Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-11
SCOTCH NOT SINGERS
Mr.. Curtis UnfoIds a Chapter
on the Religious Side.
HOW THE OLD-TIMERS SANG
Andrew Carnegie Has Helped to
Change Things Greatly.
ZACHARY BOYD AND CROMWELL
Gran Auld Kirk O. Glasgow" and
the Metropolis With Its Gro
tesque Knox Memorial.
ZACHARY BOYD AND CROMWELL

BY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The star and the
Chicago Record Herald.
GLASGOW. September ). 1905.
Sunday morning We went TO service at
1.-THE Gran Auld Kirk O. Glasgow" that
has been standing here for 500 years. just
as Cromwell went when he was visiting
the city, about the middle of the seven
teenth century. and as Frank Osbaldi-
stone, the hero of Rob Roy and all
other good citizens do who come to this
town; but our experience was quite diff
ferent from theirs. 1t is the noblest place
of worship in Scotland, as every one will
agree. Only half the buildng-the choir
ends used these days for worship. The
nave is d sort of pantheon and contains
the tombs and monuments of the illus
trous dead. The choir is fitted up with
pews, pulpit and reading desk. like an
ordinary church. and will seat about 5000
people.
Carnegie's Way of Doing Things.
over the imposing rood screen which
divides the great interior is modern or
gan. contributed by our distinguished fell
ow-citiZen. Andrew Carnegie, LID, who
has done more to unsettle the practice
and principle of the Scottish Presby
terians concerning the use of musical in
struments in the worship of God than all
their assemblies and synods can ever do.
If King James ii. or Charles III. or
Bloody Mary" had adopted Mr. Car
negies methods in dealing with the stern
old Presbyterians of their time. they
could have avoided much bloodshed and
accomplished more practical results.
While they resorted to the sword and the
torture chamber as means of persuasion.
Mr.. Carnegie has simply crossed their
hans with goOld.' He will pay for an Or
gan wherever a congregation will put it
up in their church / believe he has COR
rupted at least 156 orthodox Presbyterian
congregations from the practice of dron-
ing the psalms of David through their
noses TO singing rhyming hymns. and
through his influence they are now listen
ing to the ungodly harmony that pours
from the heathenish pipes of his organs.
There is nae mare singin o the psalms.
The people o Scotland haze becoom wor-
shippers O. Bel and the dragon. and the
house o God has bin turned into a babel
o theater on the Sabbath with tumbled
tapsalteery, an rumship is made a by
word o sin an ungodliness. The eenspired
words o David are no longer sung by the
voices that God created, but are put aside
for heathenish jibberish o tn reemsters
and the soonds o wood and tin
How the old-Timers' Sang.
Any one who has heard an old-fashioned
Scottish congregation sing one of the
Psalms of David from Rouse's version
has heard the most melancholy noise on
earth The minister from the pulpit
reads the lines, the precentor strikes
tuning fork to get the key, and then leads
off i'm loud, harsh untuneful voice,
while the congregation drags along few
notes behind him. There is no attempt
to sing :he parts. There is neither mel
ody nor harmony. The men follow the air
about an octave lower than the women
and usually on a different key, and every
body is equally indifferent TO time and
tune.
BY offering to furnish organs to all the
churches who will accept them free of
cost MIR Carnegie has effected a revolu-
ton in the church music of Scotland. be-
cause when a congregation gets an organ
the Scottish instincts will not permit IL
to be wasted, and choir soon follows.
The order of service at the Cathedral
; of ST. Mungo in Glasgow Is a sort of mod
/ ern mixture of the Church of England
|. ritual and that prescribed by John Knox:
T., Scripture lessons are read from the Old
and the New Testament. Three prayers
are read from a book and three hymns
are sung by the congregation and the
choir. an anthem. rather elaborate ar
arrangement of THE Lord Is My Shep-
herd" being rendered with soprano and
bass solos by the choir alone. While the
offerings are taken the organist plays
tSchubert's "Serenade with exquisite
ftaste and expression. / wonder what
would have happened If this had occurred
even a quarter of century ago 1t was
inspired music. particularly the organ
solo. but John Knox would certainly have
thrown a fit il he could have heard the
Soprano In the anthem crying on high L
about THE green pastures with the
trills of nightingale.
The Cathedral.
The old cathedral which stood upon
the site of the present one was built by
Est Mungo in $50 or Whereabouts. There
has always been church upon TINS
ground The present structure was be-
gun about 1854 and the beautiful chapter
house finished by Bishop Lauder in 14os.
The best part of il was built during sew
enty-four years of the twelfth ana 1hir-
1eenth centuries Ii is cruciform in shape,
has a central tower and spire, and can
not be surpassed for massiveness sim
plicity and holiness of outline. 1t is 3l3
feet long, So feet broad 30 feet high and
the spire rises 225 feet. The gray stone
has been bIackened by the SCOT of eight
centuries. until the exterior walls are
very near the color of anthracite coal.
Nature has given luster to ii that can
not be initiated by man. 1t is an honor
10 Glasgow. a monument to Christian
civilization. There are nearly hundred
pointed Gothic windows of modern
stained glass, all filled with scriptural
illustrations. mostly memorials. and not
altogether satisfactory. The choir screen
IS of massive stone and well carved The
most noticeable feature is the crypt be-
meath the choir and chapter house. which
is uncommonly we'll lighted and often
used for worship.
1t in this crypt that Frank Os-
maidstone was attending service when
Rob Roy crept up from behind a pillar
and whispered You are in danger in
this city. Forgetting that Walter Scott
a writer of fiction rather than his
tory. the verger points out the identical
place.
SCOTS Incompatible Description.
Andrew Fairservice, the servant of the
hero of Rob Roy" gave the best descrip-
ton / have ever seen of the cathedral
and we must remember that it was Sir
Walter Scott speaking
''Ah, it's a brave kirk. name o we're
higmaleeries and curliewurlies and open
steek hens about tia solid. weel-jointed
mason wark, that will stand as lang as