Annals of our ancestors; one hundred and fifty years of history in the ...

TALES OF THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN 307
"What kind of a fash (fish) was it that swallowed Jonah? It
could na' ha' been a codfish, for no one yet ever saw a codfish
big enough to swallow a man. It could na' ha' been a pike,
for no one ever saw a pike big enough to swallow a man.
could na' ha' been a carp
It
—
But at this juncture an old lady in the back of the house
screamed out: "It was a whale!" Whereupon the preacher
set his jaw and, standing in an attitude of anger and chagrin,
replied: "Ye old harridan, I wad as leave ye wad take the
victuals out of my children's mouths as the sarmint out of
mme!
Some Child Sayings
Wolves in Sweden
One evening as it was growing dark, mother said to Brother
Will: "You haven't gone for the cows yet; it is time to go."
He replied, "I am afraid." "But of what?" mother asked.
"Oh, I am afraid of the wolves in Sweden!"
He was a very studious and thoughtful child. He loved
stories of animals, and probably acquired his fear of Scandinavian
wolves from Peter Parley's Natural History. He loved
to use big words, and once, when mother asked what some
odor was, he exclaimed: "Why, I don't smell anything,
mother; you must have very fine olfactories!"
So much for anecdote as I will append here a part of a
writing Brother William read at the Golden Wedding of William
Utter and his wife. The historical trend of mind in our
elder brother made him wish to know, as did I, the events of
long ago in our family and he once wrote an imaginary journal
purporting to be that of our grandmother while crossing the
mountains from New Jersey to Ohio. It is a document we
would wish to preserve for his descendants as well as being of
interest in itself, for he would not write such a description without
there being in it valuable instruction as to the period
so eventful in our family history and yet so little known.