The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1871-11-10

+ er than the living hand of any pope
Upon the hard, open backed, un
/ painted and unvarnished oak bench
/ es, which seemed devised to produc,
! discomfoff, sat the Sunday-schoo
+ classes, and dupon one of these, neal
: the door. dEntremonts sat down. Ht
: looked at the bare walls, at the white
? pulpit. at the carpetless floors, at the
, general uR3iness of things, the box
stove. which stood in the only aisle
the tin rIianaeliers with their half
! burned eiDdles, the eight-by-teI
lights Of glass in the windows, and
, | he was faypfably impressed. With
! | a quick conscience he had often felt
. | the ustmptines of a worldly
life. and hBd turned toward the relig-
ion of his nllcle the dbbe only to turn
away again disgusted with the frivol-
ity OF thereiigio pomp that he saw.
But here was q religion not only
without the aftractions of sensuous
Surrounding but religion that
maintained its vitality despite a re-
peiiing plaiHness, not to say repul-
| sive ueliness N its external forms.
For cdald he doubt the force of a
4 Isreligious principle that had divested
II every woman in the little church of
every ornament? Doubtless he felt
4 the narrpvH2- that could read the
1 Scripttirat Il -sfvfion so literally, but
none could doubt the strength of q
religious principle that submitted to
such self-denial. And then there was
Priscilla, with all her gifts, sitting in
the midst of her boys, gathered from
that part of the village known as
"Slabtown.n Yes, there must be
something genuine III this religious
life, and its entire contrast TO all that
weary of attracted him.
As eleven o'clock drew on; the lit
tie church filled with people. The
men sat on one side the aisle and the
women on the other. The old breth-
| ren and sisters, and generally those
who prayed in prayer-meeting and
| spoke in lOve-feast sat near the front,
many of them on the cross seats near
the pulpit, which We're thence said by
scoffers to be the "Amen corners y
Any one other than a leader of the
| hosts of Israel would rs soon have
thought of taking a seat in the pulpit
rs on one of these chief seats in the
| synagogue. The Marquis sat still
and watched the audience gather,
while one of the good brethren led
the congregation in singing,
when 1 can read my title clear
which hymn was the usual voluntary
| at the opening of service. Then the
old minister said, "Let us continue
| the worship of God by singing hymn
4 ggI.-n,lff H..
that is, he read each couplet before il
was sung. With the coming i'll of
! hymn books and other new tangled
things the good old custom of "lining
the hymn" has disappeared. But on
| that Sunday morning the Marquis
| Il 'Entremont thought he had never
| heard anything more delightful than
| these simple melodies sung thus lusti
| ~ by earnest voices. The reading of
each cOupiet by the minister before it
was sung seemed to hima sort of
recitative. He knew enough of Eng
| lish TO find that the singing was hope
| full and triumphant. Wearied with
philosophy the Hdse with The pOmp
| of the world, he wished that he had
been q villager in New Geneva, and
that he might have had the faith 10
sing Of the
"-land of pure delight
Where saints Immortal reign"
with as much earnestneSs as his friend
| Priscilla on the other side of the aisle
| In the PRAYER that followed d Entire
| mont noticed that all the church
members knelt, and that the hearty
| amcns We're not intOned, but were
! rs spontaneous as the rest of the ser
vice. After reverently reading
chapter the old minister said: please
sing without lining,
a. charge to keep have"
and then the old tune of Kentucky"
was sung with animation, after which
came the sermon, of which the Mar
quis understood but few words,
| though he understood the pantOmime
| by which the venerable minister re
| presented the return of the prodigal
| and the welcome ne received. When
| he saw the tears in the eyes of the
hearers, and heard the half-repressed
BLESS the Lord" of an old brother
| or sister, and saw them glance joy
| fully at each others faces as the SER
mon went on, he was strangely i'm
| pressed with the geuuineness of the
feeling.
But the class meeting that follow
ed, to which he remained, impressed
him still more. The venerable
Scotchman who led it had Il face that
beamed with Sweetness and intelli-
gence. 1t was fortunate that the
Marquis saw so good specimen. In
fact, Priscilla trembled lest Mr.. BO-
reas, the stern, Manufactured "eX-
hOrter," should have been invited TO
lead. But as the sweet faced old
leader called upon one and another to
| speak, and as many spoke with
streaming eyes, d'EntremOnt quiver-
| ed with sympathy. He was not so
blind that he could not see the sham
and cant of some of the speeches, but
III general there was much earnest
ness and truth. When Priscilla rose
in her turn aud spoke, with down
cast eyes, he felt the beauty and sim
| plicity of her religious life. And he
| rightly judged that from the soil of a
cutie so severe there must grow some
noble and heroic lives.
Last of all the class leader reached
the Marquis, whom he did not know.
"Will our strange brother tell us
how it is with him tO-day?n he
asked.
Priscilla trembled. What awful
thing might happen when class
leader invited marquis, who could
speak no English, and who was a
disciple of Saint Simon, to tell his
religious experience, was more than
she could divine. If the world had
come to an end in consequence of
such a concatenation, | think she
would not have been surprised. But
nothing of the sort occurred. To her
astonishment the Marquis rose and
said -
as it that any one can speak
French?"
4 brother who was Il member of
one of the old Swiss families volun-
teered his services as interpreter, and
d'Entremont proceeded to tell them
how much he had been interested in
the exercises; that it was the first
time he had ever been in such meet
ing, and that he wished he had the
simple faith which they showed.
Then the old leader said, "Iet US
engage in prayer for our strange
BROTHER
And the Marquis bowed his knees
upon the hard floor.
He could not understand much
that was said, but he knew that they
were praying for him; that this white
haired class leader, and the old ladies
in the corner, and Priscilla, were in
terceding with the Father of all for
him. He felt more confidence in the
efficacy of their prayers than he had
ever had in all the intercessions of
the saints of which he was told when
a boy. For surely God would hear
such as Priscilla.
1t happened not long after this that
d'Entrenont was drawn even more
nearly to this simple Methodist life,
So. Ii Il. LnL olrnndN innado r,,nl. -. L.