The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1885-09-17
ELDER Browns BACKSLIDE.
III L.

him large sum of money, or should
have, and she knew also that he was
man without business methods.
She had long since repented Of the de-
cision which sent him to town. When
the old battered hat and four-covered
coat loomed up in the cleaning and
confronted her, she stared with terror.
The next instant she seized him.
''For the Lord sakes, Elder Brown,
what ails you? AS [ live, if the man
amt drunk! Elder Brown! Elder
Brown! for the life of me can't 1
make you hear? You crazy old hypo-
crite! you desavin' old sinner! you
black-hearted wretch! where have you
benz"
The elder made an effort to wave
her off
Woman" he said, with grand dig
nifty, you forgit yussef;; shu know
ware I've ben swell 81 do. Ben to
town, wife, an see yer wat I've
brought-the fines hat, ole woman, I
could git. Look't the color Like
goes 18th like; it's red an you're red,
an it's dead match. What yer
mean? Hey! hole on! ole woman!-
you! HanhahL YOU" She literally
shook him into silence.
"You miserable wretch! you low
down drunken sot! what do you mean
by coming home and insulting your
wife?" Hannah ceased shaking him
from pure exhaustion.
"Where is it, I say? where is it?"
By this time she was turning his
pockets wrong side out. From one
she got pills, from another change,
from another packages.
"The Lord be praised, and this is
better luck than [ hoped! Oh, elder!
elder! elderl what did you do it for?
Why, man, where is Balaam?''
Thought Of the beast choked off
the threatened Mysteries.
''Balaam? Balaam?" said the elder,
groggily. HES in town. The infer
nal ole fool suited me, an, lef' him
to walk home.
His wife surveyed him. Really at
that moment she did think his mind
was gone; but the leer upon the old
mans face enraged her beyond endur-
ance.
"You did, did you? Well, now, L
reckon you'll laugh for some cause,
you will. Back you go, straight
back; an don't you come home 'thout
that donkey, or you'll rue it, sure as
my name is Hannah Brown. Aleck!
you Aleck-k-k"
A black boy darted round the cor
ner, from behind which, with several
others, he had beheld the brief but
stirring scene.
Put a saddle on er mule. The ell
der's gwine back to town. And don't
you be long about it either"
"Yessum." Alexis ivories cleaned
in the darkness as he disappeared.
Elder Brown was soberer at that
moment than he had been for hours.
Hannah. you don't mean it?"
Eyes, sir, do. Back you go to
town as sure as my name is Hannah
Brown"
The elder was silent. He had never
know his wife to relent on any occa-
sion after she had affirmed her inten-
ton, supplemented with las sure as
my name is Hannah Brown" 1t was
her way Of swearing. No affidavit
would have had half the claim upon
her as that simple enunciation.
So back to town went Elder Brown,
not in the order Of the early morn,
but silently, moodily, despairingly,
surrounded by mental and actual
gloom.
The old man had turned last ap-
pealing glance upon the angry wo-
man, as he mounted with Alexis as
sistance, and sat in the light that
streamed from out the kitchen win
dow. She met the glance without a
waver.
"She means it, as sure as my name
is Elder Brown" he said, th1ckly.
Then he rode on.
To say that Elder Brown suffered
on this long journey back to Macon
would only mildly outline his expert
ence. His early mornings fall had
begun to make itself felt. He was
sore and uncomfortable. Besides, his
stomach was empty, and called for
two meals it had missed for the first
time in years.
When, sore and weary, the elder
entered the city, the electric lights
shone above it like Jewels in crown.
The city slept; that is, the better por-
ton OF it did Here and there, how
ever, the lower lights flashed out into
the night Moodily the elder pur-
sued his journey, and as he rode, far
off in the night there rose and qui-
vered plaintive cry. Elder Brown
smiled wearily: it was Balaam's ap-
peal, and he recognized it. The ami
NAL he rode also recognized it, and re-
piled, until the silence of the city was
destroyed The odd clamor and con-
fusion drew from saloon near by a
group Of noisy youngsters, who had
been making night Of it. They sur
rounded Elder Brown as he began to
transfer himself to the hungry beast
to whose motion he was more accus-
toned, and in the hail fellow we'll
met" style Of the day began to handy
jests upon his appearance. Now Ell
der Brown was not in a jesting humor.
Positively he was in the worst humor
possible The result was that before
many minutes passed the old man was
swinging several Of the crowd by their
collars, and breaking the peace of the
city A policeman approached, and
but for the good-humored party,
upon whom the elders pluck had
made a favorable impression, would
have run the old man into the bar
racks. The crowd, however, drew
him laughingly into the saloon and to
the bar The reaction was too much
for his half-rallied senses: He yielded
again. The reviving liquor passed
his lips. Gloom vanished. He be-
came one of the boys.
The company into which Elder
Brown had fallen was what is known
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