The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-06-09
FareweH Seruice To
 Church Organ Is GiUen
Mid Deepening Shadows Professor Grambs Bids Fon' Farewell to Old Friend the Church of the Advent
 Judge Latady Reads Original Poem
By CHAS. H. MANDY.

| make room for new instrument. With the lights dim and low, amid a silence that could almost be felt, the party gathered around the organ and | Prof Grambs said:
 ''Gentlemen, you have been invited here 1 tonight to an event of more than usual | interest to me, that of bidding farewell to an old and trusty friend of nearly quarter of a century. We have been the best of friends, we have shared joys and sorrows together, and which l might say has been a dominant part of my life l "A nobler organ will shortly take it's place. and my old friend is to be dis mantled with the coming day, perhaps to remain silent forever. Thus do we part in life with our old true friends in like manner.
 .I will not attempt at this time to give a history of the organ, and the many in- | cidents of interest connected with it, as | that has been left to another. but will | briefly say that it has fulfilled its mis- sion and it's glorious tones will always finger with me and may l say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant, Re quiescat in Pace.
 Professor Grambs then played Wag ners "Pilgrim's Chorus" and never in his 25 years as organist did he put so much soul and feeling in his playing as he did last night in rendering this | sublime number. It fairly thrilled his l hearers and held them entraneed, Following this selection Judge A. Latady read the following original poem, reading-the lines with depth of feeling that enhanced their beauty of thought and sentiment.
 A LUTE'S FAREWELL Sweet house of prayer; long farewell;
 No lute shall move, to prayer compel,
 Nor pealing anthem ever swell 1 So sweetly on the ears of those | Who've heard me pipe within this close
 Nor hold their hearts in holier spell
 Sweet house of prayer, farewell, fare
 well.
 You granddames and you grandsires grey Who learned through me to woo and pray. And stood beside my niche to say
 That naught but death should e'er you part;
 That but one soul you had. one heart,
 And who have kept your faith so well, To you I bid long farewell.
 You mothers sweet and fathers dear, Who've come to this sweet house to hear My songs of praise and hymns of prayer,
 Which famed to flame your glowing youth;
 Burned in your souls the words oi
 truth;
 To which my pipes did you compel. To you, I bid fond farewell. My tremlous voice must now be still; Another lute my niche shall fill,
 And with a fresher voice fulfill, That mission which my lusty years
 Bid me essay sans qualms or fears
 But Father Time" doth sound the knel II Of my departure, fare thee well. No likeness of myself could raise Your memories to the notes of praise, , Which I have sung in by-gone days, Here in this holy place of prayer,
 Here in this sanctuary, where , Your joys and woes you've come to tell } But with me, all must say, farewell. t Sweet house of prayer, again adieu. s I've fought the fight with all and you, T And now, that l must pass from view, g Let me express the hope, none higher, To which lute can ger aspire. . That she, who to this niche shall come, ITO take my place in this sweet home,
 May plead my plea as l have plead;
 May stand all in their hearts the stead Which with my every pipe I've stood
 In happiest, holiest, dreariest mood; I With new born-babe; with hoary head 5 With manly groom, with blushing bride ; With all whom those without have tried And teach the way to heaven to all: y Raise from the pit the weak who fall; u Strengthen the weak, reprove the prouo
 Gladden. the birth, and soothe the shroud , Allure to hope; allure to love; . And teach the joys that be above, 2 The grovelling grime. the deadening heal \ Which holds the worldly in deep sleep, - Uplift their souls to see the light u And arm them with the will to fight, o Against the imp of fetish fear, . Who shall not, must not, enter here To all that's pure, may she compel, . Sweet friends and this sweet home
 farewell
 ' At the conclusion of the reading . and as a finale to the occasion, Prol i. Grambs and Oliver Chalifoux rendere a 'sThe Angels Serenade" on the orga
 and violin with wonderful effect r l conclusion Major A. G.. Forbes al 5, dressed few remarks to Pro' !, Grambs stating that the scope an beauty of the organs usefulness ha :, been made possible by the touch of hi o master hand
 2 As the party was leaving the churc = there came floating down the evenin , breezes in unmistakable organ tones . but soft and subdued; the strains o Peace, Perfect Peace" It may hay been an echo from some neighborin | nt