Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1882-02-04
DEACON SAVEALL'S SPEECH.

! DGAOUN OAf EAun y DfEEUH.
On the occasion Of meeting called
/ by the district to consider the question
whether new school house should be
built or not. He takes the opportunity
o. giving his ideas upon variety OF
subjects. including the minister:
My friends, We air here tonight 10
see if the deestrict will vote to build a
new skool-house or not. We air here
at no small expense Of time, trouble and
kerryseen. l didn't expect to say moth
in when kun in here, but I've been
a-thlinkin' as I've been a-settin, that |
ought to raise my voice agin the whole
ph1rceedin', ii is such an extravagant
waste of public money taxed out of
/private indervidooals. Ishall vote agin
it, and do all / can to kill it. The
trouble Is, folks want too much in these
days. and them folks what have little or
nothin' 'cept young ones are always
ready to vote to spend other folks money
to edIcate en-. There wasn't much
money spent to edicate me. and I've
been deekin in our meeLin' for nigh
forty year. I've worn the same coat
and the same trousers, to say nothin' OF
waistcoat and boots, every Sabbath day
durin' full half that long period. Amt
/ pattern for the deestrict in matters
7 OF ekon0mv What would have bekum
Of me and Betsey Aun if hadn't a done
500
] don't purtend to he a Judge of vim
/ mems goods and hxin's, but I've OBJ
sarved tlra5 she don't spend much of
my money on dresses and bunnits. She
Knows my sentiments too well ON them
pints, and don't waste her time a-gaddiu'
round to see the fashuns and such.
She's a stay -at-home woman and work
in woman, she is, and, If l do say it,
she's pattern just as much as [ am.
Why, it cen Almost tux our breth away
one Sunday mornin' when we seed our
minister's wife a kummin' inter the
meetin'- house with a new bunnit on, all
kuvered up with flowers and fethers.
Sumbody sed twas an Easter, or n
Wester, I've forgot which, for we don't
keep them pagin days like the 'Piscopals
and Romans. We know better. We
rei'Ice in the lite while they walk on in
darkness but as was a-sayin', me and
Betsey Ann was dredfully distrest over
it. And when we got hum, sez she to
me, seZ she: "What an example to our
young folks You oughter to go right
over there, Jeremiah, and labor with
'em about il"
The next mornin' | went over to the
parsonage, and kerried sum specked
apples that we wuz goin' to throw away;
for l alwuz takes sumthin' with me when
| gees to see the minister's family-it's s
a sakred dooty. tackled Mr.. Nicodemus
about it. He said that the bunnlt wuz
a present from sumbody who wuz here
last summer. suppose it wuz sum OF
them city folks who wuz a-doin' nothin'.
and spendin' their money at the tavern
Summerin'," / believe they call it..
Anyhow l felt an inward call to labor
with the minister spell longer, and to
tell him in plain words that he mustn t
allow any of his family to indulge in ex-
travagance, whether it costs him any,
thing or not. We pay him four hundred
dollars year when we can raise it
that's what he wuz called onxand I've
often laid awake nights thinkin' that he
must be a-layin' up money, and it's
wrong for ministers to do that; the
Scripters is all agin it.
He has wife, seven children, and an
old uncle on his hands, to be sure, but
then we only charge him fifty dollars n
year for the use of the parsonage, and
there amt many folks that gets their
rent as cheap as that. We use it to pay
the insurance, and keep the house in re-
pair. Pertatoes and brown bread are
cheap that's our livin' mainly, and
what's good enuf for us is good enuf for
anybody. And then, agin, don't see
why the minister should be obleeged to
entertain the whole tribe of Gadites, and
half the tribe of Manassar, and spend
our money in feedin' 'em.
Why, it's wus than flock of Egyptian
locusts to see the folks that go a-trampin'
in and ont of our parsonage in the course
of year. We don't hev any kumpany.
| We did hev a man and a woman lite
down on us onst, but they didn't stay
long. She sed thst her mother was q
third cousin to my wifes great-aunt.
but we never seed 'em afore they came
a-drivin' into our door-yard. / was
a-splittin' kindlings. and Betsey Ann
she was a-settin' milk pans out to dry in
the sun, when we heerd sumbody cry
ont: "Why how do you do, Cousin
Jeremiah How do you do, Cousin
Betsey." We thot sumthin' queer was
a-kummin', and when that air woman
jumped out of the wagin, and told the
man who druv the team to take ont the
trunks and bandboxes, L riz right up
and told 'em we had no foundations for
kumpany, and they'd better go on to
the tavern. My punkins how that
female did splutter They had traps
enuf with 'em to stay a munth but it
was rite in hayin' time, and they didn't
find the atmosfear congenial, so they
left in n hurry, and we've never seed
EN- since.
Well, as was a-savin', wrastled and
demonstrated with Mr.. Nicodemus, and
told him that folks was a-talkin' about
him and Mis- Nicodemus havin' too
much kumpany. He looked rather cut
up. and sed that the Scripters taught
MS to entertain strangers and to show
hospertality. I surmised that he had
heerd sumthin' about the strangers who
had Lit on us, and how we got rid of
'em; and made up my mind that if he
was a-goin' TO put me down in that way,