The Bloomfield times. [volume] (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1867-187?, 1874-09-15
The parson began, in his high, cracked
voice, to intone the hymn -t
Sing to the Lord aloud =


when Trip broke out into dismal howl.
The parson went on to give directions
to the deacon in the same voice in which
he had been reading, so that the effect Of
the whole performace was somewhat as
follows: Vl .d N
200 sSng to the Lord aloud"
please TO turn out that dog)-
Sand make a joyful noise"
The dog was turned out, and the choir
did their best to make joyful noise, but
we boys were upset for the day, delivered
over to the temptations Of Satan, and
plunged in waves and pillows of hysterical
giggle, from which neither, winks nor
frowns from Aunt Lois, nor tho awful fear
of the tithing man, nor the comforting bits
of fennel and orange peel passed us by
grandmother, could recover us.
Everybody felt, to be sure, that here was
trial that called for some indulgence.
Hard faces, even among the stoniest saints,
betrayed a transient quiver Of the risible
muscles, old ladies put up their fans,
youths and maidens in the singers seat
laughed outright, and for moment gen.
eral snicker among the children was par
doned. But was one of the luckless kind
whose nerves, once set in vibration, could
not be composed. When the reign of
gravity and decorum had returned, Harry
and l sat by each other, shaking with sup
pressed laughter. Everything in the sub
sequent exercises took funny turn, and
in the long prayer, when everybody else
was silent and decorous, the whole scene
came over me with such overpoweripg
force that exploded with laughter, and
had to be taken out of meeting and march
ed home by Aunt Lois, convicted crimi-
nal. What especially moved her indigna-
tion was that the more she rebuked and
upbraided, the more laughed, till the tears
rolled down my cheeks. Which Aunt
Lois construed into willful disrepect to her
authority, and resented accordingly.
BY Sunday evening, as we gathered
around the fire, the reaction from undue
gayety to sobriety had taken place, and we
were in pensive and penitent state.
Grandmother was gracious and forgiving,
but Aunt Lois still preserved that frosty
air Of reprobation which size held to be a
salutary means of quickening our con-
sciences for the future. 1t was, therefore,
with unusual delight that we saw our old
friend Sam come in and sit himself quietly
down on the block in the chimney corner.
With Sam we felt assured of indulgence
and patronage, for though always rigidly
moral and instructive in his turn of mind,
he had that fellow feeling for transgressors
which is characteristic of the loose -jointed,
easy-going style of his individuality.
Lord massy, boys-yis," said Sam,
virtuously, in view of some of Aunt Lois's
thrusts, "ye never ought to laugh nor cut
up in meetin', that ares SO, but then there
is times when the best on us gets took
down. We gets took unawares, ye Sec
even ministers does. Yis, natur will git
the upper hand afore they know it,"
"Why Sam, ministers don't ever laugh
in meetin, do they?"
We put the question with wide eyes.
Such a supposition bordered on profanity,
we thought; it was approaching the sin of
Utah. who unwarily touched the ark of
the Lord.
Laws, yes Why, haven't you never
heard how there was council held to try
Parson Morrel for laughing out in prayer
time ?''
Laughing out in prayertime p we both
repeated, with uplifted hands and eyes.
My grandfather's mild face became lu-
minous with suppressed smile which
brightened it as the moon does cloud, but
he said nothing.
eyes, yes" said my grandmother,
that affair did make dreadful scandal
in the time ont. But Parson Morrel was
good man, and am glad the council
wasn't hard on him."
"Wal,' said Sam Lawson, "after all, it
was more Ike Rabbits fault than twas
anybody's. Ye sec, Ike, he was alters for
gettin' what he could out of the town, and
he would feed his sheep on the meetin'-
house green. Somehow or other, Ike's
fences alters contriyed to give out, come
Sunday, and up would come his sheep, and
Ike was too pious to drive 'em back, Sun
day, so there they was. He was talked to
enough about it, cause you see, to have
sheep and lambs ba-a-in' and blatin' all
sermon time, want the thing. Member
that old meetin'-house up to the north end,
down under Blueberry hill, the land sort o.
slopcd down, so as body he'd to come