Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-06-11

| was what would have been described to
Its guests as ian object of interest in
the catalogue, had the Eagle House issued
a catalogue. This was an old, old mill
/ tnat was no longer mill. In the words
OF Josiah Rankin, it was 1.-THE only
church in the United States, sab, with
an overshot-wheel; and the only mill in
the world, sab, with pews and a pipe
/ organ" The guests of the Eagle House
1 attended the old mill church each Sab
| bath, and heard the preacher liken the
purified Christian to bolted -four ground
/ to usefulness between the millstones of
| experience and suffering.
Every year about the beginning of
autumn there came to the Eagle House
one Abram Strong, who remained for n
time an honored and beloved guest. In
Lakeiands he was called Father Alb
ram, because his hair was so white, his
face so strong and kind and ford, his
laugh so merry, and his black clothes
| and broad hat so priestly in appear
| 9nce Even new guests after three or
/ TOUR days acquaintance gave him this
! familiar title
Father Ab-am came a long way to
Lakeland. He lived in a big, roaring
town IN the Northwest where he owned
mills, not little mills with pews and an
organ in ii I'm, but great. ugly, noun
tain-like mills that the freight trains
4 crawled around all day like ants around
an ant-heap. And now you must be told
about Father Abram and the mill that
was church, for their stories run to-
| gether.
In the days when the church was a
mill, Mr.. Strong was the miller. There
was no jolIier, dustier. buster, happier
| miller in all the land than he. He lived
! in little cottage across the road from
the MILL His hand was heavy, but his
toll was light, and the mountaineer,,
brought their grain to him across many
weary miles of rocky roads.
The delight Of the miller's life was his
little daughter, Aglaia. That was a
brave name, truly, for haxen- haired
! fodder; but the nountaineers love so
norous and stately names. The mother
had encountered it somewhere in book,
and the deed was done. In her baby
hood Aglaia herself repudiated the name.
as tar as common use went, and persist
and his wife often tried TO coax from
Aglata the source of this mysterious
name, but without results At last they
arrived at a theory. In the little garden
behind che cottage was a bed of rhodo-
dendrons in which the child took a pc
Culiar delight and interest. 1t may have
been that she perceived in "Dums" a
kinship to the formidable name of her
favOrite flowers.
When Aglaia was years old she and
her father used TO go through a little
performance in the mill every afternoon
/ that never failed to come Off, the weather
permitting When supper was ready her
mother would brush her hair and put on
! clean apron and send her across to the
mill to bring her father home. when
the miller saw her coming in the mill
door he would come forward. all white
With the -four dust. and wave his hand
and sing an old miller's song that was
familiar in those parts and ran some
thing like this:
The wheel goes round
The grist is ground,
The dusty miller's merry.
He sings all day.
His work is play.
l.
Then Aglaia would run 10 him laugh
ing, and call Dada come take Dums
home; and the miller would swing her
70 his shoulder and march over 20
supper, singing the miller's song Every
evening this would take place.
One day, only week after her fourth
birthday, Aclaia disappeared When
last seen she was plucking wild flowers
by the side Of the road in front Of the
cottage. A little while later her mother
went out to see that she did not stray
too far away, and she was already
gone.
OF course every effort was made 10
find her. Tho neighbors gathered and
searched the woods and the mountains
for miles around. They dragged every
foot Of the mill race and the creek for
a long distance below the dam. Never
a trace OF her did they find. A night
or two before there had been a family
Of wanderers camped In a grove near
by. 1t was conjectured that they might
have stolen the child: but when their
wagon was overtaken and searched
she could not be found
The miller remained at the mill for
nearly two years; and then his hope
Of finding her died out He and his
wife moved to the Northwest. In
few years he was the owner OF
modern mill in one Of the important
milling cities in that region. Mrs
Strong never recovered from the shock
caused by the loss OF Aglaia, and two
years after they moved away the miller
was left to bear his sorrow alone
When Abram Strong became prosper
GUS he paid a visit TO Lakelands and
the old mill. The scene was a sad
one for him. but he was a strong man,
and always appeared CHEEKY and kind
ly It was then that he was inspired