Lippincott'S Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science, Volume 26 December, 1880., Various None [best books to read for beginners .txt] 📗

Face The Reflection Of That Misery Which Filled His Own.

 

Parting For Ever! No Hopes,  No Expectations,  No Looking Forward,  Nothing

To Whisper "We Shall Meet Again"! "Good-Bye For Ever" Was Written On

Each Face And Echoed In each Heart. Words Could Not Soothe That

Suffering Which Turned This Common Sorrow Into An Individual Torture,

Which Each Must Bear Unaided And Alone; And So They Stood Silent And

With Outward Calm,  Knowing That On That Brink Of Woe The Quiver Of An

Eye Might Overthrow Their All But Lost Control.

 

The Sun Was Sinking Fast; The Gathering Mists Of Eventide Were Rising To

Shadow All Around; The Toil Of Day Was Drawing To Its Close; Labor Was

Past,  Repose Was Near At Hand; Its Spirit Seemed To Hover Around And

Breathe Its Calm Upon Those Worn,  Tried Souls. Suddenly A Shrill Whistle

Sounds Upon Their Ears And Breaks The Spell: The Women Start And Throw

Their Arms Around Each Other'S Necks. Adam Stretches His Hand Out,  And

Reuben Grasps It In His Own.

 

"Reuben,  Good-Bye. God Deal With You As You Shall Deal With Those You'Re

Going Among!"

 

"Adam,  Be True To Her,  And I'Ll Be True To Those You Leave Behind."

 

"Joan!" And Adam'S Voice Sounds Hard And Strained,  And Then A Choking

Comes Into His Throat,  And,  Though He Wants To Tell Her What He Feels,

To Ask Her To Forgive All He Has Made Her Suffer,  He Cannot Speak A

Word. Vainly He Strives,  But Not A Sound Will Come; And These Two,  Whose

Lives,  So Grown Together,  Are Now To Be Rent Asunder,  Stand Stricken And

Dumb,  Looking From Out Their Eyes That Last Farewell Which Their Poor

Quivering Lips Refuse To Utter.

 

"God Bless And Keep You,  Eve!" Reuben'S Voice Is Saying As,  Taking Her

Hands Within His Own,  He Holds Them To His Heart And For A Moment Lets

Them Rest There.--"Oh,  Friends," He Says,  "There Is A Land Where

Partings Never Come: Upon That Shore May We Four Meet Again!"

 

Then For A Moment All Their Hands Are Clasped And Held As In a Vice,  And

Then They Turn,  And Two Are Gone And Two Are Left Behind.

 

And Now The Two On Land Stand With Their Eyes Strained On The Boat,

Which Slowly Fades Away Into The Vapory Mist Which Lies Beyond: Then

Reuben Turns And Takes Joan By The Hand,  And Silently The Two Go Back

Together,  While Adam And Eve Draw Near The Ship Which Is To Take Them

To That Far-Off Shore To Which Hope'S Torch,  Rekindled,  Now Is Pointing.

 

Good-Bye Is Said To Triggs,  The Boat Pushes Off,  And The Two Left

Standing Side By Side Watch It Away Until It Seems A Speck,  Which

Suddenly Is Swallowed Up And Disappears From Sight. Then Adam Puts His

Arm Round Eve,  And As They Draw Closer Together From Out Their Lips Come

Sighing Forth The Whispered Words,  "Fare-Well! Farewell!"

 

_The Author Of "Dorothy Fox"_.

 

 

Volume 26 Title 1 (Lippincott'S Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science) Pg 32

Our Grandfathers' Temples.

 

 

 

 

If On The Fourteenth Day Of May,  1607,  When The Rev. Robert Hunt

Celebrated The First Sacramental Service Of The Church Of England On

American Soil,  There Had Suddenly Sprung Up At Jamestown The Pillars And

Arches Of A Fully-Equipped Cathedral,  Whose Stones Had Remained To Tell

Us Of The Days When They First Enshrined The Worship Of The Earliest

Colonists,  Our Most Ancient Christian Church Would Still Be Less Than

Three Hundred Years Old--A Hopelessly Modern Structure In comparison

With Many An Abbey And Cathedral Of England And The Continent.

