 | Life and sayings of Mrs. Partington and others
of the family |  |
MRS. PARTINGTON ON COLPORTERS.
“So, they 've took our minister and made a coal-porter
of him,” said Mrs. Partington to her neighbor,
Mrs. Sled. “I suppose they 're going to set him to
work carrying all the coal in the parish, and so take the
bread out of the pockets of the foreigners and Irishmen,
poor creturs, that do it now. He preached last Sunday
on mortifying the flesh; but when he gets to carrying the
baskets, I think he will look like one mortified all
over.”
She smiled at the conceit, and then turned to see
what David said on the subject, and what analogy there
was between “hewing of wood, and drawing of water,”
and coal-portering; but dropped the search on a summons
to tea.
“No matter,” said she, “it won't hurt him any, and
my dear Paul used to say that everything honest was
honorable, and that black coat of his'n won't show the
coal-dust at all.”
| Life and sayings of Mrs. Partington and others
of the family | |