The Kennewick courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1905-1914, 1912-07-05
RHODA
WOULDN'T.
By ANNA BENTLEY

continent of North America. Thu ~ ~ ~
cipai settlements were those Of III. p -.
alters at jamestown in Virgin, -.
the Puritans in Massachusett, ~ saa
were very different. the cavalier. s'.
a heller SHELTER lot, the Puritan, hs.A Mug
governed by a cold and tyrannIc., s
ligiOn.
One Of the most attractive ,n,... !.
the Atlantic ocean on the North AM. "
lean coast Is Narragansett bay. -
tains a number of islands. tho ,o,ssu'
Of which. Rhode Island. gives tho .t...
its name. On one of these kl,ns.
some two and half centuries apo D.
don Ppm. preaching elder. built NJ,
q house. where he lived In solituda
But the house was not intended q.
such an existence. The elder had Ian.
loved Rhoda Baker. q spinster NJ ~
mainland. and he had constructed |,
hoping to bring her there az his VIE.
He had even arranged a window wh.,.
she could sit as she worked and 900
him coming in his boat to their homa
But Rhoda was one of those nereo,.
whose gaze Is forever turned within
themselves. This made her very sbv
Whether 1t was from this cause a,
whether she could not make nm ho,
mind that she loved the elder we'll
enough to marry him or that she wa.
uncertain If the Lord intended her IN
do so, she gave Pardon Ppm no encour
agement to speak.
Quite possibly it was the latter calss
for at that time the people of Nov
England were wholly absorbed In their
religion. They were not so much
colony as church. The governors Of
the church ruled the people-not onl,
the people in the church, but those
without the church. 1t was the church
that ordered sea captain of Boston,
arriving at home after a long voyage,
to the stocks for kissing bis wife on
Sunday. 1t was the church that or
dered scolding women to the duckns
stool and soused them into a cold
stream again and again till all the tenn
per was taken out of them II was 10
the church edifice directly under the
pulpit that transgressors against the
church law were forced to sit, facing
the congrega ton. doing penance.
1t was natural that a people who
had come to a wilderness that they
might not be interfered with in mat
tiers of religion and found there moth
ing to amuse them outside of Their
working hours should be absorbed ID
that religion and produce such char
acter as Rhoda Baker. She listened
to no other sutton than the preacher
but never by a word or deed did she
give him q hint that she would mar!
him should he ask her to do 50.
The women OF that time. Obliged TO
make themselves most of the articles
they needed devoted themselves to dr.
ferent industries Rhoda Baker WORK
ed in leather OF leather she made al
sorts OF articles useful and Ornamental
One was trellis-probably q couple.
OF clothes horses-on which were vines
bearing fruits such as are grown %
day and some which were the produr
OF her imagination There were grapes
made of bullets or pebbles AROMA
which she sewed in delicate stitches
pieces of thin leather. sometimes 20
gloves The grapes were attached .
the stem with hooks and eyes IneS
were used that the grapes might %
detached occasionally from the stem
and carefully busted
In this leather work Pym was INV
da's devoted assistant BE Furnished
her with the leather. which she coz
verted into articles of beauty-stranss
courtship. wherein the man was cOa
dnually hunting for old boots Or SUE
CASTOR clothing as was made OF 'ealp
er and the woman was converuI
them into things which IN tnat W
were considered beautiful
One day Ppm went with aD onef,1.
OF the tops of an old pair Of boots' ~
raped for admittance with the pou
derous iron knocker. but rece'Veu -
response he knocked again AZ We.
silent within. Feeling sure Rnoda "a'
at home. he opened the door anu =
tered. A rocking chair stood nea' =
the center of the room. II rocKeu'
The elder sighed The cnalr pa
given away the fact that Rnoda -
ferred not to have visit iron
lover, and instead of bidding nln g
ter she had arisen and gone 'nt'
other room Why. He did mol kno.
No one knew then. and Rhooa 80
has been buried with ner for more 'D'
2OO years a..
When she died she left her lover ~
consulate She did not Dequea.'
him her treasures of leather "o'A' "a
beoueatbed them to the church. AZ.
they are now the property u ..ah,
church guild OF the village ID .S.o
they were made. Ppm. having "o '.dod
Dy which to remember her. cone'' .sn.
10 name his boat for her bul ~ ,t
Ter was his conscience that ne too
rrom making 1t appear Dy p'a no
name on his craft tna' !.
had been his willing love-
painted it "Rhoda wouldn't -,
This was the end OF courtsnip W.
had lasted fifty years without az. -
,uIt except to keep two persons a.
Dosite seq from mating SueD ~