My great-great-grandfather, Young Ewing Allison II (1853-1932), was a somewhat well-known writer, journalist and editor at the end of the 19th and start of the 20th centuries.

I’ve been reading some of his short stories lately and I came across this passage in one of them (from about 1894) – told from the point of view of a 10-year old boy – that made me chuckle.

Somebody, when Old Prute had moved on, suggested that he was English, or Irish, or Scotch, because he knew how to treat a dog.

“Naw,” said Tom King with confidence, “he ain’t none of them. He is a A-thee-ist.”

There was a general laugh at Tom’s expense. Most of us knew there was no such country – had never heard of it.

If I ever write a book, and the opportunity arises, I’m definitely stealing that passage.