Places and Persons
Magennis, Mary Elizabeth
October 22, 1930 THE COMMONWEAL 637 Places and Persons DISTRACTIONS OF A CHURCHGOER By MARY ELIZABETH MAGENNIS THERE is something perverse in man which becomes restless in the...
...it was only a flicker...
...October 22, 1930 THE COMMONWEAL 637 Places and Persons DISTRACTIONS OF A CHURCHGOER By MARY ELIZABETH MAGENNIS THERE is something perverse in man which becomes restless in the presence of the great and the solemn and seeks relief in the ridiculous or inconsequential when he is subjected to exaltation for any considerable length of time...
...The priest mounts the steps of the altar...
...I am sure I have got some good from this performance...
...I can't...
...How long can he keep serious during the service...
...Is Dick a nicer name than Richard ? Are nicknames ever nicer than real names ? This will not do...
...Well, I will have to squeeze in the Bible between dinner and the walk...
...I have not noticed the new styles on my old friends...
...That used to be a real source of distraction—to wonder how long it would be before some painting would be done, to count the places where there were water stains from the roof on the discolored plaster, soot marks from candles, faded-out bits of design...
...Last Sunday I was mesmerized by Mrs...
...What a detestable music memory I have...
...There is a "now...
...Russell swears by some new life of him that I must dip into...
...What saint's day is it according to the Missal...
...Now they are tied...
...He should try to develop more love of outdoor relaxation instead of spending hours indoors reveling in the hard precision of his Latin grammars...
...Perhaps church is the commonest place for this perversity to function...
...I love each one of them more because I know how inevitable they are...
...It was an ugly thing like a brass plumbing pipe with thick halffrosted, half-clear bulbs which gave a dizzying light...
...I really must get down to the main business of church...
...And now the sermon is done...
...Before I can pray much, there is a lovely rendition of the Credo...
...I have not thought unkind thoughts of them or questioned how much they kept their minds on religion...
...now another...
...I wonder how often he pulls down his sleeves as he talks...
...Why does the padre love to repeat that word so much...
...A "living-out-girl" (hired help in one of the rich folk's houses) with an unbelievably plain peasantlike face is wearing a deceitfully simple and smart ballibuntl that she never had the inspiration to select herself...
...How slowly he walks...
...More or less than he says "now" ? Is this respectful to either the beloved padre or the Lord, to think such trivial thoughts ? It is really a lovely idea he is expounding...
...How many times will he say "now" today...
...I follow this in my prayer-book in Latin...
...I wish I had a brother named Richard...
...Will he end up as usual with a reference to our ultimate destiny on doomsday...
...At a funeral one enjoys the flowers instead of meditating exclusively on the mystery of death or the qualities of the deceased...
...But one of right's has gone out...
...Whose is it...
...It is distracting to be in a crowd of one's friends or even one's fellow-men, to see such diversity of face, height, costume, manner, to hear such endless variety of scuffling, stubbing of toes, bumping of kneelers, screeching of newly cleaned gloves, rustling of prayer-books, coughs and whispers...
...One altar boy has had his hair clipped too closely and it looks very stubbly...
...In the midst of the sublimity of the commencement address, the graduate wonders whether he will catch the twelve or the one o'clock train to the boat...
...Freshman Latin has its uses...
...The armor of God...
...It is a thought from Saint Paul for today...
...Now right has a perfect orgy of inaccuracy...
...I will today for sure...
...Lovely...
...Seven and three-quarters...
...I have weakly allowed myself to be amused by the altar boys...
...With a sense of righteousness I settle into row one, seat on the aisle...
...The two chief altar boys seat themselves...
...How nice that the church has been freshly decorated...
...The space is divided by diagonal lines into diamond-shaped areas...
...Too bad diamonds cannot come out even on a straight wall...
...you know he will be on the job at the moment of need, ringing three bells when three are required, and only one when that is correct...
...One has banged his head on the pedestal where Saint Anthony stands...
...Yes, there is a circle of lights with brass (or is it copper—or bronze) tassels hanging beneath each bulb...
...I must look up the context of the verses he is speaking of...
...It depicts the Christ Child sitting upright on a sled, being pulled by four doves through deep snowdrifts, clad only in the flimsiest clothing...
