No. 6
Mrs. Lafayette to Detective Quinn (Adoration)
Detective Quinn
908 E Jefferson
Louisville, Kentucky
June 17, 1940
Dear Detective,
I went to Washington, DC, Pennsylvania, and New York, always staying with members of the Presbyterian Church, which afforded me the honor of singing in their churches on Sunday morning after I sang at respectable venues and galleries the day before.
Sitting at the breakfast table with these host families struck me as more wholesome examples of evangelization than what I was doing on stage. Even though I did lose track of time while I sang and felt the approval of God as I held the long notes, I could never trust what people said when it was over.
But to share a meal with these simple folks, true Christians they were. I knew that the day before, these people were up and down their houses cleaning out the corner cobwebs and cooking and ironing the sheets and tablecloths for me, an empty vessel who wanted to refuse the food, but to reject their kindness was cruel, so I devoured it, all the varieties and heavy bacon and sausages and biscuits. Oh, to see their eyes light up! They would never have to know that I forced myself to toss it out when I found the nearest private restroom.
But the concerts, applause, meals in private homes, and examples of Christian work were not the things that moved me to start to see that I could have a real life in truth with Christ. It was when, on the train, I would look out the window at the rural life and landscapes.
There, I was not on stage. Now, I say this as an old woman, but I just didn’t understand it then, but it stuck with me, a fondness for God over me, and it felt right then and there but I knew I would have to get off the train and get to it, the performance.
I mention this now because of events that shattered me later and you have something to do with this, as now I suppose I’m dragging in your wife, also. But at the time for that time traveling, packing bags, and splitting my devotion, I left that adoration on the train.
Copyright 2025 Christine Friesel