 

[Illustration: The Old South,  Boston.]

 

In A Comparative Sense,  We Look In Vain For Old Churches In a New

Country,  For In Our Architecture,  If Nowhere Else,  We Are Still A Land

Of Yesterday,  Where Age Seems Venerable Only When We Refuse To Look

Beyond The Ocean,  And Where Even A Short Two Hundred Years Have Taken

Away The Larger Share Of Such Perishable Ecclesiastical Monuments As We

Once Had. Our Grandfathers' Temples,  Whether They Stood On The Banks Of

The James River Or On The Colder Shores Of Massachusetts Bay,  Were Built

Cheaply For A Scanty Population: Their Material Was Usually Wood,

Sometimes Unshapen Logs,  And Their Sites,  Chosen Before The People And

The Country Had Become Fitted To Each Other,  Were Afterward Often Needed

For Other Uses. So Long As London Tears Down Historic Churches,  Even In

The Present Days Of Fashionable Devotion To The Old And The Quaint,  And

So Long As The Rome Of 1880 Is Still In danger From Vandal Hands,  We

Need Only Be Surprised That The List Of Existing American Churches Of

Former Days Is So Long And So Honorable As It Is. If We Have No York

Minster Or St. Alban'S Abbey Or Canterbury Cathedral,  We May Still Turn

To An Old South,  A St. Paul'S And A Christ Church. It Is Something,

After All,  To Be Able To Count Our Most Famous Old Churches On The

Fingers Of Both Hands,  And Then To Enumerate By Tens Those Other Temples

Whose Legacy From Bygone Times Is Scarcely Less Rich.

 

[Illustration: King'S Chapel,  Boston,  In 1872.]

 

The American Churches Of The Seventeenth And Eighteenth Centuries Were

Plain Structures,  Unpretending Without And Unadorned Within; And This

For Other Reasons Than The Poverty Of The Community,  The Lack Of The

Best Building-Materials,  And The Absence Both Of Architects And Of

Artistic Tastes. It Was A Simple Ritual Which Most Of Them Were To

House,  And The Absence Of An Ornate Service Demanded The Absence Of

Ornamentation,  Which Would Be Meaningless Because It Would Symbolize

Nothing. The Influence Of The Puritans In Massachusetts,  The Baptists In

Rhode Island,  The Dutch Reformed In New York,  The Lutherans And

Presbyterians In The Middle And Southern Colonies,  And The Friends In

Pennsylvania,  Whatever Their Denominational Differences,  Was A Unit In

Favor Of The Utmost Simplicity Consistent With Decency And Order; And

Though There Was A Difference Between Congregational Churches Like The

Old South In boston And The Friends' Meeting-Houses In Philadelphia,  The

Difference Was Far Less Marked Than That Existing Between The New And

Volume 26 Title 1 (Lippincott'S Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science) Pg 33

Old Buildings Of The Old South Society,  Which The Modern Tourist May

Compare At His Leisure In The Boston Of To-Day. Even The Episcopalians

Shared,  Or Deferred To,  The Prevailing Spirit Of The Time: They Put No

Cross Upon Their Christ Church In cambridge,  Nearly A Hundred And Thirty

Years After The Settlement Of The Place,  Lest They Should Offend The

Tastes Of Their Neighbors. The Methodists,  The "Christians," The

Swedenborgians,  The Unitarians And The Universalists Were Not Yet,  And

The Moravians Were A Small And Little-Understood Body In eastern

Pennsylvania.

 

[Illustration: King'S Chapel Boston,  In 1872.]

