The children sing the Doxology

The children sing the Doxology is a spontaneous act of worship in the secret garden, where Colin, Mary, and Dickon sing the hymn "Praise God from whom all blessings flow" as an expression of joy and gratitude for Colin's recovery, marking a key moment of spiritual awakening and the culmination of their belief in the Magic.

The Setting and the Impulse to Sing

On a morning in the secret garden, after Colin had been working with his trowel and had suddenly realized the full reality of his recovery, he stood up and cried out, "I'm well! I'm well!" The feeling was so overwhelming that he declared, "I feel—I feel as if I want to shout out something—something thankful, joyful!" It was Ben Weatherstaff, working nearby, who suggested in his dryest grunt, "Tha' might sing th' Doxology." Colin, who had never been to church and knew nothing of the hymn, asked what it was. Dickon explained that they sang it in church and added that his mother believed the skylarks sang it when they got up in the morning. Colin, intrigued, asked Dickon to sing it.

The Performance and Its Participants

Dickon, simple and unaffected, pulled off his cap and instructed Colin and Ben to do the same and to stand up. Colin took off his cap, the sun warming his thick hair as he watched intently. Ben Weatherstaff scrambled up from his knees and bared his head with a puzzled, half-resentful look, not fully understanding why he was doing this remarkable thing. Dickon stood out among the trees and rose-bushes and began to sing in a matter-of-fact way, in a nice strong boy's voice: "Praise God from whom all blessings flow, / Praise Him all creatures here below, / Praise Him above ye Heavenly Host, / Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. / Amen." After he finished, Ben Weatherstaff stood quite still, his jaws set obstinately but with a disturbed look in his eyes fixed on Colin. Colin's face was thoughtful and appreciative. He said, "It is a very nice song. I like it. Perhaps it means just what I mean when I want to shout out that I am thankful to the Magic." He paused, puzzled, and added, "Perhaps they are both the same thing." He then asked Dickon to sing it again, and Mary and Colin joined in, lifting their voices as musically as they could, while Dickon's swelled quite loud and beautiful. At the second line, Ben Weatherstaff raspingly cleared his throat, and at the third line he joined in with such vigor that it seemed almost savage. When the "Amen" came to an end, Mary observed that the same thing had happened to Ben as when he had found out that Colin was not a cripple—his chin was twitching, he was staring and winking, and his leathery old cheeks were wet.

The Significance of the Act

Ben Weatherstaff, who had never seen sense in the Doxology before, admitted he might change his mind, then gruffly estimated that Colin had gone up five pounds that week. Colin, however, was distracted by something across the garden—the door in the ivied wall had been pushed gently open, and Susan Sowerby had entered. She had come in with the last line of their song and stood still listening and looking at them. When she later learned about the Magic, she told Colin, "Th' Magic listened when tha' sung th' Doxology. It would ha' listened to anything tha'd sung. It was th' joy that mattered." The singing of the Doxology thus became the moment when the children's private belief in the Magic found a public, sacred expression, bridging their invented ritual with traditional worship and affirming that the force behind Colin's recovery was the same as the "Big Good Thing" that Susan Sowerby spoke of.