The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1892-05-07
REUBEN GETS A NEW IDEA.

REUBEN says that somewhere in the
book of Matthew, according to Matthew
at least, the man who was sitting at the
gate of customs somewhere in Jerusalem,
he reads that when a man asks for fish
he should not be given a serpent.
REUBEN claims that the gospel is true
and all that CHRIST said should be OBJ
served to the letter and the spirit. But
he says that appearances are deceiving.
For instance, he cites a case where a man
asked for fish. 1t happened that the
man was rich and powerful and he was
a member of the church and he believed
the Book of books.
The fish monger said How much do
you want to pay for a fish. The rich
man, wanting to test the ~tish-mongers
faith, told him that he had no money.
That he was hungry and he wanted a
fish. The fish monger, becoming as was
his wont, charitable, took from his ice
chest a rare specimen of an ell, an ell
which would be good to eat and which
the fish monger himself Hhould have
eaten had not the supposed mendicant
applied to him for something to appease
his hunger.
Upon seeing the fish monger tie up
the eel, the rich man cried out And so
when | ask you for fish you give nto
me a serpent. You are a bold, bad man,
and / EnnU fhof uin no Nrn;ohol
for the scriptures say: Do not do what
you have done.
And REUBEN says that here is a moral
which many men and many women
should heed. Appearances are deceiving.
If you see a man with shabby clothes, do.
not imagine that the man is dissolute-
do not cry him shame until you know
why he is ragged. REUBEN says that he
saw a man the other day who was rag
'ged-who had but few clothes to his
back whose hat was tattered and torn
and who wore no shoes. A man in the
road remarked that there goes a poor old
tramp-he perhaps is a bad case. REU-
BEN followed down the road and spoke
to the tramp as he passed by. My friend,
said REUBEN, have you not turned your
feet out to grass pretty early in the
spring. REUBEN wanted to be funny
but the fun made sadness where humor
might have been.
Yes" said the wayfarer, Il suppose |
have. In fact l turned them out early
in the winter. l was very we'll to do. l
had a home-a little affair-yet a roof
tree just the same. l had it insured
against tire-but a cyclone blew il
away and killed my little babe. The
death of the babe proved too much of a
shock for my wife, whom l loved, and
shs was Frustrated. | had but few neigh
bors and they seldom came to see me
| was poor you know. | lost my situa-
ton because | had to sit up at nights with
my wife-and finally, COP, in his good
nee, took her to his eternal home
and two children, young yet, were
left me-and oh, how dearly | loved them.
Fever came and took them into the OBJ
livion where all must go-for only a little
while-and l / know to day that in heaven
all of my W are happy-except they are
waiting for me. l sold what little prop
erty I had left-little it was, too-and |
borrowed some money. l had but one
friend, and l wanted him to remain ALWAYS
my friend. So l went TO work for him.
| wanted to repay him with human
toll the dollars l had borrowed to lay my
dear ones at rest in the grave, and so l
refused to accept any money! merely