The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-06-13

| ~SA VUA " N1G Cxa0sS-FOCkeTS not sens yer vas oTdai1sd. Ben practisin,, l reckon, at the meetin'."
 A slight color come into his cheek. "Mv place Is not there, Sister Hiler,n he said gently; "irs for those with the gift O tongues. go forth only a common la- borex in the vineysrd." He stopped and hesitated he might have said more but the widow, who was familiar with that kind of humility as the ordinary perfuuctory expression Of her class, suggested no sym. pathetic interest in his mission.
 "Thar's deal O talk over there,n she said dryly, "and thar's folks sz thinks thar's deal O money spent in picnicking the gospel that might be given to them ez wish to spread it, or to their widows and children. But that don't consarn you, Brother Gideon. Sister Parsons hez money enough to settle her darter Nicely comfortably on her own land; and I've heard tell that yon and Nicely was only waitin' till you was ordained to be lined together. You'll hev an easier time of it. Brother Gideon, than poor Marvin Hiler had," she continued, supppessing her tears with certain astringency that took the place of her lost pride but the Lord wills that some should be tried and some not"
 But l am not going to marry Nicely Parsons" said Gideon quietly.
 The widow took her foot from the rocker. Not marry Nicely !" she re- peated vaguely. But relapsing into her Respondent mood she continued: Then l reckon it's true what other folks sez of Brother Silas Braggley maxim up to her and his powerful exhortin' influence over her ma. Folks sez C Sister Parsons hez just resigned her soul into his keepin'."
 Brother Silas hez a heavenly gift" said the young man, with gentle enthusi- asm "and perhaps it may be so. If it is, it is the Lords will. But do not marry Nicely because my life and my ways henceforth must lie far .yond her sphere of strength. oughtn't to drag a young and inexperienced soul with me to battle and struggle in the thorny paths that must tread"
 reckon you know your own mind" said Sister Hiler grimly. "But thar's folks ez might allow that Nicely Parsons ain any better than others that she should not have her share O trials and keers and crosses. Riches and brngin' up don't exempt folks from the shadder. Imar- ried Marvin Hiler outer a house ez good ez Sister Parsons, and at time when old Cyrus Parsons hadn't roof to his head but the cover of the emigrant wagon he kem across the plains in. l might say CT Marvin knowed pretty well Wot it was to have a helpmeet in his ministration, if it wasn't vanity of sperit to say it now. But the flesh is weak, Brother Gideon" Her influenza here resolved itself into unmis- takable tears, which she wiped away with the first article that was accessible in the work-bag before her. As it chanced to be black silk neckerchief of the deceased
 iiler, the result was funereal, suggestive, but practically ineffective.
 "You were a good wife to Brother Hl!er," said the young man gently. Everybody knows that."'
 "l,'s suthin' to think of since he's gone," continued the widow, bringing her work nearer to her eyes to adjust it to their tear-dimmed focus. It's suthin' to lay to heart in the lonely days and nights when thar's no man round to fetch water and wood and lend hand to doin' chores it's suthin' to remember, with his three children to feed, and little Selby, the eldest, that vain and useless that he can't even tote the baby round while I do | the work of hired man."
 "It's hard trial, Sister Hiler,n said Gideon, !" but the Lord has His appointed time"
 Familiar as consolation by vague ouo- tation was to Sister Hiler, there was an | occult sympathy in the tone in which this was offered that lifted her for an in- stant out of her narrower self. She raised her eyes to his. The personal abstrac- ton of the devotee had no place in the deep dark eyes that were lifted from the cradle to hers with sad, discriminating, and almost womanly sympathy. Sur. prised out of her selfish preoccupation, she was reminded of her apparent call lousness to what might be his present disappointment. Perhaps it seemed strange to her, too, that those tender eyes should go a-begging.
 Yer takin' a christian view of yer own disappointment, Brother Gideon" she said( with less astringency of manner "b4 every heart knoweth its own sorrer. I'll be gettin' supper now that baby's sleepin' sound, and yer1l sit by and eat"
 H you let me help you, Sister Hiler," said the young man with cheerfulness that belied any overwhelming heart af- lection, and awakened in the widow a feminine curiosity as to his real feelings to Nicely. But her further questioning was met with frank, amiable and simple brevity that was as puzzling as the most artful periphrase of tact. Accustomed as she was to the loquacity of griet and the confding prolixity of disappointed lovers, she could not understand her guests quiescent attitude. Her curiosity, how ever, soon gave way to the habitual con. compilation of her own sorrows, and she could not torego the opportune presence of q sympathizing auditor to whom she could relieve her feelings. The prepara- tions for the evening meal were therefore accompanied by dreary monotone of iamentahon. She bewailed her lost youth, ner orief courtshiP, the struggles of her early married fife, her premature widow hood her nenurious and helnlees sx;eA.