It is not uncommon to assume that if the doorbell rings in the middle of the day, it is probably not someone you know, but someone trying to sell you something. In 1823, some gentlemen from the Bible association called upon a woman who most definitely had something to prove! Unfortunately, she gave away to them the fact that though she had a Bible, she had not looked at it for three years!
“Some gentlemen of the Bible association lately calling upon an old woman to see if she had a bible, were severely reproved with a spirited reply, “Do you think, gentleman, that I am a Heathen, that you should ask me such a question?” Then addressing a little girl, she said, “Run and fetch the bible out of my drawer, that I may show it to the gentlemen.” The gentlemen declined giving her the trouble, but she insisted on giving them ocular demonstration that she was no Heathen. Accordingly the bible was brought, nicely covered; and, on opening it, the old woman exclaimed, “Well, how glad I am that you have come: here are my spectacles, that I have been looking for these three years, and didn’t know where to find ’em” – Carlisle Journal.”
Stamford Mercury, 26 September 1823