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diff --git a/9447.txt b/9447.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d89e7c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/9447.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1493 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Samantha Among the Brethren, Part 5. +by Josiah Allen's Wife (Marietta Holley) + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Samantha Among the Brethren, Part 5. + +Author: Josiah Allen's Wife (Marietta Holley) + +Release Date: August 10, 2004 [EBook #9447] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SAMANTHA AMONG THE BRETHREN, *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Widger and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + + +SAMANTHA + +AMONG THE BRETHREN. + +By + +"Josiah Allen's Wife" + +(Marietta Holley) + + +Part 5 + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +Josiah's face wuz smooth and placid, he hadn't took a mite of sense of +what I had been a-sayin', and I knew it. Men don't. They know at the +most it is only _talk_, wimmen hain't got it in their power to _do_ +anything. And I s'pose they reason on it in this way--a little wind +storm is soon over, it relieves old Natur and don't hurt anything. + +Yes, my pardner's face wuz as calm as the figger on the outside of the +almanac a-holdin' the bottle, and his axent wuz mildly wonderin' and +gently sarcestickle. + +"How a steeple would look a-pintin' down! That is a true woman's idee." + +[Illustration: SISTER FILKINS.] + +Sez I, "I would have it a-pintin' down towards the depths of darkness +that wuz in that man's heart that roze it up, and the infamy of the deed +that kep him in the meetin' house and turned his victim out of it." + +"I d'no as she wuz his victim," sez Josiah. + +Sez I, "Every one knows that in the first place Simeon Lathers wuz the +man that led her astray." + +"It wuzn't proved," sez Josiah, a-turnin' the almanac over and lookin' +at the advertisement on the back side on't. + +"And why wuzn't it proved?" sez I, "because he held a big piece of gold +against the mouths of the witnesses." + +"I didn't see any in front of my mouth," sez Josiah, lookin' 'shamed but +some composed. + +"And you know what the story wuz," sez he, "accordin' to that, he did it +all to try her faith." + +I wouldn't encourage Josiah by even smilin' at his words, though I knew +well what the story wuz he referred to. + +It wuz at a Conference meetin', when Simeon Lathers wuz jest a-beginnin' +to take notice of how pretty Irene Filkins wuz. + +She had gone forward to the anxious seat, with some other young females, +their minds bein' wrought on, so it wuz spozed, by Deacon Lathers's +eloquent exhortations, and urgin's to 'em to come forward and be saved. + +And they had gone up onto the anxious seat a-sheddin' tears, and they +all knelt down there, and Deacon Lathers he went right up and knelt down +right by Sister Irene Filkins, and them that wuz there say, that right +while he wuz a-prayin' loud and strong for 'em all, and her specially, +he put his arm round her and acted in such a way that she resented it +bitterly. + +She wuz a good, virtuous girl then, any way. + +And she resented his overtoors in such a indignant and decided way that +it drawed the attention of a hull lot of brothers and sisters towards +'em. + +And Deacon Lathers got right up from his knees and sez, "Bretheren and +sisters, let us sing these lines: + + "He did it all to try her faith." + +I remembered this story, but I wuzn't goin' to encourage Josiah Allen +by lettin' my attention be drawed off by any anectotes--nor I didn't +smile--oh, no I But I went right on with a hull lot of burnin' +indignatin in my axents, and sez I, "Josiah Allen, can you look me in +the face and say that it wuzn't money and bad men's influence that keep +such men as Deacon Widrig and Simeon Lathers in the meetin' house?" Sez +I, "If they wuz poor men would they have been kep', or if it wuzn't for +the influence of men that like hard drink?" + +"Wall, as it were," sez Josiah, "I--that is--wall, it is a-gettin' +bed-time, Samantha." + +And he wound up the clock and went to bed. + +And I set there, all rousted up in my mind, for more'n a hour--and I +dropped more'n seven stitches in Josiah's heel, and didn't care if I +did. + +But I have episoded fearfully, and to resoom and go on. + +Miss Henn wuz mad, and she wuz one of our most enterprizen' sisters, and +we felt that she wuz a great loss. + +Things looked dretful dark. And Sister Bobbet, who is very tender +hearted, shed tears several times a-talkin' about the hard times that +had come onto our meetin' house, and how Zion wuz a-languishin', etc., +etc. + +And I told Sister Bobbet in confidence, and also in public, that it wuz +time to talk about Zion's languishin' when we had done all we could to +help her up. And I didn't believe Zion would languish so much if she had +a little help gin her when she needed it. + +And Miss Bobbet said "she felt jest so about it, but she couldn't help +bein' cast down." And so most all of the sisters said. Submit Tewksbury +wept, and shed tears time and agin, a-talkin' about it, and so several +of 'em did. But I sez to 'em-- + +"Good land!" sez I. "We have seen jest as hard times in the Methodist +meetin' house before, time and agin, and we wimmen have always laid holt +and worked, and laid plans, and worked, and worked, and with the Lord's +help have sailed the old ship Zion through the dark waters into safety, +and we can do it agin." + +Though what we wuz to do we knew not, and the few male men who didn't +jine in the hardness, said they couldn't see no way out of it, but what +the minister would have to go, and the meetin' house be shet up for a +spell. + +But we female wimmen felt that we could not have it so any way. And we +jined together, and met in each other's housen (not publickly, oh no! we +knew our places too well as Methodist Sisters). + +We didn't make no move in public, but we kinder met round to each +other's housen, sort o' private like, and talked, and talked, and +prayed--we all knew that wuzn't aginst the church rules, so we jest +rastled in prayer, for help to pay our honest debts, and keep the +Methodist meetin' house from disgrace, for the men wuz that worked up +and madded, that they didn't seem to care whether the meetin' house come +to nothin' or not. + +Wall, after settin' day after day (not public settin', oh, no! we