Saucy Spurgeon

When Spurgeon was still almost a lad, says the Loudon Echo, he was sent down to preach for an aged Baptist minister in the country. On his arrival tbe old man looked at him as if hcixpected the world to come to an end by the mere forcé of a boy 's impudence; and, instead of giving the accustomed greeting, walked up and down muttering, loud enough to be heard : " Tut, tut, is it come to this! boys for pulpits! children to preach ! babies to preach !" Mr. Spurgeon, too, muttered to himself, bat not loud enough to be heard : " You shall pay for thi.s, old boy." So next morning he chose for his first lesson the sixteenth chapter of Proverbs, and read until he carne to the verse, " A hoary head is a crown of glory." Looking up with an air of surprise, he exclaimed, to the astonishment of the orthodox congregation, " Solomon's wrong there. Some I10Í117 heads can't be civil to a boy who comes to preaeh for thrai. Rudeness gives no crown oí glory," Then, returning to the book, he added, with dramatic surprise, "Oh, I seei Solomon's right, after all, for rudeness even to a lad who preaches for you is not the way of righteousness." The old man was capable of bearing a joke, even froin the pulpit, and when the sermon was over ran up the stairs, and, slapping the boy preacher on the back, ! exclaimed with delight, " Thee 'rt the sauciest dog that ever barked iu a pulpit."