USA > Arkansas > Pulaski County > Little Rock > The annals of Christ church parish of Little Rock, Arkansas, from A. D. 1839 to A. D. 1899 > Part 14
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*Bishop Lay's first parish was in Princess Anne County Virginia, the birth-place of the Annalist.
tAccented on the last syllable.
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lection of your hospitable home. Remember me most kindly to the Doctor, to Miss Mary," and all the girls, especially kiss the baby for me.
We have lately heard of the death of two saints very dear to us.' The first was Mrs. Shipp, of Lincolnton, N. C., one of the loveliest women I ever knew. We were perfect strangers to her; but she could not have been kinder if Mrs. Lay had been her own sister. The other is Mrs. Lay's great aunt, Mrs. Walker, of Petersburg, with whom she lived for some nine years while at school. She was a woman of re- markable judgment and strong will. A widow of 55 years, she gave all her thoughts and efforts to the Church. She kept open house for the clergy and was known everywhere as Good Aunt Walker. The day of judgment alone will reveal how much good that quiet, sickly woman did in this wicked world. She was so glad to be released from sickness and pain. It is a comfort to know that there are such good .people passing away into rest. May many such grow up in Arkansas !
Most truly your friend, HENRY C. LAY.
Mrs. Cantrell, Little Rock.
There is another extract from a letter written three years later, after he had arrived at his new Diocese, dated Easton, Md., April 28, 1869.
My Dear Mrs. Cantrell :
Our journey was a very fatiguing one, the more so, for the many friends and acquaintances who occupied us at our halting places. We were taken possession of immedi- ately on our arrival by Mr. and Mrs. Golsborough, and car- ried to a hospitable home, where we shall spend some weeks.
They have thrown themselves very heartily into our affairs, and will relieve us of much care and trouble in set- tling ourselves. The town of Easton is about a mile from
*Miss Mary E. Harrell.
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the water. The steamboat runs in about five hours from Baltimore to Easton Point, the landing for the town. Just across a creek from Easton Point is a large farm of Dr. Adkins. He has just removed into town and rents us his farm home, with the garden, grounds and stables. The view is beautiful, looking out upon the salt water. Plenty of green grass and shady trees. The house is handsome, with six large rooms and a tower of three stories, cach story giving a nicely finished room 16 x 16. There are porches and blinds enough to make it cool in summer. We expect to warm the main part of the house, five rooms and passages, with two stoves, burning hard coal. They have here what they call "self-feeders." The fire burns only at the bottom and the coal settles down as it is consumed, so that the stove burns straight ahead for twenty-four hours.
We have an icehouse besides, and buy milk from a dairy on the farm. My little boys are amusing themselves to-day cutting asparagus, which grows wild along the water's edge.
So we shall be comfortable, you see. We shall have troubles and trials I doubt not. I see enough to know that it will require energy and prudence to develop the Diocese. But we trust to be guided aright. With much love to the Doctor, the girls, and the baby, and all friends,
Yours affectionately,
HENRY C. LAY.
A. D. 1859-1866. About the time Dr. J. T. Wheat was installed as Rector of Christ Church, Little Rock, or not long after, Rev. Henry C. Lay, of "The Church of the Nativity," in Huntsville, Ala., was conscerated Missionary Bishop of the Southwest, which included Arkansas. He made a visitation in the spring of 1859, but having chosen Fort Smith as a place of residence, he did not remove his family to Little Rock until 1866. Dr. Wheat joined the Confederate army as chaplain in 1863. After his resignation, Bishop Lay was
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elected Rector of Christ Church, and for a time performed the duties of both offices-Bishop and Presbyter. He made his lodging in the Vestry room of the Church and took his meals at the homes of his parishioners, successively. In this way his flock came to know him intimately and to love him. Dignity, combined with gentleness, gave to his manner an unusual charm which was heightened by a voice of singular sweetness. This, with the friendly humor and sympathy that marked his intercourse with children, caused them to become his loyal subjects. When he, with his family, arrived from Alabama after peace had been established, Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Knapp received them at their. hospitable home on Seventh street and Rector avenue. Afterwards they began housekeeping in the cottage on southeast corner of Sixth and Sherman streets. The eldest son, Henry, had been left behind at school, and two sturdy boys, George and Bierne, with baby Bettie, formed the household. When the Bishop returned from the Pan-Anglican Conference of Bishops at London, which was held at Lambeth Palace, he occasionally indulged in a jocose reference to the "Bishop's Palace," at Little Rock. He afterwards bought the property now owned by Colonel James Mitchell, on Fifteenth and Spring. To the original building he added, on the southwest corner, a commodious study. This was well equipped with books and I doubt whether he would have exchanged with the Archbishop of Canterbury, when once established. On one occasion the writer was entertained in this study. After discussing the new books and magazines, he said: "Here is a charming poem, that I will read to you, if I may." Of course there was but one reply. With tones that made music to the words, he read-
THE ANNALS OF CHRIST CHURCH PARISH. 181
CHRIST AND THE LITTLE ONES.
