Thank you for visiting SNEWPapers!
Sign up free
Story
February 21, 1899
The Bourbon News
Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky
What is this article about?
Boyhood anecdote of future poet John Hay in Warsaw, Illinois, who cleverly retaliated against peers' teasing over his household chores and Sunday school success by drenching them with dishwater.
Clipping
OCR Quality
95%
Excellent
Full Text
JOHN HAY'S BIG APRON.
One of the Cases Where Dishwashing Produced a Poet.
Colonel Hay was when a boy a regular attendant of the Presbyterian Sunday school at Warsaw, Ills. The Sunday school lessons partly consisted of committing to memory Bible verses, and to attain supremacy in this created quite a rivalry among the scholars. John Hay was sure to come out ahead from two to five answers, sometimes more, causing those of his comrades who were always behind him to regard him with envy.
Consequently when some of those boys heard that John had to wash dishes and do the churning for his mother and, more than all, that he wore an apron while at these duties his jealous comrades fairly crowed.
One morning it was agreed by his comrades to get him out of doors while he had his apron on and humiliate him by having two or three girls whom he rather liked ask him questions in regard to his housework.
Young Hay came out to where the boys were and answered the questions by saying that he washed dishes as his mother taught him, and then, with twinkling eyes, he gave the dishpan which he had with him a tremendous fling, contents and all, drenching whoever happened to be near enough, and laughing loudly, ran into the kitchen.
Hay and his big apron were never molested after that.—Christian Endeavor World.
One of the Cases Where Dishwashing Produced a Poet.
Colonel Hay was when a boy a regular attendant of the Presbyterian Sunday school at Warsaw, Ills. The Sunday school lessons partly consisted of committing to memory Bible verses, and to attain supremacy in this created quite a rivalry among the scholars. John Hay was sure to come out ahead from two to five answers, sometimes more, causing those of his comrades who were always behind him to regard him with envy.
Consequently when some of those boys heard that John had to wash dishes and do the churning for his mother and, more than all, that he wore an apron while at these duties his jealous comrades fairly crowed.
One morning it was agreed by his comrades to get him out of doors while he had his apron on and humiliate him by having two or three girls whom he rather liked ask him questions in regard to his housework.
Young Hay came out to where the boys were and answered the questions by saying that he washed dishes as his mother taught him, and then, with twinkling eyes, he gave the dishpan which he had with him a tremendous fling, contents and all, drenching whoever happened to be near enough, and laughing loudly, ran into the kitchen.
Hay and his big apron were never molested after that.—Christian Endeavor World.
What sub-type of article is it?
Biography
Personal Triumph
What themes does it cover?
Triumph
Filial Piety
What keywords are associated?
John Hay
Boyhood Anecdote
Sunday School Rivalry
Dishwashing
Apron
Peer Teasing
Clever Retaliation
What entities or persons were involved?
John Hay
Where did it happen?
Warsaw, Ills.
Story Details
Key Persons
John Hay
Location
Warsaw, Ills.
Story Details
As a boy, John Hay excelled in memorizing Bible verses at Sunday school, earning envy from peers. They teased him for washing dishes and wearing an apron while helping his mother. When they lured him outside to humiliate him with girls' questions, he flung the dishpan water at them and ran away laughing, preventing further molestation.