The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1867-09-04
The Old Woman and theS
IL r.. Grow. - 8 y

- Inc Old. Woman ana tne"''
- ~ r.. Crow - :" ..SS
AT acertaiin cross roads in the
State of Alabama, stood a small
grocery Or whiskey shop, previous
to the war, bust head and chain
lightning were dealt out to- the
thirsty~and r:unwashed at the
small sum of five cents a drink, or
twenty-five cents quart. The
presiding genius Of this delectable
institutionswas one Bill Strikes,
who had a domestieated crow: as
black as, the >acesof; spades. This
crow had learnt, among other
| things, to repeat quite plainly the
words .damns you" which he. of
course heard frequently repeated
! in the grocery. During the pre-
valence of a knock down and drag
out fight one day, however the
crow was frightened from home
and flew into the woods never to
return again. = "s.~ 49, =
!. sAout, t hree miless@om the gro
eery Vas. "a meeting house--an
old tumble down, zdilapidated at
fair, only. used on certain socca-
sions, when the circuit rider hap
pened to pass that way. In this
building the crow went, taking. a
peacebfe possession and two days
thereafter the church was thrown
open for preaching, and a. crowd
assembled, among whom was. a
very oldslady who was compelled
to- use :crutches in walking, who
took her seat in tho front pew,
and was soon,deeply. absorbed in
|. the .eloquenee of the preacher:
The reverend gentleman, had
scarcely gotten under full head
way, and commenced thuadering
his anathemas at ali grades Of sin
ners, when a hoarse croaking
voice from above uttered the om-
NOUS words -
: "Damn> you p
The preacher and congregation
looked saghast at such profanity,
and each peered into his neigh.
boris face, to detect some. sign of
guilt, Quiet was at length restor-
ed, however, and,the sermon pro
.ceedede ;;ebut ere ten minutes had
elapsed ominous "damn you''
again electrified the audiences and
Just as the preacher cast his eye
Upward u to search: for the >delin-
quent, the .crow-few. from his
perch, and alighting on the Bible,
calmly surveyed the erowd~:ass he
gave another croak y '"''.
Z; damn you p :. ..,.,, =, :..,->-
|; The effect was electrical. = Civ
ing: one :, startled and terrified
glance at: the intruder the preach
1er sprang through a window car
srying sash, glass and all with him,
and set off at a break neck pace
through the woods, closely follow
eddy his horror: stricken >congre-
cation, ,.who.had piled out Of the
building pell NEIL after him: In
thergeneral scramble, the old lady
with the crrttches had been knock
'edsdown in the church, where she
lay; unable to rise !; and on seeing
her, the crow (who was after:
I something to eat) few: down be;
side her very : knowingly and
.ereaked-w - ~ - -. &:
: .sDamn. your ,, :, 90: %: -. -
The: old lady eyed him saEagely,
for a few moments, and burst
forth In atone of reckless defiance: ::
eyes, and damn you too! sI>had
nothing to do with getting up.
this Methodist meeting, and you
know it, too p 49,
The poor old soul had mistaken
the crow for the, devil, and con-
cluded to prepitiate, if possible,
the wrath ofhis satanic majesty by
denying all completely in the af-
fair.
The world is full of just such
people.