Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1888-01-20
Sister Wiggin's Ear.Trumpet.

every Sunday when she went t.
meeting" in the little bare churct
on the bill.
If there was anything which Sis
ter Wiggi1s had all her life contend
ed against it was the sinfulness o
vanity; and now that her hearing haC
become sufficiently impaired to sane
tiou the use of artificial aid the devi
promptly stepped in and with plausi
bic arguments added another article
to the long array in arms against
Sister " iggin's soul. In the frs
place, she had possessed more thar
the usual amount of comeliGess as a
lass, and when Absalom Virgins
won the promise of her hand the
jealousy Of her female friends was
carried to such an extent that it was
only after great deal OF cUaxiDg and
of condescension on her part thai
two of them were persuaded to act as
bridesmaids. A moderate amount oI
envy on the part of her friends nigh,
have been a pleasant spice to hel
good fortune; but she often sighed
when talking it ever af;erward, and
lamented that she had been the in-
nocent cause Of such unholy pas
sions.
But it wasn't my fault if | was o
little better looking than the rest OF
EN-" she would say deprecatingly;
and | couldn't help Absalom's fall
ing in love with me. Sometimes |
wish | had red hair and freckles like
Sally Jones if 'twould make people
any kinder and keep me away from
the pitfalls of vanity"
Then Sister Wiggins was noted
twenty miles around for her cooking,
for her housekeeping and for the eX-
cellence of her weaving. No one
could make such bronze-like rusks
and such sponge-like cakes. Her
house was as free from dust from at.
tic to cellar es if she had made ready
for troop of Orientals who were ex,
pected to eat off the floors AS for
her carpets, who in New England
surprised her neighbors With such
original and striking designs as Sis
ter Virgins fine woven webs?
The state of things was becoming
critical, and the chances for Sister
Virgins soul were steadily growing
less, when her eighteen. year-old girl,
Alamanda, became n.yaged to her
French music-master. If anything
had been needed to give a touch of
exclusiveness to Sister Virgins
popularity, it was just this; and who
can wonder that she became a little
more absolute, little more arbitrary
and little less movable in her stands
and opinions from that time forth?
1t did not signify to her that the
Frenchman was only a handsome
bourgeois and without sou to his
nrme. Blinded by the glamour
which is apt to fall upon things
across the sea, she deferred to him as
if be had been a peer of tie realm;
and when be and his wife departed
this life, few years later, she cared
for their child as if he had been the
only scion of kingly house.
Matters were in this condition
the international unfortunate being in
bis tenth year-wheu Sister Wig
ging broached the subject of the ear
trumpet to Absalom, her son, his
father having died some years be-
fore
"It ain't," she said, "as if 1 didn't
need it. It's dreadful to sit there
wondering what hymn the parsons
giving oct. and sometimes never
knowin' till they've riz to sing If
'twasn't for that | should feel as
though we ought to save the money
for Louee."
"Seems to me you hear pretty toll
erable well, mother, "Absalom replied:
"as well as Deacon Botsford and two
or three of the Others"
"Oh but the Deacon's old |
shouldn't wonder if be was most q
year older'n me If | was as old as
be should expect to b. mortified in
The flesh"
So the infirmity became a vanity,
and what would have been intoler-
able as a common misfortune was
thus converted into mark OF distinc-
ton hardly less dear to her soul than
the foreign alliance. But | think the
devil himself must have been baffled
ard uncertain whether to howl or re-
ioice when it was quite determined in
Sister Wiggiu's mind that the trum-
pet should be used only on the Sab
or for state occasions, so to
speak When she laid it away be-
tween folds of cotton in the chest Of
drawers did she do so with a sense of
putting temptation from her during
the coming week and humbly step
ping down to the place of common
mortals p? or was the thought upper
most in her mind to the effect that
might breed contempt, and
that by this stratagem her own dig
nity and Importance might retained !?
L shall not attempt to enter into
the details of this complicated qnes-
lion, but will only state as fact
worth recording that never once did
she swerve from her resolution, and
that at neither Dorcas Society nor to
Missionary Meeting was Sister Wig
gins ear-trumpet ever known.
Deacon Botsford was a modest but
1ignifed little man with gray hair
and q forward stoop which gave him
of an iuquiring look. Now.
the Deacon had known Sister Wig
gins all his life. and watched with
sorrow a career 80 fraught with yam
tiles as hers had been. Was it any
wonder that his sorrow and anxiety
in dismay when be saw
that the very infrmity which in him.
self he accepted as proper chaslise-
ment for sins in the way of commits
sion and omission should in her case
be stepping stone by which the
devil was likely to gain an ascend
ancy over her soul ?Were all his pray
ers in her behalf to go for naught !?
Could nothing avail to make her see
the evil of her ways !?
The Deacon was the soul of sim
plicity and single-mindedness. and
for him to see a way which seemed
right unto him was to take it in spite