| Show h THE SINGING SCHOOL ROMANCE tiroui arrom the lila atlantic J noi Hoi for Decem decembers berj kahen s ets at the head of our kew bew pew in oid did indian times they say that the thoi male head of the family always took that place on account of the possible whoops pathe the savages who sometimes came cane down own on a congregation like ilko wolves on the khe lefold ie fold foid it was necessary the men should be ablo able to rise at once to defend their families whatever the old reason was tho the now is sufficient men must set act near the pew doors now on account of the hoops of the ladies the cause is different the effect tho the same ak father then sits at the head of the pew mother next aunt clara next next 1 I and then jerusha that has been tho the arrangement ever since I 1 can fe member remember any change in our places would voni voul d have been as fatal fatai to our devotions as thodis thedis lodgment of baron rothschild from his particular pillar was once business of the london stock exchange he could not negotiate if not at dt his post we could not worship if not in our precise places I 1 think by the fiig fild flag fussing slug and fidgeting which taking seats inthe the church always aiwas causes that every bally baily bady has the same feeling it was sunday afternoon the good minister parson oliver had bad finished his sermon the text was well I 1 remember aunt claras behavior in meeting and what she said bo tous tons us that afternoon have put the text sermon and all out of my head forever that khat is no matter or rather it is all the better for when the the same sermon comes again in its triennial round I 1 shall not recognize an old acquaintance the sermon finished we took up our hymnbooks hymn books of course but bub the minister ten ter gave out no hymn he sat down 1 kith a patient look at the choir as much ps asto to say now do coyour your worst then we understood that thab wo we were to be treat fd eatto to an extra performance not in ill our A book t ok s s there had been a renewal of interest in the choir and there was a new nev singing master wo we were to have the tho results of the late ite practicing ings sand and the first fruits of the new school the p piece le ce they sung yas wras tas that in which oc t ur the lines id soar and touch the heavenly strings and vie with gabriel while ho honings sings in notes almost divine I 1 we always when we rise during tho the singing face around to the choir I 1 dont know why perhaps it is to complete piete pieto our vie view v of the congre congregation gatlon gation since bince during the rest of the time we looked the other way and unless we faced about should 0 only see half alf 11 I 1 like ilke ke to peep peed eb at father to see whether he appreciates t the e herfor performance ance anee today to day he just turne turned his is head ea away mother sat down aunt clara looked stra straight lit ahead ahmid and nd her old fashioned bonn bonnet ethid ild iid her facca face but bu t I 1 could discover that something more than usual was working under her cap I 1 looked at every one of the singers and then at the players from the big bass viol down to the tenor and not nob a bit bib of reason could I 1 see for the twitter the heads of our pew had certainly got themselves into theres a pattern old lady prudence clark dark of the dorcas society a spinster just aunt alint claras age a woman who knows everything and more morty too she sets in the pew before us she bhe turned her head and gave a sly peep at aunt clara they both laughed in lne Ine meeting eting I 1 know they did and the they y cant anit deny it I 1 peeped around at the minister and if he laugh too his face was scarlet and he was taken with aa V wonderful fit of coughing such st strange ange auge proceedings roCe roee edings I 1 had never seen the IN minister ker the deacon father fa theris thenis is a deacon and the oldest members were setting slitting 6 us young folks a bad example but wo we tolerate anything in our good old 1 parson i he was a youth when our old folks were youn young g and as to us young youn 9 folks he remembers us longer than we do ourselves we were all at home and tea was over the early tea with as is the custom in primitive districts of new england on sunday afternoon the double accumulation of dishes were disposed posed of for at noon we take a cold collation rosed doughnuts and cheese and bread and butter and we never descend to servile employments till after tea then many han hands s make light work I 1 aisup sup pose sose light work does not break the th sabbath abbath especially if it is done in oui our sunday best with sleeves rolled up and an extra apron the laughing was a point upon which as yet melad obtained no satisfaction jerusha and 1 I in an uncertain hope that we should find out something in due duer time were discussing the music the tho particular point in debate was why village choirs will astonish the people with pieces of m musie music usie in which ch nobody can join them we did not settle it nor has anybody ever solved the riddle that I 1 know of we dont even know whether it comes under the not aleal or psychological departments there now haunt I 1 brought in the famous words that our new schoolmaster astonished us with at the teachers meeting he ile need