Samantha Among the Brethren | Page 6

and the artizen (makin' special mention of the
buzz sawyers). And also in the palace walls and the throne. There and
every where men would fain shelter wimmen from every care, and
every labor, even the lightest and slightest.
Then lastly came the howsumever. He proceeded to show how this
could be done. And he proved it right out (or thought he did) that the
first great requisit' to accomplish all this, wuz to keep wimmen in her
place. Keep her from settin' on the Conference, and all other tottlin'
eminences, fitted only for man's stalwart strength.

And the end of the article wuz so sort of tragick and skairful that Josiah
wept when he read it. He pictured it out in such strong colors, the
danger there wuz of puttin' wimmen, or allowin' her to put herself in
such a high and percipitous place, such a skairful and dangerous
posture as settin' up on a Conference.
[Illustration: "JOSIAH WEPT WHEN HE READ IT."]
"To have her set up on it," sez the writer, in conclusion, "would
endanger her life, her spiritual, her mental and her moral growth. It
would shake the permanency of the sacred home relations to its
downfall. It would hasten anarchy, and he thought sizm." Why, Josiah
Allen handled that paper as if it wuz pure gold. I know he asked me
anxiously as he handed it to me to read, "if my hands wuz perfectly
clean," and we had some words about it.
And till he could pass it on to Deacon Sypher to read he kep it in the
Bible. He put it right over in Galatians, for I looked to see--Second
Galatians.
And he wrapped it up in a soft handkerchief when he carried it over to
Deacon Sypherses. And Deacon Sypher treasured it like a pearl of great
price (so I spoze) till he could pass it on to Deacon Henzy.
And Deacon Henzy was to carry it with care to a old male Deacon in
Zoar, bed rid.
Wall, as I say, that is the very first I had read about their bein' any idee
promulgated of wimmens settin' up on the Conference.
And I, in spite of Josiah Allen's excitement, wuz in favor on't from the
very first.
Yes, I wuz awfully in favor of it, and all I went through durin' the next
and ensuin' weeks didn't put the idee out of my head. No, far from it. It
seemed as if the severer my sufferin's wuz, the much more this idee
flourished in my soul. Just as a heavy plow will meller up the soil so
white lilies can take root, or any other kind of sweet posies.

And oh! my heart! wuz not my sufferin's with Lodema Trumble, a hard
plow and a harrowin' one, and one that turned up deep furrows?
But of this, more anon and bimeby.

CHAPTER II.
Wall, it wuz on the very next day--on a Thursday as I remember well,
for I wuz a-thinkin' why didn't Lodema's letter come the next
day--Fridays bein' considered onlucky--and it being a day for
punishments, hangin's, and so forth.
But it didn't, it came on a Thursday. And my companion had been to
Jonesville and brung me back two letters; he brung 'em in, leavin' the
old mair standin' at the gate, and handed me the letters, ten pounds of
granulated sugar, a pound of tea, and the request I should have supper
on the table by the time that he got back from Deacon Henzy's.
(On that old buzz-saw business agin, so I spozed, but wouldn't ask.)
Wall, I told him supper wuz begun any way, and he had better hurry
back. But he wuz belated by reason of Deacon Henzy's bein' away, so I
set there for some time alone.
Wall, I wuz goin' to have some scolloped oysters for supper, so the first
thing I did wuz to put 'em into the oven--they wuz all ready, I had
scolloped 'em before Josiah come, and got 'em all ready for the
oven--and then I set down and read my letters.
Wall, the first one I opened wuz from Lodema Trumble, Josiah's cousin
on his own side. And her letter brought the sad and harrowin'
intelligence that she was a-comin' to make us a good long visit. The
letter had been delayed. She was a-comin' that very night, or the next
day. Wall, I sithed deep. I love company dearly, but--oh my soul, is
there not a difference, a difference in visitors?
Wall, suffice it to say, I sithed deep, and opened the other letter,

thinkin' it would kind o' take my mind off.
And for all the world! I couldn't hardly believe my eyes. But it wuz! It
wuz from Serena Fogg. It wuz from the