St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-02-14
THE PERPETUAL CURATE.

Macmillan's Magazine
The church belonging to the niue sea
side parish in which my boyhood Was
nassed stood amidst green heldS iiiile
or two aWay from the sea. 1t hau DeeH
ORIGINALLY tiny building, whose chlel
claim to notice was the quaint httle
Saxon porch under which strange an
tiouaries might occasionally be seen
uncouthly gesticulating to the ad1nira-
ton of the natives. In my time lhe
srlimpses of the old structure Whlcn the
giant view trees, beneath Whosa pouSis'
sIImbered the farmers and fishermen
and the fishermen-farmers for the
trades were frequently comblneO OF
mast generations, grudgingly permitted
to worshipers approaching by the llell
nath were rather misleading. Such OIL
the antiquarieS aforesaid VINO chahceu
TO he acquainted with Virgil may even
have recalled in their disappointment
the poets description of Scylla:
A beauteous maid above, put magic
arts
With barking dogs deformed her neither
parts.
The seaside village had once aspired
TO become a watering place, and the
duty of providing the additional accom-
mediation for which it was hoped that
visitors would soon be eagerly Compel
ing. Having no genius like Scott at
their call. or, indeed, any money to
nav him with, and being therefore left
to their own resources (Which they no
doubt considered equal to the occaSlon),
these officials ran out at the back OF
the old church a square brick building,
which they crowned with a slate roof.
This triumph of church wardens' Goth
ic was invisible to those who APP
preached from the fields, and a coid
SILVER of disappointment struck the
newcomer when the sacrilege was ffst
apparent About four-ffths OF the
church was brand new, so that the
narrow slice of the original stone
building was almost lost in the new
temple of brick and mortar. gallery
supported by iron props ran around
the new interior, and part OF this,
which resembled q boW-Window turned
inwards. was appropriated to the or
ganist, the organ and the choir. Inc
organ was a grinder and required
no great amount of skill in the manlpu-
lator. Not that that was the opinion
of the gentleman Gin private lie the
village grocer who did us the honor OF
turning the handle. To him, what some
might consider mere matter OF rou-
tine. was an important ceremony par
taking almost of the nature of a sacra-
ment: the part of his religion which
moved him most, and which he thought
should chiefly move others. Them
sermons is all very WELL" he would say,
but give me my music" A gilt-lettered
inscription affixed to the front of the
organ-loft handed down to a grateful,
or, possibly, pilloried for thankless
and derisive posterity the names of
the two worthless who had provided
this rich treat for future antiquaries.
Our pew was large square one in the
new part of the church, and approached
by fight of stone steps. For some III
Scrutable reason the new building was
located on a higher level than the old
one. The old chancel, which by some
miracle had escaped intact, ran on by
itself when the new part was done
with, and formed a sort of cave whence
the minister's voice was wont to issue
with a strangely muf1led sound. We in
the new church had to wait for it's
tardy arrival around the corner (Where
it sometimes met with gust of wind
which blew it back again) before we
could respond" The remainder of the
old part of the church was given up to
an enormous "churching pew" (Which
I remember to have been in constant
requisition), and the most elaborate
form Of 'three-decker' that it has ever
been my good fortune to meet with.
That it was of exceptional height Will
be gathred from the fact that, though
it started from the pit of the old
church, and had therefore got up to
the knees, as it were, before it became
visible to the occupants of the new
building, it still managed to make a
very respectable show. Commencing
with a square box for the clerk, the edi-
flee was continued by a large double
reading desk. adapted to accommodate
two persons, the chief and his subordi-
nate one of whom reposed in turn in
either corner. To this succeeded the
pulpit, reached by quite long fight of
rather crazy-looIing stairs, and placed
Immediately under a vast sounding
board" which hung by a chain from a
hook more or less securely fixed in the
flat plaster ceiling. The thought of
that soundingbOard - Supposing it to
have been solid, which [ doubt, and to
have broken away from it's mornings
it would have fiattened an average in
cumbent into a wafer-must have
played sad havoc with the ideas Of ever
the coolest clerical Damocles.
The congregation, like the church
was rather mixed. We began witt
a duke then dropped down TO half {
score or so of admirals, and IN equa
number of post captains, so called,
presume, from their having 10 posts
Then came a military official Of somc
sort with a red nose and collar t
match, and after hisl the smaller fry
A little squire with big family had {
pew in the old part adjoining the chan
eel. We children used to peep ove1
our boundary fence-save at Christmas
time when the sprigs of holly will
which the top of it was adorned by the
bGadle convered it into a priclkly heig,
and watch them at their devotion: