Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1888-12-21

church, the sextcn had blown out the lights I
aiid locked the heavy doors behind him /
nieigh bells jingled family away out OF hear !
ing, ana the slow footsteps Of the sexton |
cihnching on the half trodden snow mingled |
WIN the tones OF the clock In the high tower |
striking ten. Then door inside the yestrv |
opened, and out OF closet where broorns |
una dust pans were kept all old man came |
hesitatingly. He made his way very slowly
up the broad stairs to the main meeting
room. AT the door leading to the choir loft
ne paused moment. His hand was on the
KNOB, but he turned it not. More slowly than
before he went down the aisle and dropped
INTO pew. lie sat there In the darkness a
iohg time, his head sunk forward on his
breast. A half hour, may be, passed, before he
rose ana marched with determined step to tho
choir door, and up the stairs to the
iamlliar loft He found match in his
POCKET and lit the lamp that hung
near the bench, where Hezekiah for more
imam iifty years had sung Gods praises and
carried the voices and spirits Of the congrega-
tion with him. The dim yellow ray threw
gloomy shadows of the pew backs into relief,
Just disclosed the pulpit at the further end Of
the church, gave faint hints Of evergreen fes-
ICONS on the walls, and here and there the
laurel worked words Emanuel" "Glory to
God IN the highest" and SO on, that had been
placed there with great toll by the young
men and women of the parish in honor Of the
DAY SO near at hand; but had you been there
you would have seen only the patriarchal
form OF the chorister with sadly bitter look
on his face gazing at the gloom about the
pulpit. Was he thinking how often he had
stood solemnly thus while the minister was
prayingl Perhaps SO, for after n moment
his lips parted, and tremulous "Amentn
uttered softly on high note, sung to the
evergreens and the shadows
Then Hezekiah looked about the bench in
front OF him. He picked up one Of the new
anthem books brought in by the quartet. He
glanced at the cover and let it fall. Taking
the lamp from its socket he held it SO that he
could sec, and presently drew forth the an
Gent collection of anthems, every tune in
which he knew by heart, so sacred to him.
and yet go speedily hidden away where it
should serve nobody. He replaced the lamp
and turned the pages to Coronation" the
I first piece sung by choir under his direc-
/ ton more than lifetime ago. Fondly he
/ looked at the familiar notes and then, his
/ chest thrown out and his head held up, he
sung the grand old tune and its magnificent
words with all the fervor and all the power
that his voice ever had commanded. From
beginning to end the hymn rang through the
deserted gloomy church, aud DR.. Williams,
| driving by in haste to attend the ills Of far
off patient, wondered that the rehearsal
should have been continued so late When
the last note had ceased Hezel.iah stood with
the book still open and his head still up, but
the tears were coursing down his face in
steady streams.
At last be sank into a chair, and with 6
great pang at the heart he saw upon the
bench beside the volume of newfangled tunes
q little book of manuscript music. When hi
was young man Of not more than so Heze
kiah had taken it into his head that he would
write music, and the several anthems that h
had composed in pure harmony, but will
crude progressions, had been laboriousl.
copied into books, and had been used &C
casionally ever since in church service
What had they been doing with his music
Was it not enough that they should discard
him in his old age, and his ways and hi
books, without hunting up his feeble bu
earnest compositions to laugh at themf Tha
: could not be forgiveni With melanchol
, fingers he turned the leaves. His inspection
stopped at an anthem for Christmas, com
posed on words taken literally from tn
Scriptures There it was, with its lntroduc
tory recitative for bass, and q double fugue
, as he called it, when the angels chorus wa
reached His wife had sung the treble bt
fore she left the choir, and when with patien
resignation he had laid her in the grave, hi
/ daughter had performed her part, and sine
5 she married and moved away the anthel
! had not been sung. With what grand emo
: ton he had heard the voices begin the FIR:
fugal movement: