The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-05-01
Selected Storp.
Duty and Kindness.

hNlC was ohSiJ iiOVh Oh NhO
countenance of Deacon Jonas Brown
ing. There were tears in the sad face
of his wife.
% He shall be sent to seal" said Dea-
con Browning, sternly.
There was a pleading look in the
eyes of Mrs. Browning, as she lifted
them to the iron face of her husband.
But no words passed her lips.
He shall be sent to seal 1t is my
last hope"
Philip is very young, JONAS" said
Mrs. Browning.
mot too young for evil, and there
fore not too young for the discipline
needed to eradicate evil. He shall go
to seal Captain Ellis sails in the
Fanny Williams on next Monday.
l will call upon him this very day"
" Isn't the Fanny Williams a
whaler?" The lips of Mrs. Browning
quivered, and her voice had choking
sound.
eyes," was firmly answered.
:" wouldn't send him away in a
whaler, Jonas. Remember he is very
young, not thirteen till April"
Young or old, Mary, he's got to
60" said the stern deacon, who was
believer in the gospel of the law. He
was no weak advocate of moral suasion,
as it is familiarly termed. He went in
for law, and was strict construction
list. Implicit obedience was the statute
for him, and deviations therefrom met
the never withheld penalty.
Mrs. Browning entered into no argu-
ment with her husband, for she knew
that would be useless. She had never
succeeded in changing his purpose by
argument in her life. And so she bent
her eyes meekly to the floor again,
while the tears crept over her face and
fell in large bright drops upon the car
pet. Deacon Browning saw the tears,
but they did not move him. He was
tear-proof.
Philip, the offending member of the
Browning family, was bright, active,
restless boy, who, from the start, had
been a rebel against unreasonable
authority, and as a matter of course,
not unfrequently against authority both
just and reasonable. Punishment had
only hardened him, increasing instead
of diminishing his power of endurance
The particular offence for which he
was now in disgrace was, it must be
owned, rather serious one. He had,
in company with three other boys of his
age, known as the greatest reprobates
in the village, rified a choice plum-tree
belonging to a neighbor of all the fruit
it contained, and then killed favorite
dog, which, happening to discover
them at their work, attempted to drive
them from the garden. The neighbor
had complained to Deacon Browning,
,,x,ip bic int mi n
threat to have Philip arrested for
stealing.
elf you don't do something with
that boy of yours" he added, with con-
side-able feeling, he'll end his days
in me state prison or on the gallows."
Hard words were these for the ears
of Deacon Browning. Hard words,
and with prophetic conviction in
them. He had not very creative i'm
agination, but in this instance the pre-
diction Of his angry neighbor conjured
up in his mind the image of a prison
and gallows, causing a shudder to
pass along his nerves and the cold per-
spiration to start upon his forehead.
From that moment the resolution of
Deacon Browning was taken.
The boy was on the brink of ruin
and must be saved at all hazards. As
to the means of doing this, it never en-
tered into the heart of Deacon Brown
ing to conceive of any other than in
volved harsh discipline. The Canaan
lite was in the land and must be driven
out with fire and sword. With him the
word duty had stern Specification
He had always tried to do his duty,
moving steadily onward in the path of
life and crushing down all vanities and
evils that sprang up by the way under
heel shod with iron.
He shall be sent to sea-" That was
the last desperate remedy. In his
mind, as in the minds of many like
him some years ago, a ship was the
great school of reform; and when a
boy was deemed incorrigible, he was
sent off to sea, usually TO have his evil
inclinations hardened into permanent
qualities.
When Deacon Browning met his son
Philip, after receiving the intelligence
of his great offence, it was with a stern
angry repulsion. He did not see the
look of appeal, the sigh of repentance
the plea for mercy, that was in his tear.
full eyes. A single word of kindness
"ONi' ho'S pAOhSh UP llS SiOab uNSl
of the boys heart, and impelled by the
warmer impulses inherited from his
mother, he would have flung himself
weeping into his fathers arms. But
Deacon Browning had separated duty
from kindness. The one was stern
corrector of evil, the other smiling
approver of good.
From his home to the wharf
where the Fanny Williams " lay, all
equipped for sea, Deacon Browning ben
his steps. Captain Ellis, a rough
hard man, was on board. After list
ening to the fathers story and requests
he said, bluntly:
If you put your boy on board the
Fanny Williams he'll have to benz
or break, that is certain. Take my ad
vice and give the matter SECOND
thought. He'll have a dogs life of i
on whaler. 1t is my opinion tina
your lad hasn't stuff enough in him TO
this experiment"
- II