The Ieacn is or rather was a good
man and a class-leader in the Browns
ville Church. He visited Xew York re
cently and wandered into an establish
ment w here several phonographs were
on exhibition and for sale. He became
much interested in the instrument ; and
when he spoke into th mouth-piece of
one of the machines and heard his own
words ground out with startling dis
tinctness, he manifested his astonish
ment in one prolonged " W-h-e-w !"
Then a happy thought struck him.
He usually made a brief address at class
meetings on Friday evenings, and he
sudde-ily conceived the Idea of speak
ing his piece in the phonograph pur
chasing the Invention, and surprising
the brethren and sisters at the next
meeting. The idea was carried into ex
ecution to some extent. The Deacon
charged the phonograph with an appro
priate address, and whilst he was
bargaining with the owner of the In
strument, in another part of the room
a rough, bushy-whiskered individual,
attired in corduroy pantaloons and a
spreckled shirt, slipped in unobserved
and how led a lot of stuff into the same
machine. The deacon paid for and
carried off the phonograph, entirely ig
norant of the frightful sentences in
jected into it by the rough person
who, as subsequent events proved, was
the intellectual driver of a mule team,
and not very choice in his language.
The next day was Friday, and in the
evening the deacon marched into the
church with his phonograph under his
arm, and his face illumed with a radiant
smile.
