When Deacon Hotchkiss bought Brother Bemis’ yearling heifer he
demanded a guarantee of the animal’s condition, and he asked
Brother Bemis to swear to that guarantee before the justice
of peace. Brother Bemis was hurt by this unusual precaution
on the part of a lifelong friend and neighbor. “Why, Brother
Hotchkiss,” he remonstrated, “you ain’t no need to be so pesky
s’picious with me. I ain’t never cheated you, hev I? You wa’nt
like this never before.” “I wa’nt--I wa’nt,” assented Brother
Hotchkiss cordially, “but I hearn you t’other night when you wuz
on the anxious seat at revival meetin’ and I sez to myself, sez
I, ‘if Brother Bemis is half the sinner he makes himself out
to be, it behooves me to be everlastin’ keerful with him next
caow trade.’” Which goes to show that a man is more likely to be
taken at his own estimate of himself when he puts that estimate
low than when he puts it high; and that it is not overwise in
a man to make estimate of himself in time of excitement and a
place of publicity. (Text.)--_Puck._
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