Christian fiction; Circuit riders -- Fiction; Domestic fiction; Spouses of clergy -- Fiction
I recall in this connection Sister Carleton. She was a very old woman
who seemed to have settled down to be mostly below her waist. Her
shoulders were thin, her bosom flat, but she widened out in the hips
amazingly. Her face was the most beautifully wrinkled countenance I
ever beheld. Every line seemed to enhance some celestial quality in
her expression. And she had the dim look of the very old after they
begin to recede spiritually from the ruthlessness of mere realities.
She had palsy and used to sit in the Amen Corner of the church at
Eureka, gently, incessantly wagging her lovely old head beneath a
little black horseshoe bonnet that was tied under her chin with long
black ribbons. Sabbath after Sabbath, year after year she was always
to be seen there, sweetly abstracted like an old saint in a dream. She
had one thought, one purpose left in life. This was to live to see all
of her "boys saved." These were three middle-aged men, all of whom had
been wild in their youth. Her one connection now with the church was
expressed, not by any personal interest in the preacher or his sermons,
but in this thought for her children. Some time during every
experience meeting we always knew that Sister Carleton would rise
trembling to her feet, steady herself with both hands on the bench in
front of her, look about her vaguely and ask the prayers of "all
Christian people" that her boys might repent and be saved from their
sins. They were already excellent and prosperous citizens and
remarkable for their devotion to her, but she was not the woman to
mince matters. They had not been converted, therefore she prayed for
them as if they were still dead in their trespasses and sins.
The first year of William's ministry in this place the two younger sons
were converted and joined the church, but the oldest still "held out,"
as the saying was. In fact, he stayed out of the church literally,
never coming to any service.
The next year Sister Carleton had grown very feeble, but at a
consecration meeting held one afternoon before the regular revival
service at night, she appeared as usual. Before the closing hymn she
arose, clasped her old hands over the back of the bench in front of her
and made her last petition for the "prayers of all Christian people."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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