THE STORY OF A PARSON AND A PIG.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXV, Issue 4253, 29 June 1895, Page 3

THE STORY OF A PARSON AND A PIG.

The Rev. S. Baring Gould, writing in the " Sunday Magazine" on "Country Remedies," tells the following excellent story as to a parson and a pig :—: — A poor woman came to the parson of the parish with the request : — " Please, pass'n ! my ou'd sow be took cruel bad. I wish now you'd be so good as to come and say a prayer over her." " A prayer ! Goodness preserve us ! I cannot come and pray over a pig—a pig, my dear Sally— that is not possible." " Her be cruel bad, groaning and won't eafc her meat. If her dies, pass'n — whativer shall we do i* the winter wi'out bacon sides, and ham ? Oh dear ! Do'y now, pass'n, come aud say a prayer over my old sow." " I really, really must not degrade my ' sacred office. Sally ! indeed I must not." " Oh, pass'n ! do'y now ! " and the good creature began to sob. The parson was a tender-hearted mau, and tears were too much. He agreed to go to the cottage, see the pig, and do what he could. Accordingly, he visited the patient, which lay groaning in the stye. The woman gazed wistfully at the pastor, and waited for the prayer. Then the clergyman raised his right hand, pointed with one finger at the sow, and said solemnly : " If thou livest, O pig ! then thou livest. If thou diest, O pig ! theu thou diest." Singularly enough the sow was better that same evening, and ate a little wash. She was well and had recovered her appetite wholly next day. Now it happened, some months after this, that the rector fell very ill, with a quinsy that nearly choked him. He could not swallow, he could hardly breathe. His life was in imminent danger. Sally was a visitor every day at the rectory, and was urgent to see the sick man. She was refused admission, but pressed so vehemently, that finally she was suffered— jusb to see him, but she was warned not to speak to him or expect him to speak, as he was unable to utter a word. She was conducted to the sick room, and the door thrown open. There she beheld her pastor lying in bed, groaning, almost in extremis Raising her hand, she pointed at him with one finger and said : "If thou livest, O pass'n! then tbou livest! If thou diest, O pass'n ! theu thou diest." The effect on the sick man was — an explosion of laughter that burst the quinsy, and his recovery.