The Booming of Acre Hill | Page 6

to go. She was right about it, though. The organ
does rumble like the dickens. Some of the bass notes make the house
buzz like an ocean-steamer blowing off steam." It was a picturesque
description, for I had noticed at times that when the organ was being
made to shriek fortissimo every bit of panelling in the house seemed to
rattle, and if a huge boiler of some sort suffering from internal
disturbance had been growling down in the cellar, the result would
have been quite similar.

"It may work out all right in time," Carson said. "The thing is new yet,
and you can't expect it to be mellow all at once. What I'm afraid of,
apart from the inability of our cook to stand the racket, is that this
quivering will structurally weaken the house. What do you think?"
"Oh, I don't know," I said. "Some of the wainscot panels rattle a bit, but
I imagine the house will stand it unless you go in too much for Wagner.
'Tannhäuser' or 'Siegfried' might shake a few beams loose, but lighter
music, I think, can be indulged in with impunity."
Time did not serve, as Carson had hoped, to mellow things. Indeed, the
succeeding weeks brought more trouble, and most of it came through
the organ. Some of the rattling panels, in spite of every effort to make
them fast, rattled the more. One night when the servants were alone in
the house, of its own volition the organ sent forth, to break the still
hours, a blood-curdling basso-profundo groan that suggested ghosts to
their superstitious minds. The housemaid came to regard the instrument
as something uncanny, and, even as the cook had done before her,
shook the dust of the house of Carson from her feet.
Then a rat crawled into one of the pipes--Carson was unable to
ascertain which--and died there, with results that baffle description. I
doubt if Wagner himself could have expressed the situation in his most
inspired moments. Still Carson was philosophical.
"I'll play a requiem to the rodent," he said, "that will make him turn
over in his grave, wherever that interesting spot may be."
This he did, and the effect was superb, and no doubt the deceased did
turn over in his grave, for the improvisation called into play every pipe
on the whole instrument. However, I could see that this constant pelting
at the hands of an unkind fate through the medium of his most
cherished possession was having its effect upon Carson's hitherto
impregnable philosophy. When he spoke of the organ it was with a tone
of suppressed irritation which boded ill, and finally I was not surprised
to hear that he had offered to give the organ away.
"After all," he said, "I made a mistake--flying so high. A man doesn't

want a church-organ in his house any more than he wants an elephant
for a lap-dog. I've offered it to the Unitarian Church."
I felt a little hurt about this, for my own church was badly in need of an
instrument of that nature, but I said nothing, and considering the
amount of trouble the organ had given I got over my regret when I
realized that the Unitarian Church, and not mine, was shortly to have it.
In this, however, I was mistaken, for, after due deliberation, the
Unitarians decided that the organ was so very large that they'd have to
build a new church to go with it, and so declined it with thanks.
Carson bit his lip and then offered it to us. "Don't seem to be able to
give it away," he said. "But I'll try again. You tell your vestry that if
they want it they can have it. I'll take it out and put it in the barn up in
the hay-loft. They can take it or leave it. It will cost them cartage and
the expense of putting it up."
I thanked him, and joyously referred the matter to the vestry. At first
the members of that body were as pleased as I was, but after a few
minutes of jubilation the Chairman of the Finance Committee asked;
"How much will it cost to get this thing into shape?"
Nobody knew, and finally the acceptance of the gift was referred to a
committee consisting of the Chairman of the Finance Committee, the
Chairman of the Music Committee, and myself, with full power to act.
Inquiry showed that the cost of every item in connection with the
acceptance of the gift would amount to about a thousand dollars, and
we called upon Carson to complete the arrangement. He received us
cordially. We thanked him for his generosity, and were about to accept
the gift finally, when the Chairman of the Finance Committee said:
"It