vas merely earth,
now damp from the spring rams, and
with boards laid along at intervals to
walk on. Of course, the wettest place
was underneath the shelf, and when
Mrs. Weaver reached the spot she found
only a sticky conglomerate of pie, cake,
and mud, with scattered pebbles in the
shape of biscuit rolling here and there.
dismay; what was to be done? But,
quickly rallylng, she set about making
good the loss. CHOW, Mary Jane"
said she, briskly, to that domestic,
''you and I'll have to fall to, if It is
Sunday, and cook up something for
dinner. There's the minister and his
wife-that's two; and Elder Cook and
his wife-that's four: and the Deacon
and me, and the children, makes nine;
and Father and Mother Weaver-that's
eleven; and some one else may drop in.
Seems a pity to miss the sermon, too;
and then 1 had laid out for to wear my
new bunnet!' Observation-Disclosures
SO little chance for bunnets! Well, it
can't be helped. Folks must eat, and
ministers like their vittles just as wells
other folks-better too, for anything I
know to the contrary. ley do say
ministers and spiring-chickens are
death on each other. Well, we'll, we
must make the best of it. Mary Jane,
I'll clean up this muss, and you go tell
the Deacon never to mind me. but 60
right along to church; I'll come if 1
can-which amt at all likely"
Now, Mary Jane caught sight Of Bill,
on his way to get matches for Isaac,
and being, as was natural, in some
thing of a hurry, intrusted the message
to him. Had the Deacon been any
where in sight, no doubt the habit Of
obedience would have prevailed; the
message would have been delivered,
and the day of the week made clear.
But he wa in the pasture, so Bill said