Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-02-06

From Peck,s Sun.

think you nave got 1t down fine, and that
every member of it is pi3us aud full of
true goodness, and in such N 3ment as
you think not you will find that one or
more of them ia full of the old Harry, and
it will break out when you least suspect it
There is no more beautiful sight to the
student Of nature than church choir To
see the members sitting together, demure,
devoted and pious- looking, you think that
there is never thought enters their mind
that is not connected with singing anthems
but sometimes you get left. There is ono
church choir in Milwaukee that is about
as near perfect as q choir can be. 1t has
been organized for q long time, and never
has auaTreled. and the congregation swear
by it. When the choir strikes devotion,
al attitude it is enough to make an ordinary
Christian think Of the angel band above,
only the male singers wear whskers, and
| the females wear fashionable clothes.
You would not think that this choir
played tricks on each other during the
sermon, but sometimes they do
The choir is furnished with the numbers
of the hymns th,t are to be sung, by the
minister, and they put book mark in the
book at the proper place. One morning
they all got mp to sing, when the soprano
turned pale as an ace of spades droppe out
of her hymn-book, the alto nearly tainted
when queen Of hearts dropped at her feet.
and the rest of the pack were distl sbuted
| around in the other books. They laid it on
the tenor, but he swore, while the minister
was preaching, that he didn't know one
| card from another
Ooe morning last summer, after the tenor
had been playing tricks all the spring on
the rest of the choir the soprano brought
| chunk of shoemakers' wsx to church. :The
| tannr O " n1 Ilyn Snlo iD oil l..
| glory, with white pants and Seymour coat
| The tenor got up TO see who the girl WAS
| that came in with the ole lacy, and while
he was up thu soprano put the shoemskers
! wax on the chair, snd tbs tenor sat down
ON 1t. They all saw it, and they waited for
the result. 1t was an awful long prayer.
and the church was hot, the tenor was no
iceberg himself, and shoemakers' wax
melts at 9o0 Fahrenheit. The minister
finally go. to the amen, and read a hymn.
the choir coughed and all rose up. The
chair that the tenor was in stuck to him
like brother, and came right long and
nearly broke his suspenders. 1 was the
tenor to bat and as the great organ struck
up he pushed the chair If his person, look.
ed around TO see if ne had saved hi: pants,
and began to sing, and the rest of the choir
came near brrsting, The tenor was called
out on three strikes by tie umpire, and,
the alto had to sail in, and while she was
singing the tenor began to feel of first base
to see what was the matter When he got
his hand on the shoemakers' warm wax his
heart smote him and he looked daggers at
the soprano, but she put on pious look
and got her mouth ready to sing Hold
the Fort" Well the tenor t down on q
white handkerchief, before he went home,
and he got home, without anyb body seeing
him, and he has been, as the saying is,
laying for the soprano ever since to gel
even.
Ii is customary in all frst-class cho'r RS for
the male singers to furnish candy for the
lady singers, and the other dav the tenor
went to candy actory and had a pepper
mint lczenger made with about teaspoon
fui of cayenne pepper in the centre Of it. On
Chr stmas he took his lozenger to church
and CO Guided to get even with the soprano
if be died for it, Candy had b en- passed
around, and jast before the hymn was
gwen out IN which the soprano was to sing
u solo, Nearer, My God to Thee, .
the wicked wretch gave her the loaded
z9nger. She put it in her mouth and
nibbled off the edges, and was rolling it as
asweet morsel under her tongue when the
organ struck up and they all arose. While
tn choir was skirmishirg on the first part
f of the verse and getting scored up for the
solo, she chewed what was left of the candy
and swallowed it, We'll. if a Demo, ratio
torchlight procession had marched IN
\ Oluu6n uOWn nef throat sue COulQn nave
been any more astoniShed. She leaned over
to pick mp her hankerCh eff and spit the
candy out, but there was enough pepper left
around the selage of her mouth to have
picked peck Of chow chow. 1t was her
turn to sing, and she rose and took ie
book. her ewes filled with tears, her voice
, trembled, her face was as red as a spanked
lobster, and the way she sang that old
hymn was a caution. With u sweet trem-
ulo she sang " n carer my God. to Thee
aud the congregation was almost melted to
tears AS she stopped, while the organist
got in little work, she turnad her head
opened her mouth and blew out her breath
with "whoosh,' TO cool her mouth. The
} audience saw her wipe a tear away, but
did not hear the sound of her voice as
she whooshed." she wiped out some o.
the pepper with her handkerchief and
, sang the other verses with good deal OF
ferver, and the choir sat down, and all Of
the members looking at the scpano. She
called for water. The noble te1or went aLt
J got it for her, and after she had drank
couple of quarts she whispered to him
"Yolng man, will get even with you FL
] that peppermint candy if l have to live
! Thousand years, and don't you forget it,
and they all sat down and looked pious
: while the minister preached most beauti
:. ful sermon on Faith We expect tina
tenor will be bio W ed through the roof som
Sunday morning and the congregation will
d wonder what he is in such hurry for.