The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1886-10-15

with fond delay on the last word, the younger
vocalists, eager for the next STRAIN, began in
softer tones
III bid farewell
Now to mo came tho supreme moment
For a few seconds tho bass and tenor were
silent; but as the words,
I'll bid farewell
were repeated the bass voices burst out with
n roar like the approach of a thunderstorm,
followed ut the next repetition OF
Ibid farewell
by the ringing tenor of half dozen brave
and strong young men, every voice gathering
strength as the succeeding words were sung
toev'ry fear,
then, as IL each voice We're the sweeping
sword of mighty conqueror, the last line of
the verse was uttered with fervor that
thrilled the heart of the most case-hardencd
sinner:
And w-i-i-ipe my weeping eyes
II was foretaste of the victO>y of the ram
somed
A few seconds Of silence followed, broken
only by the wall of an infant on the 'women
folks" side of the house, or the neigh OF
lost colt among the teams hitched outside
Then succeeded other verses in like manner
as described until came the grand finale:
And not q wave
And not q wave
And not wave of trouble roll
Across my peaceful breast;
and in contemplation of this happy Nirvanic
conclusion of the Christian warfare the more
spiritually minded members rested for II few
minutes, until the next change in the exer-
cses.
There was one good old brother, "Uncle
Bliss" we called him-long since dead and
gone to glory-who was looked upon as sort
of musical leader in certain congregation
call to mind. He seemed to sing in one I'M
broken strain when the verses were not
"lined'o from the beginning to the very last
word of the hymn. How and when he
managed to take breath no one could tell, and
l think he carried the secret to his grave. Ger
tain it was that, ut the ends of the lines, where
everybody else in the church halted, "Uncle
Bliss" sang on triumphantly, as though he saw
by an eye of faith the dazzling walls of the
New Jerusalem. The volume of song poured
forth from his lips in one long uninterrupted
stream, like the prolonged parts of fugue.
1t was absolutely marvellous.
The old revival tunes mentioned at the
beginning of this article are still sung in va
rious sections of the west where exist certain
religious denominations whose faith and
practice have not, as yet, been completely
modernized. Middle-aged men and women,
"pillars of the church" they are called nova
days, once in while break forth into the
stirring strains of one of the old songs they
learned twoscore years ago, when the pulpit
orators and exhorters knew more of the Cos
pei than they did of grammar, and the whole
congregation sang "with the spirit and with
the understanding"
There were sacred songs for all seasons,
songs of grief and songs of joy-songs for the
Respondent for the newly converted, for the
old fathers and mothers in Israel and for the
stranger within the gates
No matter what was said by the poor.
trembling baekslider who spoke falteringly
in an experience meeting," when he sat down
amid the audible "God bless Brother IS"
of the church militant, a verse or two of
song, appropriate both as 70 sentiment and
melody, was sung to cheer him amid the
trials and tribulations of his heavenward
journey.
But the old songs and the old tunes are fast
being forgotten as the good fathers and
mothers who know and love them best drop
one by one into the silence of the grave. 1t
is to be hoped that some one will yet gather
.the unWritten melodies of early days, together
with the quaint backwoods rcnderl.gs of
many still honored congregational tunes, ard
give them to rising generation VIII" find SO
little that is satisfying i'll the machrc-nlade
music of the present. LUCIUS GOss