Methodist choir receives a scathing review

Chariton's First Methodist Church as modified in 1879. This building served the congregation until 1899.

As Christmas approached during 1888, Chariton Methodists were preparing to host the fourth quarterly meeting of the Chariton Conference of the Des Moines District of the Iowa Methodist Episcopal Church. At the time, the Chariton Conference consisted of 26 congregations in a four-county area and the Rev. W.C. Martin, presiding elder, had lived in Chariton since his appointment. He also edited The Gospel Vidette, the conference newspaper, printed in Chariton.

These quarterly meetings were high points of the year for Iowa Methodists as they moved from host congregation to host congregation, one of the warmer-weather meetings generally coinciding with a camp meeting. And a high point of each meeting was the closing worship service, in this case scheduled for Sunday evening, Dec. 15, in the old brick church (above). 

The chorister, who directed both the choir and congregational singing, was an important part of these services and seems to have faced major challenges when organizing music for the December service in Chariton. Unfortunately for the Methodists, the editor of The Chariton Herald was in attendance during that service and saw fit to write a scathing review of the result, damning with faint praise if you will, in his edition of December. 20:

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Last Sunday evening, the regular quarterly meeting services were held at the M.E. church, the pulpit being filled by the Presiding Elder, Rev. W.C. Martin. The choir was composed of two bass voices and one alto, Bro. Pepper, the chorister, being compelled to furnish the soprano, although there were a number of good soprano voices down in the audience where some of the members of the choir seemed to have taken refuge as disinterested observers.

Where there is such an abundance of musical talent as there is in the M.E. church it is a positive shame that the chorister should be placed in such embarrassing circumstances. But Bro. Pepper proved himself equal to the occasion, and if the music was not made up of the most exquisitely soothing tones, what it lacked in this regard was more than compensated for by the life and strength imparted and, under the circumstances, we don't see how it could have been done any better.

Mrs. Nellie Clow presided at the organ with becoming grace, proving herself to be master of the situation, though the rapidly succeeding cadences at times seemed to betray an anxiety to be done with a disagreeable task at the earliest possible moment, indicating that she, too, was not wholly oblivious to the surrounding embarrassments.

Such treatment of chorister and organist on the occasion of the most important public services of the church, to say the least, is not very flattering to the sense of obligation of the musical talent of the church who refuse to join the choir and assist in the worship of song.

Ouch!