In the Quilters' Book Club this month, we're reading Aunt Jane of Kentucky by Eliza Calvert Hall, written in 1898. It comes highly recommended by author Sandra Dallas. A community of volunteers converted the book to digital format. If you have a Kindle or a Kindle app, you can get it from Amazon.com here. If you want to read it directly from your computer, you can do so here, courtesy of Project Gutenberg. It's a public domain book so is available free in either format. (I am reading it on my computer and my iPad with no Kindle app, and that is working fine for me.)
This book consists of nine short stories. The second story (just 24 pages long) is called "The New Organ." The women of Goshen church (the Mite Society) work hard for three years to be able to buy an organ for their church. They save their butter and egg money and finally have enough money, but there is opposition from most of the men folk in the church. Will they be able to purchase the organ? Read to find out!
If you'd like to make a quilt block to represent "The New Organ," here are some suggestions:
Butter and Eggs Quilt Block
Flock Quilt Block
This story reminds me of a similar story in On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Pa had a cracked boot and walked to town with $3 in his pocket to buy new ones. But, "I saw Brother Alden and he told me he couldn't raise money enough to put a bell in the belfry. The folks in town had all given every cent they could, and he lacked just three dollars. So I gave him the money."
"Oh, Charles!" was all Ma said.
Pa looked down at his cracked boot. "I'll patch it," he said. "I can make it hold together somehow. And do you know, we'll hear that church bell ringing clear out here."
This bell now hangs in the belfry of the English Lutheran Church in Walnut Grove, Minnesota. The Ingalls family lived in Walnut Grove from 1874-1876 and again from 1877 until 1879 when they moved to Dakota Territory.
Has an organization that you've been part of worked and saved to buy something? Inquiring minds want to know! Please reply in the comments sections below for a chance to win a copy of Jennifer Chiaverini's just-released book, An Elm Creek Quilts Companion, courtesy of Plume Books. If you are reading this via email, you must click on the title of my blog post to be able to comment and read the comments of others.
You might also enjoy reading my previous blog post here.
Several years ago, my church in Cleveland, the place my parents met , I grew up, and was married by my grandad, was struck by lightening just before Easter and burned to the ground. One of the best organs in Ohio, the beautiful stained glass windows, the music files, all was lost. The church has been meeting in an un-used church not far away, but just the other day I heard from my sister,a building had been purchased and work has begun.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been involved where somebody had to scrape and save things. I liked the story though because I unexpectedly became the local church organist shortly after I graduated from high school. I was asked to step in after the original organist suffered a stroke and wanted to retire. The closest thing that I can to helping out and saving something was during donations to Katrina victims.
ReplyDeleteMy church's women's group works all of the time to make money for various things that the church needs. We work hard doing dinners, making and raffling quilts, etc. but none of us have to scrimp and save or make major sacrifices like the women of Goshen church.
ReplyDeleteI've been a part of several groups that have raised money for good causes, but, we didn't need to sacrifice like those ladies did. I do know that 'music' in the church has always caused 'riff's amongst the congregation. Most people don't want 'change' and that organ was 'change'. I remember when the church I grew up in started an orchestra for Sunday mornings. Most people loved it, but, others thought it was the worst thing ever. Well, well over 30 years later, the orchestra still plays with every song, and, if they took the orchestra out now, boy would people complain. Funny!
ReplyDeleteThe quilt group in our town saved money as well as receiving a grant bought a quilt frame so anyone can hire it out to quilt their own quilts.
ReplyDeleteNot to buy something but to donate to organizations that help the unfortunate. We did this seasonally in my classroom during the time I taught at our parish day school. More recently our guild made a quilt to auction off during a fund raiser for a playground that had been destroyed by vandals.
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