Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1876-05-05
THE COUNTRY CHURCH.

The couRtry church is a square old build.
ing Of wood without paint or decoration, and
of that genuine Purtanic stamp which is |
now fast giving way to Greek porticos and to
cockney towers. 1t stands upon hill, with
O little churchyard in its rear, where one or
two sickly.looking trees keep watch and ward
over the vagrant sheep that Craze among the |
graves. Bramble.bushes seem to thrive on |
the bodies below, and there is no flower in |
the little yard, save a few golden-rods, which |
flaunt their gaudy iuodorous color under the |
lee of the northern wall
New Eugland country.livers have as yet |
been very little inoculated with the senti- |
ment Of beauty even the doorstep to the |
church is wide fat stone, that shows not |
single stroke Of the hammer Within the |
simplicity is even more severe. Brown gal. !
lerios run around three sides of the old build
ing, supported by timbers, on which you will
trace, under the stains from the leaky roof,
the deep scoring of the woodlands axe.
Below, the implanted pews are ranged in
square forms, and by age have gained the
color Of those fragmontary wrecks of cigar.
boxes which you see upon the top shelves 10
the bar.rooms of country taverns. The min
ister's desk is lofty, and has once been hon.
ored with a coating of paint as we'll as
the huge sounding-board, which to your great
amazement protudes from the wall at very
dangerous angle of inclination over the
speakers head As the Squire's pew is the
place of honor to the right Of the pulpit, you
have little tremor yourself at sight of the
heavy sounding.boa and cannot forbear
indulging in quiet feeling Of relief when
the last prayer is said.
There are in the Squires pew long, faded,
crimson cushions, which. it seems to you,
must date back nearly to the commencement
OF the Christian era in this country. There
are also sundry old thumb-worn copies of
DIR. Dwight's Version of the Psalms of Da-
-"appointed to be sung in churches by
authority Of the general association Of the
state Of Connecticut" The sides of DR..
Dwight's Version are, you observe, sadly
warped and weather-stained and from some
stray figures which appear upon a fJ leaf
you are constrained to think, that the Squire
has sometimes employed quiet interval Of
the service with reckoning up the contents of
the old stocking-leg at home.
The parson is a stout man, remarkable 10
your opinion chiefly for yellowish- brown
wig, strong nasal tone, and occasional vlo-
lent thumps upon the little, diugy, red vel.
vet cushion, studded with brass tacks at the
top of the desk. You do not altogether ad.
mire his style; and by the time he has en-
tered upon his "Fourthly," you give your
attention in despair to u new reading lit
must be the twentieth) Of the preface to DIR.
Dwight's Version of the Psalms.
The singing has charm for you. There
is long, thin-faced fax haired man, who
carries a tuniug-fork in his waistcoat pocket,
and who leads the choir. His position is in
the very front ra1k of gallery benches facing
the desk; and by the time the old clergy.
man has read two verses of the psalm, the
country chorister turns around to his little
group Of aids-consisting Of the blacksmith,
a carroty-headed schoolmaster, two women in
snuff.colOred silks, and girl in pink bonnet
to announce the time.
This being done in an authoritative man
ner, he lifts his long music-book-gances
again at his little company,-clears his throat
by powerful ahem, followed by powerful
use Of bandanna pocket-handker -
draws out his tuning-iork, and waits for the
parson to close his reading. lie now reviews
once more his company,-throws a reprov.
ing glance at the young woman in the pink
hat, who at the moment is biting off stout
bunch of fennel, lifts his music book
thumps upon the rail with his fork, listens
keeny,-gives a slight atem,-falls into the
cadence,-swells into strong creScendo,-
catches at the first word of the line as if he
were afraid it might get away,-turns to his
company,-lifts his music book with spirit,
gives it powerful slap with the disengagcd
hand, and with majestic toss of the head
scars away, with half the women below
struggling on in his wake, into some such
brave old melody as-Litchfeld
Being visitor, and in the Squre's pew,
you are naturally an object of considerable
attention to the girls about your age, as
we'll as to a great many fat old ladies in iron
spectacles who mortify you excessively by
patting you under the chin after church and
insist upon installing you for Frank and
force upon you very dry cookies spioed with
caraway seeds.
You keep somewhat shy Of the young la.
dies as they are rather stout for your no
tons of beauty, and wear thick calf.skin
boots. They compare very poorly with Jen-
ny. Jenny, you think, would be above eat
ing gingerbread between service. None of
them. you imagine, ever read "Thaddeus Of
Warsaw" or ever used a colored glass seal
with a cupid and dart upon it, You are
quite certain they never did, or they could
not surely wear such dowdy gowns and suck
their thumbs as they do
The farmers you have high respect for,
particularly for one weazen-faced old gen.
tleman in a brown surtout, who brings his
whip into church with him, who sings 10
streng voice, and who drives a span Of gray
colts. You think, however, that he has got
rather stout wife; and from the way he
humors her in stopping to talk with two or
three other fat womeR, before setting off for
home, Though he seems little fdgetY,l you
naively think that he has high regard for
her opinion. Another townsman who at
tracts your notice is a stout old deacon, Who
before entering, always steps around the
corner Of the church, and puts his hat upon
the ground, to adjust his wig in a quiet way.
lilo then marches up the broad aisle in a
stately manner, and plants his hat aud big
pair Of buckskin mittens on the little table
under the desk. When he is fairly seated
in his corner Of the pew, with his elbow upon
the top rail,-almost the only man who can
comfortably reach it,-you observe that he
spreads his brawny fingers over his scalp 10
an exceedingly cautious manner; aud you
iDnOeeDtly think AGAIN that IL IL VERY hvno