Butte record. (Bidwell, Butte County, Cal.) 1853-1858, 1857-03-21
The wonderful Egg.

Ine wonderful Egg.
Abjah Smithers was as honest an
old soul as ever broke the worlds
bread, as the saying is, but he was a
little given to cracking a joke, when
opportunity offered. He lived, and il
mis- breath has not failed hun, still lives
in the town of B., in the State
of Massachusetts. He once boarded
in the family of good, p;ous old lady
a little superstitious withal, who saw
and interpreted every extraordinary
appearance and occurrence, as some
phenomena, given as an ominous warn
ing from Heaven, to betoken coming
judgment upon the children of men for
their iniquities. One morning, early
as Abijah was repairing to his place OF
business, he accidentally discovered a
hens nest, containing goodly number
of eggs. Immediately the thought
struck him, that he would make food
Of one Of them, to feast the supersti-
tion of Aunt Charity. Accordingly he
took some liquid, and wrote on the
egg shell, Woe, aooe to the inha 5itants
of B--' By exposure to the
action of a gentle heat, the letters as
sumed the appearance of having been
written with bio d. The egg was then
again deposited where it was found. In
the course of the day, Aunt Charity
also discovered the nest, but Judge her
astonishment and CONSERVATION on be-
holding the awful, the fatal sentence
Her pious zeal appealed to Heas en-, and
offered hasty though fervent petition
that she might not be involved in the
general calamity. Again and again,
she perused with horror-stricken feel
ings, the portentous sentence, till, at
length, she mustered courage to re-
move the sacred deposit from its rest
ing place, and bear it to the house for
safe keeping. But its import was of
too much consequence to be long con-
cealed. Not doubling that the Lord
had adopted this method to te commu-
nicate the tidings Of his displeasure to
the inhabitants Of the town, the old la
dy considered herself as being appoint
e / His herald; and remembering the
fate of poor Jonah, she mounted hood
and bonnet, and. with the egg in her
hand as her indubitable authority, away
she trudged on her important mission.
By the time of her return home the
whole town was in state Of agitation
and alarm. Terror anil CONSERVATION
were visible on every countenance
and the paison was requested to visit
the house Of Aunt Charity, to examine
the fatal egg and explain its import,
and give his advice on the momentous
occasion Accordinly, the next morn
ing, the parson, the deacon, the squire,
and hundred other characters, great
and small, were on the spot, and, with
all due solemnity, the fatal relic was
produced, and underwent formal ex-
animation while the whole eongrega-
ton awaited the issue in breathless and
painful anxiety. At length the writ
ing was pronounced the work of the
Lord, and the only thing now necessa-
ry, was to devise means to divert the
awful judgment threatened.
At this solemn juncture. Abijah
stepped up and requested to see the
egg 1t was handed him. The next
question was, whether 'he Lord would
not be able to spell his words rightly.
Granted, was the unanimous response.
WELL says Abijah, this may be the
Lcrd's handwriting, but he has not
spelled the name of our town right.
This put new face on the affair. The
fears of the people were relieved. The
knowing ones hung their heads. Abb
jah Smilhers laughed in his sleeve, and
Aunt Charity found her wonderful egg
was as good for nut cake.' as any 9TH
er one IN the nest