Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1862-03-06

ton, but this little attention is not always given
We once heard hymn sung, the second verse
beginning with
ale careth for the latherless;
lie feeds the hungry poor,
And in the pous He delights etc.
The tune ("Transport'0 was one that repeat
ed part of the third line. The consequence
was that after ole feeds the hungry poor"
there came
"And in the pie
And in the pic-ous he delights" etc.
We have heard of case where the fourth
line had to be sung in part by the bass voices,
and then repeated and finished by the whole
choir. The result was that the crj went up
from all the bass singers
"Sond dow SAL
Send down sal"
and this singular petition was only explained
when the choir took ii up and finished the
line
"Send down salvation"
As a counterpart of that story is told of
stranger who was startled to hear all the women
in our churches breaking out, at the end of the
third line, with an earnest cry of
80 for a man
for a man-"
chimed in, and converted this amorous song
into the more spiritual prayer Of
80 for n mansion in the skies!'
A few Sundays ago, we were amazed to hear
the choir of church proclaim that they were
about to engage in an chronological pursuit. as
expressed in the following line of hymn
"And well catch the flee
And we'll catch the flee
And well catch the fee-ting hour"
We have heard a precentor, whom nature
had gifted with bass voice, start the first line
as a tenor, fall into bass the second line. make
dash at soprano in the third line, and come in
at the death with what we were told was a first
rate counter but which sounded more like
solo by the pig and whistle. One or two OBJ
iections have been stated against choirs-first,
that being paid singers, they degenerate into
mere performers, and sometimes may be very
good singers, but very bad sinners. This OBJ
lection can be remedied by all except the in
structor or conductor being volunteers and con-
nected with the congregation. The best sung
churches we ever heard were led by unpaid
chors-the choir ITSELF besides, being led by a
soprano voice, not by male. The other Oh
+ lection is that choirs sometimes do all the sing
ing, the congregation being mere listeners.
This however, is more the sin of the congre-
CATION than the choir and when one begins
to encroach on the province OF the other,
rebuke from the clergy should put all to
rights.
A Western paper reads a severe lecture to a
certain church chorster and we copy part of
the castigation for the benefit of the "waw
waw"-ng gentry the world over.
"MY DEAR SIR You are a chorister.-
| Your share of the worship of the sanctuary is
no slight one, and would that you appreciated
it more fully Let us illustrate the point by
calling to mind, and placing before the eye,
what you actually did last Sunday. The hymn
had been given out. 1t was a familiar and
beautiful one that saints, long in glory, loved
to sing while on earth, and whose spirits they
did not exchange in the songs they sing now
With those words before you, this is what you
sang for our shorthand reporter, whom we
had detailed for this express service in the loft,
took it down Uerbaeim:
"'Waw .kaw, swaw daw aw waw,
Thaw saw, thaw low aw waw,
Waw-kaw, taw, thaw raw-vaw-waw Draw,
Aw thaw aw-jaw-saw aw.'
"Now, that is what to the eye looks like
pious Pottawatome, and might be translation
for the sacred edfcation of that lost tribe.
But to the ear, of what advantage was it? Not
the most careful listening could detect the
fantest approach to articulate, ineligible sound
And, dear chorister, what you really ought to
have sung were words that did not need to be
thus cloaked They were full of the spirit of the
Sabbath, very ointment-box of psalmody.
These were the words you travestied:
"'Welcome swest day of rest,
That saw the Lord arise;
Welcome, to this revivng breast
And these rejoicing eyes
"Well, what did you gain in giving the ver-
sion which, as stated, has startling resem-