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Disclaimer: Although I remember hearing this story from my father several times, like most boys, I didn't pay all that much attention to exactly who it was about. I am fairly certain that it was an experience of George F. Jarvis, oldest son of George and Ann Prior Jarvis. Although the details are as I remember them, the story came to me from my father, who got it from his father. It should also be noted that Dad many times quoted Grandpa Orin as saying "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story."
. . . It was the era when missionaries wore those high top hats and Prince Albert coats--you know, the black ones with the long tails. George F. and his companion were in one of the less prosperous areas of London and the local London toughs had been harassing them and generally doing their best to make the missionaries' lives miserable. One day they had been jeered at and pelted unmercifully with stones and and other softer, but even less desirable, objects. Things got particularly bad as they were crossing a bridge over one of the small canals or streams in the area. Finally one of them turned to the other and said: "Well, Elder, shall we?" The response was immediate: "Yes, Elder, we shall." They took off those long-tailed coats and those top hats and laid them carefully on the low parapet of the bridge saying: "Religion stay there while we knock the (deleted) out of those (deleted)." Which they then proceeded to do.
Mark Jarvis |