"The Master has come over Jordan," Said Hannah, the mother, one day; He is healing the people who throng Him, With a touch of his finger, they say.
"And now I shall carry the children, Little Rachel, and Samuel, and John, I shall carry the baby, Esther, For the Lord to look upon."
The father looked at her kindly, But he shook his head and smiled :
Now who but a doting mother Would think of a thing so wild ?
"If the children were tortured by demons, Or dying of fever, 'twere well ; Or had they the taint of the leper, Like many in Israel."
"Nay, do not hinder me, Nathan, I feel such a burden of care If I carry it to the Master, Perhaps I shall leave it there.
"If he lay His hand on the children My heart will be lighter I know,
For a blessing forever and ever Will follow them as they go."
So over the hills of Judah, Along by the vine rows green, With Esther asleep on her bosom And Rachel, her brothers between.
'Mid the people who hung on IIis teaching Or waited His touch and His word,- Through the row of proud Pharisees listening, She pressed to the feet of the Lord.
-13-
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"Now why shouldst thou hinder the Master ?" Said Peter, "with children like these ? Seest not how from morning to evening He teachetli and healeth disease ?"
Then Christ said, "Forbid not the children, Permit them to come unto Me!" And he took in His arms little Esther, And Rachel he set on his knee;
And the heavy heart of the mother Was lifted all earthcare above, As he laid His hand on the brothers And blest them with tenderest love;
As he said of the babes in His bosom, "Of such are the kingdom of heaven," And strength for all duty and trial That hour to her spirit was given. -Julia Gill.
It is a comfort to think that the mothers were objects of sympathy, to one whose beautiful utterances and persuasive eloquence had moved the reverend assembly of Bishops ! Surely a shepherd after the pattern of his Master ! As his Episcopal duties crowded in upon him, Bishop Lay called to his assistance, with the consent of the congregation, the Rev. P. G. Robert, of Virginia, late chaplain in the Southern army, who, in the course of a year, was elected Rector of Christ Church, the Bishop resigning all duty except that of his Episcopate. The Bishop was not robust in physique, and as he would set out in his ambulance to scale the moun- tains of Arkansas, his physician, Dr. Cantrell, would add many little comforts, that he foresaw would be needed to strengthen him on the route. He was better adapted to wield a pen whose influence would be felt through the confines of the Anglican Church than to carry the Gospel in person as a
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missionary. So that he was translated to the Diocese of Easton in 1869, and Christ Church lost her most beautiful lecturer and sermonizer. One Good Friday sermon, "Alone ; Yet I am Not Alone, Because the Father is With Me," and another Easter sermon, "Who Shall Roll us Away the Stone from the Door of the Sepulchre ?" will never be forgotten here.
After Little Rock was occupied by the Federal army the Church was appropriated for a hospital for the sick soldiers. Bishop Lay was the guest of Judge Ringo at that time and inaugurated home services, which were conducted by lay readers at private houses, principally at the homes of Judge Ringo and Mrs. Judge Watkins, the Sunday School organ having been moved from house to house to lead the singing. When the Church was cleared of the sick, the Rev. E. Steele Peek, chaplain of General Stecle's division, held the usual Sunday services there. A few of the Sunday School teachers returned to their charge. Mr. Peek inquired for the Sun- day School organ. Learning that it was at the house of Judge Watkins, he requested one of the teachers to ask that it be returned to the Church. At that time such a request was felt to equal a command. Still Mrs. Watkins hesitated to comply, without advice from the Vestrymen of the Church. Another request was forwarded to her from Mr. Peek and the organ was delivered up and placed at the head of the aisle, near the chancel in the Church. For several Sundays the services went on peacefully. Mr. Peek was an upright, humane, Christian minister, bent on doing his duty. None felt the premonition of the explosion which soon followed. One Sunday morning at Sunday School, Mr. Peek was . observed to go from class to class interviewing each teacher. At length he announced in deprecating tones, to the consterna-
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tion of all, that the organ had been taken from the Church ! For some time subsequently a vain search was made for the missing instrument. After many months it was traced to a Church in one of the Northwestern States, where it had been sent by the Federal soldiers, probably those who had been sheltered there in sickness, as confiscated property ! It was never returned, to Mr. Peek's undying chagrin. He did everything in his power to show his sympathy to a conquered foe, and won the love and gratitude of the community by his daily ministrations until death to the heroic martyr, David O. Dodd, who was executed as a spy, January 8, 1864.
