Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-06-07
JOKES OF OUR OLD PREACHERS.

From the New Albany (Ind Ledger.
The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal
Church in the United States, Bishop
Smith, of Kentucky, was, in the early years
of bis Episcopate, of en- found travelling
from cabin 10 cabin in the noun
tains of Eastern Kentucky, ebesring the
message of his Master to the hardy
moHntaineers. Now, the Bishop is espe
ciaIly fond of tea, and his taste and judg-
ment in respect to the cup which cheers
without inebriating is something TO surprise
the Celestials in the Flowery Kingdom.
"Storen tea was utterly unknown in the
regions into which the Bishops zeal lead
him; and he indulged his appetite to
this extent, that he carried with
him, in his saddle-bags, quantity of tea.
One evening the good Bishop T. ached q
lonely hut in gorge Of the mountains, and
as night was near at hand, and as the next
cabin was some miles before him, he was
fAin to ask entertainment for himself and
proyender for his tired horse. a-l
With the p-overhial hospitality of the
men of the mountains, he was assured that
the house was at his disposal, and the
Bishop dsmounthd. The cabin was wealth
er-boarded with fox. skins, and 3 string of
fox and wolf scalps hung from peg on
the corner Of the house, to await the next
visit of the mountsineer 10 the distant
county town, where the skins would
be bartered for ammunition, and the
scalps would bring SO much a piece, hard
money, in the way of State bounty. A
fresh deer skin, hung across q pole, and the
invariable homiRy mortar Assured the
Bishop that the usual fare of the mountains
would be offered him. Sometime before
the evening meal, the Bishop took from his
saddle bags bout two pounds of tea, and
politely requested the lady Of the house to
make him some te~.
The woman took the tea, and the Bishop
enjoyed the luxury of anticipation. When
supper was served the astonished prelate
beheld, to bis infinite regret, his tea, the
delight of his heart and the expected sol
ace of long sojourn in the mountains,
sweled to the measure Of half bushel,
carefully drained, and served on
an immense wooden dish. 81 say, MIS-
ter" remarked the landlsdy, "I've done
billed them greens for q mortal hour and
they'r bitter yh. never seed siCh green's"
The Bishop drank mountain spring water
that night, and cut his visit to the noun
tains short.
The Rev. Thomas Bottomly, an old and
highly respected minister of the Methodist
Episcopal church, was distinguished alike
for the breadth of his Learning and his
mouth. The latter was out of al proper
ton, and, like the "poor mans lease. was
from year TO year." When brother B.
laughed, which was all the time. when he
was not praying, preaching, or sleeping, his
face presented one yswniDg abyss; and
when be shouted, the astonishe
behoIder could see nothing Of his face
brother B. having opened his mouth, left
nothing visible but an infinite eXpanse of
Jaws. the top of his bald frontal, and tuft
of gray hair under each ear. The fsvOrite
sn6iect of brother BIS discourse, in season
and out of season, was the Divine Omnl o.
tence; and on this subjecs he would inter-
view the sinners wherever be Glanced to
meet him.
In one of his journeys, the good old
i'inerant came across a Hardin county,
KY, man chopping wood; aud Immediately
Mr.. B. orened his favorite subject: Nothing
was impossible with God; He could do
ANYTHING, and no creature vas able to
resist Him, etc. The backwOodsmaD,
leaning on his axe, had been quietly scan
ping MIR. BIS features, as that good mans
mouth opened its enormous gates in the ut
terance If his exhortatiOns, and when
the mouth, and the sermon finally closed,
answered and said. ''Wall, stranger, thar's
two things God Almighty can't do" "What
are they9' said the brother, confident Of a
victory. ''Wan, he can't make two hills
without boiler atwixt 'em, nor he can't
make your mouth any bigger without set
tin pour ears further hack." Brother b.
viii shake his sides and open his mouth to
its fullest extent, when he tells this story,
to this day.