knew +our places too well, and wouldn't be ketched a-settin' public till we +had a right to). + +After settin' and talkin' it over back and forth, we concluded the very +best thing we could do wuz to give a big fair and try to sell things +enough to raise some money. + +It wuz a fearful tuff job we had took onto ourselves, for we had got to +make all the things to sell out of what we could get holt of, for, of +course, our husbands all kep the money purses in their own hands, as +the way of male pardners is. But we laid out to beset 'em when they wuz +cleverer than common (owin' to extra good vittles) and get enough money +out of 'em to buy the materials to work with, bedquilts (crazy, and +otherwise), embroidered towels, shawl straps, knit socks and suspenders, +rugs, chair covers, lap robes, etc., etc., etc. + +It wuz a tremendus hard undertakin' we had took onto ourselves, with all +our spring's work on hand, and not one of us Sisters kep a hired girl +at the time, and we had to do our own house cleanin', paintin' floors, +makin' soap, spring sewin', etc., besides our common housework. + +But the very worst on't wuz the meetin' house wuz in such a shape that +we couldn't do a thing till that wuz fixed. + +The men had undertook to fix over the meetin' house jest before the +hardness commenced. The men and wimmen both had labored side by side to +fix up the old house a little. + +The men had said that in such church work as that wimmen had a perfect +right to help, to stand side by side with the male brothers, and do +half, or more than half, or even _all_ the work. They said it wuzn't +aginst the Discipline, and all the Bishops wuz in favor of it, and +always had been. They said it wuz right accordin' to the Articles. But +when it come to the hard and arjuous duties of drawin' salleries with +'em, or settin' up on Conferences with 'em, why there a line had to +be drawed, wimmen must not be permitted to strain herself in no such +ways--nor resk the tender delicacy of her nature, by settin' in a +meetin' house as a delegate by the side of a man once a year. It wuz too +resky. But we could lay holt and work with 'em in public, or in private, +which we felt wuz indeed a privelege, for the interests of the Methodist +meetin' house wuz dear to our hearts, and so wuz our pardners' +approvals--and they wuz all on 'em unanimus on this pint--we could +_work_ all we wanted to. + +So we had laid holt and worked right along with the men from day to day, +with their full and free consents, and a little help from 'em, till we +had got the work partly done. We had got the little Sabbath-school room +painted and papered, and the cushions of the main room new covered, and +we had engaged to have it frescoed, but the frescoer had turned out to +be a perfect fraud, and, of all the lookin' things, that meetin' house +wuz about the worst. The plaster, or whatever it wuz he had put on, had +to be all scraped off before it could be papered, the paper wuz bought, +and the scrapin' had begun. + +[Illustration: "APPEARIN' IN PUBLIC."] + +The young male and female church members had give a public concert +together, and raised enough money to get the paper--it wuz very nice, +and fifty cents a roll (double roll). These young females appearin' in +public for this purpose wuz very agreeable to the hull meetin' house, +and wuz right accordin' to the rules of the Methodist Meetin' House, for +I remember I asked about it when the question first come up about +sendin' female delegates to the Conference, and all the male members of +our meetin' house wuz so horrified at the idee. + +I sez, "I'll bet there wouldn't one of the delegates yell half so loud +es she that wuz Mahala Gowdey at the concert. Her voice is a sulferino +of the very keenest edge and highest tone, and she puts in sights and +sights of quavers." + +But they all said that wuz a _very_ different thing. + +And sez I, "How different? She wuz a yellin' in public for the good +of the Methodist Meetin' House (it wuz her voice that drawed the big +congregatin, we all know). And them wimmen delegates would only have to +'yea' and 'nay' in a still small voice for the good of the same. I can't +see why it would be so much more indelicate and unbecomin' in them"--and +sez I, "they would have bonnets and shawls on, and she that wuz Mahala +had on a low neck and short sleeves." But they wouldn't yield, and I +wouldn't nuther. + +But I am a eppisodin fearful, and to resoom. Wall, as I said, the +scrapin' had begun. One side of the room wuz partly cleaned so the paper +could go on, and then the fuss come up, and there it wuz, as you may +say, neither hay nor grass, neither frescoed nor papered nor nuthin'. +And of all the lookin' sights it wuz. + +Wall, of course, if we had a fair in that meetin' house, we couldn't +have it in such a lookin' place to disgrace us in the eyes of Baptists +and 'Piscopals. + +No, that meetin' house had got to be scraped, and we wimmen had got to +do the scrapin' with case knives. + +It wuz a hard job. I couldn't help thinkin' quite a number of thoughts +as I stood on a barell with a board acrost it, afraid as death of +fallin' and a workin' for dear life, and the other female sisters a +standin' round on similar barells, all a-workin' fur beyond their +strengths, and all afraid of fallin', and we all a-knowin' what we had +got ahead on us a paperin' and a gettin' up the fair. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +Couldn't help a-methinkin' to myself several times. It duz seem to me +that there hain't a question a-comin' up before that Conference that +is harder to tackle than this plasterin' and the conundrum that is up +before us Jonesville wimmen how to raise 300 dollars out of nuthin', and +to make peace in a meetin' house where anarky is now rainin' down. + +But I only thought these thoughts to myself, fur I knew every women +there wuz peacible and law abidin' and there wuzn't one of 'em but +what would ruther fall offen her barell then go agin the rules of the +Methodist Meetin' House. + +Yes, I tried to curb down my rebellous thoughts, and did, pretty much +all the time. And good land! we worked so hard that we hadn't time +to tackle very curius and peculier thoughts, them that wuz dretful +strainin' and wearin' on the mind. Not of our own accord we didn't, fur +we had to jest nip in and work the hull durin' time. + +[Illustration: "EVERY NIGHT JOSIAH WOULD TACKLE ME ON IT."] + +And then we all knew