COMICAL PARSONS.

Kumara Times, Issue 1118, 30 April 1880, Page 4

COMICAL PARSONS.

At a Presbyterian tea meeting at Ashburton on the 20th inst,, the usual humdrum of such meetings was broken by the speeches of two of the parsons who spoke as follows according to the Ashburton Guardian:—

The Rev. Mr Wescbroke, in the course of his remarks chatted pleasantly about Scotchmen and their kirk, and in reference to the Scotch psalms, said their peculiarity could scarce wipe out the following anecdote, a worthy Christian, who in honor of the visit of the Bishop to his district gave out as follows . Let ns zing to the prayze an’ glawry o’ God dree vusses o’ the hundred an’ vonrteenth zaam, a varzion ’speohly ’dapted to the ’casion by myself. East Vasa. “ Why hop ye zo ye little hills. An* what var do ’e skip ? Is it a cas yawn proud to zee His Grace the lard Biship ? Zecund Vuss. Why skip ye zo ye little, little hills, And what var do e’ hop ? Is it a ’case to prach to we Is corn’d the Lard Bishop ? Theerd Vuss. Eeze! he’se corn’d to prach to we, Then let ns all stick up, An’ zing a glawrions song ov praze. An’ bless the Lard Bishup. The Rev. Mr Coirns, an Irish clergyman, and full of the national humor, who has recently been placed over the Sydenham congregation, addressed the meeting. He dealt with “ soirees ” as a subject, and his speech sparkled throughout with fun and story. He was especially taken, he said, with the superiority of the choir work that evening, and while speaking of the cultivation of music he told a little tale of a knot of choristers who set about improving their abilities in a peculiar jjray. They wrote verses, and adapted themSeJ the tunes they usually practised. One genius, to the tune “ Martyrdom,’Relinked together the following . As I cam to the sohule to-night, A ghost sight 1 did see; A peexy winkle on a stump, And it threw clods at me.

Another genius made a fellow chorister the theme of his verse, and to the tune “ Bedford ” elaborated as follows Satan entered into the swine, The herd for to destroy; He left a long-nosed one behind, M'Einlay you’re the boy.

Rather rough on M’Kinlay. Mr. Cairns kept the meeting in roars of laughter all through the evening, and was vociferously applauded. We have not given above the best specimens of humor that enlivened the meeting, but we have chosen the broadest, simply to show bow far the speakers at a tea meeting may go with fun, and yet be able to keep the lessons of Christianity before the people, as was assuredly done on this occasion by all the speakers.