The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1915-11-18
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DEACON FulppS was III tuo
AN habit of saying, whenever
W. he saw an automobile,
N From the first moment the
4&ESH new invention appeared
soaring his steady old horses almost
to death, and breaking up one of his
best farm wagons, Deacon Phipps had
no patience with any kind Of a motor
vehicle.
AS time went on, and many of his
neighbors bought automobiles, his
horses became wonted to them and
turned never hair when they whiZzed
by; but the good deacon did not re-
lent. Whenever one passed him on
the road, throwing, perhaps, shower
OF dust or mud upon his modest car
rage, and leaving behind it trail
of ill-odor, he would mutter (under his
breath) words which no good deacon
should ever, ever use.
The deacon and his wife grew old,
and their six children all married, ex-
cepting Rhoda, the youngest, VINO
stayed at home to take care of them.
The four sons were prosperous, and
the older daughter had married very
rich man and lived one hundred or
more miles away. Two sons had be-
come farmers and lived quite near.
One was merchant in large town
perhaps fifty miles distant The fourth
one was minister, settled in the
same town with the merchant brother.
To the infinite disgust of Deacon
PhippS, all of these sons, excepting
the minister, owned automobiles, and
Thomas, the merchant, actually sport
ed three or four. When his father
found this out, he came almost to the
point of breaking off relations with
Thomas.
In the old days, the family had
used to gather on the day before
Thanksgiving, and the large, airy
chambers of the ample Phipps home,
stead could accommodate them all.
Now the children and the grandchil-
dren had increased in number until
such gatherings we're no longer pos
sible. The uncles and>aunts had died
or had become infirm. There. had
been some pretty lonely Thanksgiv.
ings at the hospitable Phipps farm.
1t was during the week before the
great day that Deacon Phipps was sit
ting before the open fire in his big,
comfortable sittingroom, and ponder
ing over this melancholy fact.
'Tain't right" he grumbled to his
gentle wife, who sat knitting beside
him. 'Tain't right to have families
scattered SO at Thanksgiving. wish
we could get our folks all together,
Susan, just once more Here you an
are vergin' onto eighty. an we haiu't
had our folks all together for goin on
ten year now. Here's this great house,
dinin' room fit to seat thirty, an this
room to spill over into for as many
more, and countin' Sister Judy an
Brother Ben, all the sister an brother
we've got left, bless em!-except Bet
ty, an she's tied to the house by her
broken hip, an always will be, It's
likely-all put together they only
count up forty-one, but we can't get
'em together.
WELL" he mused on, "weTl try to
get dozen or so of 'em an call It a
family party, but you an an Rhody,
an the help are strong an hearty, an
could take care Of EN- all, If they
would only come. But don't see any
way"
mo, there isn't any way" sighed
his good wife, but you hadn't oughter
complain. Silas Ye've got sight O.
blessin's, an wed oughter think o,
those we've got an not banker after
those we can't have" Which was good
doctrine, though 1t could not quite
ptOp the deaCon's grumbling.