High Life in New York: A series of letters to Mr. Zephariah Slick, Justice of the Peace, and Deacon of the church over to Weathersfield in the state of ConnecticutStephens, Ann S. (Ann Sophia)
General
High Life in New York: A series of letters to Mr. Zephariah Slick, Justice of the Peace, and Deacon of the church over to Weathersfield in the state of Connecticut
Stephens, Ann S. (Ann Sophia)
New York (N.Y.) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century
I am afeard you won't like to hear me say so; but it does make me awful
wrothy to hear that the minister threatened to turn you out of the
church if you let me go on so--but you needn't be a bit consarned about
that. He'd no more turn you out of the meeting than he'd strike his own
granny, not as long as you own the best farm in all Weathersfield, and
send him a fat turkey every thanksgiving day, besides paying pew tax and
all the other taxes, as you du. I don't know what he might du if you was
to fail and bust up; for as soon as a man begins to get poor, the
ministers grow awful particlar about his morality and religion; but
there's no fear of that; so jest tell him the next time he threatens to
church you for what I'm a doing down here in York, that you'll serve him
as the parliament in England used to fix their King when he begun to
grow obstropulous, and as they would sarve that little skittish Queen of
theirn if she wanted to have a way of her own. Tell him you'll "stop his
supplies." Don't send him a turkey next thanksgiving, and tell marm not
to carry a single doughnut nor a skein of tow yarn to the next
spinning-bee that his church members make for him. I ruther guess that
this will bring him to his senses. As for me, tell him to go to grass
and eat bog hay till's he as fat as Nebuchadnezzar. I aint one of his
church members any how, and if I was, I shouldn't ask him to take care
of me. I know what I'm about, and he needn't be scared on my account. I
know as well as he does that York has a tarnal sight of bad people in
it; and I know, too, that there's a good many rale down right honest,
hull-hearted fellers here, tu. As for the wimmen, though they are
dreadfully stuck up, and eenamost ruin their husbands with dressing fine
and giving parties, there's some of them that aint to be sneezed at in a
fog, I can tell you. I don't want to say any thing to hurt the
minister's feelings, but he needn't cum his church threats over me, for
it won't du no good, I'll be darned if it will.
Wal, now that I've gin the minister a piece of my mind, free gratis for
nothing, I may as well write what's been a going on down here in York.
One morning a little black boy cum into my office with a heap of
letters, and he give me one without speaking a word, and went off agin.
I opened the letter, and there dropped out a square piece of white
pasteboard, and on it was printed, in leetle finefied letters, "Mrs.
Beebe at home--Thursday evening."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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