USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > All Saints church, Worcester, Massachusetts ; a centennial history, 1835-1935 > Part 10
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The enrollment of the Church School, at the close of the
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season 1925-26, rose to our "all time high" of 570 pupils, one of whom, Dorothy Morgan, maintained a perfect attendance record during seven consecutive years !
At the annual Parish meeting in January, 1927, Mr. Charles G. Washburn presented his resignation as senior warden, desiring to be returned to the vestry, to which body he had been originally elected in 1885, or forty-two years before. His service of twenty-four years as warden was the longest in the history of the Parish.
The carefully nurtured plans of the bishop and the rector for a new mission at the farther north end of the city were brought to fruition on February 20, when the opening service at St. Michael's-on-the-Heights (Burncoat Street) was held in the presence of all the Worcester clergy. Dean S. Wolcott Linsley of the Worcester Convocation preached the sermon. Rev. H. Murray Elliott was the first minister in charge.
A special "mission week" was conducted November 6 to II by Bishop Dallas of New Hampshire; the local Committee on Evangelism (Mrs. Edgar A. Fisher, chairman) perfected the arrangements. "The Church was filled again and again, and great interest and enthusiasm were maintained through- out the whole Mission, many persons outside the Church availing themselves of the opportunity of hearing the Bishop."
At the annual All Saints Night Union Service the preacher was the Rt. Reverend Wilson R. Stearly, D.D., bishop of the Diocese of Newark. During the service the Reverend Henry A. F. Hoyt, D. D., of Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, rector emeritus of St. John's Church, Bela-Cynwyd, read from the Bible, as he had done for many years past at this annual service, the same volume which he rescued from the flames which destroyed the Church when it burned Easter Tuesday in 1874, on Pearl Street, fifty-three years before! Mr. Hoyt at that time turned the Bible over to Dr. Huntington who treasured it most highly, and on very special occasions in the new Church used this book. Mr. Hobson followed every year a custom which he began his first year, and annually invited Dr. Hoyt to return on All Saints Day and take part
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in the Festival Service. (He was eighty-three years of age this year.)
Two more loyal churchmen died near together at about this time: on November 12 Halleck Bartlett, aged seventy-six, vestryman since 1913, and on January 5, 1928, Charles I. Rice, choirmaster during thirty years, from 1885.
The estimated budget for 1928 was $58,864, with the total expenditures for the past year $62,712.
Miss Sarah Bennett Hopkins died on March 30, 1928. She was the daughter of Col. W. S. B. Hopkins and Mrs. Elizabeth (Peck) Hopkins. From the foundation of this diocese Miss Hopkins had been president of the Diocesan Girls' Friendly Society. For years she was constantly interested in the work and plans of the All Saints Branch. She was a member of the Women's Auxiliary, and the Wednesday Club. "Miss Hopkins is mourned throughout the whole Diocese, for in so many Parishes and Missions she has been intimately known and loved. She was a lady of the old school. She combined to a rare degree sweetness of character, courtesy, dignity, and kindliness, but the outstanding thing that one felt in her presence was her utter goodness. She was sincerely devoted to Our Blessed Lord and His Church. . . . Miss Hopkins left $1,000 to All Saints Church, the income to be used to maintain the Girls' Friendly Room of the Parish House, and $500. to be added to the Endowment Fund of the church." An affectionate and fully detailed tribute to the character and Christian service of Miss Hopkins was placed on the records of the Wednesday Club, signed by Louisa Trumbull Roberts, Camilla G. Whitcomb, and Minna Haas, as Committee on Resolutions.
The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Women's Auxiliary was celebrated on April 25, 1928. The history of the organiza- tion was read by Mrs. Edgar A. Fisher. The bishop gave a splendid address. Mrs. J. Russell Marble, Mrs. Charles Grenfill Washburn, Mrs. Charles H. Bowker, Mrs. Hubert A. Hawkins, and the rector were in charge of arrangements. Five of the original members of the society then living were:
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Mrs. Luther M. Lovell, Miss Corinne L. Nichols, Miss Anna L. Nichols, Miss Eugenia Tiffany, and Mrs. Charles H. Bowker.
To us of the older generation, Mr. Charles G. Washburn and Dr. Charles L. Nichols are gratefully recalled as standing side by side, now alas in memory, as the strong pillars of All Saints Church, in our own latter day. Mr. Washburn was the first to answer the last call (having scarcely rounded his three score and ten) on May 23, 1928. A constant attend- ant at the services of the Church, he was called suddenly to rest while attending the annual diocesan convention.
