Litchfield enquirer., 1881-06-23
Eastern Correspondence.
SUNDAYS MIsoHANoES ORGAN BLOWING
 CONGREGATIONAL MUSIC, &o.
Shavpn, Moss .June oo 1as.

SUNDAYS MIsoHANoEs s-oRGAN BLOWING .& CONGREGATIONAL MUsIo Sc.
 Shawmut, Mass, June 20. 1881. It was about fifteen years ago that I gave up organ playing; but. in country place, reputation as an organist comes easy and goes l hard So when. last week, the precentor and organist of the John Calvin Memorial Church, for the most sufficient reasons Gntending matrimony in facD proposed a short vacation, was asked to 'preside at the organ" Being curious to know how much had forgotten, 1 went to the church some ten minutes before morning service to try over the hymns. The blower was not there, but three little negro boys whom 1 found outside undertook to blow for my practice. Pedal playing came little awkward, but I found I could get through the hymns after fashion. Then l stopped, but the African detachment kept on.
 The John Calvin Memorial Church was not arranged for the convenience of it's musicians. The organ is at the front, in a recess to the extreme right. The singers (when there are any) sit in pen raised step or two above the church floor and the organist occupies little pit behind them. At present the John Calvin Memorial Church has no choir. Sing CTS naturally shrink from publicity, and the singers of this church have for some years re- fused to be pilloried in the pen set apart for that purpose.
 The church was fast filling up and the little negroes were still puff1ng and blowing at the bellows. The only way to get at them was to cross over in front of the pulpit, pass through door at the extreme left, then through the chapel, the s. $ library and behind the organ. I made the circuit and stopped them at last, but unuckily gave no further directions SUD- posing the regular blower would soon be there. He never came!
 Organ blowing is considered very simple art, yet it can be very disastrously bungled The be flows should be filled and then kept full by long, even strokes. If only few, soft stops are played, little wind is needed. Green hands go on churning and jouncing, the wind all the while pufRng very audiby out of the escape valve, and the tone utterly ruined by the jerks given the bellows handle This was just what these three little wretches were at all the time Your readers have no doubt heard people try la sing iii d hard rid ing picnic wagon on rough road? That gives faint idea of the way my modest little opening voluntary was jisgled intsled ont of that organ by my cohort of blowers.
 On the first hymn(a fine choral of Handel's) had 8 little difference with the congregation There was vast eypanse of unoccapied terri tory (musically speaking) between me and those who sang. I could hear DO singing. in fact, except on the high notes so l waited for the congregation and the congregation waited for me. aud the tempo got painfully slow. I was in doubt about interludes, skipped one, and the congregation waited till I was half through the next verse of the hymn before they struck in. Just after had begun the last stanza, 1 saw that the congregation had sat down. 1 was just as tired of it as they were, and bobbed off Mir. Handers sublime choral as decently as I could.
 haven't attended Congregational church recently. and was little at loss to know whether the third morning hymn came be- fore or after the sermon. 1 felt very sure, however, it was after; and, at the close of the second hymn, left the organ bench for an easier and less conspicuous seat among the congregation. The minister called for a con- tribution, but 1 sat quietly till it was over. Then he announced -'The 100th Psalm, four verses" l hurried back to the organ bench and pulled out the stops just in time to near hm read his four verses in the prose version. It scas his tert! looked as uncon- cerned as could, and sat out the discourse on the hard bench with no back. Then came the closing hymn, through which my tribe of hlnwars worked their way with '0-rido f0'Uo and variety of expression.
 So ended my mornings tribulation My evenings trial was short but peculiar. With the sternest sense of responsibility Lgot down upon that organ bench Again the blower was absent, but d geutlen au offered to take his place for the voluntary. The bell stopped toling. 1 pulled the bellows signal repeat edly, but no wind came The minister hesi- tated, and looked at me. I fell that the situ- ation was getting very embarrassing. At last .he sexton came up and informed me that the blower had not come, that the door leading behind the organ was locked, and nobody could find the key. took my hat and followed him out with a sense of un-
 utterahle relief, and, as heard tue congrega- tion, from distance, singing their spirited
 songs of praise without accompaniment, felt certain that they had lost but little and that had gained great deal ny the timely ab
 sence of the organ blower
 1 VETERAN