The Penn's Grove record., 1896-05-08


o drove around with the Sig sled.
which he used for hauling heavy loads
"For the lands sake, fnther," cried
Mrs. Whitaker. you hain't never goin;
10 quarterly meetln' In that sled, ara
your"
Il hadn't intended to do nothing o
the kind" replied the deacon, but rye
got some work to do afore | can go to
meetin'."
Are you crazy2 Don't you know this
Is the Sabbath What is the matter of
your asked the good woman, with
agitation, and then she began to cry
Its the Lords work. Manda," said
the deacon. AN 1t must be done now"
md he proceeded to load potatoes,
flour and meat into the sled and drive
pr.
Mrs. Whitaker and TITLE. left alone,
were two miserable women for the
next two hours, but when the husband
md father came back with his face as
impenetrable as a mask Of iron, and In
every other way his usual self and pre-,
pared for church without any signs OF
further mental alteration, they were
somewhat consoled.
D At the meeting that day, the deacon
Joined in the responses with unusual
unction, and when the time for giving
Testimony" came, he was the first B,
rise to his feet.
Brethren" he said, with a suspicion,
culver In his voice, II reel to-day as !
am an unworthy servant an a sim
Ter beyond degree. 1t is only through
the gracious mercy of an overrulin
Providence that ! have been spared Sc
long to cumber the earth"
This was an old story to most of tn,
congregation, and one that they had
heard with slight variations in til,
phraseology for many years. In fact
this self abasement was the rule. and
no one was particularly interested IL
the deacon's %vllifleation of himself, un
til he continued:
For a good many years l have livea
among you an pretended to be a truq
follower of the meek and lowly One,
plucked as a brand from the burnin',
but I have been nothin', nothin' but n
whited sepulchre an a hypocrit. 1 have
wore the thin garb of a false holiness,
while in my soul l have been goin'
down the broad road"
! Every one In the house was awake by
claimed himself a murderer no one
would have beer surprised after this.
This m%ornin'," continued the dea-
con, 81 am thankful to be able to say
that l have turned back toward Mount
Zion, the city of the living God. ]
want to tell you all about It"
Down at the Corners, where / live,
Is a widder poor an lonely; she has lit.
tie children, such as Christ said, of
such Is the kingdom OF heaven This
woman an her children were hungry
an cold an l knowed of it, an instead
of goin' at once to relieve their necessi-
ties out of the Righteousness of my
store, I waited an let one who I looked
upon as n child Of Satan, a son Of
Belial, a sinner an m outcast, go an
do the Masters work.
81 went last night, two whole days
after 1 knew of her extremity, to see II
l could do anything for her, thinking
how little I could do an feel that !
had done my duty. / found her com
Portable with a fire on her hearth, an
bread an meat in the pantry.
"she told me that two nights before,
when she hadn't a crumb to eat in the
house, nor a stick of wood to burn, an
had given up her faith in Providence
utmost, an was ready to lay down an
die in despair, she heerd some one
n-throwin' wood into her wood house,
but in the darkness she couldn't tel
who it was, as it was way past mid
night. Then came a knockin' at the
door, an when she asked who was
There, a voice said a friend and she
Opened the door a little way, an some
one with his collar turned up an his
hat pulled down, pushed a bag o. fioul
lam other things to eat through h door
an then vanished into outer darkness
to be seen no more.
, "She knew who 1t was, though, fol
, she knew his clothes from the glimpse
: she got of lem, an he was n who ha
, stood aloof from the church an who
we have counted as agin' us. ! hope
, he was, for we have been a generation
: of yipers an there has been no good In
/ us. He must a-seen through us, an
, l think he had a good reason for stand
lin a good way off an for a-laughin
I our pretensions to scorn But he didn''
l~forget the words of the scriptures
which says, 'Inasmuch as We have done
LIT to n Of the least Of these, We have
I done It also to me- When he knew tn,
/, Lord's children were hungry an cold
r he supplied their wants. He think
no n knows who he is. but 1 see hin
! now in this congregation. sittin' ava!
back, an I don't blame him. ! hav'
1 said hard things of him, and l six bill
a forgiveness. / won't name him. but h
: knows I am talkin' to him. an I wan
q to tell him that under Providence, h
has been the ear Of bringing abou
), my conversion from the error Of m,
, way an a-settin' my face Zidnward
' "This mornin', though 1t was tn
Lords day, l made a beginnin', an M
wife an daughter thought was crazy
e but / had Jest come into my right min
for the first time in many years. Ma.
o the Lord have mercy on us all" and tn
deacon sat down.
His testimony had reduced the con
gregation to such a state Of fnind tina
no one had a very good idea of wha
n happened afterward. Such a testimon
lbad v been before offered In tina
church mol has a similar n since tina
time.
After the meeting was ended, an
Mrs. Whitaker and Hillie were wait
ing at the door for the deacon to driv
l. around, several Of the neighbors cam
laround to them to ask what ha
g moved him 90 much, but she was a
< much In the dark as any of them, onl
d she told about the load Of provision
that had been taken away that morr