Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1898-08-22

comedy and tragedy, this "book OF
sufferings." A "stiff-necked genera
ation," the ''priest" had called them
(having an eye on his tithe), and we'll
he might! But they are gone, all
gone
True, the little meeting house re-
mains-still lovingly tended and cared
for by the.rejected of the elders, John
Shad the sole survival of Quakerism
sixty years ago the quiet spirit of the
little community had entered into his
soul, and he lived on in the Faith. But
he could never be induced to renew
his application. And only once, with
quiet smile, he gave the reason. He
still wore the brass buttons of his
leather shooting jacket-and were not
they anathemh?
With his eighty years upon him,
what man was John Shad, beautiful
with agel His soul looked out of his
face. Tanned was his face, his fine
square head covered with profusion
OF silvery hair. With all his fyears,
he stood as straight as an ash-sapling
"a perfect woodlander! In his age
as in his youth, he lived face to face
with Nature. Never was such poor,
rich man. Nature, his mistress, he
would say, lowered him with riches
showered her bounties before him.
Where the clearings had been he
built gardens and orchards. Hanging
gardens he made among the rocks and
scars-spots in which it was impossi-
BILE to tell where Nature ended and
art began. He grew the precious
herbs and knew the lore of all the
flowers. His patches of corn were
among the rocks, and everywhere
about him the desert blossomed as the
rose
But over and above all, the meeting
house was his chiefest care. How he
tended it'll Nothing was ever allowed
to desecrate it-nothing except the
pair of swallows that came year by
year to nest among the rafters. How
the birds of return were waited and
watched for, and what a Joyous day
was that of their comingl
For many years Dinah Shad had
lain in the little burial ground.
In the meeting house itself John
Shad worshiped on alone. Each
frst-day found him here, the silence
OF the place was made audible by his
presence. Sometimes when his heart
felt thankfuluess became too much for
him he stood up and spoke aloud.
And what sermons were those, if only
they could have been taken down.
And so he sat on, week after week,
year after year.
Beloved by the woodlanders as man
was rarely loved, he was left undis-
turbed. A strange reverence grew up
about him. His silent testimony was
more powerful than the spoken word.
The lawless countryside became more
law-abiding as his years went on. But
still he worshiped alone. 1t is told
how violent wayfarer, hearing of his
lonely life, had intended to break in
and despoil his house. But, pre-
viously lurking about the premises, he
had caught sight of the old man as
worship. He saw him, sitting silent
and still, with head thrown up, as was
his wont, and, as he described, with a
bar of sunlight across his white hair.
The man watched him for time, then
skunk silently away and disappeared
in the woods, leaving the weapon with
which he intended to break the house
in his fight.
And as this man had seen him so
found him one Monday at noon-a day
after he had failed to make his wonted
appearance. He still sat on the seat,
only little more rigidly than usual
There was but little change, except
that the mouth, slightly drawn, added
a hardness to the face that was not
there in life. Curiously enough his
will was in his pocket afterward
learned that he always carried it in his
'first-day" coat. Subsequently the
duty fell upon me to read this quaint
document, but / must not disclose it's
contents.
Suffice it, they were characteristic
OF the man-especially the direction
that his body was to be lain in the
woods, not in the little burial ground.
And SO John Shad, the very incarna-
ton of Quakerism, died, but still out
side of the pale of the sect-the last
of the Quakers of Hattock.
Even with the dead man lying be-
fore me, remember smiling at the
incongruity of the sporting brass but
tons as they stared me in the face from
the high-cut, snuff-colored coat
the self-same anathema of sixty years
ago.-Boston (England) Guardian.
Mule Steak Tasty.
ga party of Idaho cowboys. who
were out on the range hunting horses