I do not take any credit to my better-balanced head because I never went crazy on Presbyterianism. We go too slow for that. You never see us ranting and shouting and tearing up the ground, You never heard of a Presbyterian going crazy on religion. Notice us, and you will see how we do. We get up of a Sunday morning and put on the best harness we have got and trip cheerfully down town; we subside into solemnity and enter the church; we stand up and duck our heads and bear down on a hymn book propped on the pew in front when the minister prays; we stand up again while our hired choir are singing, and look in the hymn book and check off the verses to see that they don't shirk any of the stanzas; we sit silent and grave while the minister is preaching, and count the waterfalls and bonnets furtively, and catch flies; we grab our hats and bonnets when the benediction is begun; when it is finished, we shove, so to speak. No frenzy, no fanaticism --no skirmishing; everything perfectly serene. You never see any of us Presbyterians getting in a sweat about religion and trying to massacre the neighbors. Let us all be content with the tried and safe old regular religions, and take no chances on wildcat.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The author satirizes the rigid, unemotional, and routine nature of Presbyterian worship compared to more ecstatic religious expressions.
- In plain terms
- Presbyterian services are depicted as dull, orderly, and lacking intense emotion.
- What can you take from it?
- Routine can make religious practice feel mechanical.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Does routine drain meaning from your practices?
- How do you show emotion in formal settings?
Another view
It generalizes all Presbyterians as joyless without accounting for individual variation.
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