how deathly opposed our pardners wuz to our takin' +any public part in meetin' house matters or mountin' rostrums, and that +thought quelled us down a sight. + +Of course when these subjects wuz brung up before us, and turned round +and round in front of our eyes, why we had to look at 'em and be rousted +up by 'em more or less. It was Nater. + +And Josiah not havin' anything to do evenin's only to set and look at +the ceilin'. Every single night when I would go home from the meetin' +house, Josiah would tackle me on it, on the danger of allowin' wimmen +to ventur out of her spear in Meetin' House matters, and specially the +Conference. + +It begin to set in New York the very day we tackled the meetin' in +Jonesville with a extra grip. + +So's I can truly say, the Meetin' House wuz on me day and night. For +workin' on it es I did, all day long, and Josiah a-talkin' abut it till +bed time, and I a-dreamin' abut it a sight, that, and the Conference. + +Truly, if I couldn't set on the Conference, the Conference sot on me, +from mornin' till night, and from night till mornin'. + +I spoze it wuz Josiah's skairful talk that brung it onto me, it wuz +brung on nite mairs mostly, in the nite time. + +He would talk _very_ skairful, and what he called deep, and repeat pages +of Casper Keeler's arguments, and they would appear to me (drawed also +by nite mairs) every page on 'em lookin' fairly lurid. + +I suffered. + +Josiah would set with the _World_ and other papers in his hand, +a-perusin' of 'em, while I would be a-washin' up my dishes, and the very +minute I would get 'em done and my sleeves rolled down, he would tackle +me, and often he wouldn't wait for me to get my work done up, or even +supper got, but would begin on me as I filled up my tea kettle, and keep +up a stiddy drizzle of argument till bed time, and as I say, when he +left off, the nite mairs would begin. + +I suffered beyond tellin' almost. + +The secont night of my arjuous labors on the meetin' house, he began +wild and eloquent about wimmen bein' on Conferences, and mountin' +rostrums. And sez he, "That is suthin' that we Methodist men can't +stand." + +[Illustration: "IS ROSTRUMS MUCH HIGHER THAN THEM BARELLS TO STAND ON?"] + +And I, havin' stood up on a barell all day a-scrapin' the ceilin', and +not bein' recuperated yet from the skairtness and dizziness of my day's +work, I sez to him: + +"Is rostrums much higher than them barells we have to stand on to the +meetin' house?" + +And Josiah said, "it wuz suthin' altogether different." And he assured +me agin, + +"That in any modest, unpretendin' way the Methodist Church wuz willin' +to accept wimmen's work. It wuzn't aginst the Discipline. And that is +why," sez he, "that wimmen have all through the ages been allowed to do +most all the hard work in the church--such as raisin' money for church +work--earnin' money in all sorts of ways to carry on the different kinds +of charity work connected with it--teachin' the children, nursin' the +sick, carryin' on hospital work, etc., etc. But," sez he, "this is +fur, fur different from gettin' up on a rostrum, or tryin' to set on a +Conference. Why," sez he, in a haughty tone, "I should think they'd know +without havin' to be told that laymen don't mean women." + +Sez I, "Them very laymen that are tryin' to keep wimmen out of the +Conference wouldn't have got in themselves if it hadn't been for +wimmen's votes. If they can legally vote for men to get in why can't men +vote for them?" + +"That is the pint," sez Josiah, "that is the very pint I have been +tryin' to explain to you. Wimmen can help men to office, but men can't +help wimmen; that is law, that is statesmanship. I have been a-tryin' to +explain it to you that the word laymen _always_ means woman when she can +help men in any way, but _not_ when he can help her, or in any other +sense." + +Sez I, "It seemed to mean wimmen when Metilda Henn wuz turned out of the +meetin' house." + +"Oh, yes," sez Josiah in a reasonin' tone, "the word laymen always means +wimmen when it is used in a punishin' and condemnatory sense, or in the +case of work and so fourth, but when it comes to settin' up in high +places, or drawin' sallerys, or anything else difficult, it alweys means +men." + +Sez I, in a very dry axent, "Then the word man, when it is used in +church matters, always means wimmen, so fur as scrubbin' is concerned, +and drowdgin' round?" + +"Yes," sez Josiah haughtily, "And it always means men in the higher and +more difficult matters of decidin' questions, drawin' sallerys, settin' +on Conferences, etc. It has long been settled to be so," sez he. + +"Who settled it?" sez I. + +"Why the men, of course," sez he. "The men have always made the rules +of the churches, and translated the Bibles, and everything else that is +difficult," sez he. Sez I, in fearful dry axents, almost husky ones, "It +seems to take quite a knack to know jest when the word laymen means men +and when it means wimmen." + +"That is so," sez Josiah. "It takes a man's mind to grapple with it; +wimmen's minds are too weak to tackle it It is jest as it is with that +word 'men' in the Declaration of Independence. Now that word 'men', in +that Declaration, means men some of the time, and some of the time men +and wimmen both. It means both sexes when it relates to punishment, +taxin' property, obeyin' the laws strictly, etc., etc., and then it goes +right on the very next minute and means men only, as to wit, namely, +votin', takin' charge of public matters, makin' laws, etc. + +"I tell you it takes deep minds to foller on and see jest to a hair +where the division is made. It takes statesmanship. + +"Now take that claws, 'All men are born free and equal.' + +"Now half of that means men, and the other half men and wimmen. Now to +understand them words perfect you have got to divide the tex. 'Men are +born.' That means men and wimmen both--men and wimmen are both born, +nobody can dispute that. Then comes the next claws, 'Free and equal.' +Now that means men only--anybody with one eye can see that. + +"Then the claws, 'True government consists.' That means men and wimmen +both--consists--of course the government consists of men and wimmen, +'twould be a fool who would dispute that. 