From the Richmond Examiner, 2/7/1866, p. 3, c. 4

CONSCIENCE MONEY. – The fact that Franklin Stearns, member of the House of Delegates from Henrico, had drawn his pay and donated the same (no great amount) for the relief of the widows and orphans of his county, was made the occasion for a blast in his favour, by his official trumpet, yesterday morning.

Mr. Hurt, facetious member from Norfolk, without intending to hurt anybody’s feelings, remarked to him, upon reading the announcement – “By G-d, Stearns, you ought to do it anyhow; the bad whiskey you made down there has made its share of widows and orphans.” Mr. Stearns looked sternly at the jocular member, apparently striving to “ferret” out the point of the joke.

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