A pompous Bishop of Oxford was once stopped on a London street by a ragged urchin.
"Well, my little man, and what can I do for you?" inquired the churchman.
"The time o' day, please, your lordship."
With considerable difficulty the portly bishop extracted his timepiece.
"It is exactly half past five, my lad."
"Well," said the boy, setting his feet for a good start, "at 'alf past six you go to 'ell!" - and he was off like a flash and around the corner. The bishop, flushed and furious, his watch dangling from its chain, floundered wildly after him. But as he rounded the corner he ran plump into the outstretched arms of the venerable Bishop of London.
"Oxford, Oxford," remonstrated that surprised dignitary, "why this unseemly haste?"
Puffing, blowing, spluttering, the outraged Bishop gasped out:
"That young ragamuffin - I told him it was half past five - he - er - told me to go to hell at half past six."
"Yes, yes," said the Bishop of London with the suspicion of a twinkle in his kindly old eyes, "but why such haste? You've got almost an hour."
