TotwUy, Aqgort 6, 1912. FA HOST THE ASHE VILLI GAZETTE -NEWS i ii . it t li it I HI I' Author of JTI WHl"3 Cu Whittnker's Place I fHP Cftp'nEri, Etc. H ' l IIluitTlalM'bu . IV ! 191 Ellsworth Copyrigfit.ieo, bjf IX Appietor, 8-Compom. 8YNOP8IS. CHAPTER I-Mrs. Kesiah Coffin, sup posed widow, is arranging to mov trora Trumet to Boston, following the death of her brother, for whom she had kept house. Grace Van Home, ward of Capt. Eben Hammond, leader of the "Come-out-er" religious sect, offers to assist her financially If she will remain. She de clines. Kyan Pepper, widower, offers mar rlag, and i Indignantly refused. CHAPTER II-Capt. Elkanah Daniels, lender of the Regular church, offers Ke zlah a. place as housekeeper for the new minister, and she decides to remain In Trumet. " "Hum hat" barked Captain Elka nah. "Ahem! Mr. Ellery, I trust you're being made comfortable. The parish committee are hum ah anxious that you should be. Yes?" The minister sajd that he waB very comfortable Indeed. "It isn't what you've been used to, we know," observed Miss Annabel. "Mr. Langley, our former pastor, was a sweet old gentleman, but he was old-fashioned and his tastes were queer, especially in art. Have you noticed that 'fruit piece' in the dining room? Isn't it too ridiculous?" Then she changed the subject to church and parish affairs. They spoke of the sewing circle and the reading society and the Friday-evening meet ings. "The Come-Outers are so vexed with us," tittered Miss Annabel, "that they won't even hold prayer meetings on the same night as ours. They have theirs on Thursday rights and it's ns good as a play to hear them shout and sing and carry on. You'll enjoy the Come-Outers, Mr. Ellery. They're a perfect delight." And as they rose to go Captain El kanah asked: "Is there anything you'd like done sbout the parsonage, Mr. Ellery? If bo, it shall be done immejitly. How are you satisfied with your house keeper 1" "Very well, Indeed, Captain Dan iels," was the prompt reply. "She's a character, isn't she?" gig gled Annabel. "She was born here in Trumet, but went away to New Bed ford when she was young and grew up there. Her maiden name was Hall, but while she was away she married a man named Ansel Coffin. They didn't live together very long and weren't h; ppy, I gwess. I don't know whose fault it was, nobody knows much of anything about it, for that's the one thing she won't talk about. Anyhow, the Coffin man was lost at sea, and after a while Bhe came back to keep house for her brother Solo mon. She's an awful odd stick, but she's a good cook, I believe; though I'm afraid you won't get the meals people such as ourselves, who've been bo much in the city, are used to." Ellery thought of the meals at his city boarding house and shuddered. Pie was an orphan and had boarded for years. Incidentally, he had worked Captain Elkanah Daniels and HI Daughter Mado Their First Formal Call. his way through college. Captain El kanah cleared his throat. "Kezlah," he commanded. "Hum ha! Kezlah, come in here a minute." Kezlah came in response to the call, her Bewing in her hand. The renova tion of the parsonage had so far pro gressed that the could now find time for a little sewing, after the dinner dishes were done. "Kezlah," said the captain pompous ly, "we expect you to look out for Mr. Ellery in every respect. The parish committee expects that yes." "I'll try," raid Mrs. Coffin shortly. "Yes. Well, that's all You can go. We asst be .coins, too, Mr. Ellery. Please consider our'nouse at your dis posal any time. Be neighborly hum ha! be neighborly." "Yes," purred Annabel. "Do come and see us often. Congenial society Is very scarce In Trumet, for me espe cially. We can read together. Are you fond of Moore, Mr. Ellery 1 I Just dote on him." The last "hum ha" was partially drowned by the click of the gate. Ke zlah closed the dining-room door. "Mrs. Coffin," said the minister. Bhan't trouble the parish committee. Be sure of that I'm perfectly satin- fled." Kezlah sat down In the rocker and her needle moved very briskly for moment. Then she said, without looking up: "That's good. I own up I like to near you say re. And r aw giatr mere are some things I do like about this new place of mine. Because well, because there's likely to be others that I Bhan't like at all." On Friday evening the minister conducted his first prayer meeting. Before it, and afterwards, he heard a good deal concerning the Come Outers. He learned that Captain Eben Hammond had preached against him in the chapel on Sunday. Most of his own parishioners seemed to think it a good joke. The sun of the following Thursday morning rose behind a curtain of fog as dense as that of the day upon which Ellery arrived. A flat calm in the forenoon, the wind changed about three o'clock, and, beginning with a sharp and sudden squall from the north-west, blew hard and steady. Yet the fog still cloaked everything and refused to be blown away. "Goln' out in this, Mr. Ellery!" ex