Ok, that is an excruciatingly bad pun, but in keeping with my resolve to try and offset the bad news once in a while, here’s a story I read yesterday that should give you a chuckle.

It is from the book “Holy Hilarity” by Cal and Rose Samra, Guideposts edition, ©1999 by the Fellowship of Merry Christians, Inc.

The typesetter of an English newspaper mixed up the lead slugs on two news stories-one reporting on a new pig-killing, sausage-making machine and the other reporting on a pastor’s retirement party.  Here’s how the story appeared in the newspaper.

“Several of the Reverend Dr. Mudge”s friends called upon him yesterday, and after a conversation, the unsuspecting pig was seized by the hind leg and slid along a beam until he reached the hot water tank….Thereupon he came forward and said that there were times when the feelings overpowered one, and for that reason, he would not attempt to do more than thank those around him for the manner in which such a huge animal was cut into fragments was simply astonishing.

“The doctor concluded his remarks, when the machine seized him and in less time than it takes to write it, the pig was cut into fragments and worked up into delicious sausage.  The occasion will long be remembered by the doctor’s friends as one of the most delightful of their lives.  The best pieces can be procured for tenpence a pound and we are sure that those who have sat so long under his ministry will rejoice that he has been treated so handsomely.”