Burlington hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1845-185?, 1851-04-24
PUBLIC REBUKE.
Anecdote Of Judge White.

| Anecdete Of Judge White.
| On certain day number Of lawyers
and literary men were together in the
town Of Knoxville, and conversation turn
ed upon preachers and preaching. One
and another had expressed his opinion of
this and that pulpit orator, and when they
had done Judge White spoke up.
well, gentlemen on this subject, each
man is Of course entitled to his own opin-
ion and must confess that Father Az
ley brought me to sense Of evil deeds,
at least portion Of them, more effectually
than any other preacher ever heard
At this, every eye and ear was turned,
for Judge White was never known to
speak ightly on religious subjects, and
moreover was habitually cautious and re-
spectful in his remarks upon religious
men. The company now expressed the
most urgent desire that the Judge should
give the particulars, and expectation stood
on tip-toe.
Il went up one evening, said the Judge
'to the Methodist church. Asermon was
preached by clergyman with whom |
was not acquainted, but father Axley was
in the pulpit, At the close Of the ser
mon he arose and said 10 the congrega-
tion 81 am not going to detain you by
delivering an exhortation-I have risen
merely to administer rebuke for improper
conduct, which have observed here to-
night. This Of course walked up the en-
tire assembly, and the stiffness was pro-
found, while Axley stood and looked for
several seconds over the congregation
Then stretching out his large long arm,
and pointing with his finger steadily in one
direction, he said, Now calculate that
those two young men who were talking in
that corner of the house, while the brother
was preaching, think that am going to
talk about them. Well, it is true it looks
bad when we'll dressed young men, who
you suppose to belong to respectable fam
lilies, TO come to the house Of God, and in
stead Of reverencing the majesty of Him
that dwelleth therein, or attending to the
message Of his everlasting love, get to-
gether in one corner of the house, his fin
ger at all times pointing steady and straight
as the aim of rifeman, and there
through the whole. solemn service keep
talking, tittering, laughing, and giggling,
thus annoying the minister, and disturb
ing the congregation, and SHINING against
God. am sorry for the young men. |
am sorry for their parents. | am sorry
,. they have done so to night. | hope they
will never do so again. But however,
that's not the thing l was going to talk
about. 1t is another matter SO important
that thought it would be wrong 10 suffer
the congregation 10 depart without admin
istering a suitable rebuke. Now said
he, stretching his arms and pointing in
another direction, perhaps that man, who
was asleep on the bench out there while
! the brother was preaching, thinks that l
am going to talk about him. must con-
fess that ii looks very bad for man 10
come into worshipping assembly, and in
,, stead Of taking a seat and listening to the
blessed gospel, oarslessly stretching him
self out on bench and going to sleep. II
! is no. only proof Of great insensibilisy
with regard to the obligations which we
owe to our Creator and Redeener, but II
shows a want Of genteel breeding. II
shows that The poor man has been so un-
; fortunate in his bringing up as not to have
been taught good manners. He don't
know what i. polite and respectful in a
worshipping assembly, in which he
comes to mingle. am sorry for the fam.
lily to which he belongs. I'm sorry he
; did not know better. l hope he never
will do 50 again. But, however, this is
not what was going to talk about. =
: Thus Father Axley went on for some
time, boxing his compass hitting num-
Der of.persons and practices that he wss
not going TO talk about, and hitting hard,
till The attention and curiosity of the au-
dience was raised to the highest pitch
when finally he remarked:
The thing of which / was going te
talk, was cheering tobacco. Now / do hope
when any gentleman comes to church
who can't keep from using tobacco during
the hours of worship, that he will just
take his hat and use it for spit box -
You all know tha, we are methodists. .-
You all know that our custom is to knee
when we pray. Now any gentleman may
see in a moment how exceedingly incon-
, venient i, must be for well dressed
!. Methodist lady to be compelled to knee
down in puddle Of tobacco-sph.'
Now said Judge White at this time
, / had in my mouth an uncommonly large
quid of tobacco. Alleys singular man.
: ner and train of remark strongly arrested
nv attention. While he was stirring tc
The right and left, hitting those things that
he was no, going to talk about, my curl
t osity was busy to find out what he could
be aiming at. was chewing my large
quid and splitting with much rapidity, and
looking up at the preacher to catch every
r word and gesture, when at last he pouncet
9 upon tobacco, behold, there had great
d puddle Of tobacco spit! Iquietly slipped
: the quid from my mouth and dashed it a:
= far as could under the seats, and re-
$ solved never again TO be found chewing
tobacco in Methodist church.