The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1885-05-16


Because we cannot see Gods reason plainly
He surely is all wisdom, love, and power
| Shall we not trust him for life's little hour?
| For thus saith Christ, who notes our every cry,
Who lived man, to labor, suffer, die;
"Let not your heart be troubled"
Sunday School Times.
The Rev. Jonas Elderberry's Va
cation.
The Reverend Jonas Elderberry had
preached in Flintville twenty years, and
had never had vacation. Sickness
and death had caused him to miss a
few Sundays now and then, and after
much deliberation, not entirely free
from acrimony, the church had decided
on each of these occasions not to de-
duct anything from his salary, con-
cession which was thought very gener-
Gus, as he received seven hundred a
year, and the parsonage rent free.
Still these brief respites from labor were
not vacations. Though quiet man,
Mr.. Elderberry was not without ambi-
tions and dreams. He sometimes
wrote short articles and poetry, which
appeared in magazines and newspapers
under the veil of 81. E." and were
pronounced by the editors "imagina-
tive" So it was not strange that he
often fancied himself and his little
wife, Matilda, going on real vacation,
and looking upon the mountains and
the sea. But these dreams were like
others he had of owning a reliable gold
watch instead of the ridiculous silver
turnip that licked away like a town.
clock, in his pocket, or of owning a
home of which he could speak proudly
as "my house." In his sober moments
and most of his life was very sober
indeed-he never expected to have any
of these dreams realized.
The children that had come to the
parsonage had all died in infancy, and
perhaps that was the reason that there
was almost always some one stopping
there. All the cousins came, even to
the fourth and fifth degrees, and cous-
ins reduced to their lowest terms, so to
speak and this abundant hospitality
cost something, in spite of the fact that
Mrs. Elderberry was the maid of all
work; and SO, notwithstanding the
seven hundred year, and an occasion
al five dollars from some editor, Mr..
Elderberry's only bank stock was few
hundreds in what was called expressive.
ly, "back salary"
Flintville, though an old place, was
little more than one long street, lined
with white houses, we'll hidden from
the road by honey-locusts and poplars.
The Orthodox Westinghouse had re-
ceived sundry coats of paint; but, in
other respects, was just as it was the
first time Mr.. Elderberry entered it.
Thepeople were conservative, and the or.
thodox were the most conservative in the
place; so they quietly ignored the smar,
little pine box, called "The Church, -
which had sprung up on one side o.
them, and the squat brick building
around the corner, called the Hallelu
| jah Chapel, and resisted innovations.
The Rev. Julius Surplice, rector O.
"The Church," took a vacation in
July; but as he was an unmarried man
it was supposed he spent the time with
his parents. AS for the Chapel, it:
ministers came and went too often te
need vacation; while in Flintville, as
Mr.. Elderberry read his sermons, il
was known that he wrote them; bu
any male member of his flock, if asked
his opinion of such labor, would have
said: "It must be easy enough to sit in
the house, and write things out of YOU
head, if you have been to college .
AS for the women, while they consider
ed sermon-writing too deep tor the fe
male mind, they yet considered i,
something of the nature of woman.
work, not a definite business, but ar
occupation to be taken up at odd mo
ments, as knitting, or patchwork, wher
nothing more important was going on
"Nature cannot endure everlasting dropping"
and Mr.. Elderberry had twice asked
for vacation without success, wher
Mr.. Whitaker, of Chicago, after doing
something very sharp in corn, sent hi
wife to Flintville, to visit her father
Deacon Billings. 81 never heard of :
minister's preaching through August 7
she exclaimed, lifting her bejewelee
hands. And the next Sunday, tn.
long-desired vacation was granted, al
though Squire Pogg opposed it, saying
if he hired man to hoe corn, he die
not expect him to skip every other row
"Where shall we 60, Matilda ?
said Mr.. Elderbery, the next morning
"We |" exclaimed Mrs. Elderberry
tremulously. "It's your vacation
Jonas. II don't see how can leave
There's the hens, and the house, ant
the missionary bed. quilt; and Cousil
Alzina liable to come any day."
my dear, said Mr.. Elderberry, will
full eyes, 'ifI go anywhere, you shall
accompany me-
Thursday evening came; but Mr.
Elderberry had not succeeded in OBJ
tanning cent from the 'back salary.
He had been asked exactly fifty-tw'
times where he was going, and whel
he would start; and there was in hi
pocket-book fifteen dollars and seventy
five cents.
'Tilda, he said, coaxingly. Let
60 and see Sister Martha.
Though Mrs. Martha Tucker ha,
been like a daughter in Mr.. Elderberry'
fathers house, she was the child of hi
mothers sister. She had been maj
ried five years when he welded NATL
da, and had soon afterwards visite
them at the parsonage. When she ha
4 invited them to come and see her, MI
Elderberry had always intended to d
so; but the Tucker farm was fort
miles away across the hills, the stag
|. fare was an item to be considered, an
!. his wife always received his remarks o
4 the subject in silence. Without muc
thought about the matter, he had cor