...But going from northwest to southwest, the crosses and fleur-de-lis alternate...
...Have I behaved better in church...
...He really should take a rest and not work so hard with the school plans...
...One has the look of a mischievous sprite...
...But unkindly...
...and I am resolved not to be distracted next Sunday...
...But lo...
...I understand this prayer pretty well...
...Here are the altar boys and the priest...
...Will he refer to the geography of Asia Minor—Cappadocia, Galilee, Medes and Persians—fascinating to him and to me I am sure because they are such enchanting sounds...
...I told Mrs...
...One decides that Sunday for that one hour of divine service should be devoted to contemplation of one's relation to the Infinite...
...Another is outgrowing his cassock and shows several inches of bony ankle and shank beneath it...
...Presently I have counted twelve...
...I would miss them if he were suddenly able to obliterate them all...
...I must remember to read more about Saint Paul...
...Will his voice today be breathy and nervous, or full and sonorous and rested...
...The organist starts to turn on the juice for the electric organ, and the lights blink...
...The old Irishwoman behind me mutters a sound like "Erie, Erie, Erie" continually, and the Italian lady a few seats ahead pants her prayers aloud in her native tongue...
...He tries to help his unfortunate brother light his last six, but receives a scowl, and so waits with ill disguised impatience for him to be finished...
...They start to light the candles...
...I wonder if he is happy in heaven...
...While in the throes of a drubbing from his violin teacher, the youth hopes he will have mashed potatoes for dinner...
...How stout and yet how unhealthy he looks...
...Next Sunday I must go to the front pew...
...Are not those lights new...
...In these diamonds crosses and fleur-de-lis alternate...
...The sober lad is gravely settling down there...
...Will he refer to Russia...
...left has only two...
...Now he is reading the Gloria which I love...
...I keep watching to see if they ever return to their full strength, whether the blink is momentary— or whether actually the lights are less bright when the organ plays...
...Left has a steady poise that gets his lighting done expeditiously...
...Curious the poetic imagery and sonorous effect of biblical language...
...Hall's waste-basketlike bonnet which I remember her wearing years back when I was a child...
...What a fascinating new design has been worked into the wall behind the altar...
...But now back to meditation...
...Starting from east to west, the design consists of fleur-de-lis in the top row, crosses in the next, then fleur-de-lis again...
...soon a third...
...This will not do...
...The lad on the right is getting them done faster...
...Saint Richard, Papa's name...
...I can always pay attention to the joyous parts of the service...
...She survives, alas, and ruins a good deal of the pleasure of the congregation in the music, I fear...
...There is no one before me whose hat or black hair can enchant me...
...Now the reading of the Gospel...
...Someone-Who-Is-Just-LikeGrandpa has little white hairs growing out of his ears...
...If only the wheezy alto would lose her breath a minute so I could hear the soprano unadulterated...
...I find the place in my prayer-book, marking it with a "holy" picture I have saved for twenty years...
...His Buster Brown collar gives him a spurious air of decorum, but the red bow tie, which sits at a forty-five degree angle instead of horizontally, doubtless has psychic significance...
...Robinson I would walk with her and try to find a good path through the white birch forest...
...Two altar boys emerge to light the candles...
...He has to go back two or three times to each candle...
...The impish looking altar boy has not dared to station himself on the bell-ringing side...
...But oh...
...The less important juvenile altar boys snicker...
...The priest and altar boys have not yet appeared...
...How lovely the stained glass above the altar is in the spring sunlight...
...But they reminded me of cherubs, and are not cherubs spiritual and worthy subjects of meditation...
...They are remarkably subdued and cherubic as a group, though...
...What fixture was there before, if this is new...
...How many of each are there in the horizontal space on each side of the central window...
...And I did say the Gloria, resolve to read Saint Paul, and love the Credo...
...The first thing I know it is time to leave...
...He has three lit...
...Finally they retire...
...I have not looked at my neighbors or chatted, even sotto voce, with them...
...Otherwise the Infinite and I shall not jibe...
...I always mean to read the Bible on Sunday...
...I have been very observant of the reverend father's idiosyncracies...
...Strong with resolution I march to one of the far front seats in church, hoping to see so few people before me that I shall not be too much deflected from my stern purpose of godliness...
Vol. 12 • October 1930 • No. 25
