The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1884-10-03

Youth is not safe from thy terrible power
Gold can rot put chase rcpriCVc an hOur;
The lofty and lnwlv. the sad and the gaT,
Alike must yiCll to thy teri bic sway.
Ms. f.. ',rOTH, "a EdtOts HOih ~
MOLLY CROWDE'S RIDE.
1t was Monday morning n hundred
| odd years ago, Il cool morning with Il
| blue sky over which trooped crowds of
cumuli borne by the west wind. Two
horses stood Saddled and bridled at
Squire Crowdc'S gate. Presently in the
yard, which briStlCd all around the edge
with Lombardy poplars, emerged n
group from one of the side house doors
| of Squire Crowde's. his wife, his two
| sons-Moses and Luther-his daughters
Fear and MOlly-and Captain Israel
Brown and wife, the said Captain Israel
being school agent for the central dis
trict in ManOmet.
They struggled in confused order
down the path bordercd on either side
by phlox, Mrs. Crowde ever and anon
| furtiVcly wiping her eyes with the cor
ncr of her handkerchief Moses carried
a saddle-bag which he strapped care
fully on the horse wearing the side sad
die. The other horse had mans sad
die and pilliOn. The reason of all this
Monday morning tumult was that Molly
CrOwde, who was only sixteen, was
going TO ManOmct for the summer to
teach. She had taken quiet leave of
her friends the day before at the meet
ing house, leave in harmony with the
staidness of the Puritan Sabbath. Never
had she looked prettier than that day
as she sat in her place in the singers
seats, clad i'll hOmcspun, to be sure, but
Mrs. Crowde was skilled in cO!oring
and could dye most heavenly blues and
lovely pinkS which harmOniZed cNquiS-
itely with NIolly's hazel eyes and pink
checks.
Never had her voice sounded sweeter
than il did that day in Majesty (NIolly
sung what was called counter ~, and
as the choir sang:
On cherub and on chcrubm
Full royalty He rode,
And on the wings Of mighty winds
Came flying all abroad.
and as her voice llOated on the mystic, in
tricate melody up into the region of tho
rafters and sounding board, Jack Thorn
son, who sat in his fathers pew below,
felt hinpself borne almost to Heavens
gate
train his voice i'll order TO sing with
Molly.
You never can sing, jack" said
Molly, after one of these efforts, "but
you are Just as good and handsome as
you can be-" and Jack was comfortcd,
though he still wished he could sing in
the choir.
Molly had another accomplishment
besides her singing. She knew a mar
velous deal about the parts of speech
and mood and tense. while not another
girl in Douglas knew noun from a
verb. Parson Briggs had privately
taught her under protest, rs il were. |
As Il general thing he could not believe |
in the dedication of women His own |
mother, who lived to be ninety years |
old, never had learned even to write her !
name, and when called upon to sign q |
legal document had to make her mark |
and was not an education that sufficed |
for the mother of q minister, sufficient !
for the needs of ordinary women? Go
to!
But winsome, willful Molly, who could |
not be made to understand why she
should not study as we'll as Luther, who |
fitting with Parson Briggs for Harvard
University, bcguiled him by some witch
cry only known in girldom. to consent
to teach her.
II : word once given he could rot re-
call it. though when he saw the eager
ness with hi,h she ,,uallcI even this
5 ant draughl of learning his hoart mis-
CAV { him. and he questioned the Wis
don of his nc ion. Nevertheless he
was pr III % his pupil, anil, rs he
prayed tHat 'lav that this - ear lamb
of lis eek IN ~ht be kept the
Good man 80 re trrmblrd.
ri,rilla avis, M"l'y's dearest
fricn ). waikri To- r. miles. rs usual, to
Nee, um that day. walking barefoot the
greater part I'll the way to save her one
pair -: mororc shoes, which. with her
white stockings, she put on under Il con-
veniCnt rec.
DO not pity her, girls, because she
had no fashionable shoemaker 10 sup
ply her with unlimited boots. Many of
our Observation-Disclosures did the same
thing and lived merry and wholesome
lives, and bequeatbcd to their descend
ants strong bodies and brains.
When your very dcarcs st friend goes
wrhe every week, but for Molly and
PrissY. alas! there was no such pleas
urc possible. Postage was costly, and
there were few mail routes in the whole
country. Between Manomet, which was
twenty miles away, and Douglas, there
was none; and the friends would have
to depend on chance travellers for notes
and news.
There were tears il Prissy's blue
eyes as she babe Molly 'good-by,"
but it was very quiet good-by. Our
Puritan grandmothers did not rush into
each others arms and kiss ecstatically;
they did all things ''decently and in
order. " The family farcwells were
equally subdued. The horses were led
up to the mounting-block. Molly had
with light leap. Luther
tucked her little foot into the stirrup, {
and she babe father, mother and {
brothers good-by simply, though it
was most momentous setting out into i
the world.
On Molly'S summer of SchOOl-teach-
ing it is not my purpose to dwell. She
taught the children to knit and to sew, {
and every Saturday drilled them in the {
catechism. The school-house was not
unlike some we may see in primitive ,
New England towns day, square in E
shape, painted red, good deal battered /
without and within, and anchored in n S
treeless sea of sand. Once only during /
5he summer she heard from home. Asa |
Parker, n Quaker riding through Man h
omct and Douglas on his way to Quar- t
crly Meeting, stopped over night with v
lis friend, Squire Crowde, and became +
he bearer of the messages. 4
1t was on n morning in early October
hG her school closed, Molly started v
lGke on her ride home. The sixteen L
dollars she had earned Ca dollar q week c
md board were Molly's wages were h
arefully lS:ked in the saddle-bag. @
'aPtain Israel had arranged to 60 to Il
}oston abo&4 that time. and as his Fp