Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-08-19
Small ENoUeA 1o eo THROUGH.
The Parson Tells a Story About Man
with n Conscience.

Iho PnraUn INlia htoEJ ABOUT n MAN
with a Conscience.
"Thnt reminds me-" said the parson rs
he took another handful Of crackers from
tho barrel and cut slice from the cheese
on the counter, while the proprietor OF the
store moved uneasily in his seat, "that re-
minds me Of the experience Of u 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, 'parsou, do you
remember the time that you asked every
member OF the church to contribute a quar-
ter for the purpose of paying for the hymn.
books which had just been bought for the
Sunday sehoolP
"'Yes,' said, Brother Jones, remem-
Der the time very WE'LL
"'Well, parson,' he continued, I sat
there In my seat watching that contribu-
ton box go around and seeing nearly every
body drop In quarter. Whenjt came to
Brother Smith, he put in half dollar, and
don't know why it was unless satan had
me In his clutches, but said TO myself,
'There, 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
W AuoM ftuh hlt hAu UOL put IN
anything. "There." said l. NOV I'll have
to put In my quarter, If times are hard, and
the children do need shoes, and the pros
pect for crops are not good this year"
"'Whilc was thinking this way, Elder
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
hOV raaphaI mo uaVt I met Ip,lra1 Tho %
er way and Elder Bennett passed along to
the next pew, after giving the box shake
to attract my attention, but l pretended
not to noticeit.
"'Well, you know l had nearly seven
miles TO walk home. When got half way
and was going through the woods, 1t began
to rain hand, and 1t grew dark much sooner
than I.had counted on. / remembered
hollow tree just big enough for me to
squeeze into which stood little farther
on, SO hurried and reached It before got
very wet. The rain began to pour down
now, 80 decided TO remain in the tree I'M
til 1t stopped, knowing that the folks
would not worry, because often remained
in town over night when 1 went to church
on Sundays
"Imade MYSELF comfortable as possible
In that tre, 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 1t up so that the
crack through which had crawled myself
was not more than an inch wide. was
prisoner sure enough, and might as well
have tried to make Flint, my landlord,
knock OIL some OF the rent OF my farm in q
bad year as to try and open that crack any.
had on my best clothes, and had left
even my jackknife at home.
Well, you know, parson, that 1t rains
sometimes three days, sometimes week
and often month up in this country when
1t gets good start. looked out OF tho
crack, and there did not seem to DO any
chance OF its stopping. Then | began to
think, suppose | should be confined here
until lstarvc to denthf" Withthis Thought
came recollections ofmy past life. Thought
Of everything which 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 had kept the day before instead Of
putting it on the plate
"Would you believe 1t, parson, when
thought of that felt so small that passed
out through that crack without tho slight.
est difilcultyr"
Then the store door opened and closed
softly, while the loungers caught their
breath. There was n momentury cold
blast from without. and the parson was
gone,-New York Tribune.