jim@alberta.UUCP (Jim Easton) (02/27/86)
> > ... I am sorry to report, however, that as I lay > >there on the tools in pain, unable to stand and watching the empty > >barrel 80 feet above me...I again lost my presence of mind...I let > >go of the rope." > > > > As far as I know, the original version of this story (involving a > bricklayer) is by Gerard Hofnung in his presentation to the Oxford Union, > quite a long time ago (1950's ?). > That's when I saw saw it first too. The trouble with getting old is that one very seldom sees a new joke and the good ones tend to get mangled. The obligatory joke; A little boy was being instructed about God in his Sunday School. His father had also instructed him on the experimental method and he decided to test the theory. So he wrote a letter to God asking God to send him $100. When the post office got the letter addressed to God they didn't quite know what to do with it so they sent it to the postmaster who in turn passed it on to the PM. The PM thought that was pretty good and that he should encourage the boys belief in God but that $5 would look like a lot to a little boy and would probably be sufficient. He instructed his secretary to send the boy a cheque for $5. When the boy received it he wrote another letter to God. Dear God, Thank you for the $100. As you probably know it came through Ottawa and as usual those bastards deducted 95%. Jim Easton (..!alberta!jim)