REV. P. G. ROBERT .*
Rev. P. G. Robert was first called from Virginia as as- sistant to Bishop Lay in the duties of Rector, but soon suc- ceeded to the full charge as Rector. From The Church News, the official paper of the Diocese of Missouri, Rt. Rev. D. S. Tuttle, D. D., Bishop, volume 26, St. Louis, June 15, 1895, the following corrected abstract of his life has been taken :
A. D. 1827. "Mr. Robert was born in Richmond, Va., December 16, 1827. He is the son of John Gibson Robert, of a Picard family, which traces back to the twelfth century; and of Amanda P. McRae, a lineal descendant of the Lord of the Isles. He received his preparatory education in the Richmond Academy, in the private school of Rev. Geo. A. Smith, at Clarens, near Alexandria. It was said of Mr. Smith that he "was as near to saintship as men ever get on this earth." Mr. Robert informs our interviewer that since then he has "pulled through by main force and stupidity." He was for a time clerk in Colonel Walter D. Blair's grocery in Richmond, and subsequently in the counting room of John D. Mayben, a large dealer in Virginia and Kentucky tobacco.
*Accented on the second syllable.
REV. P. G. ROBERT.
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In 1846 his attention was turned toward the ministry, and he went to Clarens to brush up his Latin and Greek, and entered the Theological Seminary, Alexandria, the next year. He passed his examinations under such men as Drs. Sparrow, May, and Packard; which examinations, Mr. Robert insists to doubting ears were far more rigid and severe than those he inflicts upon the candidates who fall into his hands now as examining chaplain ; and was ordained to the Diaconate by Bishop Meade, July 12, 1850, at Christ Church, Alexandria. He was advanced to the Priesthood by Bishop Johns, Decem- ber 18, 1851, at Christ Church, Bruton Parish, Williams- burgh, Rev. Chas. Minnegerode and Rev. Edmund Withers, examiners. His first duty was assistant to the Rector of St. James Church, Richmond, then he was ordered by Bishop Meade to Meherrin Parish, Greensville County, and took charge as Rector-elect, October 6, 1850, where he remained He married while there Elizabeth Scott,
for eight years. October 5, 1854. From 1858 to 1861 he was Rector of Christ Church, Smithfield, Isle of Wight County, and St. Andrew's, Southwark Parish, Surrey County, a Parish of which his great grandfather, Rev. Christopher McRae, was Rector in Colonial times. On the breaking out of the Civil War, Mr. Robert was commissioned chaplain in the Confed- erate States army, and served in the Second Louisiana, Thirty-fourth Virginia Regiments, Second Corps, A. N. V., until he was surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse, April 9, 1865. He was in nine general engagements, many skirm- ishes, and several affairs; and tells his friends that he is en- titled to write "P. P." after his name, which means Paroled Prisoner, or Parish Priest, whichever you like. After the war, he "taught school and ploughed" for a year, when Bishop Lay invited him to Little Rock, Ark. He was assistant for one year and Rector for two years of Christ Church, Little Rock, and in 1869 came to St. Louis, and began to build up the Parish of the Holy Communion, preaching his first ser- mon as Rector July 6 of that year. Mr. Robert has made his impress upon the Church life of St. Louis, and always held important trusts in the counsels of the Church, and has
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also kept an interest, and been an influence in the welfare of society and the city, outside of his immediate work."
Rev. Mr. Robert is a rare type of a Christian Apostle. He presents a combination of virtues-courage, steadfastness, unswerving faith, unquestioning obedience, together with a great underlying tenderness. He is a man among men, even though consecrated to the life of isolation, usually assigned to ministers of the Gospel; a man who holds the key to man's nature and knows how to adapt it; who, while honoring the female sex as a great throng of handmaidens of the Lord by election, seeks to reach and strengthen those of his own as being in more deadly danger from the assaults of the enemy ; -who holds a visible, though perhaps unspoken, scorn for a willful villian, but a heart full of great compassion for a repentant prodigal-a man, who, being the type of a soldier- apostle, has left an impression, large, chivalrous and indelible on all the people of Little Rock, irrespective of sect, and an influence which will be undying.
