Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1880-03-15
HUMORS OF CONGREGATIONAL
SINGING.
TFrom the Bradford Observer ]


that it was impossible to resist laughing.
/ remember being asked one fine Sunday
morning to assist at village Sunday
school. The superintendent" was
gardener, and the way in which he read
out one of DIR. Watts "Divine and Moral
Songs" for the children to sing was very
droll-the separation of the ''verses" of
four lines into couplets of two. without
reference to the contex, making the
greatest, possible nonsense of some. One
occurs to me now, which made me smile
aloud. Fancy the following read grave
ly, as though it were complete sentence:
Birds in their little nests agree
And tbs a shameful sight!
But on the same day, when we attended
the service in the chapel, it was still
worse. The old gardener having to read
out the lines:
God is His own interpreter,
AND he VIII make IL plaln.
read the first line
God is His own intrumpeterl
Sometimes even IN the Established
Church, the ignorance of the ''clerk"
gave rise to amusing contretemps. | re-
member an old man who was clerk at
St. Mary's at Leicester, forty years ago,
who always boggled at one word in a
favorite hymn of the vicar. The hymn
was the well-known one
We've no abiding city here.
and one of the verses commences thus:
We've abiding city here,
This may distress the worldling's mind.
That word aOorldhng was indeed a
pons asinorum for the poor old clerk,
and the congregation were all in litter
when he came to it. "This ma-ay dis
tress the wor-rul-wor-rul-
wor-ruldin' moind," was generally about
what he made of it. and the organist. the
clever Mrs. Wood, always played the or
gan its very loudest at that line, to
drown the tittering of the congregation.
The greatest fascoes, however, arose
from the selections of inappropriate
tunes One in which the words "And
bow before the throne" were rendered
thus:
And bow-wow-wow WOW NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.,
And NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. before the throne.
| have been looking through some let
ters lately, and am able now to give a
few more specimens There is a hymn
i forget in what collection-in which
the line with Thy benediction seal''
occurs. l have memorandum that this
hymn was sung at chapel in Cheshire,
to the tune of sAaron, 7s," and this>is
how the above line came in the music
With Thy benny
With Thy benny
With Thy bennedction seal.
Another favorite tune in those days was
called "Job," which was made to dc
duty for all sorts of "long metre" hymns
Two singular specimens of its inappro.
priateness are appended. The line il
one was. "Stir up this stupid heart tc
pray" and this was the way it was
sung -
Stir up this stew
Stir up this stupid heart etc.
The other was-"And love Thee better
than before which was sung
And love Thee bet
And love Thee better than etc.
There is a tune-"Mile's Lane"-iI
which. when sung to its own hymn
'.Crown Him Lord of all, y the repetition
cf the words Grown Him has yer,
fine effect. Unfortunately in, the day.
| am speaking of the people in charge 0
the singing thought more of the musi
they had to sing than of the words, ant
the following three examples show hoy
miles Lane was made ludicrous. II
DIR. Watts collection the hymn 80 in tn
second book oncludes-"And see saliva
tion nigh" s'Miles' Lane" made it thus
And see sal-see sal-see salvation Nigh
The hymn l04, first book, same col
| lection. has the lines
We would defile our hearts no more,
No more polute our hands.
The last line being sung to "Miles
Lane" became
No more poll-more poll-more pollute our hands
The 126th hymn, second book of Dl
: Watts, has
3 Gilds the whole scene with brighter rays,
, And more exalts our joys.
ssMiles' Lane" translated the fna
line into
And more eggs-more eggs-more exalt our joys
There is another tune called "Boyce,
of which 1 will give an example froI
No. II hymn, in DR.. Rafies' Liverpoc
collection, and the line is 'sAnd learn
kiss the rod "Boyce" makes this
And learn to kiss
s And learn to kiss
And learn to kiss the rod.
: 4
!, THE ST. GoTHARD TUNNEL.-It is a
!, interesting fact that the St. Gothar
. Tunnel. the successful completion {
? which has just peen celebrated wit
great rejoicing, is at once the longest an
the cheapest of the three great tunnel
The Mont Gents tunnel is eight milt
g long was thirteen years IN process
e construction, and cost Sl5, 5,000,O0'
]. The Hoosac Tunnel is about four an
= thran-nnartorc Of a mila long Fro