To Betty -- darling! -- Upton Sinclair

There was an Atchdeacon of whom I know
who bought an American altar.
He said, "Oh, it's dandy!
There's a loud speaker handy,
And an eight-tube electrical psalter!"

But our pastor was a man of whom we are awfully glad
Said OUR pastor, in tones of derision,
"As for me, I've put in television.
While you folks are hearing
My flock MeSEES the searing
Results of schismatical fission!"

As for us, when we first came to Florence
We had churches in greatest abhorrence,
But now, how we love 'em
When we see above 'em
Theological scrapping in torrents!"

Limerick verses by Sinclair Lewis written ex-tempore sometime in 1949 and addressed to Mrs. Sturges Riddle, wife of the then pastor of the American Church in Florence, now Dean of the American Cathedral in Paris. The lines refer to in a mildly derisive way to the rector of the Anglican Church in Florence, recently created Archdeacon of Malta.

M.S.