'In the consent of the +governed.' That means men alone. Do you see, Samantha?" sez he. + +I kep' my eye fixed on the tea kettle, fer I stood with my tea-pot in +hand waitin' for it to bile--"I see a great deal, Josiah Allen." + +[Illustration: CHURCH WORK.] + +"Wall," sez he, "I am glad on't. Now to sum it up," sez he, with some +the mean of a preacher--or, ruther, a exhauster--"to sum the matter all +up, the words 'bretheren,' 'laymen,' etc., always means wimmen so fur +as this: punishment for all offenses, strict obedience to the rules of +the church, work of any kind and all kinds, raisin' money, givin' money +all that is possible, teachin' in the Sabbath school, gettin' up +missionary and charitable societies, carryin' on the same with no help +from the male sect leavin' that sect free to look after their half of +the meanin' of the word--sallerys, office, makin' the laws that bind +both of the sexes, rulin' things generally, translatin' Bibles to suit +their own idees, preachin' at 'em, etc., etc. Do you see, Samantha?" sez +he, proudly and loftily. + +"Yes," sez I, as I filled up my tea-pot, for the water had at last +biled. "Yes, I see." + +And I spoze he thought he had convinced me, for he acted high headeder +and haughtier for as much as an hour and a half. And I didn't say +anything to break it up, for I see he had stated it jest as he and all +his sect looked at it, and good land! I couldn't convince the hull male +sect if I tried--clergymen, statesmen and all--so I didn't try, and I +wuz truly beat out with my day's work, and I didn't drop more than one +idee more. I simply dropped this remark es I poured out his tea and put +some good cream into it--I merely sez: + +"There is three times es many wimmen in the meetin' house es there is +men." + +"Yes," sez he, "that is one of the pints I have been explainin' to you," +and then he went on agin real high headed, and skairt, about the old +ground, of the willingness of the meetin' house to shelter wimmen in its +folds, and how much they needed gaurdin' and guidin', and about their +delicacy of frame, and how unfitted they wuz to tackle anything hard, +and what a grief it wuz to the male sect to see 'em a-tryin' to set on +Conferences or mount rostrums, etc., etc. + +And I didn't try to break up his argument, but simply repeated the +question I had put to him--for es I said before, I wuz tired, and +skairt, and giddy yet from my hard labor and my great and hazardus +elevatin'; I had not, es you may say, recovered yet from my +recuperation, and so I sez agin them words-- + +"Is rostrums much higher than them barells to stand on?" And Josiah said +agin, "it wuz suthin' entirely different;" he said barells and rostrums +wuz so fur apart that you couldn't look at both on 'em in one day +hardly, let alone a minute. And he went on once more with a long +argument full of Bible quotations and everything. + +And I wuz too tuckered out to say much more. But I did contend for it to +the last, that I didn't believe a rostrum would be any more tottlin' and +skairful a place than the barell I had been a-standin' on all day, nor +the work I'd do on it any harder than the scrapin' of the ceilin' of +that meetin house. + +And I don't believe it would, I stand jest as firm on it to-day as I did +then. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +Wall, we got the scrapin' done after three hard and arjous days' works, +and then we preceeded to clean the house. The day we set to clean the +meetin' house prior and before paperin', we all met in good season, for +we knew the hardships of the job in front of us, and we all felt that we +wanted to tackle it with our full strengths. + +Sister Henzy, wife of Deacon Henzy, got there jest as I did. She wuz in +middlin' good spirits and a old yeller belzerine dress. + +Sister Gowdy had the ganders and newraligy and wore a flannel for 'em +round her head, but she wuz in workin' spirits, her will wuz up in arms, +and nerved up her body. + +Sister Meechim wuz a-makin' soap, and so wuz Sister Sypher, and Sister +Mead, and me. But we all felt that soap come after religion, not before. +"Cleanliness _next_ to godliness." + +So we wuz all willin' to act accordin' and tackle the old meetin' house +with a willin' mind. + +Wall, we wuz all engaged in the very heat of the warfare, as you may +say, a-scrubbin' the floors, and a-scourin' the benches by the door, +and a-blackin' the 2 stoves that stood jest inside of the door. We wuz +workin' jest as hard as wimmen ever worked--and all of the wimmen who +wuzn't engaged in scourin' and moppin' wuz a-settin' round in the pews +a-workin' hard on articles for the fair--when all of a suddin the +outside door opened and in come Josiah Allen with 3 of the other men +bretheren. + +They had jest got the great news of wimmen bein' apinted for +Deaconesses, and had come down on the first minute to tell us. She that +wuz Celestine Bobbet wuz the only female present that had heard of it. + +Josiah had heard it to the post-office, and he couldn't wait till noon +to tell me about it, and Deacon Gowdy wuz anxius Miss Gowdy should hear +it as soon es possible. Deacon Sypher wanted his wife to know at once +that if she wuzn't married she could have become a deaconess under his +derectin'. + +And Josiah wanted me to know immegietly that I, too, could have had the +privilege if I had been a more single woman, of becomin' a deaconess, +and have had the chance of workin' all my hull life for the meetin' +house, with a man to direct my movements and take charge on me, and tell +me what to do, from day to day and from hour to hour. + +And Deacon Henzy was anxious Miss Henzy should get the news as quick as +she could. So they all hastened down to the meetin' house to tell us. + +And we left off our work for a minute to hear 'em. It wuzn't nowhere +near time for us to go home. + +Josiah had lots of further business to do in Jonesville and so had the +other men. But the news had excited 'em, and exhilerated 'em so, that +they had dropped everything, and hastened right down to tell us, and +then they wuz a-goin' back agin immegietly. + +I, myself, took the news coolly, or as cool as I could, with my +temperature up to five or five and a half, owin' to the hard work and +the heat. + +[Illustration: THE LAST NEWS FROM THE CONFERENCE.] + +Miss Gowdy also took it pretty calm. She leaned on her mop handle, +partly for rest (for she was tuckered out) and partly out of good +manners, and didn't say much. + +But Miss Sypheris such a admirin'woman, she looked fairly radiant at the +news, and she spoke up to her husband in her enthusiastik warm-hearted +way-- + +"Why, Deacon Sypher, is it possible that