The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1885-08-27
ELDER Browns BACKSLIDE.

IlDI4N D1NO il " ~ D11OIAOLIDAs
Elder Brown told his wife goodbye
at the farm m-house 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 unac-
companied he set foot in the city. He
did not kiss her. Many good men
never kiss their wives. But small
blame attaches to the Elder for his
omission ON this occasion, since his
wife had long ago discouraged all
amorous demonstrations ON the part
of her liege lord, and at this particular
moment was filling the parting mo-
ments with a rattling list Of directions
concerning thread, buttons, hooks,
needles, and all the many etceteras of
an industrious housewives basket.
The Elder was laboriously asserting
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 that stood sleepily motionless in
the warm sunlight, with his great
pointed ears displayed to the right and
left, as though their owner had grown
tired of the fife burden their weight
inflicted upon him, and was, old sol
dier fashion, ready to forego the once
rigid alertness of early training for
the pleasures Of frequent rest on arms.
"And, Elder, don't you forgit them
caliker scraps. or you'll be wantin'
kiver soon an no kiver will be accom-
in"
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 mechan-
ically. The beast he bestrode respond
ed with a rapid whisking of its tail
and a graf show Of effort, as it am
bled 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 well-trained blood, the
mechanical manner Of the old man.
mind gave place to mild exuberance.
A weight seemed to be lifting from it
ounce BY ounce as the fence panels,
the weedy corners, the persimmon
sprouts, and sassafras bushes, crept
away behind him, so that by the time
a mile Law between him and the life
partner of his joys and sorrows he
was in reasonably contented fran e
of mind, and still improving.
1t was queer figure that crept
along the road that CHEEKY May morn
ing. 1t was 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 curled
and kinked in every direction, was
surmounted by an old-fashioned stove
pipe hat, worn and stained. but emf
nently impressive 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 occasions, had preserved it so
long. The trousers had soon parted
company with their friends. The
substitutes were red jeans, which,
while they did not we'll 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, it was this self-same Elder
Brown.
The morning expanded, and the old
man expanded with it; for while a
vigorous leader in his church, the Ell
der at home was, it must be admitted,
an uncomplaining slave. To the in
tense astonisnment of the beast he
rode, there came new vigor into the
whacks which fell upon his fanks;
and the beast allowed astonishmentt to
him into real life and decided
motion. Somewhere in the Elders
soul tune had begun to
ring. Possibly he took up the far
faint tune that came from the strag-
CLING gang Of negroes away off in the
field, as they slowly chopped amid the
thread-like rows Of cotton plants
which lined the level ground, for the
melody he hummed softly and then
sang strongly, in the quavering,
catchy tones of good old country
churchman, was, I'm glad salvation's
Free
It was during the singing Of this
hymn that Elder Browns regular
motion-inspiring strokes were for the
first time varied. He began to hold
MS hickory up at certain pauses in
,he melody, and beat the changes up
on the sides of his astonished steed.
The chorus under this arrangement
was,
'I'm glad salvation's free,
Pm glad salvation's free,
Pm glad salyation's free for all,
Pm glad salvation free"
Wherever there is an italic, the