The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1884-04-02
THE BAD BOY IS SMlTTEN
STRUCK UPON ONE CHEEK. HE MEEK
LY TURNS TIE OTHER.
The Result Not What 1uc Wns Led to
Expect from his Pm and his Teach
er-TheOry versus Practice.

The Result Not Whut 1uc WAS Led to
Expect from his Pm and his Teach
e~r-TheOry versus Practice.
Say. what you got in your mouth. q
base ball" asked the grocrryman of the
bad boy. as he came in the store with both
checks sticking out and looking rcd. "Ill
bet YOU have got your mouth full of ben
zine. or something, and You are going TO
play some joke on me, by squirting ii on
the stovc.'
s.No. amt got nothing in my mouth"
said the boy, in a voice that sounded rs
though he was trying to talk with Il hot
potato in his mouth. ''ThiSi is my Sunday
school lesson. WAS smotc ON one check
and l turned the other, and nearly had
my neck broke. Not any more turning
! the other cheek for %IIcnncry."
"Oh. 20 way" said the grocrryman.
s.You wasn't such Il blamed fool aS to
turn the other check, when You cot hit,
was vou?" Andthcn, examining the boys
checks and finding them swcllcd up he
added, "by lingo, | believe youdld. How
was it, anyway:'
''Wcll. it w;S in the lesson, sad the
boy, "and my teacher said it was the
greatest triumph in the world for IL per
son to be able to turn the other cheek
when smntc ON one check. | asked HIM
if people ever did that, and he said our
best citizens did. He said il rclulrcd Il
great deal Of patience. but Il person
| should ALWAYS turn the other cheek also.
asked pa about it, and pa sad the
teacher was right. and that 1t ANas the
duty of every citizen to turn the other
check when smotc on one check, anu he
should ALWAYS do so. Well. sir, | want
to be good. and | Just longcd for some
body to smitc me on one check so | could
turn the other also. but it seemed us
| though the SmitcrS were not on the war
path, and for two days | had to go
around without being smotc. But We'd
ncsdav afternoon | was down by the
theatre, where they were having IL natl
nee, and there was a lot OF boys SID
inc on Il smooth piece of ice i'll the
ruttcr, and | rushed on to slide, and
run against II boy, and he
hauled off and lammcd me on this check.
Oh, Gosh, but did see stars. I'm! But
uidn't he smitc. | was going to pick up
4 frozc cat that was in the street, and hit
him, when | happened to think Of turn
ing the other check, and | turned my
face toward him, and he gave me
another, RIGHT here. Oh! oh. But 1t was
ten times bigger than the other slnotc,
! and ! guess it made me crazy. Anyway,
| shall plead insanity to get out OF it"
ssGct out Of what:' asked the grocery
man. "You don't have to get out of
ANYTHING. If he hit you Il couple of
times, and you stood it, You don't have
to get out of annythg."
Yes. but | didn't stand t." SAID the
boy, as he felt Of his swcllrd check.
"Whcn he hit me that last rap it Knocked
all the mcckncSs out Of me, and | went
at him, and We had IN awful fight.
lie wouldn't turn his other check,
SO I turned it for him. and warmed
him so he hollcrcd enough. But
WAS sorry aftcrward. and felt as though |
| would be ashamed to meet pa or my
teacher. SO | thought | would sec how
those good men would stand beng
smotc, and | found a Teller who wanted
to earn two shillingS, and | hired him
to .Smotc pa and the teacher. Just to see
how they would turn the other cheek.
The teacher keeps books i'll a store, and
gocs to lunch in Il restaurant, and when
he came along the fellow | had hired
| went up to him and slapped him on the
| check. not very hard. but just hard
enough to make him feel as though he
was hit. | looked for the teacher to turn
the other check, but, gosh. ne turned
pale and run down the alley back of the
store, and his coat-tailS stuck ont so you
could play marbles on them. | yelled
to him to turn the other check, but he
run faster. and the next morning the
paper told about a dastardly attempt
at highway robbery and asSasSina-
ton on the street. in broad daylight, one
of our most respected citizens being the
victim, and only for his presence of mind
the attempt would have been successful.
Well, | thought l should die when read
that. Then | had my hired man try it
on pa. ! knew pa would turn his other
| check, because he said that was the II Eht
! thing to do. But when the fellow hit
pa. pa turned and landed the fellow
right in the ear, and then yelled for a
policeman, but my hired man got out of
the way. That night pa said he had Il
narrow escape from being sand-baggcd.
and | asked him if he turned the other
check also, and he said not if he knowcd
it. | don think this is the right kind
of Il climate for turning the other check
when YOU are smOtc, dO yOu.'
"Wcll," said the. groccryman, us lie
looked at the boys swcllcd checks. "it
is hard to make Il rule that will apply in
all kinds of cases. The idea is Il good
one, to turn the other check,
but We arc apt to forget, especially
if, on Il casual inspection Of the Smltcr
we think We can whip him, or if he is so
small that his shifting docs not hurt. But
when Il man deliberately belts me i'll the
jaw. and dislocatcs it, ] Immediately
think that one jaw is enough to have
fractured at once. | guess when tha:
shifting business became the custom, and
people turned the other cheek, they
didn't strike from the shoulder the VA:
they do now days. | think the best way
is to put up your arms and ward off the
blow, and try to reason with the smitcr,
and if he insists on shifting, sort of ac-
cidrntally cuff him in the nose. That
brings Il Smitcr to his SENSES about rs
quick IS anything. Anal 81 your pa
didn't practice what he preached, ch:'
Not much. He go! hot in u minute,
and acted likes prize fighter. | asked
him more about it this morning, and he
said ii WAS all right enough for boys to
turn the other check, where they had
plenty, but when Il man rot his growth.
it was dangerous for anybody to try to
smotc him. Queer. amt it, AM the
boy went out us though he WAS tryin" to
think Of something real hard.-hrA's