I, too, could become a deacon, +jest like you?" + +"No," sez Deacon Sypher solemnly, "no, Drusilly, not like me. But you +wimmen have got the privelege now, if you are single, of workin' all +your days at church work under the direction of us men." + +"Then I could work at the Deacon trade under you," sez she admirin'ly, +"I could work jest like you--pass round the bread and wine and the +contribution box Sundays?" + +"Oh, no, Drusilly," sez he condesendinly, "these hard and arjuous dutys +belong to the male deaconship. That is their own one pertickiler work, +that wimmen can't infringe upon. Their hull strength is spent in these +duties, wimmen deacons have other fields of labor, such as relievin' +the wants of the sick and sufferin', sittin' up nights with small-pox +patients, takin' care of the sufferin' poor, etc., etc." + +"But," sez Miss Sypher (she is so good-hearted, and so awful fond of the +deacon), "wouldn't it be real sweet, Deacon, if you and I could work +together as deacons, and tend the sick, relieve the sufferers--work for +the good of the church together--go about doin' good?" + +"No, Drusilly," sez he, "that is wimmen's work. I would not wish for a +moment to curtail the holy rights of wimmen. I wouldn't want to stand in +her way, and keep her from doin' all this modest, un-pretendin' work, +for which her weaker frame and less hefty brain has fitted her. + +"We will let it go on in the same old way. Let wimmen have the privelege +of workin' hard, jest as she always has. Let her work all the time, day +and night, and let men go on in the same sure old way of superentendin' +her movements, guardin' her weaker footsteps, and bossin' her round +generally." + +Deacon Sypher is never happy in his choice of language, and his method +of argiment is such that when he is up on the affirmative of a question, +the negative is delighted, for they know he will bring victery to their +side of the question. Now, he didn't mean to speak right out about men's +usual way of bossin' wimmen round. It was only his unfortunate and +transparent manner of speakin'. + +And Deacon Bobbet hastened to cover up the remark by the statement that +"he wuz so highly tickled that wimmen wuzn't goin' to be admitted to the +Conference, because it would _weaken_ the Conference." + +"Yes," sez my Josiah, a-leanin' up aginst the meetin' house door, and +talkin' pretty loud, for Sister Peedick and me had gone to liftin' round +the big bench by the door, and it wuz fearful heavy, and our minds wuz +excersised as to the best place to put it while we wuz a-cleanin' the +floor. + +"You see," sez he, "we feel, we men do, we feel that it would be +weakenin' to the Conference to have wimmen admitted, both on account of +her own lack of strength and also from the fact that every woman you +would admit would keep out a man. And that," sez he (a-leanin' back in +a still easier attitude, almust a luxurious one), "that, you see, would +tend naterally to weakenin' the strength of a church." + +[Illustration: "WALL," SEZ I, "MOVE ROUND A LITTLE, WON'T YOU, FOR WE +WANT TO SET THE BENCH."] + +"Wall," sez I, a-pantin' hard for breath under my burden, "move round a +little, won't you, for we want to set the bench here while we scrub +under it. And," sez I, a-stoppin' a minute and rubbin' the perspiratin +and sweat offen my face, "Seein' you men are all here, can't you lay +holt and help us move out the benches, so we can clean the floor under +'em? Some of 'em are very hefty," sez I, "and all of us Sisters almost +are a-makin' soap, and we all want to get done here, so we can go home +and bile down; we would dearly love a little help," sez I. + +"I would help," sez Josiah in a willin' tone, "I would help in a minute, +if I hadn't got so much work to do at home." + +And all the other male bretheren said the same thing--they had got to +git to get home to get to work. (Some on 'em wanted to play checkers, +and I knew it.) + +But some on 'em did have lots of work on their hands, I couldn't dispute +it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +Why, Deacon Henzy, besides all his cares about the buzz saw mill, and +his farm work, had bought a steam threshin' machine that made him sights +of work. It was a good machine. But it wuz fairly skairful to see it +a-steamin' and a-blowin' right along the streets of Jonesville without +the sign of a horse or ox or anything nigh it to draw it. A-puffin' out +the steam, and a-tearin' right along, that awful lookin' that it skairt +she that wuz Celestine Bobbet most into fits. + +She lived in a back place where such machines wuz unknown, and she had +come home to her father's on a visit, and wuz goin' over to visit some +of his folks that day, over to Loontown. + +And she wuz a-travellin' along peacible, with her father's old mair, and +a-leanin' back in the buggy a readin' a article her father had sent over +by her to Deacon Widrig, a witherin' article about female Deaconesses, +and the stern necessity of settin' 'em apart and sanctifyen' 'em to this +one work--deacon work--and how they mustn't marry, or tackle any other +hard jobs whatsumever, or break off into any other enterprize, only jest +plain deacon work. + +It wuz a very flowery article. And she wuz enjoyin' of it first rate, +and a-thinkin', for she is a little timid and easily skairt, and the +piece had convinced her-- + +She wuz jest a-thinkin' how dretful it would be if sum female deaconess +should ever venter into some other branch of business, and what would +be apt to become of her if she did. She hated to think of what her doom +would most likely be, bein' tender hearted. + +[Illustration: "SHE SEE THIS WILD AND SKAIRFUL MACHINE APPROACHIN'."] + +When lo, and behold! jest as she wuz a-thinkin' these thoughts, she see +this wild and skairful machine approachin', and Deacon Henzy a-standin' +up on top of it a-drivin'. He looked wild and excited, bein' very +tickled to think that he had threshed more with his machine, by twenty +bushels, than Deacon Petengill had with his. There was a bet upon these +two deacons, so it wuz spozed, and he wuz a-hastenin' to the next place +where he wuz to be setup, so's to lose no time, and he was kinder +hollerin'. + +And the wind took his gray hair back, and his long side whiskers, and +kinder stood 'em out, and the skirts of his frock the same. + +His mean wuz wild. + +And it wuz more than Celestine's old mair and she herself could bear; +she cramped right round in the