Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1886-07-30

straction. she surrept iously drew, 81. 81
her hymn book and slyly penciled 5,
the margin:
q 4et the cold world deride me, u II
win but love thee more,
Whatever fate betide thee !, S. .9s. 81.
Here she stopped, the only rhymu,
that suggested itself being .,gore.'
Struggling with the situation she hat
just changed the line: viii not sheas
thy gore. to ..my heart but cal
adore when she was recalled to her
self By the sound Of Mr.. SHOWS voice
as he finished reading the usual list o
notices. "A most painful circumstance
having arisen that seriously affects ii
as community as well as q congrega.
ton. since it compromises the good
names Of two Of our members, feel il
q duty to afford an opportunity for a
full explanation. The congregation
are invited to meet at the parsonage
tomorrow evening at s o'clock.
hope that every member of this con.
gregation will be present" H.
After that it mattered little whethe,
the sermon were marvel of brilliancy
or the dullest disquisition that ever
bored a long suffering audience. No
one paid the slightest attention to it,
except old Maj. Dorr, who was SO deaf
that he only caught about one word in
ten, and had thus missed the story o.
the love letter that the school teacher
had written to Mrs. Downs. He always
went regularly to church, however, and
affected to receive great satisfaction
therefrom.
After the conclusion of the services,
Mrs. Cowles, Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Martin
and Mrs. Jeffrey stopped in the aisle
for moments conference.
Il shall take Beatrice Cenci out OF
the school," said Mrs. Jeffrey. mo
child of mine shall he under the in
struction of a teacher who writes love
letters to q married woman.
':And to think that Mr.. Snow should
attempt to cover it up and excuse it, !"
added Mrs, Cowles. Il don't know
but we shall be obliged to withdraw
from the church. My husband thinks
there is a great deal of corruption
among ministers themselves, now
adays."
Certainly no one was better able to
detect corruption anywhere than Mr..
Cowles, if half the stories of his own
immoral escapades could be relied up
on. But Mrs. Cowles' friends remain
ed discreetly silent on this point.
II shall not allow Cora to go to the
parsonage tomorrow evening"" inter-
posed Mrs. Brown. IT think the dis
cussion of such subjects has most
demoralizing effect on young people.
1t is deplorable affair all round
But when the evening came Cora did
go. More than that, to her mother
great sorrow, she crossed the room and
sat down by Jack Downs and his wife,
who sat alone together on the long So
ia, although a great many were stand
ing up all around the large parlors.
This was not so much from sympathy
with Mrs. Downs as professional in
stinct such as that which impels sur
geon to investigate all sorts of patholo-
gical monstrosities. She wanted to OBJ
serve for herself the ravages of re-
morse, humiliation and unhappy love,
the better to finish her poem.
But Mrs. Downs was as pretty, as
gay, and as nonchalant as ever. Once
or twice she whispered behind her fan
to her husband, and once she actually
laughed, which SO outraged the sensi-
bilities of the more severely virtuous
matrons that they shuddered with hor-
ror at her audac1ty.
Mr.. Cotton was a romantic looking
young man, with disheveled hair, and
a look of general shrewdness. He had
lately come to Pine Falls as a teacher,
and now stood leaning against the
mante]. His romantic appearance, Sc
attractive to the ladies. was due to his
hair, which he wore long on account
of his ears, they being enormously
large, and an interesting ,pallor which
was caused by dyspepsia and not un-
happy love, as the young Ladies' sup,
posed.
Il have here" said Mr.. Snow, "a
letter which has been a theme OF
much severe comment The envelope
is addressed to Mrs. Downs, and il
was picked up in the street by Mrs,
Martins little son, who took it to bis
fathers grocery The contents are in
different penmanship, with Mr.. Col.
toms name as a signature. I will ask
Mr.. Cotton to make an explanation,
which will no doubt be satisfactory
'*Satisfactory!' repeated Mr..
Cowles, with more spirit than po.
|. likeness. lit seems to me that when
a man writes in that style to another
mans wife, calling her husband q
base wre1ch''-here he cast an indig.
nant glance at Jack Downs-''and
urging her to run away with him, 9
satisfactory explanation is not an easy
NATTER
You are mistaken, SIR" answered
Mr.. Cotton. IAN explanation in this
case is very easily made. I am mem
Der of an amateur theatrical club, and
wrote out my part at Mr.. Downs one
evening, copying it out of q book O
his. Mrs. Downs gave me an envelope
from one of her letters that Law on the