Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1869-09-17
How New England Deacon Broke the
ara Sabbath. a

A curious incident Of Sabbath breaking
| occurred in the parish oil Hampton, conn,
| in the good old time. A certain jolly
farmer, who lived several miles from the
meeting house, was astonishcd to observe
one Sunday morning his near neighbor, a
pious deacon, hard at work in his hay y-tield,
with his sons and his "hired men, But
the truthwas soon OWNED; the deacon,
who took no daily paper and owned no
| almanae-was, in short, not a literary
man, had mistaken the day of the week,
and his well ordered family had adopted
| his error. | am sorry to add that being
more of wag than saint, our farmer de-
| clined to enlighten the innocent Sabbath
breaker but drove on, chuckling, toward
the sanctuary. The deacon looked after
him, and, pausing in the midst of the
broad swath he was cutting, exclaimed ;
"Ef there aint neighbor DOolttle, and
Mrs. Doolittle, and all the children, dressed
up and goin' visitin' Saturday mOrnin, in
the midst of hayin' time, That beats all. f"
| The next morning the deacon and the
| deacon's wife, his sons and daughters, his
hired man, the hired girl and the bound
B9y5 I'll arrTaaAYed IL in their sunday pes1, Sc,
son on horseback WItII ~ ~ u1auS nieT
mounted behind on pilliOn; the deacon,
with the rest of the family, in the big farm
wagon, drawn by pair of stout roans,
who logged soberly along with their meek
est Sunday look on. The family delusion
extended even to the yellow dog, who
trotted in the rear of the decorous turn
cut, without secular frisk, or bark, or
| gambol.
On the way to the village the deacon
was surprised and shocked to see several
of his fellow -townsmen at work in their
fields. He invariably stopped to reprovC
them; but the joke of his own Sunday
work had spread through the neighbor-
hood, and was so much relished that no
one cared to undeceive him. Each farmers
excuse for his impiety was the necessity OF
| getting in his hay before shower, which
he pretended was imminent, though the
sky was cloudless. Expostulations and re-
plies were something after this sort:
"Why, Uncle Zebrlon this here is a
fine day, with no appearance of rain"
"Jes so, deacon; but the winds little
unstiddy, and believe in takin' time by
the forelock."
"But uncle, it is the Lords time"
"Yes, deacon but | intend to send a
load Of this here hay to ParsOn Mosely,
and thatll make it all square, guess"
"Why, neighbor Barlow, where under
the canopy do you find signs of rain to-
day."
AIn the corns, deacon. When they be
gin to shoot look out for a damp spell
and it always comes, sooner or later"
"Why Ephraim Pettingill; | am beat
You horse shoeing on Sundayp
why, you know, deacon, marcifu
man is marciful to his beast"
After each specious response the deacon
shook his head mournfully, and drove on
He reached the village, drove up to the
meeting house steps, where he and his
hired man handed out the wOmen-folks'
and children-his son and daughter had
already dismounted at the block
and together they marveled much at the
closed Westinghouse doors, and the va
cant wagon shed. There they waited
more and more amazed, till several loung
ers from the village store gathered arounC
them, laughing and quizzing, till terrible
small boy called out, "what are you doin
here Monday mOrnin'g Did you sleeI
over Sunday, or did you forget to put you
l beans into the oven Saturday night"
| Upon that hint they went riding anC
driving homeward at quite festive rat
of speed, albeit in deeply mortified an,
penitential state Of mind.-IRdepeIldeIa
FRENCH ingenuity has invented new
amusement for persons waiting for IN
appearance of those on whom they cal
A lady i'm Paris has had placed in he
drawingroOm an immense marble shell il
} which are 70 be seen great number q
fishes of various species. A gentlemal
called upon her for the first time the othe
, day. Madame Is at her toilette, said th
servant, "but il, while waiting for her
monsieur would like 10 pass his time Il
= fishing, he will find here, hooks, lines an,
bait. As for fish, the shell Is full Of them.
THE Michigan State Penitentiary O
JacksOn contains 600 cOnVicts