USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > All Saints church, Worcester, Massachusetts ; a centennial history, 1835-1935 > Part 4
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Next year the Church School bounded up to 80, only to drop in 1850 to 45. Possibly the previous high count was made on Easter Day. This year the Parish became self- supporting, and the Church School, though apparently cut in half, was declared "prosperous." The diocesan report says: "They have a splendid missionary spirit, and will be responsible for the support of one child at one of the mission schools." 1851 showed 62 communicants and 50 in the Church School.
Upon his resignation from All Saints, April 1, 1852, Mr. Bent was succeeded by Reverend Archibald M. Morrison, who was ordained February 25, 1853, and came to Wor- cester immediately afterwards. He went to Europe in 1856, leaving William H. Brooks in charge. In 1860 he assumed a pastorate in New York, and three years later went to Ohio, where he became editor of the Western Episcopalian.
At the library of the American Antiquarian Society may be seen a sermon preached by Reverend Mr. Bent in St. Paul's Church, Philadelphia, November 17, 1839, on "The Signs of the Times; or, The Moral Meaning of Our Present Commercial Difficulties." In the same library is preserved also a discourse of Reverend F. C. Putnam: "The True Safety of the Nation," preached in Bergen, New Jersey, on January 4, 1861 ; and one by Reverend George H. Clark at Savannah on November 28, 1860.
In 1852, under Mr. Morrison's rectorship, Lemuel Bliss Nichols, M. D. (father of the late Charles Lemuel Nichols) had replaced one "charter-member," Charles S. Ellis, as warden; there were 64 communicants, 3 confirmations, 2 marriages, and 4 burials. The next year, a new organ was installed at a cost of $600. The former instrument, on which only partial payment had been made, was claimed by the owner, early in the year, and removed. Through vigorous
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ARCHIBALD M. MORRISON Rector 1853-1856
exertion the new and superior equipment was procured and set up, free from all encumbrance.
Among the communicants added in 1854 was Charles McIlvaine Bent, who then began his almost unparalleled career of sixty-four adult years in the service of our parish. The same year, the total missionary contributions were $259, and the parish also pledged to the rector a salary of $500. The Parish Visitor and the Spirit of Missions were distributed among the members of the congregation. Next year the number of communicants rose to 85, with 19 bap- tisms and 48 in the Church School, including 7 teachers. In 1856 the rector, Mr. Morrison, tendered his resignation, after four years of service, to be succeeded by Reverend William H. Brooks, as minister in charge. "This year, an experiment, not so successful as could be desired, has been tried, in introducing congregational singing." Back in 1848 the vestry had voted $200, to be expended on church music, under the direction of C. B. Long.
The decade of the fifties witnessed a slow, though steady, increase in church membership, but brought discourage- ment as well. Five rectors came and went during the period, Mr. Morrison's four years being the longest term. Broad stretches of interregnum and irregular supply intervened, during which many communicants must have strayed away from the fold. In one case the vestry put on record their regret over "painful circumstances" in connection with the temporary suspension of ministeral service, while passing a general "vote of confidence." Mr. Morrison had to spend well over a year in Europe, on account of his wife's ill health, and finally sent his resignation from abroad. In 1867 we find that he was transferred to the Diocese of Pennsylvania. Reverend Albert Clarke Patterson accepted his call from All Saints under the shadow of a long illness, and apparently never actually conducted services here at all. An excellent sketch of Mr. Patterson in the Memoirs of his Harvard Class of 1830 states that he removed directly from Skaneateles to Buffalo in 1859.
Follow a few random notes worth putting on paper: for
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1850 a tentative annual budget of $1010 was set up for all parochial expenses; in 1853, the rector (Mr. Morrison) pre- sented an elaborate cooperative plan, in seven long "Ar- ticles" for "sustaining missionary enterprises by the evangelical churches of Worcester." In 1854 $800 was supposed to pay the rector's salary and allow $200 for "sing- ing." Many references follow on cooperation by the Prot- estant churches for poor relief. (Safe to say that community chests were still in the natural wood.)
In spite of high authority for the statement that Christ- mas and Easter were not celebrated by Protestant churches till well after 1875, we find on December 8, 1856, a com- mittee appointed "to decorate the church with evergreens for Christmas." In 1865, $50 was voted by the vestry for this purpose.
