The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1895-12-10

poetry in her nature, hut she had the
most profound ~revSeence for the
Scripture; therefore the words both
puzzled and shocked her. But she
was not the woman to refuse bread to
the hungry, SO she placed food upon
the table, and motioned the woman to
the chair saying, I" Set up and eat"
All the time the woman was eating
land she did not hasten her eyes
bright young daughter, until Martha
Rogers grew nervous, and sent Hetty
to red up the chambers"
Twill you give me work to dO?"
she demanded rather than asked.
klHAEHaaaAare you ?" asked Mrs. Rogers
pply to gain time.
80 Night you knew. 1 am Moll
they have turned me out of
ye-burned 1T over my head i"
Seyes grew mcidY
"What can you do?" asked Mrs.
S-gors.
Anything that a woman can do or
q man either. / can work in the field
with the best OF them / have done it
many a time +; but / should like to do
whst-.to be like other women"
Are you a good woman"
The question came straight and
strong, without any faltering. She
had heard of this Moll Pritchett, a
woman who,lived alone imam old tum-
bledown hut below the sawmill, and
won a meagre living by weaving rag
carpets, picking berries for sale, and
it was suspected, in less reputable
ways; but Martha Rogers took no
stock in the idle rumors II she had
not divine compassion, she had
something very like divine justice,
which Is altogether a sweeter thing in
its remembering of our frame ethan
the tender mercies of the wicked"
Theiwoman looked at her curiously-
ut first with q hooking smile, then with
a sullen and at last with a defiant ex-
preston.
els it likely ?" she said iercely.
"A good woman How should l be a
good woman? l tell you 1 am the
piece that was lost, ard nobody ever
looked for me. If I was agood woman,
do you suppose I should be where 1 be
only twenty-eight years old, well
world shut in my face? tell you the
&pan that wrote that story didn't know
&men they don't hunt for that piece
that's lost they justZlet 1t go. There's
enough of 'em that don't get lost"
Poor MarthaRogers was sorely per-
picked, all the more that her way had
lain so smooth and plain before her
that she might have walked in 1t
bfindiSidea.--ISthis is a lost piece Of
silver 1T was not she who lost it but
what IL 1t were the Masters, precious
dropped it, and left it to lie in the
{ dust? And what ii He bade her to
!, seek it, and find it for Him I? Should
\ she dare refuse ? On this very day,
4 when she needed SO surely the help
q which she had SO looked for in vain,
had not this woman been sent to her
very door, andswaspi it not a plain lead
ing of Providence ? 1t is q blessed
thing for us that we are driven to act
first and theorize afterward, even
though the afterthought sometimes
ready for the oven, and the wood box
empty.
"You may fetch in some wood
said Martha Rogers, and the woman
promptly obeyed, filed tho box with
load of her sinewy arms, and then
stood humbly waiting. Hetty came
4 into the kitchen, and began to clear
Nup the table; but her mother said
NGo upstairs and fetch a big apron
and one of our" sweeping caps; and
then you may go at your sewing, and
see IL you ELL uulou up your uTSSS.' ~
Away went Hetty. her light heart
bounding with the unexpected release;
and the mother turned again to to the
furnished her with a coarse
towel, and sent her to the wash-house
for q thorough publication. Half an
hour afterwards, with her hair hidden
in the muslin cap, her whole figure
enyelopcd in the clean calico apron. a
comely woman was silently engaged in
household tasks, doing her work with
such rapidity ard skill THAT the criti-
cal housewife drew q sighy6f relief.
"There's q s4sA. ul OF towels and
coarsa-ciothes left from the ironing.
might put the irons on Mary, and
smooth 'em out"
She turned o startled face upon her,
and then went quickly for the clothes,
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1t o tear ?-rolled
down the swarthy cheeks, mingling
with the bright drops she sprinkled
over them. When had she ever heard
ANYTHING but Moll? Not since away
among New Hampshire hills a pale
woman had laid her hands upOn the
tangled curls OF her little daughter,
and prayed that some one would watch
over these Wayward feet, lest they
should go'astray. 1t made Moll shud-
der TO think of 1t. What did she
know about JOY IN beaYen over one
sinner that repenteth
Silas Rogers listened to the days
story, as he sat mending a bit of har-
ness with clumsy fingers, and among
his other thoughts he grasped the
idea that his wife had secured a valu-
abIe and much needed helper.
ST seems a risk to rum said Martha
an~xiously, "and / don't know but it's
presumptuous; there's Hettg, and
h9@Spd there's the Lord,p said Silas.
,to,nino to open his knife.
oTsPYes," said Martha with q little
tort Vaud | can't quite get rid of
%bat she said about the piece that
~ns lost though to DO sure the woman
We los it ought to hunt 1t up.p
"@sbe never does fcikJ are always
,.oino things fvr somebody e!se 20 And.
KANT many Of them that can say,
: i,nnt', right straight along.p
HeSSRut III You lose, your own piece,
s1,in% after other folhsg
ogmyIeli there's risks, as o say, but
II NI..Aslx n risk for the lord thon