A great, good, gentle man, learned and wise in theology and
knowledge of the Scriptures, with tastes and habits as simple as a
child.
"But I must hurry on with my story, or you will think I am telling you
more about the parson than his horse. The good man realized, one day,
that he was not as young as he used to be, and that climbing Harrison
Hill on a July afternoon and walking five miles in a drizzling rain
after a preaching service were not so easy to do as he had found them a
dozen years before. So he wisely concluded to call in the aid of four
strong legs in carrying on his work, and that is how he came to buy a
horse.
"The people of Hilltown heartily approved of this plan, and several were
anxious to help him.
"Deacon Cowles had a four-year-old colt, raised on the farm, 'a real
clever steady-goin' creetur, that he guessed he could spare--might be
turned in for pew-rent;' and Si Olcott didn't care if he traded off his
gray mare on the same conditions. She was about used up for farm-work,
but had considerable go in her yet--could jog round with the parson for
ten years to come.
"The minister received these offers with politeness, and promised to
think of them; and then one day after a brief absence from home, set
every body in the parish talking, by driving into town seated in an open
wagon, shining with fresh paint and varnish, and drawn by a horse the
like of which had never been seen in Hilltown before.
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