A STARTLING VISITATION.

Evening Post, Volume XVII, Issue 548, 28 June 1879, Page 1 (Supplement)

A STARTLING VISITATION.

A certain rector of a country living in shire was Inordinately fond of cardplaying, and so great a power had this fondness over him that daybreak frequently found him and S ,of the neighboring parish, still lingering over the green cloth. So it came to pass that one morning about three o'clock these two worthies were still deeply engrossed with their ecarta ; it also happened that the rector's wife, with* out troubling her better half on the subject, had made arrangements with the sweep to perform his duties on the morning in question ; and so, just when the candles were burning low in their sockets, and giving their last despairing light in convulsive throbs, a sudden noi&e at the fireplace, caused onr parson to start and turn towards the spot whence the sound proceeded. The sweep's boy, all in rags and black from head to foot, was not a cheering sight at beit. and our rector, in his state of excitement, aided by the deceptive light, concluded he waa in truth an imp ab inferno, and making for the door gasped forth, "Who are you! What do you want?" To which our imp, in sooty accents, said, " Wait a minute ; the old man '11 be here directly." But onr reverend friend did not wait for the old 'un, and we hear he has forsworn ecarte' from that day.

Death-bed repentance may be all right, says Eider Smuggins, but people are not likely to scintillate ia heaven who tin till late on e*rtit.