Mexico weekly ledger., 1884-11-13
MEXICO MISSOURI THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1s, 1884.

A Satisfactory Explanatisa.
A good deal is appearing these
days in the papers about q minister
at Lanesboro, Mimi, who is chrged
by girl, before the proper authori-
ties, with assaulting her, while pass
ing through piece Of woods. She
claims that he was stopping at her
fathers house, and as she was going
to the school where she taught, and
be was gong in the same direction,
to preach, he offered to accompany
her. In passing through a piece OF
woods, he became tired and sat down
on a log, and asked her to sit on his
lap. She refused, and he pulled her
to bis lap, and acted very much un-
like minister, and she sues him for
damages. He claims that he sat
down on the log, and playfully asked
her to sit on his lap, that she attempt
ed to do 90 and fell over the log
backwards, and in trying TO save her.
from falling he touched her. in the
hurry and hustle of the accident,
upon the foot, and that he meant no
wrong. The explanation of the rev.
erend gentleman is satisfactory. We
can see how it might all occur, and
nobody be to blame. No person who
has never travelled through the woods
can appreciate how tired one becomes
and conyenientlog is an oasis, as it
were, in the desert. And how natural
it is, when one is SO tired, to desire
to have large girl to sit down in his
lap, to rest him. We can see at once
that the elder must have been awful
tired. And after she had sat down
on his lap, and he began to get rest
ed. how natural it would be for girl
to lose her balance. Girls are pro-
verbally careless, and the way Trey
make logs now days, reand, with no
place smoothed off to sit upon, how
easy it would be to fall off log. No
man, and especially no minister, who
has any of the instincts of manhood,
or who possesses the least gallantry,
would sit by and see young woman
roll off log, without at least stretch
ing forth helping hand to save her.
That he did so shows that he is q
gentleman of fine sentiment, and q
man in whose company any person
would be safe from accident. It may
be asked why she did not sit down on
the log beside him, instead of upon
his lap. No person who has sat upon
log, in the woods, would ask such
a question. 1t is we'll known that
logs in the woods, are filed with bugs,
ants, worms, lizards and numerous
animalculae, that run riot up and
down the person who recklessly sits
upon it. To the female mind there is
nothing so terrible as a bug. Few
woman would recklessly sit down
upon log, when there was a man
there to protect them from the bugs.
A man is different. For him the bug,
or the ant, or the worm, has no ter
rors. That is, not much terror. To
be sure, large sized ant-a No. II
ant, for instance, gently meandering
up ones trowsers, carrying a worm,
is not the most pleasant experience
in the world, but we become Injured
to these things by our nomadic life,
when we 60 to picnics, and go hunt.
ing, and are inclined to be less excl.
ted than the other sex, who, under
the same circumstances in which VIC
are composed and calm. would vel
murder, grab their skirts and far
themselves and go away from there
with all sails set, whooping. So it il
proper that man should occupy tht
post of danger in such emergencies
and furnish protection to his com
panion, from bugs and crawling rep
tiles, and girl that will 60 back OF
q poor minister and sue him TO
damages ought to be talked to by th'
presiding elder. We think that tn
minister has made out a good case
and if the jury is composed Of mel
who have ever been out to a picnic
and who know how bad tue bugs ar
at this season of the year, he will b
acquitted, and the girl will be com
, pelled to pay the costs.