Bristol Phoenix in Bristol, Rhode Island

Anecdotes and Wit From a Bygone Column

A long read of humorous anecdotes and quips: parson and dying man, a child's cruel joke on cannibals, a misused word about preserves, a theology student and lion lamb joke, an African preacher misquote, a magistrate and an observationist, a shoes telegraph tale from the south of France, a courting economy quip at an ice cream parlor, and a comic woodchuck composition. The pieces mix wordplay, social satire, and rural humor with dated African and southern stereotypes.