Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 264, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 November 1915 — USED RAZORS ON THE PIG [ARTICLE]

USED RAZORS ON THE PIG

Balmon P. Chase, as a Youngster, Did Good Job, But It Failed to Meet Appreciation. Salmon P. Chase, governor of Ohio, senator of the United States, secretary of the United States treasury, and chief justice of the Supreme court of the United States, once had an encounter with a pig that is worth telling. When a boy he attended a private boarding school kept by his uncle, the Episcopal bishop of Ohio. He did the chores for his uncle during the school term, and worked on the farm during the summer. One day his uncle told his nephew that he should kill and dress a pig at the close of the school that day. With no little difficulty, the boy caught the pig and killed it. And now the question was how to get the bristles off. He had heard of farmers scalding hogs; so he soused the pig into a barrel of hot water. He either held the pig in the water too long, or did not have it hot enough, for in spite of all his scraping, the bristles would not come off. He then thought of his uncle’s razors, and getting them, he shaved the pig from nose to tail.

When the bishop returned, he congratulated his nephew on the splendid appearance of the pork. But when he tried to shave the next day, he discovered that the razors would not work. What he said and did we may imagine, but we do not know. Chief Justice Chase was a very dignified man. His private secretary, Mr. Didier, says that he had little humor in his composition. President Lincoln once related the foregoing story at a meeting of the cabinet, but Mr. Chase did not like it very well, and the president never referred to i? again.—Youth’s Companion.