claimed Kezlah, in amazement, as the minister put on his hat and coat about seven that evening. "Sakes alive! yon won't be able to se the way to the gate. It's as dark as a nigger's pocket and thicker than young ones in a poor man's family, as my father used to say. Youil be wet through. Where in the world are you bound for this. .night ?' The minister equivocated. He said he had been In the house all day and felt like a walk. "Well, take an umbrella, then," was the housekeeper's advice. "You'll need it before you get back, I cal'late." It was dark enough and thick enough, ii all conscience. The main road was a black, wet void, through which gleams from lighted windows were big vague, yellow blotches. The umbrella was useful in the same way that a blind man's cane is useful, in feeling the way. Two or three strag glers who met the minister carried lanterns. John Ellery stumbled on through the mist till he reached the "Corners" where the store was located and the roads forked. There, he turned to the right, into the way . ailed locally "Hammond's Turn-off." V short distance down the "Turn-off" Lood a small, brown-shingled building. Its windows alight. Opposite its doer, on either side of the road, grew a spreading hornbeam tree surrounded by a cluster of swamp blackberry bushes. In the black shadow of the iiornbeam Mr. Ellery stocd still. He was debating in his mind a question: should he or should he not enter that building? As he stood there, groups of people emerged from the fog and darkness and passed In at the door. Some of them he ha 1 seen during his fortnight In Trumet. Others were strangers to him. A lantern danced and wabbled up the "Turn-off" from the direction of the bay shore and the packet wharf. It drew near, and he saw that It was carried by an old man with long, white hair and chin beard, who walked with a Blight limp. Beside him was a thin woman wearing a black poke bonnet and a shawl. In the rear of the pair came another woman, a young woman, judging by the way she was dressed and her lithe, vigorous step. The trio halted on the platform of the building. The old man blew out the lantern, Then he threw the door open and a stream of yellow light poured over the group. The young woman was Grace Van Horn. The minister recognized Iier at once. Undoubtedly, the old man with the limp was her guardian. Cap tain Eben Hammond, who, by common report, had spoken of him, Ellery, as a "hired priest." The door closed. A few moments thereafter the sound of a squeaky me- lodeon came from within the building. It wailed and quavered and groaned. Then, with a suddenness that was startling, came the first verse of a hymn, sung with tremendous enthusi asm: "Oh, who shall answer when the Lord Bhall call His ransomed sinners home? The hallelujah chorus was still ring ing when the watcher across the street stepped out from the shadow of the hornbeam. Without a pause he strode over to the platform. An other moment and the door had shut behind him. The minister of the Trumet Regular church had entered the Come-Outer chapel to attend a Come-Outer prayer meeting! CHAPTER IV, In Which the Parson Cruise's Strange Waters. The Come-Outer chapel was as bare Inside, almost, as H was without. Bare wooden walls, a beamed celling, a raised platform it one end with a table and chairs and the melodeon upon It, rows of wooden settees for the congregation that was all. As the minister entered, the worshipers were standing up to sing. Three or four sputtering oil lamps hut dimly Illumined the place and made recogni tion uncertain. The second Terse of the hymn was Just beginning as Ellery came In. Most of the forty or more grown people in the chapel were too busy wrestling with the tune to turn and look at him. child here and there In the back row twisted a eurlous neck but twist ed back again as parental IIW tugged at lte ear. The minister tip toed to Vk corner anl tqok his etanirrn TronY or a Tacrtrccerfea. - The man whom Ellery had decided must be Captain Eben Hammond was standing on the low platform beside the table. A quaint figure, patriarchal With its flowing white hair and beard, puritanical with its set, smooth-shaven Hps and tufted brows. Captain Eben held an open hymn book back in one hand and beat time with the other. He wore brass-bowed spectables well down toward the tip of his nose. Swinging a heavy, stubby finger and singing In a high, quavering voice of no particular register, he led off the third verse: "Oh, who shall weep when the roll is called And who shall shout for joy?" The singing over, the worshipers sat down. Captain Eben took a fig ured handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his forehead. The thin, near-sighted young woman who had been humped over the keyboard of the melodeon, straightened up. The wor shipers relaxed a little and began to look about Then the captain adjusted his spec tacles and opened a Bible, which he took from the table beside him. Clear ing his throat, he announced that he would read from the Word, tenth chapter of Jeremiah: " 'Thus saith the Lord. Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.'" "A-men!" The shout came from the second bench from the front, where Ezekiel Bassett, clam digger and fervent re ligionist, was always to be found on meeting nights. Ezekiel was the fa ther of Susannah B. Bassett, "Sukey B." for short, who played the melo deon. He had been, by successive seizures, a Seventh Day Baptist, a Second Adventist, a Millerite, a Regu lar, and was now the most energetic of Come-Outers. Later he was to be come a Spiritualist and preside at table-tipping seances. Ezekiel's amen was so sudden and emphatic that it startled the reader into looking up. Instead of the faces of his congregation, he found himself treated to a view of their back hair Nearly every head was turned toward the rear corner of the room, there wat a buzz of whispering and, in front, many men and woman were standing, up to look. Ezekiel Bassett stepped forward and whispered in his ear. The cap tain's expression of righteous indigna tion changed to one of blank aston Ishment. He, too, gazed at the darl corner. Then hi3 lips tightened an he rapped smartly on the table. "My friends," he said, "let us bov in prayer." John Ellery could have repeated tba prayer, almost word for word, year: after that night. The captain praye for the few here gathered together: Let them be steadfast. Let them b constant in the way. The path thej were treading might be narrow and be set with thorns, but it was the patl leading to glory. "Scoffers may sneer," he declared his voice rising; "they may make r mock of us, they may even come intr thy presence to laugh at us, but thein Is the laugh that turns to groanin'." And so on, his remarks beoominr more personal and ever pointing like a compass needle to the occupant 01 that seat ir. the corner. "0 Lord," prayed Captain Hammond the perspiration in beads on his fore head, "thou hast said that the pastort become brutish and have not sough' thee and that they shan't prosper Help us tonight to labor with this ont that he may see his error and repent in sackcloth and ashes." They sang once more, a hymn thai prophesied woes to the unbeliever Then Ezekiel Bassett rose to "testify.' The testimony was mainly to the ef feet that he was happy because he had fled to the ark of safety while then was yet time. Captain Eben called for more testl mony. But the testifiers were, to us the old minstrel joke, backward ii coming forward that evening. At ax ordinary meeting, by this time, the shouts and enthusiasm would hav been at their height and half a dozer Come-Outers on their feet at once, re lating their experiences and proclaim Ing their happiness. But tonlghl there was a damper; the presence of the leader of the opposition cast a shadow over ttie gathering. Only the bravest attempted speech. The othere sat silent, showing their resentment and contempt by frowning glances over their shoulders and portentous nods one to the other. The captain looked over the meet ing. "I'm ashamed," he said, "ashamed of the behavior of some of us in the Lord's house. This has been a failure, this service of ours. We have kept still when we should have justified our faith, and allowed the presence of stranger to Interfere with our duty to the Almighty. And I will say," be added, his voice rising and trembling with Indignation, "to him who came here uninvited and broke up this meet in', that it would be well for him to remember the words of Scriptur', 'Woe unto ye, false prophets and workers of Iniquity.' Let him remember what the divine wisdom put into my head to read to-night: 'The pastors have become brutish and have not sought the Lord: therefore they shall not prosper." " "Amen!" "Amen!" "Amen!" "So be it!" The cries came from all parts of the little room. They ceased abruptly, for John Ellery was on his feet. (TO BE5 CONTINUED.) A vast amount of 111 health Is dn to impaired indigestion. When th stomach falls to perform Its functions. properly thi whole system become deranged. A few donee of C homDer Iain's Tablet Is all you need. They will strengthen your digestion, lnvl orate your liver, and regulate your bowels, entirely doing away with that mlBerablc feeling due to faulty dlges tlon. Try It. Many others have been permanently cured why not you For sale ay all dealers. WISCONSIN WOMAN'S FORTUNE Freed From Pain, Weakness, Terrible Backache and De spair by Lydia E. Pink ham's Compound. Coioma, Wif -" For three years I was troubled with female weakness, irreg ularities, backache and bearing down pains. I saw an ad vertisement of Lydia E. Pinkham's Vege table Compound and dscided to try it. After taking several bottles I found it was helping me, and I must say that I am perfectly well now and cannot thank you enough for what Lydia E. Pink ham's Vegetable Compound has done for me." Mrs. John Wentljojd, R.F.D., No. 3, Box 60, Coloma, Wis. Women who are suffering