The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1896-11-05
H l. CHURCH
PEW.

NS ~
your heathenish superstition and de.
scribe me as a bird Of i'll omen
am an owl of venerable age and
may reasonably expect that you will
pay attention to my within. Moreover,
the whole of my life has been passed
here, in the precincts of this antique,
picturesque, ~tumble-dOwn church -
which, alas! the new rector seems fully
determined must sOon be what he calls
restored. These dear old rafters will
have to give place to some high art in
vention in way of a ceiling; and the
h~lgh-backed, dark-oaken pews so en-
deared to us through sacred memories,
VIII be s%upplanted with news ones Of
pale yellow wood. l heard them dis
cussing it in the vestry the other day,
and l Kissed and snapped for more
than an hour after, until l nearly
cloked with rage and modification.
L could tell you IA story concerning
each of these quaint old pews, only l
daresay you'll find one enough. So. as
twilight is coming on, I'll fly down be-
side you and perch upon the reading
desk; then you need not strain your
ears to listen.
1t the same to you, 1 would rather
choose the pew with the ragged red
~hassocks, about half way down the
middle aisle. There are three shabby
looking prayer books, with brown
leather backs, lying ON the ledge, one
a little smaller than the others-ah,
you see it hOw. Well, 1 had just come
into the world when the owners of the
two large prayer books first made
appearance in that pew. My poor,
dear parents, now dead and gone, have
described them to me with much mi
nuteness, little guessing what the Sc
quel would be.
They were d young couple of most
prepossessing extefior-or, at any rate,
the happiness which shOne in the eyes
of both gave II that impression. He
was the village carpenter, and just
married to the girl he had always
loved, pretty little Rose, the innkeep-
er'S daughter.
My father and mother brought NE up
to take a friendly interest in every
individual belonging to III congrega-
ton; but more especially did they
watch with pleasure the weekly devo-
tons of these two young creatures.
For they were regular rhurchgoers and
every Sunday saw them in their ac-
customed seats, until an event hap
pened to add new sweetness 20 the
peaceful SameneSs Of their DAYS.
l was already a promising young
oWlet, and sufficiently Intelligent to
understand something of tle cere-
many ul,pr, t1,y 1t,.p,, r1,r tI,,,;, t,fo,@
to be baptized, down there, over the
and how he screamed when the rector
"a splendid type of the regular out
and-out gentleman he was, and quite
different to our last importation-took
him in his arms and sprinkled the holy
water on his miniature o visage.
How proud the young mother looked
us she tried to hush his shrill cries!
My parents We're so highly edited by
the spectacle that they took me out on
a glorious housing expedition that
very night in the %farnIyard which lies
to the right of the village pond, and
which has since been one of my ia
Vorite ha u
All, well, time crept on, and the little
babe whom l had last seen and heard
in his christening robe no longer de-
tained his mother at home, but grew
old enough to accompany his father
to church.
At the beginning we entertained
every hope that the boy would prove a
blessing to the fond parents, to who II
he was evidently all in all. But, alas!
l was the first to note hat as the
childish precocity quickened and de-
velOped with him the evil instinct
seemed to predominate, and was ever
ready to cXtinguish the good
He used to turn round during the
services and make faces at the school
children, then he would take his
marbles III of his pocket and count
them OYER when his parents were not
looking. The dear old hymns, that owls
always delight to hear, possessed for
him not an atom of attraction. Not
withstanding that he had learned to
read at the village school, he did not
eNt n trouble to follow the words,
though l doubt not that though con
stantly hearing them some of the lines
must have entered and perhaps uncon-
sciously, become engraven on his brain.
After a few years thus elapsed, his
parents came on Sunday alone, and |
oscertained that the boy, developing a
taste for book learning, has been APP
prcnticed to a bookseller in the Deigh-
boring town. Occasionally he returned
home for a short holiday and accom-
panied his parents as usual to the old
pew on Sunday morning. But, alas,
his behavior was even less eXcEsable
than of yore. He would. either sleep
through the sermon, or. on the sly, dip
into a book which he held concealed,
with Il dirty yellow cover.
After this, owing to many sad family
losses, my mind was too much dis
tracted by personal sorrow to occupy
itself with the misfortunes of others.
First, my father died of asthma; end
my poor mother, brokenhearted at his
loss, did not long survive him. Then
my only brother was unfortunately
caught in a trap, placed in the church,
/ believe, by some rural naturalist.
Unable to release the poor fellow, who
screamed most piteously, l had in 81
lence to behold a strengthening ran
come and carry him away, and have
never succeeded in obtaining the small
est tidings of him since.
Still a solitary bachelor, having been
always too difficult to please in nv
choice of a mate, l now became sub
ject to such deep depression of spirits
that my health began to give way. In
short, | must have eventually sue
cumbed had it not been for the kind
ness of Il friend, who persuaded me to
go and pay a long deferred visit to his
home in "A hollow tree on the adjoining
estate. Thithcr l accompanied him,
and owing to his sympathy and genial
co~mpanionship became gradually
reconciled to life as it was, instead of
nc II p,irbt ho