Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1870-06-01
THE CHRONICLE.
THE BOY AT CHURCH.

stood in the middle CT the "Green,
very nearly at the intersection of tn,
two main avenues of the town. Their
; it stood, solitary and hOmely. Their,
was not a single line or fixture in i
suggesting taste or beauty. But tina
J which the architect had neglected
the wOrshipers supplied. The heart!
of thousands of men and women whC
had worshiped there from childhood
to old age had thrown the color of the
deepest feelings upon the gaunt ole
church, and doubtless, in their eyes
the old wooden meeting house looked
more beautiful than did the Parthe-
non to the Greeks.
The building was square, with two
stories of windows and a steep roof
on which snow had hard work to lie
in winter. The windows were large
with panes of glass six by eight in
size, full of warts and wrinkles, thro'
which external objects were seen by
our young eyes in the most grotesque
distortion.
The coming on of Saturday night
was always a serious business with
the Youngsters. We had no stores OF
religious experience on which it is
presumed the old folks meditated: and
the prospect of a whole day without
ANYTHING in it to interest us was not a
little gloomy. On no night of the
week did the frogs croak so dismally,
or the tree-tOads whistle in a mood SO
melancholy, as on Saturday night.
But those blazing summer morn
ings! What a wealth of light spread
over that blessed old hilltop! What
a wondrous silence dwelt in the great
round heaven above our heads The
birds sang on. The crowds in the dis
tance called out to each other in hoarse
discourse. The trees stood in calm
beauty-the great elm trees, tall, pill
ant graceful; the perfection ofstrength
and beauty. All this we saw and
heard while buttoning up our Sunday
clothes by the side of the open win
dow. For the COW and horse had
been fOddered, and the pigs fed, and
all the barn jobs done up, and bOun.
tiful breakfast eaten, and our face and
hands washed, and every article of
apparel, from shoe to cap. had chang
ed from a secular to a sacred use. Not
the every day hat-sOft, shapeless,
universal instrument-used as liquid
or solid measure used now for the
head, now for a football; used for a
net to catch butterflies or to throw at
wasps; no, not this big, pocket, hat
pouch and magazine; but the Sunday
hat, round, stiff, hard and respecta-
/ BILE.
Although the new hat was always
disagreeable to our head, yet we had
a wonderful reverence for it, and
spent no inconsiderable portion of our
time in church in getting it dirty and
then brushing it clean again.
! Our jacket, too, was new. Only a
| handkerchief was then in the pocket;
no marbles, no strings, no stones, no
fish hooks or dried angle worms. No;
boys Sunday pocket of the olden
1 time was puTged of all temptation
In meeting time we often put our lit
tie hands into ouI Sunday pocket with
a melancholy wish, 'Oh, if only had
my other clothes on W
As soon as we were dressed and
mustered in the sitting-room, an in
spection was had. The collar was
pulled up a little, the hair had fresh
lick from the brush, the mouth must
be wiped with a wet towel, the shoe
strings tied, and, after being turned
| round and round, we were started oil.
Nov, Henry, be good boy"
"Yes, ma-am."
"You must not laugh or tease Har-
riet."
mo, ma'am."
"Don't stop on the road-go right
/ in when you go to church."
! eyes, ma'am."
I Every word was sincerely promised
and efficaciously broken within ten
minutes.
oh, how high the trees seemed!-
Oh, how bright the heavens were !
| oh, how hard it was not to play with
| Chester Covington's dog, that came
running to us with bark and frolic,
and seemed perplexed at the sturdy
propiety.
Here go the people! The Lords are
not going to-day. The Landons have
gone on the other side with the Ba-
Ions, the Champions and the Dem
! ings. On one side came forth the
"MissPierces, as they were called,
! the Braces, DIR. Sheldon, DIR. Catlin,
| Col. Talmage, tall and stately, Judge
| Gould and multitudes of others. The
long street was full of people. The
| first bell had rung. 1t was decorous
for every one to be in his place by the
time the tolling was over. Among
all these we made our way-kindly
people-many of whom looked be-
nignantly forth upon us from Sunday
bonnets, but not saying a word.
The old musical bell up in the open
belfry was busy tolling. 1t was the
only thing that was allowed to work
on Sunday-the bell and the minister.
The bell rope was always an object OF
desire and curiosity to young eyes. 1t
ran up into such dark and mysterious
spaces. What there was up in those
] pokerish heights in the belfry tower
we did not know, but something that
made our flesh creep. Once we vent
ured to pull that rope. 1t was a bold
and veDturesOme thing, we knew
But a sorcery was on us. 1t came
gently and easily to the hand. We
| pulled again. Dong! dong went the
bell. The old sexton put his head out
of the door when, on that particular
morning service had began, and said,
in a very solemn and low tone: boy,
boyI you little d-youw and much
more presume, but did not wait for
it, but cut around to the other door,
and satall church time trembling and
wondering Whether he would 'tell my
pa;" and if he did what he would say,
and more especially what he would
do. / called up the probable inter-
view. l had numerous precedents on
which TO found a possible experience,
and afflicted my little soul, all meet
ing time, with needless punishment
| bV the imagination.
But ordinarily we escaped into the
minister's pew without special temp
tations- Imagine boy eight years
old, round as an apple, hearty and
healthy, an hour and half in church
with nothing to do We looked at
the galleries of boys and girls, and
wished we might go into the galle-
ries. We looked at the ceiling, traced
all the cracks back and forth. We
looked at the dear old aunties all
around the church, tanning them
selves with one hand and eating fen
mel seed or bit of dried orange peel
out of the other. We gazed out of
the window high above our head into
the clouds, 6nd wished we could climb
up and see the trees and horses and
dogs that abounded around the church
on Sunday.
Gradually these died out, and we
dropped asleep. Blessed liberty! the
ehild's gospel! All trouble fled away.
For a half hour paradise was gained.