The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1893-08-14
A CHURCH MEMBERS EXPERT.
ENCE.

"That reminds me, said the parson,
as he took another handful of crackers
from the barrel and cut a slice from
the cheese on the counter, while the
proprietor moved uneasily in his seat,
"that reminds me Of the experience of
a member of the church Of which ]
was the pastor up in Oregon one spring.
The story was told to me by Brother
Jones himself while in fit of remorse.
"'Parson, he said to me; "Parson,
do you remember the time that you
asked every member of the church TO
contribute a quarter to the purpose Of
paying for the hymn books which had
just been bought for the Sunday
school,?
"'Yes, | said, Brother Jones, re-
member the time very WE'LL
"Well, parson,' he continued, 4 sat
there in my seat watching that contri-
button box go around, and seeing
nearly everybody drop in a quarter.
When it came to Brother Smith he put
in a half dollar, and | don't know why
it was, unless Satan had me in his
clutches, but said to myself "rhere,
now, he has put in enough to make up
for mine," and felt of the quarter in
my pocket. Just then the box came
to Widow Franklin, and she did not
put in anything. "There," said l,
'Now I'll have to put in my quarter, if
times are hard and the children do
need shoes, and the prospects for crops
are not good this year"
"'While l was thinking this way
Bennett passed the box to Brother
Brown, and he put in another half.
Satan got me again and seemed to
whisper in my ear: "There, that's for
YOU" and so when the box reached me
next | just looked the other way and
Elder Bennett passed along to the next
pew, after giving the box a shake to
attract my attention, but pretended
not to notice it.
"Well, you know, had nearly
seven miles to walk home. When |
got halfway and was going through
the woods it began to rain hard, and it
grew dark much sooner than | had
counted on. | remembered a hollow
tree just big enough for me to squeeze
into, which stood little further on, so
hurried and reached it before | got
very wet The rain hogan to pour
down now, so | decided to remain
in the tree until it stopped, knowing
that the folks would not worry, because
| often remained in town over night
when went to church on Sundays.
"'l made myself as comfortable as
possible in that tree, and somehow or
other fell asleep and never woke up
until daylight the next morning. When
l did open my eyes found that the
water had soaked that tree and swelled
it up so the crack through which had
crawled myself was not more than an
inch wide. | was a prisoner, sure
enough, and | might as well have tried
to make Flint, my landlord, knock off
some of the rent of my farm in bad
year as to try and open that crack any.
had on my best clothes and l had
left even my jack-knife at home.
swell, you know, parson, that it
rains sometimes three days, sometimes
a week and often a month in this
country when it gets good start l
looked out Of the crack, and there did
not seem to be any chance of its stop
ping. Then l began TO think "Sup.
pose | should be confined here until
starve to death ?" With this thought
came recollections of my past life.
thought of everything l had done
which was not according to the Ten
Commandments, of the unkind words
| had spoken to my wife and children,
and then | felt in my pocket and my
hand touched the quarter which l had
kept the day before instead of putting
it on the plate.
would you believe it, parson,
when | thought of that l felt so small
that l passed out through that crack
without the slightest dificultyP"
Then the store door opened and
closed softly, while the loungers caught
their breath. There was a momentary
cold blast from without, and the par
son was gone N. Y. Tribune.
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