Deacon

“ But when Lawyer Bottom, who had invested in mill stock only with the hope of profit, approached the deacon, and asked, with more curiosity than malice, “How about temperance now, deacon?” the facial contortions which the deacon offered in reply sent the lawyer away in an ecstasy of unholy glee, which almost eradicated his own sense of loss, and which dispelled for a time such little belief as he had in the transforming power of religion. But what is one man’s poison is another’s food. ”

“ The deacon laughed. “Yes, I don’t like my bed. I’m used to feathers.”
“Well, they say they are going to give you feathers mixed with tar so you won’t lose them so easily.”
“I’ll have company, I reckon,” said the deacon with a wink.
“The funny thing, deacon, is that Major Dameron tells me there isn’t a man in all the crowd of two hundred and fifty arrested who ever went on a raid. It’s too bad you old fellows have to pay for the follies of youth.”
“It is tough. But we can stand it, Preacher.” ”

“ Thus in all those outward observances of piety, whereon the great eyes of the great world are staring, I have shown that the deacon and his good wife might challenge the closest scrutiny. Nor would I be understood to detract aught from these observances, or throw down one stone from the altars of our Puritan fathers. We need all the legacy they left their children. The force of good example is as boundless as the tares of sin—let us relax nothing which may tend to check the evil growth—and who shall say that the upright walk of Deacon Humphreys was without a salutary influence. ”

“ And the deacon, wishing to shew him everything, made excuses, saying, “I am not conscious in my soul of having committed any sin, except when a brother came to me, and asked me a question on the matter, and I made answer to him, saying, ‘I am not at leisure [to talk] with thee.’ ” Then the priest said, “It was because of thee that the eagle came not down, for the brother was offended at thee”; and straightway the deacon went to the brother, and expressed his contrition, and entreated him [to forgive] him his offence. ”

“ People think that there are no fine points for a deacon to know, but I can tell you a deacon's position is a hard one if you want to keep it on such a footing that it will support a man. Before my time people here in the village thought one funeral-song as good as another, but I have arranged things so that I can say to a peasant, "Which hymn will you have? ”

“ Another, but no uncommon one is, for some one who has conversed with you to misrepresent some item of your faith, and relate the pretended fact to the deacon or priest of his parish in all the glaring deformity his disordered and distorted imagination can paint. ”

“ Some deacon tells a sinner all about the orthodox hell, and the sinner does not know whether to believe him or not. The deacon may have lied to the sinner some time in a horse trade, or in selling him goods, and beat him, and how does he know but the same deacon is playing a brace game on him on the hereafter, or playing him for a sardine. ”

“ For which reason, O bishop, do thou ordain thy fellow-workers, the labourers for life and for righteousness, such deacons as are pleasing to God, such whom thou provest to be worthy among all the people, and such as shall be ready for the necessities of their ministration. Ordain also a deaconess who is faithful and holy, for the ministrations towards women. For sometimes he cannot send a deacon, who is a man, to the women, on account of unbelievers. Thou shalt therefore send a woman, a deaconess, on account of the imaginations of the bad. ”

“ I find lies in politics and lies in religion, lies in the pulpit, 'nail't wi' Scripture,' lies in the counting room railed with false entries, religious lies, told by Deacon Longface, for the advancement of what the Deacon calls 'the gospel,' and irreligious lies told by Bill Snooks, and clenched with an oath, lies in good books, and lies in bad ones, lies written, and printed in the newspapers, and lies whispered in the ear, and any number of lies sent by telegraph! ”

“ Von Koren and the deacon finished their tea and went out into the street.
“Are you going to the harbour again to catch sea-gudgeon?” asked the zoologist.
“No, it’s too hot.”
“Come and see me. You can pack up a parcel and copy something for me. By the way, we must have a talk about what you are to do. You must work, deacon. You can’t go on like this.”
“Your words are just and logical,” said the deacon. “But my laziness finds an excuse in the circumstances of my present life. You know yourself that an uncertain position has a great tendency to make people apathetic. ”

