The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1850-11-16
The Joking Clergyman.

Ioilo~ing hnecdotes OF the Reverend Ma'her BY
les, the well known joking clergyman of Boston
MIR. Byes lived in the time Of the revolution, an,
was tory.
The distery of Thomas Hill was at the corne
oi Essex and South s,s. not for from Mr.. Bslknap'
residence, in Lincoln street, DR. Byles culled OF
Mr. Hill, AMI inquired:
! DO you still &
That is my business Mr. Hill replied
Then said DIR. Byles, will you go with me an,
still my wife =
As he was once occupied in mailing some lis
[ upon his doors, to exclude the cold, parishione
said TO him Tho wind blowe,h wheresoeyer i
lsteth, DR. Byles'
Yes, sir, replied the doctor, and man listc,l
Wheresoever the wind bIoweth.'
lie was intimate with General Knox who wal
bookseller before the war When the American
troops took possession Of tho town, after the evac
uat'on, Knox who had become quite corpulent
marched in NJ the head of his ARTILLERY. As b.
passed on, les, who thought hImself privileged
on old scores exclaimed, loud enough to be hear
- never saw an or "a Knox fatter in my life.
But Knox was not III the Vein lie telt often
ded by tins freedom, especially from Byl,s who
was then known to be tory, and relied in un
eourty terms that he was d-d fool
In May, l771. Dr. Byles was arrested as tory
and subsequently tried, convicted to confinement,
on board guard ship, aud to be sent to England
with his family in forty days. This sentence was
changed by the board Of war to confinement in
his own house. A guard was placed over him
Al or time the sr.llnel vas re moved, ,atterward,
replaced, and Hgiln removed, when the doctor
exclaimed that he had been guarded, and di,re
garded. He called lis sentry HI, observatory +!
lelc"vng one morning that the sentinel u
SIMPLE fellow, was ab-eut, and seeing Dr. Bye,
himself pacing before his own door, with Il ln,,,
qur' on his -h"ulIer, Tie nci, ,hbors stepped ovel
to inquire the cause
You see, said the doctor, 1 begged the sen,'ne
to let me go for some mix for my family, bu, h,
would n.t suffer me To stir. reasoned the mat
ter with linn, and he has gone himself to get it iv
me. On condition |. keep guard in his absence
One bitter December night he called his daugh
tiers from their bed simply to inquire if they Ia,
warm.
/ He had a small collection Of curiositics Som,
visitors called one morning and Mrs Byles, un
willing to be found at her ironing board, and il
the emergency, desiring to hide herself, as sh,
would not be So caught BY the ladies for III,
world, the doctor put her in the closet and but
+ toned her in. After Il few remarks the ladies TX
( pressed wish to see the doctors curiu,i,ie.
which lie Proceeded to e1hiiit; and after enter
talnng them very agrecably for several hours b,
told them he had kept the greatest curiosity to th
last when proceeding to the closet he unbu.
! toned the door aud exhibited Mrs Bvles
| He had complained long often and frui,lessl,
to the selec'men, Of n 9uagnIire in front Of h
dwelling.
One morning two Of the fathers Of the towr
passing in n chase after violent rain became
stuck III the bog. As they were striving to eX,r
cate themselves, aud putting TO the right and Il
the left, the doctor came forth and bowing witt
great polteness, exclaimed
AIN delighted, gentlemen, to sec YOU stirrin,
I in this matter ut last
A cundIdate for fame proposed to fly from tn,
| North Church steeple, and had already mounted
and was clapping hi. wings, to the great delight
of the mob. DR. BSles, mIngling with tie crowd
| inquired what was the object Of the gathering,
| We have come, sir, to see n man ily,' said one
| 'Poh poh, have seen horse-hy,' replied tn,
| doctor.
Upon the 10th Of May 1850. the memorable
| dark day, lady wrote TO the doctor as follow,
Dear Doctcr,--liow do you account for this dark
ness Aud received hi, immediate reyly; 'Dcai
DLdam-l am a. much in the dark rs you are
| This, for sententous brcvty, has never beer
| surpassed, unless By the correspondence between
Dear SAM am in Jail
Dear Niother-So am T.
He had at one time remarkably stupid Irish
girl, as IA domestic. With look and voice Of ter.
| ror he said to her in haste:
Go say to yuur miss,ress, DR.. Byles has put an
end to himself"
The girl flew rp stairs, md, with face Of hor
ror, exclaimed nj the top Of her voice:
DR. Byles has put an cod To limsclfN
The astonishtd wife and daughters rushed into
The parlCr and there was the doctor calmly walk.
ing about with part If n cows tail that he had
picked up IN the street. tied to his coat or cussck
behind.
From the time ofthc Stamp Act, 1868, to the
period Of the revoutinn the cry had been re.
peated in every form Of phraseology, that our
grievances should BE- redr-ssed On finne NOR.
nlng when the multitude had gathered on the
common to see Il regiment of read coats paradrd
there who had recently arrived, the doctor said.
Well think We can No longer complain that our
grievances are not rcd-dresssdr
True sail one Of the laughers who were san
ding near, but you have two IS, DR. Byles
To be sure, sir, have the doctor replied, I
had them from Aberdeen, in 1865
Had not this eccentric man possessed some very
excellent and amable qualities, he could not have
maintained his relation To- the llclls street Church
and Sorey for forty.three years, from 1888 to
l1T6, and have separated from them at last, for
political considerations alone.
The Drdham Democrat, quoting the above, ap.
pendS another unrcdote
There is one of DR. Byles' Jokes which was re-.
lated to u> bv M old lady, once member " his
society, which has not been in the papers, which
we will tell a. it was tud to- us. At the time
when Whtef' ID was IN Boston drawing crowd.
to listen To his c'rqucucr DIR, Byle, rcmirkcd one
day that hc would =" sooner to hear Wmtefel
than any other preacher The person addressed
m'rvrled ut the remark because Whciolds
doctrines were not curIsornt with the doctor,
feelings. and hr sud to him, Why So doctor
because, said the wdg If didn't, couldn't ge,
in
THE rnSr POETRY WRITTEN IN AMERicA-The
following iacist are taker from the archives Of