First elected to the vestry in 1884, he served in that capacity till 1904, and as warden from 1904 to 1927. In that year he returned to the vestry, thus completing, at his death, a total of service in Parish councils of forty-four years.
"During all those years he was ever ready with advice, counsel, and personal labor-given without stint-for the benefit of this Parish which he loved.
"Endowed with large intellectual gifts, Mr. Washburn was lavish in their use for the benefit of our nation, our state, and our city, as well as ourselves.
"A man of strong and unswerving principles and sound judgment, he won, in every field in which he entered, the respect of those who came under his influence, and as time went on, inspired an affection which surrounded him with earnest and devoted friends.
"He was a great and useful citizen of Worcester, a great and useful citizen of Massachusetts, and of the United States.
"Engineer, lawyer, manufacturer, scholar, statesman, leader in civic affairs and in his Church, in all of these he won distinction."
Mr. Washburn left "one-fifth of ten percent of his resid- uary estate" to All Saints Church, "a magnificent remem- brance typical of his care and regard for the temporal interests as well as the devotional side of his church home."
His aged mother, Mrs. Charles F. Washburn, followed her son to her last home on September 16, at the grand old age of ninety-two. A widow since 1893, she was mother of six sons (three clergymen) and one daughter. A thoroughly
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consecrated churchwoman, she will be recalled as the author of that charmingly spontaneous tribute to Dr. Huntington, from which copious quotation has been drawn for this history.
By vote of the vestry at the June meeting, the chapel was renamed Huntington Hall in honor of Dr. Huntington, after the room had been remodeled and redecorated. A beautiful new library was constructed from the space which had form- erly held the chancel of the old chapel. Paneled walls, adequate space for books; and tables, rugs, divans, lamps, desk, and attractive hangings made this room especially beautiful and useful. The old Parish Library is now the choir room, refitted with long benches of attractive design, facing west, a grand piano, a desk, shelves, and a choir room toilet below, with private entrance.
Four alms basins were given to the Parish by Lewis S. Niccolls, in memory of his wife, Mary Emma Niccolls, and their four children. They are exquisitely carved (by the Hamill Company) in mahogany, representing the offerings, gifts and relief work of the Church. (Mr. Hobson, collaborat- ing with Mr. Hamill, suggested this unique idea for the carved decorations.) Around the rim of each basin is a design of water lilies, which is the flower symbolizing charity. Then various medallions, depicting food, fishes, fruits, etc., are inserted at regular intervals. They are of permanent and sacred value, a memorial to a beloved member of our Parish.
In December 1928, fifteen clerestory windows picturing saints of the primitive and early church were unveiled and dedicated as memorials to former members of the Parish. The central group of three on the south side of the nave were given in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Sumner Pratt and Miss Emma Amanda Pratt by Mr. and Mrs. Pratt's four children; Dr. Frederick H. Pratt, Mrs. Alfred L. Shapleigh, Mr. Robert G. Pratt, and Mrs. W. Irving Clark.
The second group of three, in the south of the nave, at the east, toward Irving Street, were presented by Mr. Chandler Bullock, in memory of his grandfather, Alexander
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Hamilton Bullock. On the same wall, at the west, toward the chancel, the corresponding group of three was a gift of Dr. W. Irving Clark, in memory of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Irving Clark.
Opposite, on the north wall of the nave, the three clere- story windows at the west, were set in memory of Miss Sarah Bennett Hopkins, by Mr. and Mrs. Erastus Hopkins, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred L. Aiken, and Mr. W. S. B. Hopkins. At the east of these, the last set of three was a thank offering to the Parish from Miss Sarah F. Pond.
For the Parish leaflet, the Very Reverend Henry B. Wash- burn wrote an elaborate series of illuminating articles on the lives of all these saints, to the great edification of the Parish.
On the north aisle, a cloister window, at the east, toward Irving Street, was presented in memory of Mrs. Mary Tirrell Hoyt, by her husband, Reverend Henry A. F. Hoyt. On the same aisle, toward the west, near the baptistery, a corres- ponding window was the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Waldo E. Sessions, 2d, in memory of David Deas Sessions, their son (1912-1922).
