Sunday Funnies: Oct 30

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Another installment from my dad’s humor cards.

The backstory: My dad was a Presbyterian pastor for 40 years. He kept a well curated stack of humor cards – little stories or observations that he typed onto 5×7 cards. Then he wrote in the margins when he used that particular item. His humor was often an easy way to settle in to something deeper – by laughing and thinking about the buried truth in these little nuggets, it paved the way to an open heart.

When we cleaned out his desk after he died 7 years ago, I was lucky enough to stumble on this stack. I pull it out regularly to have a little laugh with my dear Dad. Now when I post one of them, I write my note next to his and it feels like a continuation.

A Neat Story

His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to eke out a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself.

Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death. The next day a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman’s sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.

“I want to repay you,” said the nobleman. “You saved my son’s life.”

“No, I can’t accept payment for what I did,” the Scottish farmer replied, waiving off the offer.

At that moment, the farmer’s own son came to the door of the family hovel.

“Is that your son?” the nobleman asked.

“Yes,” the farmer replied proudly

“I’ll make you a deal. Let me take him and give him a good education. If the lad is anything like his father, he’ll grow to a man you can be proud of.”

And that he did. In time, Farmer Fleming’s son graduated from St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.

Years afterward, the nobleman’s son was stricken with pneumonia. What saved him? Penicillin. That name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son’s name? Sir Winston Churchill.

Someone once said what goes around comes around. When you help someone else you are bringing joy into your life also….

39 thoughts on “Sunday Funnies: Oct 30”

    1. Oh, interesting. I’m inferring from your comment that you must be referring to Winston getting stuck in the muck and then the Churchill’s paying for Fleming’s education. Because Churchill getting pneumonia and needing penicillin seems likely. Thanks for the correction, Jane.

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      1. Well, I was enthralled by the story so I googled ‘Alexander Fleming Churchill’ to get more details. It turns out it’s just not true at all. Churchill wasn’t even treated with penicillin. But it’s such a lovely story. I want it to be true!

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  5. You had me with ‘mired in muck’. 😉 Thanks for the Sunday morning reminder that integrity matters…especially in the spirit of service to others…just because. xo!

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    1. I heard wonderful stories about Fleming, but never this one. What a fantastic story!!!

      And I agree with Rebecca: yes, more people getting a GOOD education would make the world a much better place!

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      1. I love the conclusion that you two have honed on about the education. Yes, yes, yes! According to Jane, Fleming said this story was untrue though she didn’t specify how. Maybe Winston didn’t fall in the much and the Churchills had nothing to do with Fleming’s education? But still – we can draw the education parallel regardless!

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      2. I completely agree with the education aspect: good education can only help. Stories like that should be promoted! And the story is fantastic even if ends up being an unknown farmer saving a person whose father ended up paying for the saver’s son’s education, who later saved a life of another innocent human being!

        After some digging (I missed that it was Winston Churchill who was expected to have been saved by Fleming’s father 🙂 ), it seems like the story is likely to be untrue: Winston Churchill was unlikely to have been meandering in the middle of rural Scotland, so far away from any attraction, and Fleming’s medical education, which only came after a somewhat meandering path, was supposedly financed by an uncle?

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    1. Well, according to the comment by Jane above, Fleming said this story was untrue though she didn’t specify how. Maybe Winston didn’t fall in the much and the Churchills had nothing to do with Fleming’s education? I’m guessing Winston did get pneumonia at some time and penicillin helped him so maybe we can call it a partial win… 🙂

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