Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 February 1885 — A Parson’s Conscience. [ARTICLE]

A Parson’s Conscience.

Elder Phillips, who was a jovial soul, settled many years ago near the headwaters of the Susquehanna. He was, in fact, a Presbyterian dominie. He was full of humor, and ready with his repartee on all occasions. Jack Kickitt, a quasi-parishioner, who was more punctual at the river than at church, presented the Elder one Monday morning with a fine string of pickerel. Elder Phillips thanked him graciously for the gift. “But, Elder,” suggested Jack, still retaining the fish, “those were caught yesterday” (Sunday). “Perhaps yer conscience won’t let ye eat em.” “Jack,” replied the Elder, stretching out his hand toward the string, “there’s one thing I know: the jnckerel were not to blame.”— Harper's Magazine.

A man might climb a telegraph pole and strain his eyes for a month in search of something gayer than a fancydress ball or a colored woman’s headdress, unless a young married man, with his first baby in the house, chanced to trip that way in his impetuous haste to reach a drug store,—Ear.