The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-10-06
BY EUGENE WOOD,
of 1.-THE Swimming Hole"

There'n be something for children to
do;
On that bright shining shore,
Where there's joy evermore,
Therell be something for children to
do"
1 suppose he thought that would be
an inducement!
One of these days America is going
to he the musical center of the world.
When that day is fully come, and men
sit down 20 write about it, / hope they
won't forget to give due credit to the
reed organ, Stephen Foster, and the
Sabbath school. The reed organ had
a lot to do with musical culture. 1t is
much decried now by people that pre-
fer a piano that hasn't been tuned Tor
four years; but the reed organ Will
come into its own some day, don't for
get. Without it the Sabbath school
could not have been. Anybody that
would have piano in SABBATH schooi
ought to be prosecuted.
When music, heavenly maid, was
Just coming to after that awful lick
the Puritans hit her, the first sign of
returning life was that people began
to tire of the ten or dozen tunes TO
which our great-grandfathers droned
and sniffled all their hymns. In those
days there was raised up man named
Stephen Foster, who heard in his soul
the music of wonderful melodies and
we have been singing them ever since
=" Way Down Upon the Swanee Rib
ber' and 'Old Kentucky Home" and
Nellie Gray" and the rest. Then
Bradbury and Philip Phillips and many
more of them began to write exactly
the same kind of tunes for sacred
words. They were just the thing for
the Sabbath school, but they were
more, much more.
You know that when a fellow gets
so he can shave himself without cut
ting half his lip off, when it takes him
half an hour to part his hair to suit
him, when he takes to shining his
shoes and has a pretty taste in neck
ties he doesn't want to bawl the air
of a piece like the old stick-in-the-
muds up in the Amen corner or in Mr..
Parker's class. He wants to sing bass.
Air is too high for him anyhow I'M
less he sings it with a hog noise. Oh,
you get out! You do, too, know what
a hog noise" is. You want to let on
you've always lived in town. Likely
story if you never heard anybody in
the hog pasture with basket of nub-
bins calling "Peeg. Peeg! Boo-ee!
Booze" A mans voice breaks into
falsetto on the "Boo-eer Well, any
how, such young man as 1 am tell
ing you of would be ashamed to sing
with a hog noise. He wants to sing
bass. Now the regular hymn tunes
change the bass as often as they
change the soprano, and if you go
fumbling about for the note, by the
time you get it right it is wrong, be-
cause the tune has gone on and left
you. The Sabbath school songs had
the young man Absalom distinctly in
view. They made the bass the same
all through the measure, and all the
changes We're strictly on the do, sol
and ia basis. AS far as the other notes
In the scale were concerned, the young
man Absaiom need not bother his head
with them. With do. sol and ia he
could sing through the whole book
from cover to cover as good as any
body.
When people find out what fun it is
to sing by note, it is only a step to
the Messiah" two blocks up and turn
to the right, as you might say. After
that it is only going ahead till you get
to "Vogner." Yes, and manys the day
you called the hogs. Don't tell me-
Once a month on Sunday evenings
there were Sabbath school concerts. /
The young ones sat in the front seats,
ten or twelve in a pew. Now, chill
dren." said the superintendent, Il want
you to all sing loud and show the folks
how nice you can sing. Page s.. Six
ty-fith page. Scatter Seeds of Kind
ness Now, all sing out now" We
licked our thumbs and scuffled through
the book till we found the place. We
scowled at it, and stuck out our mouths
at it, and shrieked at it, and bawled at
it, and did the very best we knew to
give an imitation of two hundred little
pigs all grabbed by the hind legs at
once. That was what made folks call
it a concert.
There were addresses to the dear
children by persons that teetered on
their toes and dimpled their cheeks in
dried-apple smiles at us. Some COM
plain that they do not know how to
talk to children and keep them inter-
ested. Oh, pshaw, Simple as A B C
to the little folks for an hour and d
half on Banking as Related to Ma
tional Finance" and keep them on the
CULVER of excitement. Ask questions.
And to be sure that they give the right
answers Ca very important thing re-
member this: When you wish them to
say Yes, sir" end your question with
Don't they?" or isn't it?" When you
wish them to say mo, sir" end your
question with DO they? or rs it?"
When you wish them to choose be-
tween two answers, mention first the
one they mustn't take, then pause, look
archly at them, and mention the one
they must take. Thus:
Q.-Now, dear children, 1 wonder if
you can tell me where the sun rises
In the north, doesn't it?
Ayes. sir.
Q.-Yes, you are right. In the north
And because it rises in the north every
afternoon at three, how do we walk
about? On our feet, do We?
A.-No. sir.
Ono, of course not Then how is
it we do walk about? On our ears or
-(now the look)-on our noses?
A.-On our noses.
This method, if carefully and sys-
tematically employed. was never
known to fail. 1t is called the So
cratic method.
The most interesting feature of the
monthly Sabbath school concert is
universally conceded to be the treas
urer's report. So much on hand at the
last meeting, so much contributed BY
each class during the month last past,
so much expended so much left on