Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1859-04-29
A SERMON on PIXIES PEAK.

At the request Of brother s. NJ. Kerr, (Phe-
nix Rancho, near Bangor) meddle with the
following:
"whar de hen scratch dar she spec to find bug"
My HEARERs-I am informed that dark
compexoned preacher in Columbus, Ohio,
once took the above for his text, aud proved
from it that our first parents fell from an ap-
ple-tree into mud-hole, which caused their
frst-born to be black as your hat. / am
afraid that my coored co-laborer has made
much more out Of it than | can for, turn it
over, set it up on end, lay it down, and
spread it open--after all, this old rooster
don't find great deal to pick at.
In the first place, my brethren. | will pro-
pound pious conundrum Why are men
like watches Because you must look in.
side of them for their good qualities and Judge
of them by their works"
Well. my brethren, the work of men and
women in general, consists, for the most part,
in scratching, and prospect of bug is the
incentive. You may notice. brethren, that
whenever hen makes scratch, she always
gives pick but whether she gets bug at
every dip is very uncertain. | imagine not.
Nevertheless where the hen scratches there
she expects to find bug.
Expectation is one thing, you know, my
friends and finding another. You may turn
| over many stone in this precious world, and
| find no bug after all. Phrenologically speak
/ ing, the human head is one vast bump of ex-
peotation and nothing else.
/ There are various sorts of bugs, gentlemen,
! in this buggy sphere. There are big bugs,
I little bugs, tumble bugs, straddle bugs, bed
! bugs hum bugs and bug-bears. But you
needn't scratch about much to find any of
/ these; for they are everywhere, thicker than
shippers in three year old cheese.
TO find the bug you so earnestly desire, re-
/ quires diligent scratching and if by so doing
| you don't happen to catch it, you can comfort
| yourself with the reflection that you put in
the licks for it, and it ought to have been
yours. If young man takes girl around
to see the shows, feeds her with it-bts. and
buys her pretty caicoes, his title to kiss is in
disqualification "where the hen scratches,
there she expects to find bug"
The bug that you are all after, my brethren.
is the gold bug but lack-a-day, how many of
you scratch in vain yer it is found in ma
nure heaps as well as in auriferous places
The farmer turns it up with his plough, and
the gardener with his spade; and yet, thou
sands keep scratching here and there without
finding any bug.
A few months ago, hundreds Of you fell
to scratching Fraser River, expecting to find
a mighty big bug Well, you scratched, and
scratched; and what did you turn out at
last "a monstrous humbug!! You got
/ frightened and scrabbled for home vast deal
more buggy than you went-for " where the
hen scratches there she expects to find a
bug"
You all have about an equal number of
hope, if not pluck, and each one will probably
pitch in and dig with all the energy Of ter
rer at a gopher hoe-for where the hen
scratches, there she expects to find bug"
/ Let me make another application of the
text, my brethren. Beware of an oily
tongued, sycophantic friend-who is ever
ready to do a small favor--who processes
Willingness to serve you at all tmes-who
| praises you the fox did the crow for while
he is thus "squzzing" himself into your good
! graces, he has an eye on your purse--yourself
| forgetting for the moment that "Where the
hen scratches, there she expects to find bug"