'
"If the hoosier had been struck with thunder and lightnin', he couldn't
have been more completely tuck aback. He shut his mouth right in the
middle of what he was sayin', and looked at the preacher, while his
face got as red as fire.
"'Swearin',' says the old preacher, 'is a terrible bad practice, and
there ain't no use in it, nohow. The Bible says, Swear not at all, and I
s'pose you know the commandments about swearin'?'
"The old lady sort of brightened up,--the preacher was her 'duck of a
man'; the old fellow with the nose and cane let off a few 'umph, ah!
umphs'; but 'Indiany' kept shady; he appeared to be cowed down.
"'I know,' says the preacher, 'that a great many people swear without
thinkin', and some people don't b'lieve the Bible.'
"And then he went on to preach a regular sermon ag'in swearing, and to
quote Scripture like he had the whole Bible by heart. In the course of
his argument he undertook to prove the Scriptures to be true, and told
us all about the miracles and prophecies and their fulfilment. The old
gentleman with the cane took a part in the conversation, and the hoosier
listened, without ever opening his head.
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