from those iistressing ills peculiar to their sex should not lose sight of these facts or ioubt the ability of Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound to restore their Health. There are probably hundreds of thou sands, perhaps millions of women in the United States who have been benefited by this famous old remedy, which was oroduced from roots and herbs over 30 years ago bya woman to relieve woman's mffering. If you arc sick and need such i medicine, why don't you try it ? If yon want special advice write to bydia E. Pinkham Medicine Co. (confl lential) Lynn, Muss. Tour letter will le opened, read and ansvered by a iroman and held in strict confidence. TRUSTF.K'S SALE. By virtue of thp power of sale con ained in a certain deed of trust made y A. Mathews to the undersigned rustee, dated Nov. 17th, 1911, and luly recorded in the office of the reg ister of deeds for Buncombe county, C, in book of mortgages and deeds f trust No. 84 at page 433 to which eference is hereby made, and default laving been made in the payment of he indebtedness secured by said deed f trust whereby the power of sale herein contained has become opera ive, the said undersigned trustee will n Friday the 15th day of August, 912, at 12 o'clock, noon, sell at pub ic auction for cash at the court house 'oor in the city of Asheville, county f Buncombe, N. C, the following inds and premises, situate, lying and eing in the town of West Asheville, ounty of Buncombe, State of North 'arolina adjoining lands of R. M. )eaver and others and more partic- larly described as follows:. Begin ing at a stake in the south margin f Poplar street at its intersection ith the old Haywood road, and runs .ith the east margin of said road outh 28 deg. 13 min. west one hun- red and tWleve feet to a stake in aid margin of said road; thence orth 63 dog. 30 mln. east one hun Ired and seventeen and ore half feet o a stake in the west margin of a ew street thence with said new street orth 27 degree east one hundred nd eleven and one half feet to a tairo In thp south maririn of PoDlar treet; thence with the south margin f said street south 63 deg. 30 mln. .est one hundred and fifteen and one alf feet to the beginning. This July 16th, 1912. W. E. SHUFORD, Trustee. NOTICE OF SALE. By virtue of the power and author Vaehovia Bank and Trust Company ty conferred upon the undersigned iy a certain deed of trust executed by Vm. E. Tyack and his wife, Katherlne ,'elson Tyack, dated July first, 1911, aid deed of trust being recorded in i he office of the Register of Deeds of luncombe county, North Carolina, in look No. 82, at page 205, reference o which is hereby had; default hav- ng been made In the payment ef the lebt secured by said deed In trust. he same being now past due and un laid. and request having been made y the owner and holder of said debt bat the undersigned do execute the owers of sale contained in said deed n trust; the undersigned Wachovia lank and Trust company will on Hominy, August 19, i12, at twelve 'clock. noon, In front of the court louse door In the city of Asheville, ounty of Buncombe, North Carolina, ffer for sale at public auction, for ash, to the highest bidder, the fol owing describe piece or parcel of and, situate, lying and being in the Ity of Asheville, N. C, and bounded vnd more particularly described as ollows, to-wlt: Beginning at a stake at the Inter, lection of the southern margin of Vston lane with the western margin if RavenBcroft road, and runs thence with the southern margin of Aston iane. south 83 deg. 60 mln. west 123.7 feet to a stake; thence south 1 deg. 35 mln. West 76 feet to a stake; henoe north 83 deg. 50 min. east 292 'eet to a stake on the west margin of Ravenscroft road; thence with said margin of said road north 24 deg. 48 urn. east 86.6 eet to the beginning. Containing .522 of an acre more or 'ess, and being Lot No. 14 of a plat if the Kavenecroft property. This the 16th day of July, 1912. WACHOVIA BANK ft TRUST CO. 0. P. LOTSPEICH 'iroker, Room No. Is, Over Kress Store. Dealer In municipal, county and tchool bonds, and for latest prices on raln, hay, flour and feeds of all dnd. Phone 1861. Buy your ticket and give order for baggage to be checked from your residence to destination. Baggage Transfer and Railway Ticeket Office same room, 60 Patton Ave. - 1 ' ' ' '' "; '!: ?:!:! V-' ' ' Horse Show Edition I OF THE I -m t I August istn IF YOU HAVE NOT MADE ARRANGEMENTS FOR SPACE IN THIS NUMBER BE SURE TO DO SO BT AUG. mTTT I I mTTTO unuviiB ttttt t di nrmiT V m"Df!TTT. A TSTl II AND WILL CONTAIN THE PROGRAM IN FULL AS WELL AS ALL THE SOCIAL EVENTS THAT ARE TO TAKE PLACE DURING THE DATES OF THE SHOW. Gazette- i m I aii rn essi ess nsm ansa, t saw w in ne ruDusnea on .....

Page Text

This is the computer-generated OCR text representation of this newspaper page. It may be empty, if no text could be automatically recognized. This data is also available in Plain Text and XML formats.

Return to page view