A PLEASANT SUNDAY
Mrs. Tompkins knocked on Harry’s door at half-past seven next morning.
He got up and washed his face and hands, brushed his hair, and then
donned his best suit of clothes. It was a neat-fitting suit and
he looked very well. His shoes were of enameled leather and shone
brightly, adding to his well-dressed appearance. His Fedora hat and his
percale shirt and collar completed his attire, and his appearance was
such as to create a good impression in the onlooker’s mind.
After breakfast he made his way to the Baptist church. In a place as
small as Coalville it was not difficult to find any place one might be
looking for. In fact there were only three churches in Coalville.
The church was about half-filled when he arrived, and a quick glance
around showed him Elsie, who was seated with several other girls and
one young man, near the piano. She had not told him, but Harry decided
she was evidently a member of the choir. Elsie saw him as soon as he
entered and nodded and smiled; he nodded in return and took a seat a
few rows from the rear.
After the singing, and the preliminary words by the superintendent were
over, the teachers took charge of the classes. The superintendent knew
who Harry was and came to where he sat. Elsie came hurrying up the
aisle at the same moment. “This is Mr. Harry Weston, Mr. Welborn,” she
said. “He is going to print a newspaper here. He is going to attend our
Sunday school, and please see to it that he is given a place in one of
the classes and made to feel at home.”
“I am glad to make Mr. Weston’s acquaintance,” said the superintendent.
“I had heard about your having located here with the intention of
printing a newspaper. We will be glad to have the paper, and I hope and
trust it will be a success. I will assign him to the Business Men’s
class, Miss Merwin. I think he will like that class and feel at home
there.”
“Thanks,” said Elsie, and with a smile at Harry, she hastened back to
her own class, while the superintendent conducted Harry near the center
of the church, where was a class of men of various ages, from the young
business man of twenty-five years or thereabouts to forty years of age,
and introduced him to the teacher, a nice-looking man of perhaps thirty
years of age.
“This is Mr. Harry Weston, Mr. Worling,” the superintendent said.
“He is a business man. He has a printing office here and is going to
publish a newspaper; so he can qualify for your class, and I am sure
will be a good addition to it.” Then he, made his way to the place
where the Bible Class was, he being its teacher.
“Glad to make your acquaintance and to have you as a member of our
class, Mr. Weston,” said the teacher, shaking hands with him as Harry
was entering the pew and taking his seat. “Men, this is Mr. Weston,” to
the other members of the class, who nodded and said they were glad to
know him, after which Mr. Worling gave Harry a lesson-leaf and began on
the lesson.
He was a good teacher, and talked and explained the lesson in an
interesting manner and Harry enjoyed the hour spent in listening to him.
A short talk by the superintendent, another song by the choir, with all
the people in the church joining in the singing, followed by a brief
prayer by Mr. Worling, and the superintendent said, “Sunday school is
dismissed.” The people rose from their seats and began making their
way out of the church, talking to one another in a pleasant and cheery
manner. There was to be a ten minutes’ intermission, after which those
who wished to remain for the sermon would return to their seats.
Elsie reached Harry’s side just as he was going through the big
double doorway. “Father told me to invite you to take dinner with
us, Harry,” she said. “He was not feeling well this morning and did
not come to Sunday school. He isn’t really ill, and is sitting up,
reading. Won’t you come? It’ll please father and me, and I want you to
become acquainted with mother. I told her, of course, that we made
each other’s acquaintance when I was visiting Aunt Lucy at Allentown
a few months ago.” Elsie made this last remark mostly to inform the
people around her why she was so friendly to Harry and seemed so well
acquainted with him.
“Thank you, Elsie,” said Harry. “I’ll be glad to accept your kind
invitation,” and he walked down the steps with her and up the street in
the direction of her home.
“That’s a nice-looking young man,” said one of two men who were
standing on the porch in front of the church. The other nodded and
replied:
“Yes indeed. He seems to be pretty bright, and perhaps he will make a
success of his newspaper that he intends publishing here. I hope so, at
any rate, as it will give the town more prestige to have a newspaper.”
[Illustration: “FATHER TOLD ME TO INVITE YOU TO TAKE DINNER WITH US.”]
“True,” the other said. “He’s rather young to be running a newspaper,
but he may be able to make a go of it.”
The other nodded, and then they re-entered the church, as they were
remaining to hear the sermon.
The two young people reached and entered Elsie’s home, and Mr.
Merwin shook hands with Harry and greeted him pleasantly, and to a
nice-looking, motherly woman who came in from the dining-room, Elsie
said:
“This is Harry, mother--Harry Weston, whose acquaintance I made in
Allentown while visiting Aunt Lucy and about whom I have told you. I’m
glad you are to know each other.”
“I’m glad to make your acquaintance, Mr. Weston--Harry, as Elsie calls
you. I am sure we will be friends,” and she smiled and shook hands with
him.
“I’m certainly glad to make the acquaintance of Elsie’s mother,” said
Harry, with a pleasant smile.
They talked a few minutes and then Mrs. Merwin excused herself to
return to the dining-room, and later went to the kitchen to look after
the work there. She did her own housework with occasional help from
Elsie.
Dinner was ready and on the table at noon, and they ate appreciatively
the good food that Mrs. Merwin had prepared. Harry enjoyed it, but he
enjoyed more the company of such nice people. Elsie he honestly liked,
and Mr. and Mrs. Merwin he thought highly of.
After dinner the four of them sat in the big, comfortable front room
and talked. They talked of various matters of interest, including the
new paper that Harry was so soon to publish, and they told him they
felt sure he would make a success, as they needed a paper in their
town. He thanked them for their good wishes and said he would make a
success if it were possible.
At her father’s suggestion Elsie played some compositions on the piano
and sang two or three songs that she had played and sung when she was
visiting her aunt in Allentown. Harry, whose uncle’s house had been
near enough to enable him to hear her playing and singing, remembered
the songs and smiled in a pleased manner.
“I used to hear you sing those when I was at my uncle’s home in
Allentown, Elsie,” he said. “I liked them immensely, but I enjoy them
better now, as I can hear your singing more distinctly.”
“I’m glad you liked my singing--and still like it,” Elsie said with a
smile.
“Do you sing, Mr. Weston--Harry?” asked Mrs. Merwin.
“Only a little,” was the modest reply. “I used to sing tenor in the
Sunday school choir in the church in Dellwood, and some few people
were so kind as to tell me I had a good voice, but I suppose they were
saying it mostly to please me.”
“Come and sing along with me,” said Elsie. “We’ll see whether those
people were only saying what they did to please you.”
Harry arose and stood by Elsie’s side at the piano while she played
and sang one of the songs. Harry sang along with her, his tenor voice
adding considerable to the rendition.
“Those people that told you you had a good voice meant it, Harry,” she
said. “Your voice is just splendid, and I am going to have you sing in
the choir in our church. We need a tenor voice. Charley Martin sings
bass, but his voice alone isn’t quite strong enough to offset the
girls’ singing, but with your tenor voice added to his bass, the music
will be nicely balanced. I am going to tell Superintendent Welborn to
appoint you a member of our choir next Sunday, and you must accept the
appointment and sing with us regularly.”
“Very well. I shall be glad to do so,” said Harry.
He stayed till about four o’clock, when two of Elsie’s friends came,
and he told Elsie and her parents that he must be going. They asked him
to remain and take supper with them, but he thanked them and excused
himself, and took his departure. Elsie and her parents told him to come
again. “And don’t forget,” said Elsie, smiling and shaking her finger
at him as he was leaving, “that you are to sing in our choir at Sunday
school next Sunday.”