He Fell In Love With His Wife by Edward Payson Roe (best books to read for students TXT) đ
- Author: Edward Payson Roe
- Performer: -
Book online «He Fell In Love With His Wife by Edward Payson Roe (best books to read for students TXT) đ». Author Edward Payson Roe
may be prepared for worship. I feel that it would be unseemly for us to enter
a house of worship with thoughts of strife in our souls. At precisely what
moment do you wish me to be ready for church?â
âI am not going to church, Mrs. Mumpson.â
âNot going to church! IâIâscarcely understand. Worship is such a sacred
dutyââ
âYou and Jane certainly have a right to go to church, and since it is your
wish, Iâll take you down to Lemuel Weeksâ and you can go with them.â
âI donât want to go to Cousin Lemuelâs, nor to church, nuther,â Jane
protested.
âWhy, Mr. Holcroft,â began the widow sweetly, âafter youâve once harnessed up
it will take but a little longer to keep on to the meeting house. It would
appear so seemly for us to drive thither, as a matter of course. It would be
what the communerty expects of us. This is not our day, that we should spend
it carnally. We should be spiritually-minded. We should put away things of
earth. Thoughts of business and any unnecessary toil should be abhorrent. I
have often thought that there was too much milking done on Sunday among
farmers. I know they say it is essential, but they all seem so prone to
forget that but one thing is needful. I feel it borne in upon my mind, Mr.
Holcroft, that I should plead with you to attend divine worship and seek an
uplifting of your thoughts. You have no idea how differently the day may end,
or what emotions may be aroused if you place yourself under the droppings of
the sanctuary.â
âIâm like Jane, I donât wish to go,â said Mr. Holcroft nervously.
âBut my dear Mr. Holcroft,ââthe farmer fidgeted under this address,ââthe
very essence of true religion is to do what we donât wish to do. We are to
mortify the flesh and thwart the carnal mind. The more thorny the path of
self-denial is, the more certain itâs the right path. âIâve already entered
upon it,â she continued, turning a momentary glare upon Mrs. Wiggins. âNever
before was a respecterble woman so harrowed and outraged; but I am calm; I am
endeavoring to maintain a frame of mind suiterble to worship, and I feel it my
bounden duty to impress upon you that worship is a necessity to every human
being. My conscience would not acquit me if I did not use all my influenceââ
âVery well, Mrs. Mumpson, you and your conscience are quits. You have used
all your influence. I will do as I saidâtake you to Lemuel Weeksââand you
can go to church with his family,â and he rose from the table.
âBut Cousin Lemuel is also painfully blind to his spiritual interestsââ
Holcroft did not stay to listen and was soon engaged in the morning milking.
Jane flatly declared that she would not go to Cousin Lemuelâs or to church.
âIt donât do me no good, nor you, nuther,â she sullenly declared to her
mother.
Mrs. Mumpson now resolved upon a different line of tactics. Assuming a lofty,
spiritual air, she commanded Jane to light a fire in the parlor, and retired
thither with the rocking chair. The elder widow looked after her and
ejaculated, âVell, hif she haint the craziest loon hi hever âeard talk. Hif
she vas blind she might âaâ seen that the master didnât vant hany sich
lecturinâ clack.â
Having kindled the fire, the child was about to leave the room when her mother
interposed and said solemnly, âJane, sit down and keep Sunday.â
âIâm going to help Mrs. Wiggins if sheâll let me.â
âYou will not so demean yourself. I wish you to have no relations whatever
with that female in the kitchen. If you had proper self-respect, you would
never speak to her again.â
âWe aint visitinâ here. If I canât work indoors, Iâll tell him Iâll work
outdoors.â
âItâs not proper for you to work today. I want you to sit there in the corner
and learn the Fifth Commandment.â
âAint you goinâ to Cousin Lemuelâs?â
âOn mature reflection, I have decided to remain at home.â
âI thought you would if you had any sense left. You know well enough we aint
wanted down there. Iâll go tell him not to hitch up.â
âWell, I will permit you to do so. Then return to your Sunday task.â
âIâm goinâ to mind him,â responded the child. She passed rapidly and
apprehensively through the kitchen, but paused on the doorstep to make some
overtures to Mrs. Wiggins. If that austere dame was not to be propitiated, a
line of retreat was open to the barn. âSay,â she began, to attract attention.
âVell, young-un,â replied Mrs. Wiggins, rendered more pacific by her
breakfast.
âDonât you want me to wash up the dishes and put âem away? I know how.â
âHiâll try ye. Hif ye breaks hanythinkââ and the old woman nodded volumes at
the child.
âIâll be back in a minute,â said Jane. A moment later she met Holcroft
carrying two pails of milk from the barnyard. He was about to pass without
noticing her, but she again secured attention by her usual preface, âSay,â
when she had a somewhat extended communication to make.
âCome to the dairy room, Jane, and say your say there,â said Holcroft not
unkindly.
âShe aint goinâ to Cousin Lemuelâs,â said the girl, from the door.
