Religious Studies, Sketches and PoemsStowe, Harriet Beecher
Religion
Religious Studies, Sketches and Poems
Stowe, Harriet Beecher
Religion
Oh, it was a fine thing to see the vigor and discipline with which
he managed the business; so that if, on a hot, drowsy Sunday, any
part of the choir hung back or sung sleepily on the first part of a
verse, they were obliged to bestir themselves in good earnest, and
sing three times as fast, in order to get through with the others.
'Kiah Morse was no advocate for your dozy, drawling singing, that
one may do at leisure, between sleeping and waking, I assure you;
indeed, he got entirely out of the graces of Deacon Dundas and one
or two other portly, leisurely old gentlemen below, who had been
used to throw back their heads, shut up their eyes, and take the
comfort of the psalm, by prolonging indefinitely all the notes. The
first Sunday after 'Kiah took the music in hand, the old deacon
really rubbed his eyes and looked about him, for the psalm was sung
off before he was ready to get his mouth opened, and he really
looked upon it as a most irreverent piece of business.
But the glory of 'Kiah's art consisted in the execution of those
good old billowy compositions called fuguing tunes, where the four
parts that compose the choir take up the song, and go racing around
one after another, each singing a different set of words, till, at
length, by some inexplicable magic, they all come together again,
and sail smoothly out into a rolling sea of song. I remember the
wonder with which I used to look from side to side when treble,
tenor, counter, and bass were thus roaring and foaming,--and it
verily seemed to me as if the psalm was going to pieces among the
breakers,--and the delighted astonishment with which I found that
each particular verse did emerge whole and uninjured from the storm.
But alas for the wonders of that old meeting-house, how they are
passed away! Even the venerable building itself has been pulled
down, and its fragments scattered; yet still I retain enough of my
childish feelings to wonder whether any little boy was gratified
by the possession of those painted tulips and grapevines, which my
childish eye used to covet, and about the obtaining of which, in
case the house should ever be pulled down, I devised so many schemes
during the long sermons and services of summer days. I have visited
the spot where it stood, but the modern, fair-looking building that
stands in its room bears no trace of it; and of the various familiar
faces that used to be seen inside not one remains. Verily, I must be
growing old; and as old people are apt to spin long stories, I check
myself, and lay down my pen.
LITTLE EDWARD
Were any of you born in New England, in the good old catechising,
church-going, school-going, orderly times? If so, you may have
seen my Uncle Abel; the most perpendicular, rectangular, upright,
downright good man that ever labored six days and rested on the
seventh.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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