The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1900-12-01
Contributed
why Parmslia podd Was spinster- =
(By E lizabeth Shedwell }

The most Of us are Of Presbyterian
persuasion.
Our careful and devout mothers have
rigidly brought US up on the West
minister ostecism.
In our earliest infancy we were
taught 20 believe. in predes.instion rs
children we were told that our lives
had been forsordained for US; ss boys
and girls we believed it-but ss men
and women some Of us have departed
from our former orthodoxy and have
beeu guilty Of heresy. As time has
opened our eyes we have seen. even In
our little village, many whose lives are
within suoh q narrow compass that we
cannot truly believe that the Lord had
anything materially to do with the re-
striction Of their orbits OF existence.
Mrs. Jobiah Elkins has ably, If
quantity expressed our sentiment In
regard 10 this point;
"Oilla Perkins. "she said one day to
a neighbor. "you may sey what you
please, bot sey that ther Lords han
Amt in Il. "
LUX her 'Ollls. when Eli Perkins
dug th4l vr new race course ter hes
grist mill, he didn't dig ore bout
three feet wide an er foot deep; did
hep" Stands ter resin he didn't -
hit wouldn't hay' done ther work, an
no mo ems ther Lord S-goin ter make
our lives no wider than or three foot
course "
"speakin' en- tigers, 'Oilla. each M
O. our lives is or stream that oughter
RON au help turn ther mighty mill
wheel O. life. It's accordin' ter
Scripter that each an O US has got
some kind o. work ter do, outsider our
own. right down here on airth. "
'Of course some foxes streams Il
wider than others Amos Dodd's race
course is wider than Elis. bot-iher
Lord ain a.goin' ter make none 80
narrow that ther water that woulo
trickls down wouldn't be er.nough tel
turn or screw.
''You ain't supposin' that He ever
meant fer J Ane Lovett to hav' worked
her fingers to ther bone a scTubbin' an
a-washin. an a oookin', an ther
land knows what. without takin' or
days holiday en- thirty years, fer Peter
Lovett, an he with money laid up III
ther bank -
"An' comm nearer home, touchin'
my own blood relations ev'r, you amt
supposin' that I'm upholdin' Timothy
Prim en- hes notion that hes bashful-
ness wuz sent by ther Lord fer er spe-
cial purpose, fer as fur as | kin see,
ther onliest thing that has bin brought
or. bout by hit is ther narrrowin' O.
Parmely Dodd's life, not ter mention
ther narrowin' o. hes own -
Il sey, 'Oills, let foxes sey al they
want ter, l say hit other than ther
Lords workin." D"
It was but natural that Mrs. Jobiah
should have selected Timothy ss one
Of the illustrations TO her remarks.
The village has. per haps unconscious
Iy dropped into the habit Of exem'
plying narrowness, hardness and other
similar qualities by Timothy Prim
and Parmelia Dodd.
10 she minds of the villagers Timo.
thy and Parmelia are inseparably con-
nected. Oae cannot even think OF one
without recalling the other.
They are the tragedian and TRACE
dienne in our village tragedy, trsge'
dy that to outsiders might seem tc
border on comedy, but that TO all con
nected held most fatal issue.
All Of the villagers are acquainted
with the smallest detail connected with
IT, In fact there 10 scarcely anyone ir
our midst who does not possess an Inti'
mate knowledge Of his neighbor's life
or II that neighbor should prove to bs
invulnerable 20 all direct and indirect
question probing. does not faithfully
set to work to fad 1t out in another
way.
The Prim d odd tragedy was enacted
many years ago, but the memory Of II
is still green in the minds Of the Older
generation and we younger Zones have
heard Of is 30 often that we, too, arr
perfectly familiar with is.
Timothy Prim and Parmelia DOdC
were children together and grew up al
most as brother and sister. They frol
licked in the fields together and played
at horse" under the trees. Rarely
was Parmelias shadows cast, but il
was crossed By that Of Timothy. They
went to the same distric school; and
Timothy once whipped boy, mucE
larger than himself, for saying thaf
Parmelia had turned up" nose. Al
the result Of the combat Timothy came
ous victor. but with an ugly wound OF
his cheek-ths scar Of which he bear
TO this day.
Several years afterwards, while Par
melia was attempting 20 cross foE'
that was much swollen by a recen
rain. she was swept away BY the swift
ourrent. aud Timothy, at great risk O
his life. rescued her.