Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1888-12-27
Deacon Pitkil'SFaTm
BY HARRIET BEEcuER STOWE.
CHAPTER III.

the m nor key,
There seemed at first glance only the
ele ents jOyCusnesS and gay ETY. in the
surroundings a the Pitkin farm. Thanks
giving was come-the family, healthy
ros and noisy, were all under the one
roof tree. There was energy. v nth in
teligenCc, beauty,-a pa r of lovers on the
eve of Detrothal Just i'll that mistI. golden
twilight that precedeJ the full sunrise Of
avOwed and accepted love, and UT behind
it all was walking with steallhy step the
shadow Ct a coming sorrow.
''What in the world alS James," said
Diana as she retreated from the door and
surveyed him at a distance from her
chamber window His face W like a
lands ape over which a thunde cloud has
drifted, and he walked beside his father
wit peculiar air OF proud displeasule
and repression.
At that moment the Young man was
struggling with bit est sorrow that
can befall you h-the breaking up OF his
llfe-purl OSe. lie had st come to de-
cisiOn to sacrifice his hopes Of education,
his mans ambition, his lrv', HIS home
and family, and become a wanderer on
the face of the arth. How this befell
ie uires a sketch of charac er.
Dea on SilaS Pitkin was fair specl-
men of a class of men not uncommon In
New En- gland -meH too sensitive for the
severe physical COndt Ons of New ng
land life, and therefore b tn suffering AMI
intlicting suffering. lie was a man o. the
finest moral traits, Of incOrruptibe p"obi.
ty, of scrupuOus homo, of an eXac ing
COnscienti0usnesS, and Of sincere pey.
But he had begun life with nothing his
whole standing in he world had been
gained inch by in h by he most unremit-
ting economy and self-deniaI, and he was
man Of little capacity for hope, of whom
it was said, in proper phraseOogy, that
he took things hard. lie was never
Sanguine Of good, always eXpertant of
evil. and seemed to view ife like a santi-
mel forbidden t. sleep and constantly I'M
der arms.
For such man 10 be harassed by a
mort gage upon his hOmeSteal was a steady
- wear and drain upon his vitality. There
were times when oSi i've horror of dark
ness came down upon him-when his
wife's untroubled, patient hOpefulness
Z seemed to him like reck lesSness, when
the smallest item of exp nse was an in
tplerabIe burden, and the very daily
bread of life was full of bitterness and
when these parOXySms were upon him
one of the heaviest of his burdens was the
support of his son in college 1t was true
thai he was proud of his sons talents and
sympathiycd with his love for learning
he had to tn full that sense
of the value of education which is the
very vital force of the New England mind
and in an hour when tn ngs ooked
--brf1h.e r to him he had given hg consent
to the scheme OF a college education freely.
James was industrious, frugal rneget.
ic, and ha engaged TO pay the most of
his own e pens, by teaching In the ion
I1t ~ q IN =
year the MapIeton aCadem which h; d
long been promised to him or the winter
term, had been taken away by little
maneuver of local politics and G' en- &c
another, thus leaving him without re
source This disappOin ment coming
Just at the time when The yearly intere t
upon the mortgage was due. had brought
upon his fatner one Of those ra'o ysnlI OF
helpless gloom and discOuragement in
which the very world Sc is emed clothed
in SaCk-clOth.
From the time that he heard the acade-
my was gone Deacon Silas la awake
nights in the blackness of darkness. we
4 shall all 90 to the poorhOuSe together
that's where it will end " he said, as he
tossed rcStleSSy in the dark.
''C h no, no my dear said his W fr.
with those serene eyes that had looked
through so many gloomy hours; I'VE must
cast our care Oh nOd. y
Its easy for women to talk. You don I
have the interest money to pay, YOU are
perfectly reckless o expense. Nothing
would do but James must 60 to coll ge,
and now see what it's bringing IL to. -
why, father, | thought you yourself
we in favor of it,.
We'll. | did wrong then. You per
suaded me into it. ia no business "a
ha, u II : nIu of oil
this load on my shouldc;,."
Yet Mary Pitkin knew in her own calm,
clear head that sht had not been re kles
of expense. The year y interest money
was e er before her, nd her wn ince>
SAINT tolls had wrOugh no small portion
OF what was needed 10 pay it. er butte,
at the store commanded the very higheS
price her straw bTaid'ng sold for it'll
more than that of any other hand, and sht
had calculated all the returns 80 eXactl!
2 that she felt sure that the interest money
for that year was safe. he had seen hel
husband pass thrOu h this ner GU criSi
many times before, and she had learned t
be blamed in silence, for >he was a w0mar
out of whom all seIfness had long since
died leaving only the tender p ty OF thu
nurse and the CONSIDER. lier soul resteC
Co. en- her Saviour, the one ever present In
sci arabic friend; and when it did no goo
to speak to her husband, she spoke to he
God for him, aud so was peaceful anC
peace-giying.
tyen her husband himself felt he
strengthening, rest-giving power. and fol
this reason he bore down on her with hi
burden of all his tremOrs and h S cares
for while he disputed. yet he believed her
and rested upon her with an utter helpless
trust, as the good an ell of his house. l. al
she for moment given way to ap rehen
sion, had her step been a Il ought les
firm. her e e less peaceful, hen indeed
The world ! self would have seemed to b.
sinking under his feet. Meanwhile sht
was TO him that kind of relief which WI
derive from a person to whom we may sa,
everything without a fear of its harminJ
Them. He felt quite sure that say wha
h. would, Mary would always be hopeful
and courageous; and he felt some secre
dea that his own gloomy fOrebodings wer
OF ser Ice in restricting and soberln wha
seemed to IN her too sanguine ature
He llindly reveTenced thout ability
10 comprehend her allied Telgio
fervor, AMI the ouetude of sou
that it brorg ht. But he did no
know through how many silent conflict
how many prayers, how many tears how
many hopes resigned and SORROWS WELDON
ed, sht had come into that last refuge o
sorrowlul souls, that immovable peac
when all LIES anguish ceases, and tn
will OF God becom S the final rest
But, unhappily for this present crisis
tsere was as there often is in family life
Just enough of the fathers nature in tn
sen 10 bring item iuto ollision with eacl
other. James had the same nerv0usl,
anxious nature, the same intense feelin
OF resp, visibility, the same tenden Y TO
w2rds morbid earnes ness; and on tina
dav there had co ne collision.
His father ad poured fourth Up ., mir
his fears AMI apprehensons in .danne
: which nipple a cen ure ON his son, asbe
viii ng 10 accep a life OF S hOlarly ase
while his father and mother were, as b
expires, cd II, ''workiug their lives away.
shut ell you, futile, a
# God Is my witness mean to pa
Nh all: you shall net lsa crs interes
w. and principal all sat NY work woal
hrlnS---i ensagWo "a pack.
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