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Show rXXXX5CXXDOCOCXCOCOCCOCO i : ; i ; ; i i : : : : : ; : : ; ; i i i i : i 1 11 MY FAVORITE STORIES By IRVIN S. COBB M'i' !!!:: : : : i ! 1 1 i : i i ii i 1 1 1 DCXXXXXX)OCXXXXXXXX)OCOOOO (Cepyrifilit.) The Reverend Had a Little Lamb! The pastor of a colored church in Tennessee was haled before the board of deacons on serious charges. It was alleged that although married he had been caught in the act of embracing a comely female member of the congregation, in- the vestry room. The evidence against him appeared ap-peared to be conclusive. Three presumably pre-sumably unbiased witnesses testified to the fact. The accused was asked whether he had anything to say in his own defense. de-fense. He answered at length and with eloquence. -He led off by pointing point-ing out that the word "pastor" was a Latin word meaning "shepherd." Therefore, he properly was a shepherd. shep-herd. He also called the attention of the court to the fact that in pictures pic-tures and paintings and more frequently fre-quently in stained-glass memorial windows the Master Himself was shown as a shepherd carrying a lamb. Now then, he contended, it naturally natu-rally followed that when he, as the shepherd, took a member of his flock in his arms, he merely was carrying out the scriptural example. In the minds of the deacons there seemed to be no way of controverting controvert-ing these arguments. Accordingly they went into executive session and drew up resolutions exonerating the preacher. But they added a proviso. The concluding clause of the document, docu-ment, as read by the senior deacon before the congregation on the following fol-lowing Sunday night, ran as follows: "And be it finally resolved dat in future, ef our beloved pastor should feel de desire stealin' over him to tek one of de lambs of de flock In his arms, dat he shall tek a ram lamb !" |