Jessie
Lintern was the daughter of a United Free Church minister in Scotland, in the
1930’s she was bought up to go to church and her brother was given an important
task for some reward.
"At
Colmonell, my brother was given the task of pumping the organ, for which he
received a copper or two and a bag of sweets from the organist, who kept a post
office and grocery store three miles away. He was hidden from view by a curtain
which shut off the stairs to the pulpit, and there he settled down with his
‘Wizard’ or ‘Hotspur’ as his father began the sermon.
One
memorable Sunday he was so engrossed in the doings of Roy of the Rovers that, oblivious of
the sermon’s end and the announcement of the final hymn, and that the organist
was sitting with hands poised above the keyboard, he failed to put the pump
into operation. Silence reigned, until the organist hissed loudly, “Blow,
Jimmy, blow.” The bag of sweets rolled under the curtain, my father glared down
at his son, and with a mighty surge of air the organ sounded forth! "
No comments:
Post a Comment