The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1847-04-03
st. Johnsbury Vt April 8, 1S47,

village" MS Martin Grubb called them, were
az gay as 80 many larlls there was such dis
| play of blue coats and yellow buttons,ns new
er was seen before. The singing gallery was
full to suilocntion, and tho church itself was
crowded. The squire Of the parish was
present, and his family also were present with
him, and the singers were so happy that they
could hardly contain themselves. They did
not mind the prayers: they had heard them
before, aud did not think them half so well
worth hearing as the lalleluinh Chorus
There was such rustling of leaves, ofmusic
books, aud such buzz OF whispering voices,
that the worthy rector could hardly be heard.
The choristers had arranged that the Halle
lujah Chorus should he sung Immediately be-
fore the sermon, and they thought that the
prayers wonld never he over: they were as
impatient as young horse in harness.
AtIength the prayers were finished, aud
the lnercilcss chorisers let loose upon the
congregation to inhict whatever musical tor
ture they pleased. Away they burst with
relentless and resistess fury. There was
such scraping, and blowing, aud ronring, and
growing, and screaming, as never was heard,
the powers Of every voice, and Of every in
strument were eNcrted to the utmost oftheir
capablIlty;-there was such an infinite varie-
~ characterization ofhaHciowya, hoi,etuem, al
tTtfJtIb hll'l tittits tllN tCWtN ulltl uUCti lul
none but the initiated could form II guess
what the singers were about. The patient
aud afflicted rector sat still in the pupit,wait-
ing I'LL the storm should be over; he knew
that it could not last forever, aud that they
must soon sing themselves hoarsc or out of
breath. There is an Irish proverb which says,
"Sngle mlstortuncs never come aIonc" this
was verified in the present case; for II misun-
dcrstanding occurred, which produced n
double inhiction of the music. Messrs
Grubb, Grpe, Crahbe, Bang, Crack, aud
their friends, when performing at the cattle
dral, had observed that one or TWO parts of
the performance had been encored by II sig
nal consisted of the silent waving or lifting
up ola white pocket-h Now,
unfortunately, Just rs the bringing lis mighty
performance To close, the squire of the par
Ish most innocently drew lis handkerchief
out of his pokcet bat happening TO draw it
forth with peculiar graGtS& with what Mr.
Grubb and his friends MoHSM Il peculiar
grace, they We're most graciously pleased to
take ii for granted that it must he Il signal FOE
q repetition of the chorus: and therefore, Just
at the md'uent when the good rector was
plcasiuS himself viii the thought that the
absurd display was over, they all burst forth
again with renewed vigor. He thought that
they were absolutely nad;hc looked; he sigh
ed; he shook his head: but he was only al.
swered by "hai!ei1yea,' aliyiuyer; and when
they had finished The second time, he was
half afraid that they would begin again. and
sing it the third time. When The service was
over, The good man took the liberty TO hint to
his musical parishioners that he thought they
had performed II work of supererogation in
performing the chorus twice. They them
selves felt that they had somewhat encrouch-
ed, but they laid the blame upon the squire,
whose slightest wish, they thought, Should
he obeyed. The squire was very sorry when
he found what mischief he had inadvertently
done, and promised that he would take care,
in future, not to pull out his handkerchief IL
gain in singing time.