The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1882-04-27
A MEAT AND BREAD SERMON
FOR IMPROVIDENT FAR
MERS.
BY UNCLE REMUS.

Children have you sny meat?-John,-
chap. Y.
once heard an old miuiste!
preach a funeral sermon from thi:
text, ami he said that it could bt
found somewhere in John. | dom
know whether be told the truth
or not, but for the purposes O.
this sermon, | will be rash enough
to take it for. granted that be
did.
Before proceeding to unveil the
mysteries and to elaborate the
beauties of my text IN all their
intricate ramifcation, [ feel con-
strained to say that l suspect our
peculiar brother misapprehended
the meaning of the language, as
be stood in the midst Of the weep.
ing relatives Of the defunct whose
funeral be was preaching, and,
with his eyes turned skyward
propounded thatsearching inquiry
unless, peradventure, he had fail
ed in Obtaining his matutinal re
past, in which event it was but
natural that he should have been
more thoughtful Of the comforts
of his craving stomach, than Of
the bereaved hearts Of his hearers,
l am not preaching a funeral SER
mon my beloved, but verify / say
unto you, that a failure TO give
proper heed to the teachings OF
this beautiful text, will be a pub
lie invitation to the funeral OF
your fortunes, your farms and
your country, and you will wan
der through the land, like the lean
aud melancholy ghosts that chas-
sez along the river Styx without
The cash to pay their fcrriage, and
your voices will be heard like the
voices of the Hebrews by the
rivers Of Babylon, bowling to
every passing breeze.
CHILDREN, HAVE YOU ANY MEAT?
Awake, therefore, ye >slothful
agriculturists, awake and lend me
your ears, while l elucjdate and
fructify the everlasting truths
that corrusticate along the ever
lasting crests of my text.
propose, then, to consider the
meaning of the words in this
beautiful passage, in a two fold
light:
INDIVIDUALLY.
would remark that there are
only two words in the text which
I deem it necessary to individual
lize and catch the true ring of, as
the miser catcheth the ring ofhis
coin before be drops it into his
old sock and hides it under the
hearth, and those two words are
schildren' and meat l opine ;
my beloved, that the word chill
dren in the text has a much
broader Specification than that
segment Of the human family
which the old women Of the
country spank with impunlty, and
glory in the blessed consciousness
that they can do it again if they
want to. l am persuaded that
in the full amplitude Of its height
and depth, its length and
breadth, it includes every ma
tive born American citizen, white
and black, blue, yellow and
gray, male and female, old and
young, together with all the rest
of man and woman kind on the
face of this time-bound earth, and
I do not think, therefore, my
benighted friends, that | would be
stretching my Imagination too far
if were to venture the assertion
that it includes even you.
The word meat meaneth not
alone the aggregated globules
which formeth the feshy por-
tions of the corporeaI tabernacles
in which the spiritual essences OF
the beasts of the field, the fowls
Of the air, and the fish of the deep
live aud move and have their
being but To every eatable thing
under the sun which the tongue
OF man hankereth after, or which
he hidelh beneath the broad bosom
of his abdominal ocean, for it is
said 'his meat was locusts and
wild honey l say, therefore, my
brethren, that meat here means
'vittles,' whether it be chicken
fxens' or -four doin's,' hambones
or corn dodgers, pickle pork OF
billed cabbage, and / challenge the