Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1895-03-01
CONKY STILES.

AS near as ! could find out, nobody ever
knew how Conky Stiles came to know as
much of the Bible as he did. Thirty years
ago people as a class were much better ac
quanted with the Bible than folk are now
adays, and there wasn't another one of 'em
in the whole Connecticut valley from the
Canada line to the sound that could stand
up 'longside of Conky Stiles and quote
Scripture. Well he knew the whole thing
by heart, from Genesis, chapter i, to the
amen at the end of the Revelation of st
John the Divine. That's the whole business
in a nutshell!
His name wasn't Conky. We called him
Conky for short. His real name was Silas
Stiles but one time at a Sunday school con
venton Mr.. Hubbell, the minister, spoke of
him as "veritable concordance of the Holy
Scriptures" aud so we boys undertook to
call him Concordance but bimeby that
name got whitfield down to Conky, and
Conky stuck to him all the rest of his life
Not u bad name for him, neither as names
go. Heap more dignified than Sill
My father always insisted that Conky got
his start in the Scriptures in this way:
Conkys folks lived for about five years
(while COnky was boy in the old Ransom
house. Their next neighbors were the
COoleys and just over across the road lived
the Kelseys. Maybe you've heard of the
Cooley Kelsey debate? Nor Funny, isn't
it, how soon folks forget events and epochs
and thingsl Fifty years ago nothin else
but the Cooley Kelsey debate was talked
of in Hampshire county, and yet here we
are Twin in this intelligent state of Illinois
and its dollars to doughnuts that half our
people never heard Of Lawyer Kelsey or OF
Deacon Cooley
You see, the deacon was high up in the
Congregational church, and he believed in
"baptyzo," which is the. Greek for the Con
gregational doctrine of sprinklin. Law
yer Kelsey had never been converted and
had never made a profession; but, havin
bro her who was Baptist minister in
Pennsylvania, he was counted with the
BapUists, too, and guess he was "A Baptist
if he was anything, although, like AS not,
he'd have said he was heather if he
could get up an argument by sayin it. for
of al the folks you ever saw Lawyer Kelsey
was the worst for keepin things stirred up.
One time Deacon Cooley and Lawyer Kel.
sey came together and locked horns OH that
word ''bsptyzo," Lawyer Kelsey main
tainn that the word wasn't or shouldn't
be "baptyzo," bat "5aptidzo," and, as you
know, Of course, there is as much difference
between "baptyzo" and "baptidzo" as there
Is between a fog and thunder shower
Well for about six mouths they had it
up hill and down dale in uii the meetin
houses and schoolhouses and vestry rooms
and towu halls in the country; and itsdid
beat all how much learnin they got out of
the books and dictionaries and what long
sermons they made, and what a sensation
there was among the unbelievers as we'll as
the electl guess they'd have been arguin
yet if the freshet hadn't come an distracted
public attention by carryin away the North
ampton bridge and the Holyoke dam.
IL happened that while this theological
cataclysm was at it's height Conky Stiles,
bein years old, was born again, and, re-
pentin of his sins, made profession OF
faith. And from that time he never lapsed
or backslided, but was always conscien-
tious and devout follower illustratin in
his daily walks las Mr.. Hubbell, the minis
ter, said those priceless virtues which had
Illuminated the career of his Grandmother
Cowles, lady esteemed not more by the
elders FOR her piety than by the younger
folks for her cookies and squash pies.
When Conky was yecrs old, he got the
prize at our Sunday schOol for havin com.
mtted to memory the most Bible verses in
the year. and that same spring he got up
and recited every line of the Acts Of the
Apostles without havin to be prompted
once. BY the time he was IL years old he
knew the whole Bible by heart and most of
the hymnbook. too, although, as ! have
said, the Bible was his speciality. Yet he
wasn't one Of your palefaced, studious
boys; no, sir, not a bit Of i'll He took just
ms much consolation in playin three old cat
and barn ball and hockey as any of the rest
of us boys, and he could beat US all ishn,
although perhaps that was because he
Searnt new wayof spttin on his bait from
his Uncle Lutte Mason, who was consider
able of a sport in those days.
Conky was always hearty and CHEEKY.
We all felt good when he was around. We
hever minded that way he had of quotin
things from the Bible We'd got used to
It, aud may be it was desirable influence.
At any rate, we all liked Conky.
But perhaps you don't understand what
! mean when | refer to his way of quotin
the Bible. 1t was like this: Conky, We'll
say. would be gOin down the road, and I'd
come out of the house and holler: Hello
there, Conky! Where be you goinS"
Then he'd say, John xxi, g." That
would he all he'd say, and that would be
enough, for it gave us to understand that
he was goin a-fishin.
Conky never made a mistake. His quo
cations were always right. He always hit
the chapter and the verse sure pop the first
time.
The habit grew on him as he got older
Associatin with Conky for Is or % min
utes wasn't much different from readin th'
Bible for a couple OF days, except that thert
wasn't any manual labor Sbout it. CUES
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