Blair Collection > Rhys Lewis, minister of Bethel

142 J^HYS LEWIS.
me that they are not the men I have named who come up to the
diaconal standard. The type and pattern which this notion
persists in placing before my mind is to be found in Abel
Hughes.
He was a man of this kind: somewhat advanced in years,
wearing knee-breeches, dark coat and vest, a black kerchief,
tied several times about the neck, a broad-brimmed, low-
crowned beaver hat, the face clean shaved up to within half an
inch of each ear, whence depended a tiny lock, and the hair cut
parallel with the heavy brows which overlooked a thoughtful
face. This is one side of the picture. It has another : a man
strong in the Scriptures, well versed in, and an earnest enforcer
of, the teachings of the Gospel, loyal to Monthly Meeting
and Session, constant at service, of ready and original views,
inspiring and tear-compelling when upon his knees, whether at
prayer meeting or commencing service for the preacher ; pre-
cise, almost to the point of harshness in the matter of church
discipline, but tender hearted and pious-dispositioc ed ; blame-
less in life, an enemy of vain show and frivolity, one who
expected all who belonged to church, yea, even the children, to
behave seriously and with decorum. Such was Abel Hughes,
and it was he who first gave me a notion of the sort of man a
deacon should be, a notion which, however erroneous, remains
embedded in the depths of my consciousness. Eeason disposes
me to believe that the model deacon is to be found between Abel
Hughes and some people who are called deacons in these days,
but who are no more than ministers' lodginghouse keepers,
or clerks of the church. In Abel Hughes, mother saw a man
almost without fault, and that, very likely, because her ideas of
the world and its ways, of religion and its doctrines, were about
on a level. Both deacon and member ate the same spiritual
food, drank the same spiritual wine, and frequently exchanged
notes on the subject of practical religion. In chapel, as at the
house, they were most unassuming and homely ; and, after the
manner of old people, never addressed each other as Mr. and Mrs.
I know, very well there was no one mother, in her trouble,
would have more wished to see than Abel Hughes, and nothing
would have i^leased me better than to have been able to
chronicle fully the talk which ensued upon his visit. But I