Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1886-06-24

REV. ANTHONY BhENT CEAbEo ~ hE hhsSAOh
With all her seriousness Sophia had never
been what We can an ecclesiastical girl. The
modern fashion Of church decoration and
other customs Of reverence and taste in re-
heion, had not at that time fairly arisen; but
ladies wero even then very active in church
Work. From this Sophia had always kept
Aloof, greatly TO the surprise Of successive
clerpymen, who had marked her as likely to
be useful in their parishes To repeated in
yitations that she would become a district
visitor or Sunday school teacher Sophia had
always answered no; and she had never given
any reason for this refusal .f ...
Whether she liked dancing, and feared that
her pleasure might be restricted, or what may
have been her reason, cannot guess. Even
when our rector tried to persuade her to help
him, her answer was still simple no;
nor could the merry little clergyman
by any semi-jocose questioning extract
from her q syllable more. He turned
about and tried gravity and serious
remonstrance; but with no better result Ac-
cordingly Mr.. Brent was somewhat sur
prised when, about six months after his sons
departure, Sophia asked him if she could be
Of any use to him in the parish or the Sunday
gladly. And capital teacher and punctual
visitor he found her. But Mr.. Brent noticed
that at their various little meetings Sophia
would manage to linger until the other
ladies were gone, then she would talk bit,
and somehow the talk always veered about
till it settled on Percival, when Sophia would
ask few questions and be gone. Even little
Mr.. Brent, who was not an observer Of things,
sometimes felt that these two or three little
sentences about Percival were with Sophia
the business of the day At an earlier period
of his career he would have broken many q
jest upon this discovery; but jests were by
cones with our poor rector. The twinkle
had fallen from his eye, and the blitheness
had sunk out of his tone. A pallor was steal
ing over his face, and he was fast turning
gray. As one of his parishioners who made
her living by laundry work said, "He looked
like gown that had been to the wash" the
colors had run; what remained was himself
and not himself
And now, disregarding for a moment our
small chronology, let me dismiss the rector
from this tale, where, indeed, he has little
more to do. ...l.
Poor Sophia clung to him more than most
Of his parishioners and she found a real
pleasure in his society, because it seemed to
be kind Of remote contact with Percival.
The bedroom where Percival had slept from
boyhood was in that house The books he
had read were on the shelves. Here he used
to sit at dinner. There was the garden walk
where he was won't to saunter with his pipe.
She knew the very peg where his hat used to
hang Somehow he did not seem quite so far
away when she was in the precincts of his
own home, and the rector's dispirited talk
had certain liveliness for her, because he
was Percivals father. Occasionally too, she
would get a glimpse at her absent lad him
self. For instance, one day, as they were
walking together to the garden gate, the
RECTOR said. .,....
@Percv planted that rose.
Next week, as thew went the same wav.
Sonbia stonned beside the rose tree to pluck
off n few withered leaves and make the plant
look trim. Mr. Brent. stopping with her.
said in his distracted way:
" never told you: Perciya1 planted t. at
rose.n
He never told her! Why, by that time she
knew how many leaves were on it, and could
spell its name and knew its prospect of life,
naVlng become LOT reTclVals sake pefiec1
horticultural actuary. .
Then another day the rector said listlessly
for he never Joked with her about his son,
and indeed seemed to have only faint re-
membrance OF that connection;
u heard from Percy this morning; would
you care to hear bis letter.
Sophia, who would have lived on bread and
water for week rather than miss one line
her darling wrote, said, trying with miserable
atfectation to initiate the rector's apathetlc
" Yes, II u g. Is no1 erouDhng you
rernaps, Mr. nreno saio, as you oonG
seem greatiy 10 care lor IL we neeo no' reao
tnls one, put walt ior tne next.
ne saia tnis quioe innocently' 9 Dut ne put
oopnla III ureaului hA' WIN 'he ihseincO