Between Bishop Lay and his assistant, afterwards his successor as Parish Rector, there was an abiding friendship, sealed perhaps by their experiences as prisoners of war. In the wide divergence of paths which separated them after four years of comradeship and apostolic companionship, this affec- tion never failed. Each pressed on to the same goal, the one as the faithful Shepherd of the sheep, during twenty-six years of leadership, reaching it first ; the other scouring the outposts for wandering sinners, viewing the end from a calvary of suffering, but still sounding the cheerful call of invitation, rather than warning. "Come and see!"
After Mr. Robert had completed that portion of the Church of the Holy Communion designed for the chapel, in
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St. Louis, to which place he had been called from Little Rock, he made a journey to the Holy Land and shared the pleasures of the Oriental visit with his parishioners in weekly letters to his parish paper. These were graphic and interesting and much enjoyed. Mr. Robert was a power in the Sunday School. The festivals at Easter were conducted with enthusi- asm. He also prepared for the Sunday School of the Holy Communion "Questions on the Harmony of the Gospels, the Catechism and the Theme of Each Sunday." He is now an invalid with some heart trouble, but his trustful, loving words still warm the hearts and point the hopes of his legions of friends. A scheme for an Orphanage in Little Rock origin-
ated with him. The sum of $340 or $350 had been loaned to the Vestry in the first year of Rev. P. G. Robert's Rector- ship, which "was a sum collected by him towards starting an orphanage," says a correspondent. "I remember the circum- stance well," she continues, "because Mr. Robert told me at the time that everything was contributed, even brooms for the house. Then he looked for the orphans and could find none
to put in it ! Therefore the money was loaned to the Vestry- a long loan, for when I left Little Rock, I suppose not less than ten years afterward, no account of it had been given." In reference to this orphanage scheme, Mr. Robert writes :
"The loan to the Vestry and the failure to find orphans is correct. My Lutheran communicants used to adopt every orphan child they could find, according to their loving custom. God bless them !"
But the scheme was revived when orphans became more plentiful, and at this date, October, 1898, there is an Orphans' Home established on Fifth and Commerce streets, under the guardianship of Mrs. James Mitchell, president; Mrs. J. W. Beidelman, vice president ; Mrs. John Fletcher, secretary;
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Mrs. John Levering Matthews, assistant secretary, and Mrs. Helen Norton, treasurer. There are twenty-eight inmates. Of these five are babies.
The children of Rev. P. G. and Elizabeth Scott Robert are :
1. John Gibson, who married Miss Mary Thweatt Wil- son, of Richmond, Va. They have one child, John Gibson Robert, Jr.
2. Edward Scott, unmarried. Born in Virginia.
3. Dent Hayes, unmarried. Born in Virginia.
4. Douglas Wilkens. Born in Little Rock. Married Eliza Clendenin.
5. Lee Edward Robert (Robert E. Lee reversed), un- married. Born in St. Louis, Mo.
Two daughters have "gone before," Amanda and Bessie.
The members of the Vestry during the incumbeney of Rev. P. G. Robert were L. E. Barber, Senior Warden; John Wassell, Junior Warden; Wm. B. Wait, Treasurer; S. L. Griffith, Gwynn Barber, W. A. Cantrell, Daniel Ringo, U. M. Rose, T. J. Churchill, B. C. Trapnall, Gordon N. Peay.
The organist was Dr. J. W. Beidelman. The choir was composed of Mrs. Mary Ellen Ives, nee Tucker, afterwards Mrs. Strong, Miss Laura Tucker, afterwards Mrs. Hardy, Miss Annie Reardon, afterwards Mrs. P. Raleigh, Miss Emma Scott, afterwards Mrs. James Lawson, Miss Johnanna Scott, afterwards Mrs. Clay Ro Bards, Miss Johanna Krause, afterwards Mrs. Peter Hotze, Miss Alice Compton, afterwards Mrs. George Weaver, General Albert Bishop, Major Smith, U. S. A., Lieutenant Post, U. S. A., Lieutenant Gregory, U. S. A., T. W. Bankes.
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FORMER CHRIST CHURCH RECTOR. [Arkansas Democrat, December 15, 1898.]
Rev. P. G. Robert, who will be remembered by old citi- zens as Rector of Christ Church in the sixties, has tendered his resignation as Rector of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion, St. Louis, after nearly thirty years' continuous service. Dr. Robert's determination to resign was reached after much consideration of the subject, and at the earnest solicitation of his physician. The reverend gentleman is suf- fering from an affection of the heart, which causes serious illness whenever he exerts himself too vigorously.
