Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1890-11-13


turesque, build it prim and straight as
we viii. The very rudeness in structure
of Sagnauck mill added to its beauty.
Anything else than unplaned planks
or riVen boards for the roof would have
been out Of place among the trees which
grew up to its very walls, and the leaves
which beat tattoo upon the roof with
every wind that blew. A dam had been
thrown across the creek Just below the
curve to the westward; banking up
deep pool around which the willows
grew, sweeping their long limbs over the
surface and under which the boys passed
hours with hook and line. The water,
held back by the dam of logs, rushed
down tumultuousIy through the sluice-
gates, turned the great wheel which set
the machine in motion, escaped and went
on its way though the woods, a little
angry with dam and wheel, but rather
merry withal over its regained freedom.
ALI night long the woods had re-echoed
the tril Of the nightingale, and all day
long the sound of the woodlands az made
sweet music for the wives at Sagnauck.
Down deeper in the forest and farthest
from the settlement-so far, in fact, that
the sound Of his az could but family be
heard at the edge Of the wood-the man
who had blaZed the way and led the colo
nists to their new home was preparing
his winter fuel on this autumn morning.
But no woman's heart would have quick
ened its beat for q moment with
thoughts of the chopper, had one heard
the ring of his ak. or known it
was his. For Mark Hillary was the
black sheep of Sagnauck, and up to date
had succeeded in acquiring for himself
reputation for roughness and, if not for
crime, the near approach to it, which
caused his respectable neighbors to look
upon him as little better than q heather,
if not worse. The minister said worse"
and in truth his conduct, and open ridi-
cule of those institutions which our
Puritan forefathers held most dear, gave
ample reason for his low repute among
them. With strong wil-poWer, aided
by great physical strength, he had all his
life spurned control and resented any
thing which sa vored of compulsion or
restriction upon his rights or freedom of
thought and action. Thus he had come
at once in contact with church and state.
Early in life Mark Hillary had crossed
the ocean and lent his strength in build
ing up the New England. hoping in her
to find the freedom he had not secured in
old England, so when he encountered
the rigid laws of the Puritan govern
ment, which prescribed not only what he
must believe and do, but what he must
believe and think, his nature rebelled,
and, being called to account once or twice
for some careless remark concerning the
Puritan faith, he abjured religion and
took the position of open antagonism to
the church. Then, being badgered by
both church and state, both of which had
been founded to allow freedom Of belief,
he became cynical and took care to spare
no one, not even he Rev Henry Gran
vile, if opportunity afforded a sharp
repartee.
And yet a close observer must have
been able to detect some good in the man.
If he abjured his fellows, he at least
ha ar1ir al
and he was thoroughly at home in the
forest. His place was in the front, he
was wont to say, and, in time, he grew
accustomed to add, "as far from the
white man as possible" So, after year
In the settlement, he had built him a
cabin in the woods. half mile west, and
rarely entered the village except on Sun
day and lecture days.
No doubt this seclusion had much to
do with the low repute he fell into, for
the man who despises the smallness of
his companions is rarely loved by those
he esteems so poorly, especially If he
takes no pains to conceal his opinion.
But out there by himself he communed
with nature in his rough way, was happy,
and would have been tolerably decent
man had he been left alone. He knew
every bird around his cabin, and watched
over their nests as though they were his
own property.
MY village" he sometimes said to
himself, what more need have I of
friends?"
He took genuine pleasure also in sit
ting at evening in his cabin door and
watching the tall trees, straight and stiff
in the calm summer, or bowling before
the storm which now and then passed
overhead. Once he WAS heard to speak
to them as if they had been endowed
| with life, which speech, being carried to
the minister, caused no little concern in
| the society, and was carefully filed away
| to be brought out at some later day, when
chance should be given to force this
heather into conversion, or when his
ofenses had accumulated sufficiently to
give pretext for driving him away.
On this same morning at nine o'clock
the minister left his sermon unfinished
upon his desk, and, with a very severe
look upon his long, slim face, walked
with quick, nervous step down the one
street of Sagnauck.
The Rev. Henry Granville was a tall
and well-built man, but his emaciated
| body, sunken, sallow cheeks, and the
nervous twitch of his muscles as he
| rested, stood or walked. showed that his
once strong constitution had been broken
/ either by too lengthy sittings by the study
lamp or by some secret trouble, which,
| commencing with the mind, had gradu-
ally spread through his body until the
| whole man had become its prey. The tall
| frame was now little more than skeleton
and he habitually bowed his head-not IL
self depreciation, but through weakness
| and nervousness. The reverend gentle
man would have found it a difficult tasH
| to have hidden from justice had he ever
committed crime. He was at all times
and in all places Henry Granville, and
could no more have changed his charac-
teristics or concealed his peculiaritiei
than the typical leopard could change hi
1 co1orad skin The rniDiafar was al
ways recognized as far as he could b.
seen. His long black coat, which no ont
ever saw him without, unless it might bG
his wife, and rumor said that he ever
slept in it; the nervous twitching of hi
body, raising his shoulders and lowering
his head; his long strides in walking
i