The Washington herald., 1907-03-31

bIe,' says he. for the church of Chris
/ For don't the Apostle Paul say. let your
women keep silence in the church"T
"As soon as he named the 'Postle Paul
Sally Ann give q kind of snort. Sally
Ann was terrible free-spoken. And when
! Deacon Petty said that she jest squared
herself like she intended 10 stand there
till Judgment day. and says she, The
'Postle Paul has been dead Tuther toe
long for me TO be afraid Of him, And
I never heard Of him app'intin' Deacon
Petty TO represent him In this church. II
the 'POstle Paul don't ike what Tn
sayin'. let him rise up from his grave In
/ Corinthians or Ephesians. or wherever
he's buried, and say 50. I've got mes
sage from the Lord TO the men folks OF
this church, and I'm goin' to deliver IT,
Paul or no Paul, says she. And as foI
you, Silas Petty, I amt forgot the time
I dropped in to see Maria one Saturday
night and found her washin' out her fan
mel petticOat and dryiR' 1t before the fire
And every time that I've had to hear you
lead in prayer since then I've said to my
self Lord. how high can mans pray
ers rise toward heaven when his wife
amt got but one flannel skirt to her
name? No higher than the back OF his
pew. II yOull let me tell it, ] knew jest
how It was said sally Ann, as well as
If Mariad told me. She'd been havin
the milk and butter money from the old
roam COW she'd raised from a little heifer
and jest because feed was scarce. you q
sold her on before Maria had money
enough TO buy her winter fianneis. ] can
give my experience, can II Well, that's
jest what I'm a-doin,' says she, and
while I'm about it. says she, Pn give in
some experience for 'Lizsbeth and Maria
and the rest OF the women. who. betwixt
their husbands an the 'Postle Paul, have
about lost all the gumption and grit that
the Lord started them out with. II the
'Postle Paul. says she, has got any
thing to say about a woman workin' like
slave for twenty-five years and then
havin' TO set up an wash out her clothes
Saturday night. SOS she can go to church
clean Sunday mornin. I'd like TO hear It.
But don't you dare to say anything 10
me about keepin' silence in the church.
There was times when Paul says he didn't
know whether he had the Spirit Of God
or not and Tn certain that when he
wrote that text he wasn't any more in
spired that you are, Slas Petty, when
you tell Maria TO shut her mouth
joe Taylor was settin' right in front
Of Deacon Petty, and ! reckon he thought
his time was comm next; so he gets up,
easy-like, with his red bandanna to his
mouth, and starts out. But Sally Ann
headed him of before he'd gone SIX steps.
and says she. There amt anything the
matter with you, Job Taylor; you set
right down and hear what I've got TO say.
I've knelt and stood through enough o.
your long -winded prayers ana now it's
my time 10 talk and yours TO listen.
And bless your life, II Job didn't set
down as meek as Moses, and Sally Ann
lit right into him. And says she, I reek-
on you're afraid III tell some O. your
neanness. amt you? And the only thing
that stands in my way is that there s
so much 20 tell I don't know where to
begin. There ain't a woman in this
church., says she. that don't know how
Marthy scrimped and worked and saved
to buy her a new set o. furniture, and
how you took the money with you when
You went TO Cincinnati. the spring be-
fore she died, and come back without the
furniture. And when she asked you for
the money. you told her that she and ev-
erything she had belonged 10 you, and
that your mothers Old furniture was good
enough for anybody It's my belief says
she, that's what killed AfaTthy Women
are dyin' every day. and the doctors will
tell you it's some new-fangled disease or
other. when, If the truth was known, its
nothin' bat Wantin somethin' they can't
git. and hopin' and waitin' for somethin'
that never comes, I've watched EN-. and
I know. The night before Mary died she
says 10 me. i could die a heap peacefuler
If I jest knew the front room was fixed
up right with a new set OF furniture for
the funeral" And Sally Ann p'iuted her
finger right at Job. and says she. said
1t then, and I say it now 10 your face.
Job Taylor, you killed Marthy the same
as il you'd taken her by the throat and
choked the life out Of her
MARY Embry, Jobs sister-in-law. was
settin right behind me. and I heard her
say, Amen" as feryent as IL somebody
had been prayin'. Job set there. lookin
ike sheep-killin' dog, and Sally Ann
went right on. I know, says she, the
Law gives YOU the right to your wives
earnin's and everything they've got. down
10 the clothes on their backs; and I've
always said there was some Kentucky
law that was made for the express pur-
pose Of encOuragin' men in their natural
meanness-a pint in which the Lord
Knows they don't need no encouraEin'
There's some men,, says she, 'thatH
sneak behind the 'postle Paul VIXEN
they're plannin' any meanness against
their wives. and some that runs TO the
law, and you're one Of the law kind. But
mark my words, says she. one of these
days, you men whO've been stealin' your
wives property and defraudin' 'em. and
cheatin' 'em out o their just dues. you'u
have 10 stand before a Judge that cares
mighty little for Kentucky law; and all
the law and all the Scripture you can
bring up won't save you from goin where
the rich man went.
I can see Sally Ann right now" and
Aunt Jane pushed her glasses up on her
forehead. and looked with a dreamy, re-
Prospective gaze through the doorway and
beyond, where swaying elns and NAPLES
were whispering softly to each other as
the breeze touched them. ''She had on
her old black poke-bonnet and some black
yarn mitts. and she didn't come nigh up
to Jobs shoulder, but Job set and listened
as If he jest had to. / heard Dave Craw-
ford shufiiin' his feet and Clearin' his
threat, while Sally Ann was talkin' TO
Job. Dawes farm fined Sally AIMS. and
they had a lawsuit once about the way
a fence ought TO run, and Sally Ann beat
him. He always despised Sally Ann after
that. and used to ceH her a 'ile-womau.'
Sally Ann heard the shuffiin'. and as soon
as she got through with Job, she turned
around TO Dave and says she; DO YOU
think your hemmin' and scrapin' IS goin'
to stop me. Dave Crawford? You're one
O the men that makes me think that it's
better to be a Kentucky horse than a
Kentucky woman. Many's the time,' says
she, I've seen pore July with her head
tied up, crawlin' around tryin's to cook
for sixteen harvest hands, and you out
IN the stable cossetiH' up a sick mare,
and rubbin' down your thTee-year-olds to
get EN- in trim for the fair. OF all the
things that's hard to understand says
she, the hardest Is a man that has more
mercy on his horse than he has on his