...stood with arms interlocked and heads touching
as their voices soared in the grand finale.
The Baritone's Parish
or
"All Things to all Men"
By
James M. Ludlow
Fleming H. Revell Company
New York Chicago Toronto
MDCCCXCVI
Copyright, 1896, by
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY.
BOOKS BY
JAMES M. LUDLOW,
D.D., Litt.D.
THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES.
A Story of the Times of Scanderbey, andthe Fall of Constantinople.
A KING OF TYRE.
Contrasted Scenes of Jewish and PhoenicianLife, 400 B.C., woven into romance.
THAT ANGELIC WOMAN.
A Story from High Life To-day.
A MAN FOR 'A THAT; OR, "MY SAINT JOHN."
A Story of City Life among the Lowly.
THE AGE OF THE CRUSADES.
Life in the XI. and XII. Centuries.In preparation.
THE BARITONE'S PARISH; OR,
"ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN"
The pulpit and the choir gallery are closelyrelated in our city churches. It is, however, a sadfact that the "sons of the prophets" and the "sonsof Korah" usually know but little of one another;and this is to the loss of both. To the musiciansthe minister often seems a recluse, and theclergyman comes to look upon his choir as a band ofitinerant minstrels.
It is therefore very refreshing to note thatbetween the pastor of St. Philemon's, theRev. Dr. Wesley Knox, and Mr. Philip Vox, there sprangup an intimacy almost from the day when thenew baritone sang his first solo. It wasShelley's "Resurrection," which had been renderedas an offertory after one of the doctor's finestefforts at an Easter sermon.
Deacon Brisk, the chairman of the music committee,met the preacher at the chancel-rail withinfifteen seconds after the benediction had beenpronounced; before the sexton could deliver amessage that a parishioner was in momentaryexpectation of death, and required the pastor'simmediate attendance; before Lawyer Codey hadadjusted his silk hat like a falcon on his wristpreparatory to his stately march down themiddle aisle; and even before the soprano hadadjusted her handsome face and bonnet over thefront of the choir gallery to inspect the passers-out.
Deacon Brisk was like most music committee-menin that he knew little about the musical art;but he was a hustler in getting the worth of hismoney in whatever job he undertook. Rubbinghis hands in self-congratulation upon the newbaritone's engagement, he delivered himself of apanegyric which he had spent the time of theclosing prayer in composing:
"I tell you, doctor, Vox was a catch. Why,he sang
"'In slumber lay the brooding