Part 5 (2/2)
Let us draw the curtain of charity over the rest of the scene
CHAPTER V
ABOUT half-past ten the cracked bell of the sather for thesermon The Sunday-school children distributed themselves about the house and occupied peith their parents, so as to be under supervision Aunt Polly ca placed next the aisle, in order that he ht be as far away from the openand the seductive outside sued and needy postmaster, who had seen better days; theother unnecessaries; the justice of the peace; theDouglass, fair, sood-hearted soul and well-to-do, her hill mansion the only palace in the town, and the most hospitable and much thecould boast; the bent and venerable Major and Mrs Ward; lawyer Riverson, the new notable froe, followed by a troop of lawn-clad and ribbon-decked young heart-breakers; then all the young clerks in town in a body--for they had stood in the vestibule sucking their cane-heads, a circling wall of oiled and siantlet; and last of all ca as heedful care of his ht his mother to church, and was the pride of all the ood And besides, he had been ”thrown up to the out of his pocket behind, as usual on Sundays--accidentally Tom had no handkerchief, and he looked upon boys who had as snobs
The congregation being fully asseards and stragglers, and then a solemn hush fell upon the church which was only broken by the tittering and whispering of the choir in the gallery The choir always tittered and whispered all through service There was once a church choir that was not ill-bred, but I have forgotten where it was, now It was a greatabout it, but I think it was in soave out the hyh with a relish, in a peculiar style which was an on a medium key and climbed steadily up till it reached a certain point, where it bore with strong eed down as if fro-board:
Shall I be car-ri-ed toe the skies, on flow'ry _beds_ of ease,
Whilst others fight to win the prize, and sail thro' _blood_-y seas?
He was regarded as a wonderful reader At church ”sociables” he was always called upon to read poetry; and when he was through, the ladies would lift up their hands and let them fall helplessly in their laps, and ”wall” their eyes, and shake their heads, as much as to say, ”Words cannot express it; it is too beautiful, TOO beautiful for this , the Rev Mr Sprague turned his and societies and things till it seemed that the list would stretch out to the crack of doom--a queer custom which is still kept up in Ae of abundant newspapers Often, the less there is to justify a traditional custoet rid of it
And now the enerous prayer it was, and went into details: it pleaded for the church, and the little children of the church; for the other churches of the village; for the village itself; for the county; for the State; for the State officers; for the United States; for the churches of the United States; for Congress; for the President; for the officers of the Government; for poor sailors, tossed by stor under the heel of European ht and the good tidings, and yet have not eyes to see nor ears to hear withal; for the heathen in the far islands of the sea; and closed with a supplication that the words he was about to speak round, yielding in tiood A congregation sat down
The boy whose history this book relates did not enjoy the prayer, he only endured it--if he even did that h it; he kept tally of the details of the prayer, unconsciously--for he was not listening, but he knew the ground of old, and the clergyular route over it--and when a little trifle of new matter was interlarded, his ear detected it and his whole nature resented it; he considered additions unfair, and scoundrelly In the midst of the prayer a fly had lit on the back of the pew in front of hiether, eorously that it seemed to almost part company with the body, and the slender thread of a neck was exposed to view; scraping its wings with its hind legs and soing through its whole toilet as tranquilly as if it kneas perfectly safe As indeed it was; for as sorely as Torab for it they did not dare--he believed his soul would be instantly destroyed if he did such a thing while the prayer was going on But with the closing sentence his hand began to curve and steal forward; and the instant the ”Amen” was out the fly was a prisoner of war His aunt detected the act and ave out his text and droned along uan to nod--and yet it was an argument that dealt in limitless fire and brimstone and thinned the predestined elect down to a co Toes of the seres there had been, but he seldo else about the discourse However, this time he was really interested for a little while Thetogether of the world's hosts at the ether and a little child should lead thereat spectacle were lost upon the boy; he only thought of the conspicuousness of the principal character before the on-looking nations; his face lit with the thought, and he said to himself that he wished he could be that child, if it was a taain, as the dry arguht hie black beetle with for,” he called it It was in a percussion-cap box The first thing the beetle did was to take hier A natural fillip followed, the beetle went floundering into the aisle and lit on its back, and the hurt finger went into the boy's s, unable to turn over Toed for it; but it was safe out of his reach Other people uninterested in the sermon found relief in the beetle, and they eyed it too Presently a vagrant poodle dog ca, sad at heart, lazy with the su for change He spied the beetle; the drooping tail lifted and wagged He surveyed the prize; walked around it; srew bolder, and took a closer serly snatch at it, just an to enjoy the diversion; subsided to his stomach with the beetle between his paws, and continued his experireeary at last, and then indifferent and absent-minded His head nodded, and little by little his chin descended and touched the enemy, who seized it There was a sharp yelp, a flirt of the poodle's head, and the beetle fell a couple of yards away, and lit on its back once entle inward joy, several faces went behind fans and hand-kerchiefs, and To looked foolish, and probably felt so; but there was resente So he went to the beetle and began a wary attack on it again; ju with his fore-paithin an inch of the creature,even closer snatches at it with his teeth, and jerking his head till his ears flapped again But he grew tired once more, after a while; tried to amuse himself with a fly but found no relief; followed an ant around, with his nose close to the floor, and quickly wearied of that; yawned, sighed, forgot the beetle entirely, and sat down on it Then there was a wild yelp of agony and the poodle went sailing up the aisle; the yelps continued, and so did the dog; he crossed the house in front of the altar; he flen the other aisle; he crossed before the doors; he claress, till presently he was but a woolly coleaht At last the frantic sufferer sheered fro it out of the , and the voice of distress quickly thinned away and died in the distance
By this ti with suppressed laughter, and the sermon had come to a dead standstill
The discourse was resu, all possibility of iravest senti received with a smothered burst of unholy mirth, under cover of some remote pew-back, as if the poor parson had said a rarely facetious thing It was a genuine relief to the whole congregation when the ordeal was over and the benediction pronounced
To to himself that there was some satisfaction about divine service when there was a bit of variety in it He had but oneshould play with his pinchbug, but he did not think it was upright in hi found To always found hi in school He generally began that day ishi+ng he had had no intervening holiday, it ain soPresently it occurred to him that he wished he was sick; then he could stay houe possibility
He canvassed his systeain This tian to encourage therew feeble, and presently died wholly away He reflected further Suddenly he discovered so One of his upper front teeth was loose This was lucky; he was about to begin to groan, as a ”starter,” as he called it, when it occurred to hiument, his aunt would pull it out, and that would hurt So he thought he would hold the tooth in reserve for the present, and seek further
Nothing offered for so the doctor tell about a certain thing that laid up a patient for two or three weeks and threatened to erly drew his sore toe from under the sheet and held it up for inspection
But now he did not know the necessary symptoms However, it see with considerable spirit
But Sid slept on unconscious
Toan to feel pain in the toe
No result fro with his exertions by this time He took a rest and then swelled hiroans