The Osceola times., 1885-10-17
A FAMILY AFFAIR.
Tho Deacon's Son, and His Letter
to Tidy Slocomb


placard announcing that the Cecilia
Club would give a concert at Haver.
ford (six miles away, and Saul Kit.
redge was the ''basso profondo.
West Eden was far, very far from the
madding crowd. and the entertainments is
that came within its range were wont to
be Of the burnt-cork variety. They
savorcd of the ungodly, and of a very
humble social sphere. And Saul was
Deacon Kittrcdge's only son, and had
been expected to follow in his fathers
fooisteps-to be Deacon of the Church,
President of the Eden Bank, Postmaster
Of West Eden the Postmastership had
descended to the Deacon from his father
and grandfather undisturbed by polti.
cal charges. and the Deacon regarded
it as respectable heir-loom), and for a
wife he was to take to himself Mary
Willett, the minister's daughter.
All these plans were waiting for the
baby Saul when he opened his astonished
blinking black eyes upon this trouble
some world. Alas! almost from the
day of their opening the black eyes took
quite different views Of life. Before
heir owner was five he had set little
Mary Willttt down hard in a mud pie,
and run off to play with the disreputa-
Die children on ''the Flats"
"He's always been walkin' the down.
ward path" said Deacon Peters (of the
other church,) as he stopped for
friendly chat at the undertaker's door
on the day when the plscsrds appeared.
ITO think of his thrashih' the school
master, who was disciplinin' Tidy Slo-
comb, one Of them Flats children, and
.hen runnin' away with a circus when
ne van but sixteenl And then he left
college against his fathers will, and
The iirst'thing they knew he was playact-
IN in theatre! And he's courtin' Tidy
olocomb, and means TO marry her. They
.ay he promised his mother he'd give
lp the playactin', but | don't know but
his is Jest Ms bad. His father has cast
him of and forbid him the house, but he's
terrible broke down by it. Well, he's
been prosperous man, Deacon Kit
redge has, and you can't expect to flv
n the face of Providence every way"
Deacon Peters seemed TO regard Prov
idence as u malignant power ready to
sw0op down on mortals and take re-
venge for any happiness they might
have enioyed
saul want never what You could
call godly given" said Job Fisher, the
undertaken, fat and jovial man, who
was at work upon willow baby car
riage, cradles and baby carriages being
,heerlully mingled with the legitimate
products Of MS craft all over his shop.
"But he always seemed TO me like Il
'kitlish colt; there want nothin' really
wicked about him."
THE Lords Judgment amt ourn,"
said the deacon, stroking his stubby
chin lugubriously.
Materially He'd be more pertekler,
but it kind of seems to me as il He'd
know how to make allowances too"
The undertaken looked little alarmed
after he had given expression to this lax
doctrine, and hastened to add: 81 s'pose
be kind of soft-hcarted about Saul.
You see, him and me used to be great
friends when he was little curly-headcd
teller; he used to fix up play houses
round here in my shop-in cradles or
collins, cry one, twas all the same TO
him. can remember when he fetched
over his old cat and terrible homely
batch of kittens. and kept in a coffin
that I'd got ready for old Mr.. Hollis till
they was old enough to give away. l
was expeciin' every day that old Mr.
Hollis would want his coffin, but was
amazin how long he hung on"
I'm afraid Saul never had any real
lin sense Of solum things. said the dea-
con. But there is Deacon Kittredge
readin' one of the bills; it il certainly a
time to offer Christian sympathy"
1T amt playactin." said the under
taker 10 himself as the deacon departed,
''if basso proiondo does sound like
swearin', and somehow put you in mind
OF the bad place; and II nobody else
don't, Maria and I'll go over to hear
Saul sing
When Deacon Kittrdege saw the deacon
OF the other church coming toward him
be hurried away. 'lcan't talk about it
no, cant never talk about it to any
body but the Lord and Laviny,' he MUIR
INJURED to himself.
The post.oflice was an excrescence
upon the side of the large low-farm
house which Deacon Kittredges grand
lather had built; an ornamental excres-
eence, for West Eden was not after all,
so far from the maddipg crowd but
that hints of the new styles in architec'
ture reached il, and the post-oilice was
an aspiring work-box bedaubed with
hendish reds and yellows. of which the
solid, respectable old house looked
thoroughly ashamed. The family sit
tng room had been the post-office, ana
The new post-ofiice opened out OF ~;
otherwise she would have died of home
sickness after it was built, Mrs. kittIedge
declared. West Eden was a social place,
and as many people came to the office
now by the way of the sitting-room Is
oy the legitimate entrance.
Mrs. Kittredgs had become lame by
reason of chronic rheumatism, and was
unable to get about much. and ii It had
not been for the post office she couldn't
rs she often declared, have kept up so
with what was goin' on.
She knew whom everybody's letters
we're from; she sometimes walked the
deacon in the dead of the night with
shrewd guesses as TO their contents; and
nevertheless. she had hailed with de-
nght the advent of postal cards.
vi late the deacon had been ponder
Ing deeply the reasons why such q jadg.
ment shnuld haze cn,ns unnn him In the