road (the mair did) and set sail back to +old Bobbet'ses, and that great concern a-puffin' and a-steamin' along +after 'em. + +And by the time that she that wuz Celestine got there she wuz almost in +a fit, and the mair in a perfect lather. + +Wall, Celestine didn't get over it for weeks and weeks, nor the mair +nuther. + +And besides this enterprize of Deacon Henzy's, he had got up a great +invention, a new rat trap, that wuz peculier and uneek in the extreme. + +It wuz the result of arjous study on his part, by night and day, for a +long, long time, and it wuz what he called "A Travellin' Rat Trap." It +wuz designed to sort o' chase the rats round and skair 'em. + +[Illustration: DEACON HENZY'S RAT TRAP (LIKE A CIRCUS FOR THE RATS).] + +It was spozed he got the idee in the first place from his threshin' +machine. It had to be wound up, and then it would take after 'em--rats +or mice, or anything--and they do say that it wuz quite a success. + +Only it had to move on a smooth floor. It would travel round pretty much +all night; and they say that when it wuz set up in a suller, it would +chase the rats back into their holes, and they would set there and look +out on it, for the biggest heft of the night. It would take up their +minds, and kep 'em out of vittles and other mischief. + +It wuz somethin' like providin' a circus for 'em. + +But howsumever, the Deacon wuz a-workin' at this; he wuzn't quite +satisfied with its runnin' gear, and he wuz a-perfectin' this rat trap +every leisure minute he had outside of his buzz saw and threshin' +machine business, and so he wuz fearful busy. + +Deacon Sypher had took the agency for "The Wild West, or The Leaping Cow +Boy of the Plain," and wuz doin' well by it. + +And Deacon Bobbet had took in a lot of mustangs to keep through the +winter. And he wuz a ridin' 'em a good deal, accordin' to contract, and +tryin' to tame 'em some before spring. And this work, with the buzz saw, +took up every minute of his time. For the mustangs throwed him a good +deal, and he had to lay bound up in linements a good deal of the time, +and arneky. + +[Illustration: "HE HAD TO LAY BOUND UP IN LINEMENTS A GOOD DEAL OF THE +TIME."] + +So, as I say, it didn't surprise me a mite to have 'em say they couldn't +help us, for I knew jest how these jobs of theirn devoured their time. + +And when my Josiah had made his excuse, it wuzn't any more than I had +looked out for, to hear Deacon Henzy say he had got to git home to ile +his threshin' machine. One of the cogs wuz out of gear in some way. + +He wanted to help us, so it didn't seem as if he could tear himself +away, but that steam threshin' machine stood in the way. And then on +his way down to Jonesville that very mornin' a new idee had come to him +about that travellin' rat trap, and he wanted to get home jest as quick +as he could, to try it. + +And Deacon Bobbet said that three of them mustangs he had took in to +break had got to be rid that day, they wuz a gettin' so wild he didn't +hardly dast to go nigh 'em. + +And Deacon Sypher said that he must hasten back, for a man wuz a-comin' +to see him from way up on the State road, to try to get a agency under +him for "The Leaping Cow Boy of the Plain." And he wanted to show the +"Leaping Cow Boy" to some agents to the tavern in Jonesville on his way +home, and to some wimmen on the old Plank road. Two or three of the +wimmen had gin hopes that they would take the "Leaping Cow Boy." + +And then they said--the hull three of the deacons did--that any minute +them other deacons who wuz goin' into partnership with 'em in the buzz +saw business wuz liable to drive down to see 'em about it. + +And some of the other men brethren said their farms and their live stock +demanded the hull of their time--every minute of it. + +So we see jest how it wuz, we see these male deacons couldn't devote any +of their time to the meetin' house, nor those other brethren nuther. + +We see that their time wuz too valuable, and their own business devoured +the hull on it. And we married Sisters, who wuz acestemed to the strange +and mysterius ways of male men, we accepted the situation jest es we +would any other mysterius dispensation, and didn't say nothin'. + +Good land! We wuz used to curius sayin's and doin's, every one on us. +Curius as a dog, and curiuser. + +But Sister Meechim (onmarried), she is dretful questinin' and inquirin' +(men don't like her, they say she prys into subjects she's no business +to meddle with). She sez to Josiah: + +"Why is it, Deacon Allen, that men deacons can carry on all sorts of +business and still be deacons, while wimmen deacons are obleeged to give +up all other business and devote themselves wholly to their work?" + +"It is on account of their minds," sez Josiah. "Men have got stronger +minds than wimmen, that is the reason." + +And Sister Meechim sez agin-- + +"Why is it that wimmen deacons have to remain onmarried, while men +deacons can marry one wife after another through a long life, that is, +if they are took from 'em by death or a divorce lawyer?" + +"Wall," sez Josiah, "that, too, is on account of their brains. Their +brains hain't so hefty es men's." + +But I jest waded into the argument then. I jest interfered, and sez in a +loud, clear tone, + +"Oh, shaw!" + +And then I sez further, in the same calm, clear tones, but dry as ever a +dry oven wuz in its dryest times. Sez I, + +"If you men can't help us any about the meetin' house, you'd better get +out of our way, for we wimmen have got to go to scrubbin' right where +you are a-standin'." + +"Certainly," sez Josiah, in a polite axent, "certainly." + +And so the rest of the men said. + +And Josiah added to his remarks, as he went down the steps, + +"You'd better get home, Samantha, in time to cook a hen, and make some +puddin', and so forth." + +And I sez, with quite a lot of dignity, "Have I ever failed, Josiah +Allen, to have good dinners for you, and on time too?" + +"No," sez he, "but I thought I would jest stop to remind you of it, +and also to tell you the last news from the Conference, about the +deaconesses." + +And so they trailed down one after another, and left us to our work +in the meetin' house; but as they disapered round the corner, Sister +Arvilly Lanfear, who hain't married, and who has got a sharp tongue +(some think that is why, but I don't; I believe Arvilly has had +chances). + +But any way, she sez, as they went down the steps, + +"I'll bet them men wuz a-practisen' their new parts of men +superentendents, and look on us as a lot of deaconesses." + +[Illustration: "JOSIAH ADDED TO HIS REMARKS."] + +"Wall," sez Sister Gowdy--she loves to put on Arvilly--"wall, you have +got one qualificatin', Arvilly!" + +"Yes, thank the Lord," sez she. + +And I never asked what she meant, but knew well enough that she spoke of +her single state. But Arvilly has had chances, _I_ think. