The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1885-08-20

80 hlo hOnLk Woo O6aS nt IL tudb I'LL .
And they might have been playing partners
Had she not given her answer: NO"
He plays no tennis at all this year,
But he mopes, and means. and sighs-
That fate is so hard, and life is so drear;.
And. worse than all else, he remembers
That sIove is nothing"-she told him so.
%. +. Coburn. in century.
THE ELDERS BACKSLIDE.
His Trip to Macon and What Be-
fell Him on the Journey.
Elder Brown told his wife goodbye at
the farmhouse door as mechanically as
though his proposed trip to Macon, ten
miles away, was an everyday affair,
while, as a matter of fact, many years had
elapsed since, unaccompanied, he set footin
the city. He did not kiss her. Many very
good men never kiss their wives. But
small blame attaches to the elder for his
omission on this occasion, since his wife
had long 6 discouraged all amorous
demonstrations on the part of her liege
AoAQJ n ~ uhAo PoA ~ W6o
filing the parting moments with a rattling
list of directions concerning thread, but
tons, hooks, needles and all the many
etceteras of an Industrious housewives
basket. The elder was laboriously assort-
ing these postscript commissions In his
memory, well knowing that to return with
any one of them neglected would cause
trouble in the family circle.
Elder Brown mounted his patient steed
49, - ---s1- l. l. ----
sunlight, with his great pointed ears dis
played to the right and left, as though
their owner had grown tired of the life
burden their weight inflicted upon him,
and was, old soldier fashion, ready to
forego the once rigid alertness of early
training for the pleasures of frequent rest
on arms.
Sand, elder, don't you forgit them CAL
iker scraps, or you'll be wantin' kiver soon
ammo kiver will be a-comin'."
Elder Brown did not turn his head, but
merely let the whip hand, which had been
checked in'its backward motion, fall as he
answered mechanically. The beast he be-
strobe responded with a rapid whisking of
its tail and a great. show of effort, as it
ambled off down the sandy road, the riders
long legs seeming now and then to touch
the ground.
But as the zigzag panels of the rail fence
crept behind him, and he felt the freedom
of the morning beginning to act upon his
y AAAC oA00A U1o ldh
ner of the old mans mind CAV place to a
mild exuberance. A weight seemed to be
lifting from it ounce by ounce as the fence
panels, the weedy corners, the persimmon
away behind him, SO that by the time a
mile lay between him and the life partner
of his joys and sorrows he was in a reason
ably contented frame OF mind, n still
improving.
It was a queer figure that crept along
the road that rhaoru Nav pn0rpino IT, woo
tall and gaunt, and had been for thirty
years or more. The long head, bald on top,
covered behind with iron-gray hair, and in
front with a short tangled growth that
.surmounted by an old-fashioned stove-pipe
hat, worn and stained, but eminently inn
pressive. An old-fashioned Henry Clay
cloth coat, stained and threadbare, divided
itself impartially over the donkey's back
and dangled on his sides. This was all
that remained of the elders wedding suit
of forty years ago. Only constant care,
and use of late years limited to extra occa-
sions, had preserved it SO long. The
trousers had soon parted company with
jeans, which, while they did not well
match his court costume. were better
able to Withstand the old mans
abuse, for if, in addition to his
frequent religious excursions astride his
beast, there ever was a man who was fond
of sitting down with his feet higher than
his head, 1t was this self-same Elder
Brown.
The morning expanded, and the old man
expanded with it; for while a vigorous
it must be admitted, an accomplishing
slave. To the intense establishment of the
beast he rode, there came new vigor into
the whacks which fell upon his TANKS; anC
the beast allowed establishment to surprise
him into real life and decided motion
Somewhere in the elders expanding soul 6
June had begun to ring. Possibly he tool
up the far faint tune that came from tn,
struggling gang of negroes away of in thu
field, as they slowly chopped amid tn,
lined the level ground, for the melody ht
hummed softly n then sang strongly, il
the quavering, catchy tones of a good oil
country churchman, was: Pm glad sal
vation's free"
1t was during the singing of this hymn
that Elder Browns regular motion-inspir
ing strokes were for the first time varied
He began to hold his hickory up at certain
pauses In the melody, and beat the change
upon the sides of his %astonished steed
The chorus under this arrangement was
I'm glad salvation's free,
I'm glad salvation's free,
I'm glad salvation's free for all,
I'm glad salvation's free"
Wherever there is an italic, the hickor,
descended. 1t fell about as regularly an
after the fashion of the stick beating upo
the bass drum during a funeral march
But the beast, although convinced tina
something serious was impending, di
pirate for the occasion. He pro
tested, at first, with vigorous whisk
ings of his tail and a rapid 'shiftin
of his ears. Finding these demonstration
unavailing, and convinced that some ur
gent cause for hurry had suddenly invade
the elders serenity, as it had his own, b
began to cover the ground with franti
leaps that would v surprised his owne
could he have realized what was going or
and he was singing at the top of his voic,
Lost in a trance of divine exultation, fo
he felt the effects of the invigorating mc
ton, bent only on making the air ring wit
the lines which he dimly imagine
were drawing upon him the eye
of the whole female congregation, he we
supremacy unconscious that his beast we
hurrying.
And thus the excursion proceeded, unit
suddenly a shote, surprised in his call
search for roots in a fence corner, darte
into the road, n stood for an instal
gazing Upon the newcomers with tn,
idiotic stare which only a pig can initial
The sudden appearance of this UNLOCKED
for ~apparition acted strongly upon tt
donkey. With one supreme effort he co
lected himself into a motionless mass i
matter, bracing his front legs wide apar
that is to say, he stopped short. There /
stood, returning the pigs idiotic sta
with q n interest which must have led
the presumption that never before in a
his varied life had he seen such a singul,
little creature. End over end went IL
man Of prayer, finally bringing up fu
length in the sand, striking just as l
should lave shouted ''free" for the four
time in his glorious chorus.
Fully convinced that his alarm had bes
well-founued, the shote sped out from III
der the gigantic missile hurled at him |
the donkey, and scampered down the roa
turning first one ear and then the other
detect any sounds of pursuit. The donke
also convinced that the object before whit
he had halted was supernatural, start,
bacs violently upo seeing it apparent
turn to a man. But seeing that it hs
turned to nothing but a man, he wandert
mp into the deserted fence corner, and b
gan to nibble r~efreshment from a scrl
Oak.