The Washington herald., 1907-04-21

and one man makes a pretty good major
ity. and so I'm goin' to haul the organ
over tomorrow mornin'."
Il declare / felt real proud Of Abram,
and ! told him so that night when We
was goin' home together. Then Parson
Page he says, 1t seems to me there is
sound sense IN what Brother Parish says,
and / suggest that we allow the sisters
to have their way and give the organ a
trial. and if we find that 1t is hurtful 70
the interests of the church. il viii be an
easy matter to remove t.. And Milly
Amos says TO me, I see em gittin' that
organ out if we once git il in
when the choir met Friday night
Milly come in all in a furry. and says
she; ] hear Brother Gardner has gone TO
the 'S0ciation down in Russellviile, and
all the Babtists are comm 20 our church
Sunday. and 1 want TO show EN- what
good music is this once. anyhow Uncle
jim Matthews is laid up with Fheuma-
tism,' says she, and If that amt spe-
cial providence I never saw one And
Sam Crawford slapped his knee. and says
he, Well, If the old mans rheumatism
jest holds out over Sunday, them Bah
usts'H hear music sure.
Then MIly went on 70 tell that she'd
been up TO Squire Elrod's. and Miss Pen
o
had promised to sing a voluntary Sunday
Voluntary? What's that? says sam
Why says MilIy. it's a hymn that
the choir, or somebody in It, sings Of
their own accord without the preacher
glvin' it out: just Ike your tomatoes
come MP IN the spring. voluntary. without
you plantin the seed That's the way
they do in the city churches, says sfe
and we are goin TO put ON city style
Sunday
Then they went TO work and practiced
some new tunes for the hymns Parson
Page had give EN-, so If Uncle Jim's
rheumatism didn't hold out, he'd still
have 10 hold his peace.
We'll Sunday came, but special proyi-
dence was on Uncle Jim's side that time
and there he was as smilin as a basket
o. chips. If he did have to walk with a
cane. We'd had the church cleaned up
as neat as a new pin. My jane had put
a bunch of honeysuckles and pinks on
the organ. and everybody was dressed in
their best. Miss Penelope was settin' at
the organ with bunch Of roses in her
hand. and the windows was all open, and
you could see the trees wayin' ia the
wind and hear the birds slngln' outside.
always did think that was the best
part O. Sunday-that time Jest before
church begins.
Aunt James voice dropped Her words
came slowly and into the story fell one
one of those flashes OF silence" 10 which
she was as little given as the great his
toriau The pan OF dumPiings waited for
the sprinkiing OF spice and sugar, while
she stood motionless, looking afar of,
though her gaze apparently stopped on
the vacant whitewashed wall before her
No mind readers art was needed to tell
what scene her faded eyes beheld. There
was the old church. with its battered fur
niture and high pulpit. For one brief
moment the grave had yielded up its dead,
and "the old familiar faces looked out
from every pew. We We're very near to-
gether. Aunt Jane and 1: but the breeze
that famed her brow was not the breeze
] felt as ] sat by her kitchen window
For her a wind was blowing across the
plains OF memory, and the hOneysuckle
odOr IL carried was not from tho bush In
the yard. II came. weighted with dreams.
from the blossoms that her Jane had
placed on the organ twenty-five years
ago A bob-white was calling In the
meadows across the dusty road, and the
echoes of the second bell had just died
away She and Abram were side ny side
in their accustomed place. and life lay
Ike a watered garden in the peaceful still
ness OF the time Jest before church be-
gins"
The asparagus on the stove boiled over
with a great splutteTing and Aunt Jane
came back 20 "the eternal now"
''Sakes alive" she exclaimed. as she
lifted the saucepan; Il must be gittin'
ole. to let things boil over this way
while I'm studyin' about old times. de
clare. ] believe I've clean forgot what ]
was sayin'."
You We're at church" ! suggested
and the singing was about TO begin.
Sure enough, Wei, all at once Miss
Penelope laid her hands on the keys and
begun to play and sing. Nearer. Ny God.
10 Thee. We'd heard that hymn all our
lives at church and protracted meetiu
and prayer-meetin's, but We didn't know
how it could sound till Miss Penelope
sung it all by herself thai day with our
new organ. ! ricollect jest how she
looked. pretty little thing that she was:
and sometimes I Cal hear her voice Jest
as plain as ] hear that robin out yonder
In the ellum tree. Every word was lest
ike a bright new piece o. silver and
every note was Jest like gold. and she
was looiSin' up through the winder al
the trees and the sky like she was singin'
10 somebody We couldn't see We clean
forgot about the new organ and the Bah
lists. and ! really believe we was feelin'
nearer to God than we'd ever felt be
fore. When she got through with the first
verse, she played soBethin' soft and
sweet and begun again: and right in the
middle of the first line-I declare. it's
twenty-five years ago, but git mad now
when ] think about it-right in thu mid
lie Of the first line Uncle Jim fined in
Ike an old squawkin' jay-bird, and sung
IKE he was tryin to drown out Miss
Penelope and the new organ, too.
Everybody give a jump when he first |
started. and he'd got nearly through the /
verse before we took in what was hap /
oenin'. Even the Babtists jest looked /
surprised like the rest of us. But when /
Miss Penelope begun the third time and
Uncle Jim jined in with his h0lIerin', ] I
Jaw Bush Elrod grin. and that grin
spread all over the Babtist crowd i'm no /
ime. The Presbyterian young folks was 4
5igglin' behind their fans, and Bush got 1
o laughin till he had to git up and
cave the church. They said he went up 4
he road to Sam Amos pasture and laid
Town on the grouna md rolled over and i
'ver, and laughed till he couldn't laugh /
my more
i was so mad started to git up. /
Rough goodness knows what ] could "a
lone. Abram he grabbed my dress and /
avs Steady, Jane" Jest ike he was |
akin to the old mare The thing that /
made me maddest was Silas Petty
-leanin back in his pew and smilin' as
atisfed as il he'd seen the salvation Of
he Lord. I didn't mind the Babtists
lalf as much as I did Sias.
THE only person in the church that
wasn't the least biz iustered was Miss
Penelope. She was a Marshall on her
Q0theT'S side and 7 a Ivvaxys sai1 sbas ~