“ Or a darker scene may follow, and some offending magistrate may be required to stand upon a bench, in his worst garments, with a foul linen cap drawn close to his eyes, and acknowledge his sins before the pious people, who reverenced him so lately.
These things done, a deacon says impressively, "Brethren, now there is time for contribution; wherefore, as God hath prospered you, so freely offer." Then the people in the galleries come down and march two abreast, "up one ile and down the other," passing before the desk, where in a long "pue" sit the elders and deacons. ”

“ The more the deacon pulled the more the great animal felt himself steadied and assisted. And so, the harder the good man tugged at the reins, the more powerfully the machinery of the big animal ahead of him worked, until the deacon got alarmed and began to call upon the horse to stop, crying, "Whoa, Jack, whoa, old boy, I say! ”

“ The deacon, or διακονος, an assistant teacher. He also acts as treasurer to the missions in the several branches of the Church, collects money for the poor, and attends to the temporal wants of converts. ”

“ In truth, the general questions for self-examination in regard to external duties, spiritual duties to the sick, the conduct of the deaconesses or sisters to those whom they meet, and the means for improving in the duties of the office are in many cases selected, and but slightly altered, from the series prepared by Pastor Fliedner.5 The influence of the devout German pastor is indelibly stamped upon the deaconess cause in whatever denomination it has developed during the nineteenth century. ”

“ In this canon the work and office of a deacon as then understood is set forth, viz.: “to bring forth” (whatever that may mean) “bread or wine” (ἄρτον ἢ ποτηριον ἄναφέρειν) and “to act the herald” (κηρύσσειν) . ”

“ Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one: for Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” [6]
What are the Characters of a Deacon.
XIX. Let the deacons be in all things unspotted, as the bishop himself is to be, only more active; in number according to the largeness of the Church, that they may minister to the infirm as workmen that are not ashamed. And let the deaconess be diligent in taking care of the women ”

“ Howsumsever, she did die; 'n', bein' dead, I will say fer her husband's you won't find chick or child in town to deny 's a nicer, tidier, more biddable little man never lived; 'n' 's far as my personal feelin's go, I sh'u'd think 't any woman might consider it nothin' but a joy to get a man's is always so long on the door-mat 'n' so busy with his tie 's the deacon is. ”

“ The clergyman in the following story probably did not mean exactly what he said, though, human nature being what it is, maybe it was true enough.
A parishioner meeting the parson in the street inquired:
"When do you expect to see Deacon Jones again?"
"Never, never again!" the minister declared solemnly. "The deacon is in heaven!"
HELP
The farmer found his new hired man very unsatisfactory. A neighbor who chanced along inquired:
[Pg 117]
"How's that new hand o' your'n?"
"Cuss the critter!" was the bitter reply. "He ain't a hand—he's a sore thumb." ”

“ They said, “The better the man wuz, the better the buzz saw he would be likely to run.” The fact wuz, they needed some buzz saw mills bad, and wuz very glad to have these deacons lay holt of 'em.
But I threw out this question at 'em, and stood by it—“If bein' set apart as a deacon didn't mean anything? If there wuzn't any deacon-work that they ought to be expected to do—and if it wuz right for 'em to go into any world's work so wild and hazardous and engrossin', as this enterprise?”
And again they sez to me in stern, decided axents, “The better the man, the better the deed. ”

“ Then there are various other touches that my predecessor, Deacon Christoffer, had no idea of; but he was uneducated. I can't understand how the fellow ever came to be a deacon; yet deacon he was, all the same. I tell you, Latin helps a man a great deal in every sort of business. I wouldn't give up the Latin I know for a hundred rix-dollars. It has been worth more than a hundred rix-dollars to me in my business; yes, that and a hundred more.
SCENE 4 Enter Nille and Jeppe.
NILLE (offering the deacon a glass of brandy) . Your health, Peer! ”

“ And let other deacons walk about and watch the men and women, that no tumult may be made, and that no one nod, or whisper, or slumber; and let the deacons [45] stand at the doors of the men, and the sub-deacons at those of the women, that no one go out, nor a door be opened, although it be for one of the faithful, at the time of the oblation. But let one of the sub-deacons bring water to wash the hands of the priests, which is a symbol of the purity of those souls that are devoted to God. ”

