South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1874-04-17
Digby s Reform Club.
now rArsoN MEEKLY WAS "suur or.

There was qulrtette Of free and ilvill
spirits in Il rkv'lie, and JoHN DiGBY was
the acknowledged leader thereof. PETER
SLADE, TON LowDEN, aud SAM Pepper
were his associates. They four were young
men, free hearted and generous, with great
capacity for enjoyment Ga csrtaii Mon
day evening they were Assem- bled in the
small parlnr of LUST0N's tavern for the
pCrposo Of having good time, az .bey were
wont 10 assemble often. The season was
winter, and the beverage they were iudul1-
Ing IN was a compound Of run, sugar.
milk, aud eggs, flnilIrly kuosn among
the iui'ilted as Tom aud Jerry. AZ au
early stage OF the wlssail, before sense had
been submerged, PETER Sr.ApE suggested
that he had complllnt TO make against
one Of the dignitaries ct the town, aud
thercup1n he opened his vials of denuacia-
lion upon PARsoN MEEKLY, the old cer.
gyman of the place.
'As near as | can fnd ou', be slii, e,Le
parsou Just nbou; the same as called US by
name, aud held Us up as set of gracelcss
scamps.'
MT qni'e So bad as that, said JouN
DIGBY lie did certainly sl!ule to u
very plainly but she worst he brought "a
caust US was that We were prosti,utine no
bic powers and opportunities TO base ana
sinful purposes. Rather f4tterinC, tho't,
especially the noble powers
/ 'Flat.ering with n vengeance growled
! Tom LowDEN What business i, it Of
his z
aye chimcd SAM PEPPER, what bust
ness is it of his T.? AID then look Mt the
/ huI!aballo they re making over this foreign
mission business. 1t was in connection
with that ParsoD MEEKLY attacked us.
They'd better look at home. | ,Link we've
suffering enough under our v,ry noses that
had better be looked out first
That's s., cried SLADE i say charity
begins at home. What do you say, JouY?'
JOHN DIGBY bad listened attentively,
and during the conversation had turned
his glass bottom upward upon the table.
There may be truth in what you say,
be :lowly and thoughIfuly replied but
people who live in glass houses sh9uldn'r
throw stoao'. We may oti CT to furnish
ing cur money for the for .isn mission up
on tho plea that charity begins at home
and all that; but the question may come
what have We done for ihs charity al home!
What have we done toward allevating the
disiresses OF the poor of our own town
And II we haven't done anything in that
d:reciion-if we don't open cur hands ir
charity at all-wh1t right have we to say
IN what direction others shall aim then
good works :?
Blank were the looks that greeted til.
speech. The trio Of listeners were toker
aback. They hadn't expected this from
'heir leader
Now, ok here, boys continued joins
( DlGBY, pushing his inverted glass away t.
the centre Of the table, and leaving IL there
| don't Ike this overbauIng that Plrs5r
MEEKLY gave us, any better than you do
aud propose to shut him up
'lli-yah = shouted SAM PErpGa. That,
toe talk. I'm with you
Are you sure you've got the coura &C.
yes, sir +"
~ unt me To- soid TOW
and me, added PErfn. L,ts shu
The Old fellow up. WHAT'S the programme
JACK 2
'Wcll, answered DlGBY, sl5gly, d h,v,
planned that we will fpko tho wind cut o.
Parson MEgKLY sails by establishing
reform club four own, aud starting mis-
sionary society on the same basis.
En-
Look, yc, boys, people bcsides the par
son are talking pretty bard about ~, arc
VOL shut en- al up iu "A lump-Td lik,
to astoni~h 'cm I'd like 10 bic back in Oh,
most EFT Give way. Ia like 10 make ON
take The back track here in Bukyillo, in
their own business.
Ills hearers were interested aud listened
eagerly.
'Wha' is iG Toll os how It's to be done
they asked.
lave you got tho courage 10 DO itY
wen follow YOU, said Peter SLADg.
IHoDor JrigbtT
Yes
Then listen.
'H.ll on, cried SAM PETER. Let.
u up before you commence
Not with old LUsuroy's Tom and Jer.
ry,' returned JACK we shall want tl,c
cpst Of - FOR another purpose. Turn your
glasses bottom up for he present. There
that's GO Now listen. We are in thr
habit Of meeting q, The tavern three eve.
nings in The week our expenses for liq1or
and cigars are al least two doll RS an eve
niog, aren't theyY
This was admitted with a nod.
And 10. addition to this spend az least
dollar more each week for beer and ,o
bacco on my own hook How iyit with
you 2
The others acknowledged that dollar q
week was lille enough
Thus resumed john D1GBY, we bav,
ten dollars a week % tho result Of our com.