not think that websters unabridged is his particular field in which nobody else may hunt we were as I 1 said discussing the music mother was flitting round giving givina the final dust ot off and rush brush about after after our early tea aunt clara was sitting quietly at the wi window fidow pretending to read baxters saints rest jerusha and I 1 tried to imitate the tune and we ve did it as well as we could and iam lam I 1 am sure we are not bad singers mother slipped out of the tiie room just as we came to and vie with avah gabriel gabrlel while lie in she ran as if something had stung her and she was making for fr the hartshorn or some fresh brook mud aunt claras face laughed all over and I 1 said come now aunt clara you lre are ire very irreverent you began laughing in meeting and you are ire tre keeping it up over that good book downright wicked jerusha now I 1 am a normal graduate and jerusha is not yet finished that will account for the greater elegance of my expressions aunt clara paid no heed to either of us but laughed on the most provoking thing in the world is a laugh laug h you do dont nt understand here was the whole doreas boreas society laughing through its and aunt clara joining in the laugh at meeting and aggravating grava ting the of rense tense by stereotyping the smirk in her face in came mother again I 1 evidently afraid to stay out and not liking for some reason to stay in again 0 we tried the tune and got to aulvie antole anlu anil vie with gabriel while he sings up jumped mother again stopping in the door and holding up a warning finger to aunt clara that gesture spurred my curiosity to the utmost point As to my beloved parents running in and out that I 1 should not havo have heeded she is like martha careful of many things she is unlike martha for she wants vanus no assistance but when the rest of us are disposed to be quiet she will keep flitting here and there and is vexed at us if we follow if father is talking ili 0 v and has just reached the tho point of eis els his story oni off uhe khe she goes as if the tho e common topic was nothing to her lier father says she is a perturbed pur spirit but then he is always saying queer things which chic 11 poor mother cannot understand aunt clara seems to know him better I 1 wonder he had not taken to wife a woman like aunt clara he would have taken her I 1 suppose if she were not his own sister I 1 besought mother as she fled to tell me what ailed aunty aulty dont doni ask me she answered the dear only kno knows ws As for me I 1 hag hav given up thinking let alone asking what either your aunt or your father would be at and away she went perturbed spirit fashion and aunt clara laughed louder than ever even indeed before she had only chuckled and silently shaken her fler sides now she broke into a scream well I 1 never she said that flounce of your mothers out of the room was certainly as much like old times as if the thin thing had happened yeste seste yesterday aday 11 what happened yesterday asked Jeru jerusha sils sila and 1 I both in n U breath ohi ohl oh I 1 shall shail die dle out of laugh laughing ing lug said aunt clara we shall die of impatience said 1 I if you dont tell us what you mean jno you wont vont nobody especially no woman over dver yet died of unsatisfied curiosity it rather keeps folks alive we very well knew that nothing could be made of aunt clara by teasing tea siti g her so Je jerusha turned over the great family bible her custom always of a sunday afternoon over her shoulder I 1 happened to see that the good book was open at the first chapter of I 1 chronicles adam seth enosh kenan bared 11 though her lips moved diligently I 1 am afraid she did not make much of it t As for me I 1 turned to the window and studied the landscape father his custom of a sunday aft afternoon er walked down in the meadow and the cattle came affectionately y up to him it was the salt in itt his broad pocket packet they were after 1 I might them of a monday he says bays but they kind of look for it and it kind to disappoint the cree on a sabbat day and the merciful man is ig merciful to his hia beasts the nies hies droned dronek and buzzed that sain summer afternoon jerusha nodded over the big bible aunt clara tried to look serious over the big book she held but the latent laugh was coursing among the dimples M in ii her face like a spark among tinder I 1 stole up tip behind and leaning over her shoulder kissed ler her oh yes said aunty aulty fine words butter no parsnips par snips and fine kisses are no better Jerus has hns head 11 ead mad made e an awful alun plunge ge then a reactionary lift back and then she open edher eyes and mouth with sueh a yawn I 1 why what a mouth I 1 cried later master bum num BUX would rejoice if you would thus open out in singing gs school c h and vie with gauniel Gal gai niel kiil he sings onn off went aunt ciara clara in a laugh again and this time till tears came we saw now that there was something in that line which provoked her mirth but what gabriel could have to do with her strange behavior we could not imagine and were wisely silent girls she said as soon as s she could speak for laughing 1 I will tell you we knew she woul would d provided we were not too anxious to hear so jerusha turned over her ber leaf to the second chapter of