Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 October 1883 — “Providin’.” [ARTICLE]

“Providin’.”

A man at the Central Market was in need of a boy to assist him at his peanut stand, and in some way it became known to a colored man on Calhoun street. One morning he put in an apEearance, accompanied by his boy, a id of 12, and applied for the place. ; “Can your boy read and write?” asked the peanut-man. ; “He kin. sah.” “Is he willing and industrious?” “Hearn, dat.” “Can you guarantee his integrity ?” “I—l—dat’s a leetle mixed, boss. Does you refer to his gittin’ up airly ?” ' “I refer to his honesty. If I should leave him iif charge here for several hours, would kb abuse my confidence ?” “Well, sah,” said the man as he walked around the stand to see how it Closed’up, “if you shet down de kiver, an’ turn de key, an* leave dat boy on de cha’r heah wid plenty of apples to eat, I’ll warrant his integrity agin de prominentest man in Detroit. — Free Press. —— The English sparrows, which are eaten in Philadelphia for reed-birds, are considered as being a great delicacy. The flesh of the sparrow is darker than that of the reed bird, but the Philadelphia cooks say that only those who have never eaten anything but reed-birds can tell the difference.