Another cloister window on the north aisle, representing St. Francis of Assisi, surrounded by his beloved birds, was presented by Eben F. Thompson, Esq., in memory of his parents, and generously replaced, after the fire. His further gift of three clerestory windows, representing St. Patrick, St. Alban, and St. Cuthbert, is announced as this history goes to press.
Less than a year after the death of Mr. Washburn, the Parish lost its other strong right arm, when on February 19, 1929, Dr. Charles L. Nichols ended his earthly pilgrimage, at the age of seventy-seven.
"Vestryman from 1885 to 1922, Warden from 1923 to 1929, he was a very able man, a true scholar, and, above all, an untiring humanitarian. A beloved physician, a founder and first President of the Worcester Welfare Federation; a founder and for many years President of the Worcester Associated Charities; and a President of the American Anti- quarian Society-a noble epitaph.
"Worcester knew Dr. Nichols, loved him well, admired
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him sincerely, and respected him profoundly. He deserved it all. The community deeply mourns the passing of this helper of the helpless, this friend of the poor and unfor- tunate, this physician-scholar-gentleman.
"To his Church Dr. Nichols bore unfailing affection, ready sympathy, wise counsel, strong support. He was for years a leader in the Red Cross work; President of the Massa- chusetts Medical (Homeopathic) Society; Trustee of Brown University; Treasurer of the John Carter Brown Library; Trustee of the Worcester State Hospital. His Bibliography of Worcester has a merited place in the literature of early Americana, and likewise his Isaiah Thomas, Printer."
November 3, 1929, five cloister windows on the south aisle were dedicated as a memorial to Dr. Charles Lemuel Nichols, by his children: Caroline D. Gaskill, Charles L. Nichols, Jr., and Harriet B. Lincoln. The figures of this group, Gutenberg, Coverdale, Tyndale, and others, bore a prominent part in the early printing of our Bible, a subject on which Dr. Nichols was a recognized authority. All these windows were designed and executed by Wilbur H. Burnham of Boston.
At a special meeting of the Parish, Mr. George A. Gaskill was elected senior warden and Mr. George Sumner Barton, junior warden.
A leather-bound book, in memory of Miss Sarah Bennett Hopkins, Miss Olive Cue, Mrs. Helen Dixon Smith, and Mrs. Anna Mitchell Jones, bearing the All Saints Seal on its cover, to be used as a Memorial Register for those who have donated memorials in cherished memory of their relatives and friends, was presented to the Church by the "Bishop Huntington Sunday School Class" of the Church School.
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CHAPTER V
THE PRESENT DECADE
The opening of the new decade was saddened for us all by the death of our dearly beloved friend and minister, Reverend Charles Lancaster Short, on January 23, 1930. A classmate of Bishop Lawrence at the General Seminary (1876), he was ordained a deacon the same year, and a priest, the year following, by Bishop Potter. The vestry's well merited tribute reads as follows:
"The Wardens and Vestry of All Saints Parish desire to express their keen sense of personal loss in the decease of the Reverend Charles Lancaster Short, so lovingly associated with the life of this Parish for more than a generation.
"As Assistant Minister under three successive Rectors, he endeared himself to the whole Parish by his unswerving devotion to his high calling, his genial optimism and scholarly enthusiasm for the best in life, and above all, by the unfailing sweetness and sincerity of his Christian character.
"To the members of his family we extend our deepest sympathy. The devotion with which he served the Church he also expressed as husband and father, and he was priv- ileged to reach almost four-score years, with his children grown to maturity, respected and honored.
"Earnest and gifted as a preacher, wise and resourceful as a counselor, abounding in comfort for those in affliction, he was in truest sense, a friend, whom to have known and loved is to feel our own lives enriched."
For some time the good people of All Saints had been dreading the worse than possibility that our beloved rector, who had endeared himself to us all by his many sterling qualities of leadership, might be snatched from us to become the youngest bishop in the "Upper House," but when the summons actually came, through the agency of a distin-
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guished committee from Cincinnati, we were unprepared and unreceptive, in spite of the high honor involved.
As soon as it became known that Mr. Hobson had decided to accept the call, a local newspaper printed these com- mendatory paragraphs:
"Acceptance of his election as Bishop Coadjutor of South- ern Ohio will mean for the Reverend Henry Wise Hobson both distinction and an opportunity for wider service, but it will mean for the city of Worcester the loss of one who, both as Clergyman and as citizen, is of great value to the com- munity.
