Let the fool choke on them

This story is about an Episcopal clergyman who took a seat in a dining car on a train traveling along the Hudson River. It happened that opposite him was an atheist. Seeing the clerical collar of his companion, he set out to argue with him and begun thus: "I see, sir, that your are a clergyman." "Yes," was the reply. "I am a minister of the Gospel." There was a pause, after which the atheist said: "I suppose, then, that you believe the Bible."

Now the clergyman was a man of sound, scriptural faith, so that he replied: "I do believe the Bible to be the Word of God." Immediately there came a query: "But don't you find things in the Bible that you can't understand?" The minister answered humbly: "Yes, there are places in the Scripture too hard for me to understand." The athiest retorted with an air of triumph, thinking he had his companion cornered: "Well, what do you do then?"

Quietly the minister went on eating his luncheon, which happened to be Hudson RIiver shad, a delicious fish, but noted for the over-development of its bony structure. Then he looked up and said: "I do, sir, just as I do when eating this shad. When I come to the bones, I put them to the side of the plate and go on enjoying my lunch, leaving the bones for some fool to choke on."