The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1893-09-07
The PARSONS STORY.
How One of His Flock Was Extrica ted
from a DisagreeabIe Position.


from a DlsagreeabIe Position.
THAT reminds me-" said the parson
as he took another handful of cracker.
from the barrel and cut slica from
the cheese on the counter, while the
proprietor Of the store moved uneasily
in his seat-''that reminds me of The
experience of 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 fl
of remorse.
"'Parson,' he said to me-'parson, dc
you remember the time that you asked
every member of the church to con-
tribute a quarter for 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 scat watching the contri-
button box go around, and seeing near
ly everybody drop in quarter. When
it came to Brother Smith he put in
half a 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
Widow Franklin, and she did not put
I'm anything There said /, 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 | 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 box reached me
next just looked the ether way, and
Elder Bennett passed along to the next
pew, after giving the box shake to
attract my attention, but pretended
not to notice it.
"'Well, you know, l had nearly sew
en- miles to walk home. When | got
half way and was going through the
woods it began to rain hard, and it
grew dark much sooner than | had
counted on. remembered a hollo w
tree just big enough for me to squeeze
into which stood a little further on, SO
hurried and reached it before l got
very wet. The rain began to pour
down now, so decided to remain in
the tree until it stopped, knowing that
the folks would not worry, because l
often stopped in the town over night
when ] went to church Sundays.
'I 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
/ did open my eyes | found that the
water had soaked that tree and swelled
it up so that 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 had left even my jackknife at
home.
, ?" We'll, you know, parson, that it
rains sometimes three days, sometimes
week, and often a month up in this
country when it gets a good start.
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. l
thought of everything had done which
was not according to the ten command
ments; 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 it, parson, when
thought of that felt so small that
passed out through that crack without
the slightest difficulty"
Then the store door opened and
closed softly, while the loungers caught
their breath. There was a momentary
cold blast from without, and the parson
was gone.-N. Y. Tribune.