Short Fiction · Chapter
Absentmindedness in a Parish Choir explained
The chapter recounts the story of the Longpuddle church choir, who after a week of late-night revelry, fall asleep during a long sermon and, upon waking, mistakenly play a lively dance tune ('The Devil among the Tailors') instead of the eve
What happens
The chapter recounts the story of the Longpuddle church choir, who after a week of late-night revelry, fall asleep during a long sermon and, upon waking, mistakenly play a lively dance tune ('The Devil among the Tailors') instead of the evening hymn. The squire and parson are outraged, and the band is permanently dismissed from playing in the church, replaced by a barrel-organ.
Themes in this chapter
Deception and Secrecy
The choir's secret drinking and subsequent mistaken playing leads to unintended consequences and public scandal.
Fate and Coincidence
The choir's exhaustion from Christmas revelry and the long sermon combine to create a fateful moment that ends their musical tradition.
Sacrifice and Duty
The choir's duty to provide sacred music is sacrificed to their own fatigue and poor judgment, leading to their dismissal.
Characters to notice
- Nicholas Long
Leader of the choir; brings brandy and beer to church and inadvertently starts playing a jig instead of the hymn.
- Timothy Petrick
Bass-viol man in the choir; helps keep the drink warm in his instrument bag.
- Mr. Barnet
The squire who, outraged by the choir's mistake, bans them from playing in the church and replaces them with a barrel-organ.
Key passages
“So Nicholas said at morning service, when 'twas freezing an inch an hour, 'Please the Lord I won't stand this numbing weather no longer: this afternoon we'll have something in our insides to make us warm, if it cost a king's ransom.'”
Nicholas declared during the morning service, as the cold was severe, that he would not endure the freezing conditions any longer and that they would drink something warming that afternoon, regardless of the expense.
Nicholas's determination to combat the cold leads to the choir's drunkenness and the ensuing mishap.
“They poured out that there tune till the lower bass notes of 'The Devil among the Tailors' made the cobwebs in the roof shiver like ghosts; then Nicholas, seeing nobody moved, shouted out as he scraped (in his usual commanding way at dances when the folk didn't know the figures), 'Top couples cross hands! And when I make the fiddle squeak at the end, every man kiss his pardner under the mistletoe!'”
The band played the lively jig so loudly that the cobwebs trembled, and Nicholas, thinking they were at a dance, called out instructions for the dancers to cross hands and kiss their partners at the end.
The choir's confusion between church and dance hall is comically highlighted by Nicholas's dance commands.
“Then the unfortunate church band came to their senses, and remembered where they were; and 'twas a sight to see Nicholas Puddingcome and Timothy Thomas and John Biles creep down the gallery stairs with their fiddles under their arms, and poor Dan'l Hornhead with his serpent, and Robert Dowdle with his clarinet, all looking as little as ninepins; and out they went.”
The musicians finally realized their mistake and shamefacedly crept down from the gallery, carrying their instruments, looking small and humiliated as they left.
The band's humiliation is vividly depicted as they slink away in disgrace.