Explore "In Church" by Thomas Hardy on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
"AND now to God the Father," he ends, / And his voice thrills up to the topmost tiles: / Each listener chokes as he bows and bends, / And emotion pervades the crowded aisles. / Then the preacher glides to the vestry-door, / And shuts it, and thinks he is seen no more.
The door swings softly ajar meanwhile, / And a pupil of his in the Bible class, / Who adores him as one without gloss or guile, / Sees her idol stand with a satisfied smile / And re-enact at the vestry-glass / Each pulpit gesture in deft dumb-show / That had moved the congregation so.