On his part, he fell into a routine without the least evidence of
discontent. He was early to rise and early to work, and rarely left the
store save at meal hours and closing-up time. And in the course of our
serene days, I began to notice in him an increasing interest in the
affairs of the church; he seemed to look forward with a not uneager
anticipation to the fixtures of its calendar. He attended with
admirable regularity both morning and evening services, on Sunday, the
mid-weekly prayer-meeting, and Friday evening choir practice. For in
the course of time he had been won over to join the choir, and modestly
discovered to our edification a barytone voice, wholly untrained but
not unpleasing. Mrs. Rogers, our organist, averred his superiority to
Packy Soule, whom he superseded, and was supported in this estimate by
the remainder of the choir, with the exception of Roland Barnette,
who helped with his reedy tenor. Josie Lockwood sang contralto and Bess
Gabriel what we were informed was soprano--only Radville called it a
treble. Tracey Tanner pumped the organ and puffed audibly in the
pauses--a singular testimony to his devotion to Angie Tuthill, who
"just sang" with the others, chiefly because she was Josie's nearest
friend.
I remember that, one Sunday night after evening service, Duncan
confided to me, quite seriously, "that the church thing was getting to
him." He seemed somewhat surprised, to a degree indignant, as if he
suspected religion of having taken an advantage of him in some
roundabout, underhand way.... He wondered audibly what Harry would
think if he could see him now.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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