Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1888-01-16


eye don't remember, do ye,' ask
ed Antioch, "with what feelin' of
relief We used ter hear the last hymn
! given out? The congregation used to
stand up and turn round an face the
choir in the gallery. And everybody
sung, too, fur in those days folks
| didn't hev ter get musical eddicashuns
afore they could praise God"
"Sing Why l should say SOP
cried Coronation. 'They want no
great folks, an there never wuz much
airs on the wes' side O. the mountain,
nohow, but in the meetin' house on
Sunday they jest lifted up their voic-
es ez much ez to say If Gods ears
is open to-day there amt nobody 60
ing to get the start of the Newfane
folks = All, Hiram Atkins, that wuz
sacred music we had in them days !"
81 don't understand it, nuther,"
said China, in quavering voice, ''un-
less twas cause in them days we
had plain meetin' houses instead O
churches, an plain ministers ter
preach plain gospel instead O emil
nent divines ter deliver eloquent dis
courses like they hev in these hifa-
lutin' days. Leastwise, it's all sort
O. different an changed like now, an
with the change we oil tunes is for
gotten"
'ENo, no, not forgotten J" cried
Hiram. ''Some of us, perhaps, are
ashamed, in these different days, of
the quaint old tunes our gran'mas
use ter sing, but we haint forgot 'em.
They haunt us like sweet memories,
and very, very often the thought of
'em brings inter our lives somethin'
that makes us purer an stronger an
| better"
"Waal, l hope so" cried Hamburg,
"leastwise I'm glad to hear you say
so, Hiram, fur We wuz wild boy
yes, We wuz dre'ful coltish then"
"Hush, don't speak SO loud, the
children might hear ye," said Hiram,
starting up and looking apprehensive-
" around him. "You're wrong, old |
friend; L was a very sedate boy, as
| remember distinctly"
''Waal, now, did you ever!' ex-
claimed the tunes in chorus; and
then they all laughed-ay, and Old
Hundred laughed loudest of all.
''It's powerful curious how man
tries to forget he ever wuz boy"
said Refuge. "You use ter cut up
worse'n any other boy in Wind'am
county, Hiram Atkins, an you know
it Why. all on us know how you use
ter carry on at choir meetin', and on
Sundays, too-yes, ,siree, on Sundays,
too p
"Yes, / wuz member O the choir"
said Hiram, sullenly.
so course We wuz," said State
Street. an We sung an ALFRED hon.
est book, too, as | well remember.
An don't We recollect Mirandy Per-
kins?"
Miranda Perkins? Of course he
did. Hiram had waited on her for
two years before he went west. She
had red cheeks and glossy black
curls, and her eyes were full of mis-
chief-seemed to Hiram he could see
her now, in her bright delaine gown
and quaint shaker bonnet. 1t was
pleasant picture. Miranda used to
sing alto in the choir-the two Morse
girls, Susan Baxter, Lew Higgins,
Hepsv Burdette, Miranda Perkins
and himself, Hiram Atkins. He re
membered them all, and by the dear
light the old tune-book threw around
him he could see them now, too.
Miranda Perkins he wondered
what had become of her; she must
be a wrinkled and gray-haired old
woman now-yet, somehow, he could
think of her only as the red-cheeked,
blacl>-eyed girl, who had sung alto to
his bass in the Newfane choir.
"Mirandy married Sam Baxter"
said Lenox. eve wuz all at the
weddin', an prettier couple never
sot out together. S'pose you don't
remember Sam, do We? Lived with
the OF folks on the farm near Towns ,
hend toll-gate use ter sing tenor in ,
the choir when you wuz there"
$50 Mirandy tux up with Sam, did (
she?" muttered Hiram. "Humph,
mighter done better - i
Hiram had never liked Sam Bax- I
ter; now he hated him. Yet it was :
twenty-five years since he had seen {
Sam-or Miranda either, for that :
matter. He remembered Sam as a 8
loutish fellow, with tow hair and
habit of singing very much out of |
tune, and when he thought of Miriam |
da Perkins all of Hiram's recollec- {
tions of Sam Baxter's unpleasant |
characteristics were revived with in {
tensity.
''But they moved down to Pond t
vile the mex spring after they wuz
married." said Migdol, San we hain't ,
seen 'em sence." I
fGuess We wuz sort O. gone on |
Mirandy, yerself, want ye?" inquir-
ed Dedham, slyly. 81 can recollect
how ye use ter purr round her."
sob, you git outl y said Hiram,
But the soft light in Hiram's eyes 1
and the faint flush that peeped thro' !
his grizzled whiskers belied his words. :