American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1879-07-26
Going to Church

Already the deacOn'S mare, with q
wagon-load of the deacon's folks, had
gone shambling past, head and tail
dropping, clumsy hoofs kicking up
clouds of dust, while the good deacon
sat jerking the reins in an automatic
way, and the =" women folks " patiently
saw the dust settle down upon their best
| summer bonnets.
The meeting house which our boy re-
members was high, square building
without a steeple. Within it had a lofty
pulpit with doors underneath and
closets where sacred things were kept,
and where the tithing men were sup
posed to imprison bad boys. The pews
were square with seats facing each 9th
err, those on one side low for the chill
dren, and all with hinges, SO that they
could be raised when the congregation
stood up for prayers and leaned over the
backs of the pews. After prayers these
seats were slammed down with long
continued clatter, which seemed to the
boys about the best part of the exercises.
The galleries were very high, and the
singers seats, where the pretty girls sat,
we're the most conspicuous of all. The
tithing man, who carried long rod and
kept order in the house, sat in the gal
lery and visited any boy who whispered
to another boy.
At noon was Sunday-school, and at.
ter that luncheon, when the elders were
gathered together and the boys slipped
off down the roadside to place where
they could dig sassafras or sweet-fag.
There was an odor of sassafras in the
afternoon service. 1t used to stand in my
mind as a substitute for incense.
The going home from meeting was
more cheerful and lively than the com
ing to it; the boy liked to drive fast (,
there was an extra dinner awaiting him !;
long before shutdown the Sunday-school
book had been read and the boy sat
waiting with great Impotence the signal
that the ''day of rest" was over" Be-
ing a Boy"
THE schooner Yellow Pine arrived at
Galveston a few days ago from New
York, with a cargo of salt, having been
"a days in making the voyage. Prior
to the departure of the vessel valuable
cat, the property of the Captain, disap-
peared, and thinking that the feline had
fallen overheard, and been drowned, no
further attention was paid to it. Capt.
Ireland, on arriving at that port had the
matches taken off for the purpose of al
lowing the Port Wardens to examine
the condition of the cargo, and he found
the cat alive and kicking, although con-
siderably the worse for the wear and
tear of the voyage. The cat had wan
dered into the vessels hold prior to he1
departure, and the matches were bat
tened down on it and it was left to make
the voyage without food, save such rats
as might be caught. 1t had no water at
all.
AN acute thinker says: "We know
some teachers who have had twenty
years. experience and yet it would be
hard to find poorer ones. We know
some whose experience of two years has
placed them high in the profession,
Who ever heard of measuring the abili.
ty of lawyer by the number of years
he had practiced at the bar, or the Ca
pacity of military commander by the
number of years he had held command.
or the skill of a doctor by the length OF
years he has administered calomel to
his salivating patients P''-Dr. Foote's
Health Monthly for July.
In Ravenna, Italy, when the streets
were full of people celebrating the fes
tival of st. John the Baptist, a maniac
snatched up knife from butchers
stall and fell upon every one he came
across. Before he was captured he
wounded eleven persons, one MORALLY.