Absent-mindedness in the choir

[choir sleeping]
Illustration by Charles Green for “Absent-Mindedness in a Parish Choir”,
pub. in Thomas Hardy’s “Wessex Folk” (subsequently renamed “A Few Crusted Characters”)
in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine Vol. 81 (May 1891)
Image scanned by Philip V. Allingham for the Victorian Web

A friend drew my attention to the Thomas Hardy short story Absent-mindedness
in a parish choir. It’s one of the surviving depictions of a
West Gallery choir at the end of
the era.

If I left my serpent like that one (the cello bow is even
worse), I wouldn’t have one long.

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