AMUSING INCIDENT IN A RURAL CHAPEL

Golden Bay Argus, Volume XII, Issue 46, 14 April 1910, Page 3

AMUSING INCIDENT IN A RURAL CHAPEL

AIn a remote village in the West Country., twelve miles from a railway station, there stands on the roadside a small chapel, whose doors are left open throughout the. services during warm weather. In the centre between two aisles are rented pews ; the free seats, consisting of plain benches without, back supports, on either side of the chapel The pulpit stands behind the entrance lobby, the congregation thus facing the doorways.

On a certain Sunday., while the preacher was slowly proceeding through a long sermon, there appeared at one of the lobby doors, to the amusement of several who saw it, a straying billy-goat. The sole occupant of the bench nearest to it was a farm labourer, fast asleep, whose bead alternately descended half-way to his knees, and was brought back with a jerk to an upright position. For a minute or two the goat watched the movements of the man’s head with suspicion, as if expecting an attack ; and then, with lowered horns, it made a sudden spring and gave him a violent blow on the chest, which sent him reeling over the bench to the floor with a loud noise.

Tt is needless to describe the consternation which followed. Suffice it to say that, the preacher found iq impossible to secure any longer the devout attention of his hearers, and brought the sermon and the service to a speedy termination.