Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 February 1901 — LITTLE CHURCH BACK HOME. [ARTICLE]

LITTLE CHURCH BACK HOME.

When the bi* pipe or*au’> aweliin’ an’ the city choir ■insrti. An’ yon almoa’ hear the swiahin’ of the lovin' angels’ wings. An’ the congregation’s musin' on the proneness for to sin, Sort o’ leauiu’ listless, waitin’ for the preacher to begin; In that holy hush it happens that I clean forget the place. An’ again I’m meek an’ lowly 'fore a throne of savin' grace; throne that wasn’t nestlin’ 'neath a spire ora dome, But the sinners sought their Savior in that little church back home. When we had protracted meetin's, why 'twould done you good to hear The congregation singin’ with a blend o' voices clear, How the “Rock o' Ages’’ towered like a shelt’rlu’ sort o' wall. An’ our souls soared up to the glory since the Rock was cleft for all. Ev’ry face was wreathed with sweetness, 'an we always had a smile For the stranger, saint or sinner, in the pew across the aisle; For a diamond's often gathered from the commonest of loam, An' we didn't mind the settin' in the little church back home. There were weddin’s where the neighbors gathered in from far an’ wide. An’ the boys looked on in envy while their sisters kissed the bride: There were fun’rals, too, where neighbors didn.t feel ashamed to cry When they laid to rest, the sleeper in the little yard close by. Each pew seemed sort o’sacred, an’the lowly pulpit there 'Pears like a holy gateway to a flrnament that’s fair; Where the sweet supernal sunshine softly scatters sorrow's gloam Au' lets us enter heaven from the little church back home. The city choir's voices rise in cadences so sweet As they sing about the river where the sainted ones shall meet. An' the preacher's voice in pleadin' as he asks us, soft an' low. To treat all inen as brothers, in this weary vale of wo. The city church is handsome an’ the congregation's large, The preacher's doin’nobly with hisheavenseekin' charge, The choir's swellin' anthems soar to heaven through the done, But my old heart is sighin' for the little church back home. —Leslie’s Weekly.