The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1898-02-25

the advantage OF hearing many really
admirable preachers in their little
church,
The Rev Martin Dawson was a
bachelor Alone with an old servant
who now acted as sexton, verger
and churchwarlen rolled into one-hc
| lived in Il small house some two miles
from the church, on the road that
eventually passed Sam Travis's farm.
Every Sunday morning these two old
| people bCtool themselves. with surpice
| and sermon, into the little road-waoon,
and allowed a lazy, casy-going gray
mare to convey them leisurely to
| church. Then followed the duties of
the day; the minister prayed and
preached, his servant took up the col
lection; there were some moments in
which the minister, his surplice laid
aside, chatted cheerily with the mem
bers Of his congregation, refusing, per-
haps, many an invitation to dinner, and
then home again. behind the gray mare
That WAS the regular routine Ere
qrentlN. to be sure, there was the cleri-
cal visitor also, and once or twice it had
happened that the visitor had come
with the old servant. the Rev. Dawson
being heir to a gout that, at times, took
him quite of his feet.
As the many vehicles of various
shapes and capacities came bowling
along the dusty roads that approached
the church from the different points Of
thc compass, one young farmer, with
sharper eyes than most people have,
identified q buggy that was coming at
right angles to his own.
"Thercs the Travis rig" he re-
marked to his wife
"Moilics been promising me recipe
for putting up AleXandrias: | hope to
goodness she amt forgot it today
Il reckon he went on, ''youll have
to wait for that recipe. It's the Travis
rig, bat it amt the folks Looks more
like some OF parsons friends
"Shaw, I'm sorry. One of Moll's
headaches, | guess" And they drove
on, Joggingly.
in the Travis buggy Lingo Dan was
di>cohr>ing on the curious inconsistent
cias in human nature.
A dear old soul, that parson! eh,
Billy-a dear old soul. Bat only hui
man, after all. No strength ofspiritual
warp can break the bonds imposed by
such coarse creatures as-as ourselves.
|, at any rate, hardly think it likely he
can break that rope of ours unaided.
And as for the partner in his righteous
household, | believe you corded him up
pretty securely, didn't you, Billy?
Yes, think we may be sure they are
safely fcttcred for a while. Quite allie
gorcal, this act of ours, Billy. Do
you note the allegorN? The Fetters of
the Flesh, lfyour education, Billy,
had not been shamctully neglected, You
would find many Sunday School
memory in that dear old phrase-'The
Fetters of the Flesh. And yet. in Il
measure, | regret that force was neces-
sary. \ crude thing, after all, is force.
/ one had been able to obtain their
promises, their holy oaths, how much
finer, how much more of the age of
honor. But that-that was impossible.
\ dear old soul. But short in his
breath-very short. And then the in
consistency of hiE-did you note that?
While he thought we merely came for
common robbery, he seemed to feel lit
tie. save, perhaps, regret for our mis-
guided ways But the instant | laid
hands on his sermon and his Surplcc
-Ol lympus. that was mighty rage,
ell, Billy! | was glad had him bound
by that time. Had he been free Just
then, his rage-there is no telling what
tic dear old sonl might not have done.
\ wonderfully inconsistent thing, hui
man nature! Facetcd like brilliant;
as tull Of surprises as-the weathcr!'
During ali this monoIoguc, jericd
ont with sudden silenccs and laughings
at intervals, Billy sat stolilly binding
Il handkerchief about one hand
Bit me" he growlcd: ''old beasl'
Hush, Billy. \ scxton-vour late
antagonist-a sexton; man whose
solemn Office it is to aid materially the
last, the great, divorce. the souls de-
cree of separation from the body: to call
such 4 man IA beast. Oh, Billv,'
As they neared the church their eyes
caugnt GLADLY the sight OF the numcr-
ous vehicles standing about the fence
and approaching OH the different high
ways.
1T i a case OF "vsp:rc n~o," Lingo
Dan went Oh, "ch Billy: Y" ,ir<per-