"Student, soldier, lover of humanity, devoted Church- man, Mr. Hobson has gone forward rapidly in his calling. A man of striking personal appearance, and charming per- sonality, his summons to high position-that of the youngest Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States-finds him still youthful with promise of the most fruitful years yet to come. The decision must be his, but if it is departure the sense of loss in Worcester will be deep and general.
"The Reverend Henry Wise Hobson was consecrated as Bishop Coadjutor of Southern Ohio on May 1, 1930 in Christ Church, Cincinnati, by the venerable Bishop Vincent, who was eighty-five years of age on May eighth, and who is Patriarch of the Protestant Episcopal Church of America, and of the Anglican Communion throughout the world! Mr. Hobson will be thirty-nine on May sixteenth, and is the three hundred and sixty-eighth Bishop in the Apostolic Succession in America today."
Bishop and Mrs. Hobson attended the Lambeth Confer- ence in London, opening July 5. Bishop Hobson returned to Worcester to preach at the annual Florence Nightingale Service held the last of May. Two hundred nurses in uniform marched in the processional.
Two magnificent carved oak doors were placed in the archway on the south side of the chancel, presented to the Parish in loving memory of Arthur Osgood Young and Mary Valentine Young, by their children: Margaret Valen- tine Young, Arthur O. Young, Jr., and Charles Claflin Young. The doors have a special and beautiful design, with symbolic carvings and handwrought hardware.
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"On June twenty-ninth, Mrs. David L. Pettegrew (Mary Lorena Huxley) died. She had been a member of All Saints for sixty years. She was devoted to everything in the Parish that would further the progress of All Saints, and untiring in her loyalty. She served as a volunteer Parish Secretary over an extended period, and many pages of her painstaking, accurate, and beautiful work are spread in the permanent records of this Parish."
On the third Sunday of January, 1931, Reverend Allen W. Clark held his first service as rector of All Saints. He came from the little parish of St. Thomas, Hanover, New Hamp- shire, where his contacts with the Dartmouth students formed an essential factor in his work. The sudden change into a wholly different social and ecclesiastical atmosphere, with all the financial and other worries inevitably bound up with the administration of a great urban constituency like ours, proved too much of a strain on his nervous system, and within six months of his advent here, his doctors ordered a prolonged rest from all parochial duties.
Reverend Mr. Clark, who was not quite thirty-five when he came to take charge of the Parish, displayed a fine enthusiasm and sweet spiritual nature, endearing him at once to us all. We now rejoice that he appears to be wholly recovered and is "doing full time" successfully in another parish.
Perhaps his most distinctive service to All Saints was his formulation and distribution of Home Prayers. He would write and send out to more than a hundred homes in Worces- ter, and in various other places in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and even to far distant points in the West (with a few in foreign countries) a sheet which he called Home Prayers, which included a text, a short address, and an outline of a simple service. They went out weekly to the Parish shut-ins, to farms in the New Hampshire and Ver- mont hills, to mansions in New York City-in fact, to a rapidly growing mailing-list.
More often than not he would add a little personal message at the bottom of the page, thus keeping in contact with many who would have been entirely out of touch with the
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ALLEN W. CLARK Rector 1931
Church and its comforts, so that, to many, the weekly coming of Home Prayers was an encouragement and a joy- a very real tie with the spiritual associations they longed for and needed. Return postcards in many cases gave him detailed information of family affairs-knowledge he delight- ed in receiving, which often enabled him to be of assistance in one way or another. Home Prayers proved a unique and fruitful branch of his ministry.
Visiting the sick occupied much of his time, and many are the families today, of the rich and poor alike, who recall gratefully his repeated and cheering visits, particularly in times of prolonged illness or other domestic misfortune.
About the middle of May took place the famous Mendon retreat for the vestry. It began on a lovely Saturday after- noon, and lasted one day only. Frankly it is probable that not many were anxious to go, but it was put forward as a special project of the rector, and nearly all were present. At the charming old Seabury House we enjoyed a period of complete isolation; attended several services at a sweet little chapel, to the accompaniment of bell, book, and a gently babbling brook; held several useful conferences; sang many hymns; played scrub baseball, and were treated to excellent bed and board. What the home congregation thought of our wholesale defection, we never learned.
Reverend Leonard B. Rasmusson came to All Saints as a curate under Mr. Hobson in 1929, and served as minister in charge after the latter's resignation, until January, 1931, and also during the summer of that year. Throughout these two years he was fully respected and beloved by the whole Parish for the devotion and efficiency of his services. In September, 1931, he began his new duties as rector of St. Mark's Church, Warren, Rhode Island.
