Kentucky),
June 9, 1866.

They hed a ruction in the church at the Corners yisterday, wich bid fair
to result in a rendin uv the walls of our Zion, and the tearin down uv
the temple we hev reared with so much care and hev guarded with so much
solissitood. When I say "we," I mean the members thereof, ez the church
wuz reorganized sence the war by returned Confedrit soljers and sich
Dimokrats ez remaned at home nootrel; but inasmuch ez I am the only
reglerly ordained Dimokratic paster in these parts I ginerly conduct the
services, and hentz hev insensibly fell into a habit uv speekin uv the
church ez "my" church, and I feel all the solissitood for its spiritooal
and temporal welfare that I cood ef I wuz reglerly ordained ez its
paster, wich I expect to be ef I fail in gettin that post offis at the
Corners, wich is now held by a Ablishnist uv the darkest dye, wich
President Johnson, with a stubbornness I can't account for, persistently
refooses to remove.

The case wuz suthin like this:--

Deekin Pogram wuz charged by Elder Slather with hevin, in broad daylite,
with no attempt at concealment, drunk with a nigger, and a free nigger
at that, in Bascom's grocery, and to prove the charge Deekin Slather
called Deekin Pennibacker.

The Deekin wuz put onto the stand, and testified ez follows:--

"Wuz in Bascom's grocery a playin seven up for the drinks with Deekin
Slather, Hed jist beet the Deekin one game and hed four on the second,
and held high, low, and jack, and wuz modritly certin uv goin out,
partiklerly ez the Deekin didn't beg. Wuz hevin a little discussion with
him--the Deekin insistin that it wuz the best three in five, instead uv
the best two in three, jest ez though a man cood afford to play five
games between drinks! The ijee is preposterous and unheard of, and ther
ain't no precedent for any sich course. We wuz settlin the dispoot in
regler orthodox style--he hed his fingers twisted in my neck
handkercher, and I held a stick uv stove wood suspended over his head.
While in this position we wuz transfixed with horror at seein Deekin
Pogram enter, arm-in-arm with a nigger, and,--"

_The Court_.--Arm-in-arm, did you say, Brother Pennibacker?

_Witness_.--Certainly.

_The Court_.--The scribe will make a minnit uv this. Go on.

_Witness_.--They cum in together, ez I sed, arm-in-arm, walked up to the
bar, and drank together.

_By the Court_.--Did they drin