But many preachers speak badly.

That, however, has nothing to do with the real issue.

A mediocre improvisation is always endurable, if the organist has grasped the idea that church music should harmonize with the service and aid meditation and prayer.

If the organ music is played in this spirit and results in harmonious sounds rather than in precise music which is not worth writing out, it still is comparable with the old glass windows in which the individual figures can hardly be distinguished but which are, nevertheless, more charming than the finest modern windows.
Such an improvisation may be better than a fugue by a great master, on the principle that nothing in art is good unless it is in its proper place.
[Illustration: The Madeleine where M.Saint-Saens played the organ for twenty years] During the twenty years I played the organ at the Madeleine, I improvised constantly, giving my fancy the widest range.

That was one of the joys of life.
But there was a tradition that I was a severe, austere musician.