Dr. Robert was the founder of the Church from which he proposes to resign. He has been its only Rector. He has also been for many years the examining chaplain of the Diocese. His resignation as Rector carries with it the resig- nation from this office.
From the Hot Springs (Ark.) Commercial, of date December 10, 1898, we transfer the following notice of the wife of the former Rector of Christ Church :
SOMETHING ABOUT A DISTINGUISHED LADY DELEGATE
TO THE NATIONAL UNITED DAUGHTERS OF THIE CONFEDERACY CHAPTER, WHICHI CONVENED HERE LAST WEEK.
Mrs. P. G. Robert, a delegate representing the Daugh- ters of the Confederacy, of St. Louis, Mo., at the convention or chapter which met in this city on the 9th ult., was a Miss Bettie Scott, of Henrico County, Va. (in which is the city of Richmond), having spent portions of her early life in Louis- iana at her father's sugar plantation. She is a niece of the distinguished officer who commanded the armies of the United States in the war with Mexico, and still the ranking officer at the beginning of the Civil War, Major-General Winfield Scott.
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Miss Scott married in Richmond an Episcopal minister, who served during the war as chaplain in Stonewall Jackson's "foot cavalry ;" carried a rifle, and sometimes shot it, as he says, in self-defense. He went on Jackson's long marches as often on foot as mounted ; and was near him when he met his calamitous death-most calamitous for the cause of the South as it proved ; for had Jackson been with Lee, who called him his "right arm," the latter had not lost the battle of Gettysburg-and with it the Southern cause, as Great Britain was ready to "intervene" if Lee had won that battle.
Mrs. Robert, though the mother of five grown sons, two of whom are lawyers, one an editor, and one a doctor, in St. Louis, is a comely lady, who does not appear to have passed the vigor of her prime; for, though somewhat fleshy, her luxuriant tresses do not indicate the rapid advance of age. She is jovial and kind, but of marked decision of character, and possessed of the power of exercising an influence over others. Her husband is Rector of the Church of the Holy Communion in St. Louis, able, zealous and greatly esteemed. She has been so long an Episcopal Rector's wife and made it a duty to her Church and her husband to learn human nature, that she is tactful and confident in her intereourse with ladies in all social relations. She made her impress upon the con- vention in many ways, as it was to that end she was urged by her associates in St. Louis to attend the convention. Not given to any disposition to shine in "oratory," or to any fondness for display of whatever character, she was keenly alive to every detail of the proceedings, and promptly shared in debate when she deemed it appropriate.
During one of the sittings a point of order was endeav- ored to be settled upon the authority of a ruling of Speaker Reed, of the United States House of Representatives. Mrs. Robert was quickly on her feet and asked:
"Is his, the speaker's, course to be reasonably thought to furnish so high a standard of parliamentary law ? Is he not rather distinguished as a violator of parliamentary rules ; a parliamentary despot, whom one of the members of Con- gress of this State has called a counterfeit of the 'Czar?' Let
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us not conduct our proceedings upon the practices of Thomas Bracket Reed, who is chiefly distinguished, like another 'ton of a man,' for 'wrenching the true canse the false way.'" She then explained her idea of the unfairness of enforcing the rule proposed-in her genial and matronly way. Czar Reed's precedent was ignored.
Mrs. Robert attended through the entire session, was present at all excursions and festivities. There was none who became acquainted with her who did not instantly admire her and even love her. She was but one of this gather- ing of many splendid women who met to honor the memory of the Southern soldier.
REV. HENRY HOBART MORRELL.
A. D. 1827-1889. Rev. Henry Hobart Morrell suc- ceeded the Rev. P. G. Robert as Rector of Christ Church. He was born May 17, 1827; ordained Priest by Bishop Mell- vaine in Trinity Church, Columbus, Ohio, March 14, 1856, and married October 21 of the same year to Mary Elizabeth Badger, and was in charge of the Church at Dayton, Ohio, at the time he was ordained Priest. In 1869 he accepted a call to Christ Church, where his work was especially good among the poor and needy, his legacy to his successor having been a huge hamper basketful of clothing that he had col- lected from the congregation for distribution among convales- cent small-pox patients. He resigned the position during the fall of 1870. Six years after the death of his wife, in 1875, he married a widow, Mrs. Annie Ramage Smith, of Knox- ville, Tenn., where he had assumed charge of St. John's Church from April, 1881, to February, 1886. Following this he was engaged in missionary work in Georgia and Florida and West Virginia. He died at Wheeling, W. Va., January 2, 1889. There were six children :
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