âWhat is she going to do.â
âRock in the parlor. Say, canât I help Mrs. Wiggins wash up the dishes and do
the work?â
âCertainly, why not?â
âMother says I must sit in the parlor ânâ learn Commandments ânâ keep Sunday.â
âWell, Jane, which do you think you ought to do?â
âI think I oughter work, and if you and Mrs. Wiggins will let me, I will work
in spite of mother.â
âI think that you and your mother both should help do the necessary work
today. There wonât be much.â
âIf I try and help Mrs. Wiggins, motherâll bounce out at me. She shook me
last night after I went upstairs, and she boxed my ears âcause I wanted to
keep the kitchen fire up last night.â
âIâll go with you to the kitchen and tell Mrs. Wiggins to let you help, and I
wonât let your mother punish you again unless you do wrong.â
Mrs. Wiggins, relying on Janeâs promise of help, had sat down to the solace of
her pipe for a few minutes, but was about to thrust it hastily away on seeing
Holcroft. He reassured her by saying good-naturedly, âNo need of that, my
good woman. Sit still and enjoy your pipe. I like to smoke myself. Jane
will help clear away things and I wish her to. Youâll find sheâs quite handy.
By the way, have you all the tobacco you want?â
âVell, now, master, pâraps ye know the âlowance down hat the poor-us vasnât
sich as ud keep a body in vat yeâd call satisfyinâ smokinâ. Hi never âad
henough ter keep down the âankerinâ.â
âI suppose thatâs so. You shall have half of my stock, and when I go to town
again, Iâll get you a good supply. I guess Iâll light my pipe, too, before
starting for a walk.â
âBless yer âart, master, ye makes a body comfâterble. Ven hi smokes, hi feels
more hat âome and kind oâcontented like. An hold âooman like me haint got
much left to comfort âer but âer pipe.â
âJane!â called Mrs. Mumpson sharply from the parlor. As there was no answer,
the widow soon appeared in the kitchen door. Smoking was one of the
unpardonable sins in Mrs. Mumpsonâs eyes; and when she saw Mrs. Wiggins
puffing comfortably away and Holcroft lighting his pipe, while Jane cleared
the table, language almost failed her. She managed to articulate, âJane, this
atmosphere is not fit for you to breathe on this sacred day. I wish you to
share my seclusion.â
âMrs. Mumpson, I have told her to help Mrs. Wiggins in the necessary work,â
Holcroft interposed.
âMr. Holcroft, you donât realizeâmen never doâJane is my offspring, andââ
âOh, if you put it that way, I shanât interfere between mother and child. But
I suppose you and Jane came here to work.â
âIf you will enter the parlor, I will explain to you fully my views, andââ
âOh, please excuse me!â said Holcroft, hastily passing out. âI was just
starting for a walkâIâm bound to have one more day to myself on the old
place,â he muttered as he bent his steps toward an upland pasture.
Jane, seeing that her mother was about to pounce upon her, ran behind Mrs.
Wiggins, who slowly rose and began a progress toward the irate widow,
remarking as she did so, âHiâll just shut the door âtwixt ye and yer
hoffspring, and then ye kin say yer prayers hon the tâother side.â
Mrs. Mumpson was so overcome at the turn affairs had taken on this day, which
was to witness such progress in her plans and hopes, as to feel the absolute
necessity of a prolonged season of thought and soliloquy, and she relapsed,
without further protest, into the rocking chair.
Chapter XII. Jane
Holcroft was not long in climbing to a sunny nook whence he could see not only
his farm and dwelling, but also the Oakville valley, and the little white
spire of the distant meeting house. He looked at this last-named object
wistfully and very sadly. Mrs. Mumpsonâs tirade about worship had been
without effect, but the memories suggested by the church were bitter-sweet
indeed. It belonged to the Methodist denomination, and Holcroft had been
taken, or had gone thither, from the time of his earliest recollection. He
saw himself sitting between his father and mother, a round-faced urchin to
whom the sermon was unintelligible, but to whom little Bessie Jones in the
next pew was a fact, not only intelligible, but very interesting. She would
turn around and stare at him until he smiled, then she would giggle until her
mother brought her right-about-face with considerable emphasis. After this,
he saw the little boyâcould it have been himself?ânodding, swaying, and
finally slumbering peacefully, with his head on his motherâs lap, until shaken
into sufficient consciousness to be half dragged, half led, to the door. Once
in the big, springless farm wagon he was himself again, looking eagerly around
to catch another glimpse of Bessie Jones. Then he was a big, irreverent boy,
shyly and awkwardly bent on mischief in the same old meeting house. Bessie
Jones no longer turned and stared at him, but he exultingly discovered that he
could still make her giggle on the sly. Years passed, and Bessie was his
occasional choice for a sleigh-ride when the long body of some farm wagon was
placed on runners, and boys and girlsâyoung men and women, they almost
thought themselvesâwere packed in like sardines. Something like
self-reproach smote Holcroft even now, remembering how he had allowed his
fancy much latitude at this period, paying attention to more than one girl
besides Bessie, and painfully undecided which he liked best.
Then had come the memorable year which had opened with a protracted meeting.
He and Bessie Jones had passed under conviction at the same time, and on the
same evening had gone forward to the anxious seat. From the way in which she
sobbed, one might have supposed that the good, simple-hearted girl had
terrible burdens on her conscience; but she soon found hope, and her tears
gave place to smiles. Holcroft, on the contrary, was terribly cast down and
unable to find relief. He felt that he had
Comments (0)