In June the vestry reluctantly granted the rector a leave of absence, due to ill health; as his condition did not mend during the summer and autumn, his resignation was pre- sented and accepted with profound regret on November 4. At a special vestry meeting two days later, Reverend John H. Lever, who had been serving as curate since December 15
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previous, and during the recent months as minister in charge, was elected rector. Mr. Lever's effective preaching won him distinction both in All Saints pulpit and elsewhere.
On December 2, the annual bazaar, with Mrs. George Sumner Barton as general chairman, cleared some $1800, to be employed for parochial needs, unrestricted.
Just after Christmas came the decease of George Arthur Smith, a lifelong member of our Parish; he was treasurer for twenty-four years, 1894-1918; vestryman, 1900-1931, or- ganist, 1885-1913.
"Mr. Smith was a musician of rare gifts and accomplish- ments, and a man overflowing with human sympathy, with an enviable capacity for friendship. He possessed great personal charm, and a sure knowledge of values that endeared him to three generations of his fellow citizens. Through a long life of unselfish usefulness he loved All Saints devoutly, a devotion which the Parish reciprocates today."
And now suddenly, during the night of January 19-20, 1932, came our major material calamity in the total loss by incendiary fire, of our precious temple, endeared to us by a half century of worship and devotion, brimming with memorials of our revered All Saints of three generations. The fire of 1874, viewed in the proper perspective of time, was an actual blessing, as our growing Parish, under Dr. Huntington's inspired leadership, was already demanding radical expansion, while the cruel holocaust of three winters past, spelled calamity indeed.
Starting shortly after midnight, the fire soon gained an incredible voracity, speedily consuming the whole fabric, except the tower and certain outer walls. The Parish House was saved, although that part of it connecting with the main edifice was partly burned. There was an estimated loss of about $400,000, the Church building being insured for $238,000. Although it was feared that the irreplaceable records of the Parish might have been destroyed, it was found that the vault, of brick construction, had preserved them perfectly. Also a large steel safe, which contained the silver vessels of the Communion service, and was buried for days
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beneath half-burned timbers, slates, and other debris near the sacristy, was opened as soon as possible, and the con- tents found to be intact.
The historic Bible, rescued by Dr. Hoyt from the fire of 1874, lay for several weeks, soaked with moisture, under the great stones of the transept arch; it was thence recovered, repaired by Horace F. Phillimore, an expert bookbinder and a communicant of the Parish, and restored to almost perfect condition; it has subsequently been used for reading the Lessons at the All Saints Day Festival Services.
The rector acted with fine promptness and courage, calling a meeting of the vestry and wardens at ten o'clock the next morning at the rectory, 13 Ashland Street (occupied by Rev. and Mrs. Rogers) and made hasty plans for the im- mediate future. He announced that the next Sunday's services would be held at Horticultural Hall. At this meet- ing the first gift to the new All Saints was received from the Reverend Henry A. F. Hoyt, of Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, who sent a telegram contributing $1,000. Mr. Hoyt's intimate connection with our Parish has already been gratefully noted. Two years later, his funeral was the first to be conducted in the third All Saints, on April 25, 1934. He had almost reached the grand old age of ninety.
At the first vestry meeting, after the necessary committees had been appointed to arrange services, and supervise plans for reconstruction, it was voted unanimously to rebuild as soon as possible on the same site.
Many clergymen of Worcester sent letters of sympathy and offers of their church buildings for the use of All Saints until a temporary home was established. They included, in addition to our own Episcopal Communion, the First Unitarian, the First Baptist, Wesley, Piedmont, Plymouth, Central and the Old South. Scores of others wrote offering help of every sort. Messages came from churchmen through- out the country, and telegrams arrived constantly. The Reverend Allen W. Clark telegraphed:
"Deepest sympathy. Congratulations on savings records. Sincerest wishes for future."
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Bishop Hobson sent a telegram which was read at the annual meeting:
"Please tell members of Parish at annual meeting tonight that I rejoice in the certain knowledge of their loyalty and courage as they face the present emergency. The building which was so dear to many of us is gone, but All Saints Church will go from strength to strength because it is made up of devoted members who know how to triumph in the face of difficulties and turn their defeat into victory. My best wishes to all the Parish."
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