Children -- Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction; Children's stories; Christian life -- Juvenile fiction; Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction
The winter waned, and the good-natured Theodore kept his position, and
introduced innovation after innovation in his gentlemanly way, until it
is a wonder the old church knew itself. Among other things the old reed
organ, which had done good service for several years, was pronounced
a wheezy, squeaky, harsh-throated old thing; in which opinion let me
hasten to confess my sympathy. I had no love for that organ, which,
when all the stops were out, had the power to drown any voice, however
sweet. It was declared that a pipe organ was the only thing fit for a
church, anyway; and here, again, I must admit that my heart approved. I
love the music of a pipe organ.
It was found that a certain church, known to the friendly Theodore,
was about to set up a new organ, and would dispose of their old one,
purely out of consideration for the said Theodore, at a very low figure
indeed. And our choir, which could be very enthusiastic indeed when it
chose, declared its intention of raising enough money, forthwith, for
that organ.
Vigorously did they set to work. A busy winter we had of it. And by
pop-corn parties, and white-apron parties, mid post-offices, and
prize pincushions, and grab-bags, necktie sociables, and sheet and
pillow-case sociables, and every other kind of sociable or game of grab
which was ever invented, the organ fund actually swelled to respectable
proportions. Never was a busier winter, nor a more popular man than the
gentlemanly leader of our choir. His good nature and his self-sacrifice
knew no bounds. Indeed, the young people were all self-sacrificing.
They sacrificed the prayer meeting, and the mission band, and the
reading circle, and almost everything else except the skating rink, in
their zeal for the pipe organ. "It is all for the sake of the cause,
you know," grew to be the motto of the young people, and it was really
wonderful what marvels of ingenuity they became!
And they succeeded; just as a band of young people, plunged heart and
soul into anything, are almost certain to succeed. The everlasting pity
is that so often success is not worth the price paid!
But there came a happy day in which the pipe organ was set up by
skilled hands in our church, and the Sabbath following the choir outdid
themselves. It was long since Auntie Barber had attempted to sing; but
on this particular day she was seen moving her lips. She explained it
afterwards. "The critter rolled so loud, and the girls all sang so
high, that I just put in Old Hundred, softly, because I wanted to have
a share in the praising. I thought nobody would mind. They drownded it,
you know."
But Auntie Barber was mistaken; the echo of her tremulous notes:
"'Praise Him all creatures here below,'"
went up to Heaven, and the angels minded it very much. And the
good-natured Theodore happened to notice the movement of her lips, and
whispered to the first soprano during an organ interlude:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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