The Washington herald., 1907-04-21


ent thing nowadays from what it was
when I was young, said Aunt Jane, jul
dicially. as she lifted a painful of yellow
harvest apples from the table and began
to peel them for dumplings.
Potatoes. peas. and asparagus were
bubbitng on the stove. and the dumpnngs
were in honor Of the invited guest, who
had begged the privilege Of staying in the
kitchen awhile. Aunt Jane was one of
those rare hOusekeepers whose kitchens
are more attractive than the parlors of
other people.
And gittin' religion is different, too,
she continued. propping her feet on the
round of a chair for the greater comfort
and convenience Of her old knees. Both
Of EN- is a heap easier than they used to
be. and the organs is a heap better I
don't know whether the religions any
better or not You know / went up to my
daughter Mary Frances last week and
the folks up there was havin' a big
meetin' in the TabernicIe, and that's how
come me 10 be thinkin about organs
The preacher was an evangelist, as
they call him, Sam Joynes, from way
down South. In my day he'd "a been
called the Rev. Samuel Joynes. Folks
didn't call their preachers Tom, Dick. and
Harry, and Jim and Sam, like they do
now. I'd like 10 a seen anybody calm
Parson Page Lem Page He was the
Rev Lemuel Pase, and don't you forgit
1t. But things is different, as I said
awhile ago. and even the little boys says
sam Joynes, jest like he played marbles
with EN- every day. / went to the Taber-
nicle three or four times; and of all the
preachers that ever heard. he certainly
Is the beatenest Why, 1 amt laughed so
much since me and Abram went TO Bar
NUNS circus, the year before the war. He
was preachin one day about cleanliness
bein' next to goodness. which it certainly
is, and ne says. You old skunk. your
But la! the worse names he called 'em
the better they peared to like II. and sin
ners was converted wholesale every time
he preached. But there wasn't no goin'
TO the mourners' bench and mournin' for
your sins and havin' people prayin' and
cryin' over you. They Jest set and
laughed and grinned while be was gittin'
on his jokes, and then they'd go up and
shake hands with him, and there they
was all saved and ready 10 be baptized
and taken into the church"
Just here the old yellow rooster flut-
tered up to the doorstep and gave a
hoarse, ominous crow.
There, now. You hear that?" said
Aunt Jane, as she tossed him a golden
peeling from her pan There's some
folks that gives right up and looks for
sickness or death or bad news every time
rooster crows in the door. But / never
let such things bother me. The Bible
says that nobody knows what a day may
bring forth and if I don't know, il amt
likely my old yeIler rooster does.
What was I talkin' about? Oh. yes
the big meetin'. Wen. / never was any
hand TO say that Old ways is best and I
don't say so now. II you can convert a
man by calm him a polecat, why, call
him one, OF course And mOurnin' amt
always sign O. true repentance They
used 10 tell how Silas Petty mourned for
forty days, and as Sally Ann said. he
had about as much religion as old Dan
fuckers Derby ram.
However, it was the organ / set out
to tell about It's jest like me to wander
away from the pint Abram always said
text would have 10 be made like a post
age stamp for me to stick 10 IT, You
see, they'd jest got "a fine new organ al
Mary Frances church, and she was tellin'
me how they paid for it. one man give
five hundred dollars, and another give
three hundred; then they collected four OF
five hundred amongst the other members.
and give "a lawn party and a strawberry
festival, and raised another hundred It
set me 10 thinkin o. the time us women
got the organ for Goshen church. I'll
wasn't any light matter. for. besides the
money 1t took us nearly three years to
raise, there was the opposition. Come to
think of it, We raised more opposition
than We did money"
And Aunt Jane laughed a buthe laugh
and tossed another peellng to the yellow
rooster, who had dropped the role of har-
binger of evil and was posing as "a hum
BILE suppliant.
An organ in them days, honey, was
jest a wedge TO split the church half in
two it was the new cyarpet that brought
on the organ. You know how il is with
yourself; you git a new dress. and then
you've got 10 have a new bonnet, and
then you can't wear your old shoes and
gloves with a new dress and a new bon
net. and the first thing you know you've
spent five times as much as you set out 10
spend. That's the way it was with as
about the cyarpet and the organ and the |
pulpit chairs and the communion set
Most o. the men folks was against the |
organ from the start and Silas Petty was /
the foremost. Silas made pint of
gOin against everything that women fav- /
Ored Sally Ann used to say that ii a /
woman was 70 come up TO him and say. /
Les go to heaven, Silas would start off 4
towards the other place right at once; |
he was jest that mUlish and contrary /
He met Sally Ann one day. and SAYS he |
Jest give you women rope enough and 4
you'll turn the house o. the Lord into 4
reg lar tOyshop.' And Sally Ann she says,
You'd better go home, Silas. and read the /
book of Exodus. If the Lord told Moses /
how 10 build the Tabernicle with the /
goats skins and rams skins and blue
and purple and scarlet and fine linen and /
candlesticks with six branches. ! reckon /
he won't object to few yards o. cyar-
petin and "A little organ in Goshen /
church.
sally Ann always had an answer ready. /
and / used to think she knew more about
the Bible than Parson Page did himself I
"Of course Uncle Jim Matthews didn't
want the organ; he was afraid it might /
interfere with his singin'. Job Taylor
always stood up for Silas. so he didn't
want it: and Parson Page never opened /
his mouth one way or the other. He was
one o. those men that tries 20 set on
both sides o. the fence at once, and he'd |
na F-.g.t, Z