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +I got home in time to get a good supper, though mebbe I ortn't to say +it. + +Sure enough, Josiah Allen had killed a hen, and dressed it ready for me +to brile, but it wuz young and tender, and I knew it wouldn't take long, +so I didn't care. + +Good land! I love to humor him, and he knows it. Casper Keeler come in +jest as I wuz a-gettin' supper and I thought like as not he would stay +to supper; I laid out to ask him. But I didn't take no more pains on his +account. No, I do jest as well by Josiah Allen from day to day, as if he +wuz company, or lay out to. + +Casper came over on a errent about that buzz saw mill. He wuz in dretful +good spirits, though he looked kinder peaked. + +He had jest got home from the city. + +It happened dretful curius, but jest at this time Casper Keeler had had +to go to New York on business. He had to sign some papers that nobody +else couldn't sign. + +[Illustration: CASPER KEELER.] + +His mother had hearn of a investment there that promised to pay dretful +well, so she had took a lot of stock in it, and it had riz right up +powerful. Why the money had increased fourfold, and more too, and Casper +bein' jest come of age, had to go and sign suthin' or other. + +Wall, he went round and see lots of sights in New York. His ma's money +that she had left him made him fairly luxurius as to comfort, and he had +plenty of money to go sight seein' as much as he wanted to. + +He went to all the theatres, and operas, and shows of all kinds, and +museums, and the Brooklyn Bridge, and circuses, and receptions, and et +cetery, et cetery. + +He wuz a-tellin' me how much money he spent while he wuz there, kinder +boastin' on it; he had went to one of the biggest, highest taverns in +the hull village of New York, where the price wuz higher than the very +highest pinakle on the top of it, fur higher. + +And I sez, "Did you go to the Wimmen's Exchange and the Workin' Wimmen's +Association, that wuz held there while you wuz there?" + +And he acted real scorfin'. + +"Wimmen's work!" sez he. "No, indeed! I had too much on my hands, and +too much comfort to take in higher circles, than to take in any such +little trifles as wimmen's work." + +Sez I, "Young man, it is a precious little you would take in in life if +it hadn't been for wimmen's work. Who earned and left you the money you +are a-usin'?" sez I, "who educated you and made your life easy before +you?" + +And then bein' fairly drove into a corner, he owned up that his mother +wuz a good woman. + +But his nose wuz kinder lifted up the hull of the time he wuz a-sayin' +it, as if he hated to own it up, hated to like a dog. + +But he got real happified up and excited afterwards, in talkin' over +with Josiah what he see to the Conference.' He stayed to supper; I wuz +a seasonin' my chicken and mashed potatoes, and garnishin' 'em for the +table. I wuz out to one side a little, but I listened with one side of +my brain while the other wuz fixed on pepper, ketchup, parsley, etc., +etc. + +[Illustration: "HE SEEMED TO HAVE A HORROW OF WOMAN A-RAISIN' OUT OF HER +SPEAR."] + +Sez Casper, "It wuz the proudest, greatest hour of my life," sez he, +"when I see a nigger delegate git up and give his views on wimmen +keepin' down in their place. When I see a black nigger stand up there in +that Conference and state so clearly, so logically and so powerfully the +reasons why poor weak wimmen should _not_ be admitted into that sacred +enclosure-- + +"When I see even a nigger a-standin' there and a-knowin' so well what +wimmen's place wuz, my heart beat with about the proudest emotions I +have ever experienced. Why, he said," sez Casper, "that if wimmen wuz +allowed to stand up in the Conference, they wouldn't be satisfied. The +next thing they would want to do would be to preach. It wuz a masterly +argument," sez Casper. + +"It must have been," sez my Josiah. + +"He seemed to have such a borrow of a weak-minded, helpless woman +a-raisin' herself up out of her lower spear." + +"Well he might," sez Josiah, "well he might." + +Truly, there are times when women can't, seeminly, stand no more. This +wuz one on 'em, and I jest waded right into the argiment. I sez, real +solemn like, a-holdin' the sprig of parsley some like a septer, only +more sort o' riz up like and mysteriouser. Yes, I held that green sprig +some as the dove did when it couldn't find no rest for the soles of its +feet--no foundation under it and it sailed about seekin' some mount of +truth it could settle down on. Oh how wobblin' and onsubstantial and +curius I felt hearin' their talk. + +"And," sez I, "nobody is tickleder than I be to think a colored man has +had the right gin him to stand up in a Conference or anywhere else. I +have probable experienced more emotions in his behalf," sez I, "deep +and earnest, than any other female, ancient or modern. I have bore his +burdens for him, trembled under his lashes, agonized with him in his +unexampled griefs and wrongs and indignities, and I have rejoiced at the +very depths of my soul at his freedom. + +"But," sez I, "when he uses that freedom to enchain another and as +deservin' a race, my feelin's are hurt and my indignations are riz up. + +"Yes," sez I, a-wavin' that sprig some like a warlike banner, as my +emotions swelled up under my bask waste, + +"When that negro stands there a-advocatin' the slavery of another race, +and a-sayin' that women ortn't to say her soul is her own, and wimmen +are too weak and foolish to lift up their right hands, much less preach, +I'd love to ask him where he and his race wuz twenty-five years ago, and +where they would be to-day if it wuzn't for a woman usin' her right hand +and her big heart and brain in his behalf, and preachin' for him all +over the world and in almost every language under the sun. Everybody +says that 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' wuz the searchin' harrow that loosened the +old, hard ground of slavery so the rich seed of justice could be planted +and bring forth freedom. + +"If it hadn't been for that woman's preachin', that negro exhauster +would to-day most likely be a hoin' cotton with a overseer a-lashin' him +up to his duties, and his wife and children and himself a-bein' bought +and sold, and borrowed and lent and mortgaged and drove like so many +animals. And I'd like to have riz right up in that Conference and told +him so." + +"Oh, no," sez Josiah, lookin' some meachin', "no, you wouldn't." + +"Yes, I would," sez I. "And I'd 've enjoyed it _richly_" sez I, es I +turned and put my sprig round the edge of the platter. + +[Illustration: SAMANTHA EXPRESSES HER VIEWS.] + +Casper wuz demute for as much as half a minute, and Josiah Allen looked +machin' for about the same length of time. + +But, good land! how soon they got over it. They wuz as chipper as ever, +a-runnin' down the idee of women settin', before they got half through +dinner. + +After hard and arjuous work we got the scrapin' done, and the scrubbin' +done, and then we proceeded to make a move towards puttin' on the paper. + +But the very day before we wuz to put on our first breadth, Sister +Bobbet, our dependence and best paperer, fell down on a apple parin' +and hurt her ankle jint, so's she couldn't stand on a barell for more'n +several days. + +And we felt dretful cast down about it, for we all felt as if the work +must stop till Sister Bobbet could be present and attend to it. + +But, as it turned out, it wuz perfectly providential, so fur as I wuz +concerned, for on goin' home that night fearfully deprested on account +of Sister Sylvester Bobbet, lo and behold! I found a letter there on my +own mantletry piece that completely turned round my own plans. It come +entirely onexpected to me, and contained the startlin' intelligence that +my own cousin, on my mother's own side, had come home to Loontown to +his sister's, and wuz very sick with nervous prostration, neuralgia, +rheumatism, etc., and expected paralasys every minute, and heart +failure, and such. + +[Illustration: "SISTER BOBBET, OUR DEPENDENCE, FELL DOWN ON A APPLE +PARIN'".] + +And his sister, Miss Timson, who wrote the letter, beset me to come over +and see him. She said, Jane Ann did (Miss Timson'ses name is Jane Ann), +and sez she in Post scriptum remark to me, sez she-- + +"Samantha, I know well your knowledge of sickness and your powers of +takin' care of the sick. Do come and help me take care of Ralph, for it +seems as if I can't let him go. Poor boy, he has worked so hard, and now +I wuz in hopes that he wuz goin' to take some comfort in life, unbeknown +to him. Do come and help him for my sake, and for Rosy's sake." Rosy wuz +Ralph's only child, a pretty girl, but one ruther wild, and needin' jest +now a father's strong hand. + +Rosy's mother died when she wuz a babe, and Ralph, who had always +been dretful religius, felt it to be his duty to go and preach to the +savages. So Miss Timson took the baby and Ralph left all his property +with Miss Timson to use for her, and then he girded up his lions, took +his Bible and him book and went out West and tackled the savages. + +Tackled 'em in a perfectly religius way, and done sights of good, sights +and sights. For all he wuz so mild and gentle and religius, he got the +upper hand of them savages in some way, and he brung 'em into the church +by droves, and they jest worshipped him. + +Wall, he worked so hard a-tryin' to do good and save souls that wuz +lost--a-tryin' single-handed to overthrow barberus beliefs and habits, +and set up the pure and peaceful doctrines of the Master. + +[Illustration: RALPH SMITH ROBINSON.] + +He loved and followed, that his health gin out after a time--he felt +weak and mauger. + +And jest about this time his sister wrote to him that Rosy havin' got +in with gay companions, wuz a gettin' beyond her influence, and she +_needed_ a father's control and firm hand to guide her right, or else +she would be liable to go to the wrong, and draw lots of others with +her, for she wuz a born leader amongst her mates, jest as her father +wuz--so wouldn't Ralph come home. + +Wall, Ralph come. His sister and girl jest worshipped him, and looked +and longed for his comin', as only tender-hearted wimmen can love +and worship a hero. For if there wuz ever a hero it wuz Ralph Smith +Robinson. + +Wall, Ralph had been in the unbroken silences of nature so long, that +the clack, and crash, and clamor of what we call civilized life almost +crazed him. + +He had been where his Maker almost seemed to come down and walk with +him through the sweet, unbroken stillnesses of mornin' and evenin'. The +world seemed so fur off to him, and the Eternal Verities of life so +near, that truly, it sometimes seemed to him as if, like one of old, "he +walked with God." Of course the savages war-whooped some, but they +wuz still a good deal of the time, which is more than you can say for +Yankees. + +And Loontown when he got home was rent to its very twain with a +Presidential election. + +Ralph suffered. + +But above all his other sufferin's, he suffered from church bells. + +Miss Timson lived, as it wuz her wish, and often her boast, right under +the droppin's of the sanctuary. + +She lotted on it when she bought the place. The Baptist steeple towered +up right by the side of her house. Her spare bed wuz immegietly under +the steeple. + +Wall, comin' as he did from a place where he wuz called to worship by +the voice of his soul and his good silver watch--this volume of clamor, +this rushin' Niagara of sound a-pourin' down into his ears, wuz +perfectly intolerable and onbeerable. He would lay awake till mornin' +dreadin' the sound, and then colapse under it, till it run along and he +come down with nervous fever. + +He wuz worn out no doubt by his labors before he come, and any way he +wuz took bed-sick, and couldn't be moved so's the doctor said, and he +bein' outside of his own head, delerius, couldn't of course advance no +idees of his own, so he lay and suffered. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Samantha Among the Brethren, Part 5. +by Josiah Allen's Wife (Marietta Holley) + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SAMANTHA AMONG THE BRETHREN, *** + +***** This file should be named 9447.txt or 9447.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/9/4/4/9447/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Widger and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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