The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1955-09-09
g L | M P S E S
TIL E P A S T
BY CAROLYN LLOYD

From someone's radio or tele
vision set down the street come:
the chorus of "The Old Rugged
Cross" being sung by male quar-
tet. Suddenly l am back in grade
school staying in at recess be
cause the teacher returned to tn,
room after lunch and found thu
class harmonizing on the hymn
She said we were being sacrile
gious, and no amount of argumen
. woald convince her that we had M
sucl intention. We simply loveC
to sing; it was song we all knew
and it was perfect for harmonic
ing. We were also pretty good a
"Shall We Gather At The River
and LET the Lower Lights b
Burning" The idea of being sac
religious was a little confusing t.
US, since we sang those hymn:
around a piano at home and hac
never been told that that type Of
music should only be performed
under a church roof.
Those old hymns aren't heard SC
frequently these days. Looking
back, l am inclined to believe that
the long-suffering people of my
community might have wished
that they had been heard less oft
en- then. AS 1 said, we were a sing
ing crowd, and we performed with
very little urging on any and all
occasions. The town was small, but
like most small towns, had a large
number of churches with small
congregations. Every denomina-
ton was represented in our crowd
and, not wanting to slight anyone
or miss out on anything, we took
part in the activities of all
churches. Whatever young peo-
pies organization existed in any
church, we all belonged to, favor
ing, of course, the one that served
the best refreshments. There must
have ben a scarcity of adult sing
ers, for when a revival or any
other special occasion was held in
any church, we young ones were
pressed into service in the choir.
During at least one of these, the
minister must have wished fer
vently that he had never seen us,
for we just about broke up the
service on two separate nights.
The choir sat on a dais facing the
congregation and separated from
the minister's lectern by a half
curtain. The adults in the choir
sat on the first row, in order, I'm
sure, to keep the younger ones in
line. One of them, however, made
the mistake of first slipping off
her shoes. When we stood up to
sing, someone accidentally kicked
the shoe through the curtain in
full view of the congregation.
There were a few restrained
smiles from in front, but there
was nothing restrained about the
wave of giggles which swept the
back row of the choir. Surely there
is no one who ever went to church
in his youth who fails to remem-
Der the peculiar agony of trying
to suppress fit of giggles in
church, a feat which involves both
mental and physical will power OF
great degree. On the second night
the evangelist, who was just be-
ginning to hit his stride, was the
cause of our downfall. Beginning
mildly enough, he suddenly bang
ed his fist upon the table with
such force that everyone in the
church jumped at least a foot.
Then he really went into action,
pulling at his tie, tearing his hair,
and pacing up and down like a
Gagged lion. The climax came, how
ever, when he stopped in the mid
die of the sentence and shouted to
woman in the congregation,
How're you getting along, Sister
Gallagher" Well, you can mag
inc the effect of such histronics
upon a group of adolescents; our
giggling got completely out of
hand, and the next night our serv-
ices were dispensed with. We still
didn't mean to be sacrilegious, but
the strain on youthful senses of
humour was just too great.
l really don't know which hymns
the young people sing now at their
Sunday night gatherings but /
suspect that they still like the
effect of old-fashioned harmony. /
also suspect that their motives for
attending these gatherings are not
always entirely of a completely
religious nature any more than
ours were. Regardless of motives,
however, they are gaining more
thank they think and learning I'M
awares much that they will not
recognize to be of value until later
years. Don't misunderstood me-
don't advocate giggling in church.
nor using the MYF, for instance,
as convenient place to meet ones
current crush; but neither do
consider it sign of total deprav-
l.