In a Kennebec church, Sunday week, says the Lewiston Journal, new minister—that is, one who was being given a try—had about as much trouble as usually falls to the lot of one poor candidate.
He arrived early at the church and found that the furnace was out of gear, and that the auditorium was densely filled with smoke. The janitor and the
gathering congregation opened windows and labored with the furnace, and at last cleared the room enough so that the minister was dimly discernible through the blue, tear-producing haze.
The services started with a congregation whose eyes were aflame and a minister who was beginning to get uneasy. The voluntary was nearly over when one of the stops failed and a shrill, high pipe began to whistle. It pervaded the score of the music and the organist couldn’t drown it out, no matter how much he hammered the other keys. At last he stopped. But the one high whistle kept right on. The organist jabbed the stop in helpless wrath, but of no avail. The music kept pouring out despite all he could do. The congregation wore a broad grin. The minister tried to look as though nothing had happened, and the services went on.
The next hymn went all right—it didn’t contain the note that bothered—and the parson and the organist breathed easier.
Then came the last hymn before the sermon, and once more that single, piercing note rose high above the tune the organist was playing. The last verse was sung, the organist paused, and the congregation rustled into their seats and settled themselves for the sermon.
But the organ kept on.
The minister rose and stepped forward to begin. But he couldn’t with that ear-piercing whistle in the air. He looked reproachfully at the organ, but the brazen thing only whistled away in the same mocking way. The audience was smiling broadly, and the minister could not help but smile, too. And there they sat eyeing each other till the organ had exhausted the supply of wind in its lungs and with a last little whistle gave way to the clergyman.
They sang the closing hymn sans organ, for they did not want to take any more chances.