 

Nearly All The Colonists,  Of Whatever Name,  Brought From Europe A

Conscientious Love Of Religious Simplicity And Unpretentiousness: For

The Most Part,  The English-Speaking Settlers Were Dissenters From The

Church Which Owned All The Splendid Architectural Monuments Of The

Country Whence They Came; And It Was Not Strange That Out Of Their

Religious Thought Grew Churches That Symbolized The Sturdy Qualities Of

A Faith Which,  Right Or Wrong,  Had To Endure Exile And Poverty And

Privation--Privation Not Only From Social Wealth,  But From The Rich

Store Of Ecclesiastical Traditions Which Had Accumulated For Centuries

In Cathedral Choirs And Abbey Cloisters.

 

[Illustration: Christ Church,  Boston.]

 

Therefore,  The Typical New England Meeting-House Of The Seventeenth And

Eighteenth Centuries May Perhaps Be Taken As The Best Original Example

Of What America Has To Show In The Way Of Church-Building. To Be Sure,

Its Cost Was Modest,  Its Material Was Perishable Wood,  Its Architectural

Design Was Often A Curious Medley Of Old Ideas And New Uses,  And Even

Its Few Ornaments Were Likely To Be Devoid Of The Beauty Their Designers

Fancied That They Possessed. But It Was,  At Any Rate,  An Honest

Embodiment Of A Sincere Idea--The Idea Of "Freedom To Worship God;" And

It Was Adapted To The Uses Which It Was Designed To Serve. It Stood Upon

A Hill,  A Square Box With Square Windows Cut In Its Sides--Grim Without

And Grim Within,  Save As The Mellowing Seasons Toned Down Its Ruder

Aspects,  And Green Grass And Waving Boughs Framed It As If It Were A

Picture. Within,  The High Pulpit,  Surmounted By A Sounding-Board,

Towered Over The Square-Backed Pews,  Facing A Congregation Kept Orderly

By Stern Tithing-Man And Sterner Tradition. There Was At First Neither

Organ Nor Stove Nor Clock. The Shivering Congregation Warmed Itself As

Best It Might By The Aid Of Foot-Stoves; The Parson Timed His Sermon By

An Hour-Glass; And In The Singing-Seats The Fiddle And The Bass--Viol

Formed The Sole Link (And An Unconscious One) Between The Simple

Song-Service Of The Puritan Meeting-House And The Orchestral

Accompaniments To The High Masses Of European Cathedrals. The Men Still

Sat At The End Of The Pew--A Custom Which Had Grown Up In The Days When

They Went To The Meeting-House Gun In Hand,  Not Knowing When They Should

Be Hastily Summoned Forth To Fight The Indians. In The Earliest Days The

Drum Was The Martial Summons To Worship,  But Soon European Bells Sent

Forth Their Milder Call. Behind The Meeting-Houses Were The Horse-Sheds

For The Use Of Distant Comers--A Species Of Ecclesiastical Edifice Still

Adorning The Greater Number Of American Country Churches,  And Not Likely

To Disappear For Many A Year To Come.

 

In The Elder Day There Was No Such Difference As Now Between City And

Country Churches,  For The Limitations Of Money And Material Bore Upon

Volume 26 Title 1 (Lippincott'S Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science) Pg 34

Both More Evenly. But With Growing Wealth And The Choice Of Permanent

Locations For Building Came Brick And Stone; English Architects Received

Orders; And The Prevailing Revival Led By Sir Christopher Wren And His

Followers Dotted The Northern Colonies With More Pretentious Churches,

Boasting Spires Not Wholly Unlike Those Which Were Then Piercing London

Skies. With Costlier Churches Of Permanent Material There Came Also The

English Fashion Of Burial In churchyards And Chancel-Vaults,  And Mural

Tablets And Horizontal Tombstones Were Laid Into The Mortar Which Has

Been Permitted,  In Not A Few Cases,  To Preserve Them For Our Own Eyes.

 

[Illustration: St. Michael'S,  Marblehead,  Massachusetts.]

 

But Our Oldest Churches,  As A Rule,  Have Been Made More Notable By The

Political Events With Which They Have Been Associated Than By The

Honorable Interments That Have