I 1 chronicles reuben simeon levi I 1 pretended to td be more than ever interested out of doors aunt clara took off her specs closed her book smoothed her apron and began when I 1 was a girl 11 now that we knew the story was coming we pretended to no more indifference once get aunty aulty started like a horse baulky at the j jump limp lamp she was good for the journey so jerusha shut the bible and we both sat down at her feet it not quite so close girls its dreadful warm her faced worked dand and her sides heaved with witly her provoking laugh andee and we were half afraid of a disappointment but there was no danger she was by this time quite as ready to tell as we were i ready to hear when I 1 was a girl I 1 went vent to the singing school dear me how many of the scholars are dead and gone there was my brother william poor fellow he died of calcutti Cal cutty an and sarah morgan she never would own to it that she liked him but actions speak plainer than words she never held up her head after and ashes dead now too aunt claras face she is a dear old aunty aulty had now lost every trace of mirth the golden sunset touched her fine head I 1 and made her look so sweetly beautiful that I 1 wondered why no man had had the good taste long ago to relieve her of her maiden name perhaps she will tell us some lay day and if she does perhaps we will tell you she sat two or three minutes thinking and looking as if she wal wai waited ted to see the loved and lost there was a rust rustle rustie leand aud and she started from her it was only mother flitting into the room with one of her uneasy glances but we were all so still and serious and sabbath like that a look of relief eam cam came e over her countenance te nance she vanished again and through the windows I 1 saw hermoin her join her husband in the meadow there now before they come in said aunt aunt clara when 1 I was a girl I 1 went to singing school 1 dear me but we will not think of the dead any more there was one of the girls she thought she had a very F good voice but she never sings now why asked jerusha the dear knows I 1 suppose because she is married married people never sing I 1 believe belleve so girls if you would keep your voices you must stay single well there was one of the boys he hb thought he had a good voice and he never sings now either why said 1 A oh hes married tolt too so go dont boint you yo get cheated into thinking you have mated a robin he will turn turnout out a crow like as any way I 1 suppose they both did have good voices and for all that I 1 know they have still they were the singing masters special wonders and his pattern pieces he never was tired of praising them up to the skies to mortify the rest of us into good be havior she was the wonder for th the girls side and he for the boys two copies that we were to sing up to I 1 think they were a little proud of the distinction they were kind of brought up together by it so wat that they did not see any tiny harm at all in singing out of the same note book a ibi 1 I suppose not i I 1 well weil A there was one girl iii in ta ch 1 dare say she was a giggling mischief making thing for everybody saido saldo Is she ehe living now I 1 tasked as kedz yes iri lil indeed deed 11 dogs dows does she sing now asked Ss serusha rusha well not much 1 then said 1 I lehe he must lic be married too no she is not said aunt clara ciara with plaintive anh and very positive emphasis on the fiega negative tive particle bio bho fio no she is not nobody will look over th the eramo bamo samo nofe e book with her wd sa id jerusha oh you girls may have youn your own fun now said aunt clara 1 you Yott will vIlt seo see the tho world with a sadder fae fac face by and b by Y 11 not if we look at it through gli your spectacles aunty aulty r I 1 answered dear me well the lord has been kind to me 11 said aunt clara if I 1 am a spinster still but we must make haste the old folks are coming beek beck back biek 11 old folks I 1 thought and aunt clara is older than either of them father stopped and gave an ugly weed a whack with his cane then he stopped and rooted it up sabbath day though it was I 1 presume he considered it an ox in a pit for the moment aunt clara continued the same tune you were at this afternoon used to be a great favorite in our school atsas its as old as the hills lills I 1 wonder if israel did not let his voice in it and sally she be behind him I 1 warrant you 11 jerusha and I 1 exchanged glances it happened one evening and what I 1 was laughing at this afternoon you see the singing master if the music was not going to suit him would pull the class straight up in the middie middle lof it and make them begin again the 9 giggling 1 ag girl that I 1 was speaking of she was always fuller of her own nonsense than of learning this particular evening she was tempted of the evil one to alter the words to her own purpose just for the confusion of those so close to he her r aill aili an a dreadful mess she would get t them em into it was wrong very wrong indeed I 1 aunt clara added with a face that was wag meant to be serious while her voice laughed in spite of her on this evening they were singing the very tune as I 1 told you something went wrong the singing master stopped and called outto the class to stop singing but the h heedless |