“ After defining an associate as a Christian woman desiring to aid the work of the deaconesses, and admonishing her that, although not bound by the rules of the Community, yet she must be careful to lead such a life as is becoming one associated in a work of religion and charity, she is requested “to state what kind of work she will undertake, under the direction of219/215 the chief deaconess, and to report the result to her at such intervals as may be agreed upon.” ”

“ But if there is the faith and love to deny self and dare all “for the love of Christ and in His name,” where can such rewards for labor be found? The dull streets become filled with friends, sodden countenances brighten, the little children come with loving faces and gladdened hearts, and the deaconess is recognized as interpreting to the hearts of these weary, forlorn, helpless people the love of God who, when He came upon earth, shared the burdens that belonged to His humanity. ”

“ Wall, we riz up to go most immediately afterwerds, and the Deacon (he is very smart) observed:
“How highly tickled and even highlarious the man seemed in talkin’ about there not bein’ any future.” And he says, “It wuz a good deal like a man laughin’ and clappin’ his hands to see his house burn down”
And I sez, “it wuz far wurse, for his home wouldn’t stand more’n a 100 years or so, and this home he wuz a tryin’ to destroy, wuz one that would last through eternity.” ”

“ The minister said it was astonishin' what Liza Em'ly could get through in a mornin', 'n' then he coughed; 'n' Mrs. Macy said 't Liza Em'ly was very helpful for a child o' her age, 'n' then she coughed; 'n' then the deacon went back to his hen, 'n' the minister sighed 'n' went, too."
Mrs. Lathrop herself sighed as Susan paused.
"I remember—" she said slowly.
"It was a nice funeral, though," her friend continued; "I never see a nicer one, even if Mrs. White wasn't able to look after nothin' herself. Mr. ”

“ Length-frequency of black bullhead at the upper Neosho station, 1957, 1958 and 1959.
Pylodictis olivaris (Rafinesque)
Flat-headed Catfish
The flathead is the largest sport-fish occurring in Kansas. Several weighing more than 40 pounds are caught from streams each year, and the species reportedly attains sizes in excess of one hundred pounds. Several aspects of the biology of the flathead in Kansas have been discussed by Minckley and Deacon (1959) . ”

“ The good that can be accomplished by deaconesses working together with ministers in behalf of145/141 the manifold interests of the Church is incalculable. The most faithful pastor can make only short and unsatisfactory visits. Many sorrows which he overlooks the deaconess can discern and assuage. She knows best how to reach the heart of a sorrowing woman, to care for her needs, to discern her wants, and to bring solace to the sorrowing and succor to the needy. Deaconesses who have been specially trained for service cannot be spared now that the world has learned to know of them. ”

“ Here, too, we are presented with a most useful indication, the employment of female agency, under the eye and with the sanction of an apostle, in the business of the Church. It is well to have inspired authority for a practice too little known, and too little preached on in modern times. Phebe194/190 belonged to the order of deaconesses, in which capacity she had been the helper of many, including Paul himself. ”

“ The influence of this school is very great, and many pass on from it to the men’s Bible-class, which is held on Sunday afternoons in the largest basement room.6
A servants’ registry is attached to the deaconess house, and through its means about four hundred servants are annually provided with places.
Nearly fifty deaconesses make their home at this central house, many of them having work in the different parts of the city, perhaps at remote distances, but returning at night to the home-like surroundings and purer air of the central house. ”

“ The little children so precociously wicked, so preternaturally cunning, that the natural charm and attraction of childhood have wholly disappeared; the sights and sounds that assail the senses; the dulled, hopeless faces, the apathy, the stunted intellectual growth—these are the depressing influences that continually beset the161/157 deaconesses, and nothing short of God-given strength and Christ-like enthusiasm can enable these women to devote six, eight, and ten years of service to this worst city district, and to come forth with sunshiny, peaceful faces, and sympathetic, loving hearts. ”