Eleven o'clock services we are inclined to regard as a sybaritic concession to the growing indolence of the twen- tieth century, but in 1857 a discussion took place in the vestry on shifting the hour of morning service from 11:00 A.M. to 10:30 A.M., and evening service from 2:00 to 3:00 P.M.
"Voted, that Mr. Thompson serve as sexton without pecuniary compensation." A parish debt of $100 mentioned in 1858 could easily have been canceled by the proceeds of $200, from a Ladies' Bazaar in Brinley Hall, quoted from the same page of the Parish records.
Taking up our narrative again in 1858, we find Reverend William H. Brooks minister in charge, while the rector elect wrestles with illness in New York State; 88 communicants, 24 baptisms, 50 pupils in the Church School, and 7 teachers. Missionary offerings totaled $396. The sturdy Thomas Bottomly still heads the vestry as senior warden, but retires in 1861, after eighteen years of continuous and devoted serv- ice, dating back to the organization of the Parish in 1843.
From its modest minimum of $500, the rector's salary had now reached the tidy total of $1200, which sum was offered to Reverend Edgar W. Hager, of New Bedford, on December 6, 1859, and by him accepted. April 21 of the next year recorded his first meeting with the vestry. This year, which
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WILLIAM H. BROOKS Minister in Charge 1856-1859
paved the way for the saddest scenes of fratricidal strife in our country's history, witnessed a cheering example of Christian fellowship here in Worcester, when our vestry gratefully accepted the use of the commodious Church of the Unity for Sunday afternoon services, during repairs to All Saints, "as soon as the workmen shall drive us out."
After exactly a quarter century of checkered history, the year of 1860 first required three figures to register the roll of communicants, with an impressive total of 102; 24 baptisms, and 20 confirmations. From Seth Adams, Jr., of Providence, came an unexpected check of $50 "for the Sunday School of the Episcopal Church in Worcester."
The first year of our Civil War found 125 communicants at All Saints, with 26 baptisms recorded, an average of one every other Sunday. The Church School, of 75 pupils and 13 teachers, raised $58 for the Parish Library, while the necessary repairs to the church fabric, after fifteen years, totaled $2300. Raising that large amount in wartime speaks volumes for the spirit of our Parish.
On January 22, the rector purchased "one stationary marble font from Fiske & Bird of New York, for $155." This precious font has miraculously survived two fires, and now continues its blessed service in 1935.
In spite of the Civil War raging, and the low state of the Union cause in 1862, the annual budget was set at $2200, and All Saints entered on the most glorious year of her his- tory, the fortunate year that sent a timid call to that blithe and ardent spirit, William Reed Huntington. In Wor- cester's annals pleasant it is to recall that the honor fell to Judge Francis H. Dewey, on November 17, to nominate young Mr. Huntington, not yet ordained, to be our first great leader.
Mr. Hager's short rectorate, of somewhat over two years, had been one of marked energy and advance. A call came to him from Chicago, where he felt that he could do still better work. The closing paragraph of his deeply regretted tender of resignation to the vestry, dated August 1, 1862, reads as follows:
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1700742
"I have tried to preach to you Christ and Him crucified, desiring to receive and deliver no other message. Sensational and political harangues, I have gladly and purposely left to others, wishing to feed you with no such husks, but as much as in me has lain, have told you of better things, even of salvation through the blood of Jesus.
I remain, Very truly yours, E. W. HAGER"
Mr. Hager's later career has been difficult to trace. After holding pastorates in Illinois, he was appointed a chaplain in the United States Navy on March 1, 1873. He served at the Norfolk Navy Yard, on the training ship Minnesota, and at the Washington Navy Yard. He died in Chicago July 7, 1880.
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EDGAR W. HAGER Rector 1859-1862
CHAPTER II DR. HUNTINGTON'S MINISTRY
Lowell is one of our leading textile cities, but by many thoughtful Americans it is gratefully remembered as the mother of James McNeil Whistler and William Reed Hunt- ington. Our first truly great spiritual leader at All Saints was born September 20, 1838, during that first interregnum of "profound discouragement" in our Parish. Dr. Hunting- ton stemmed from sound English stock on both sides. His father was Dr. Elisha Huntington, competent and be- loved physician for all the Lowell district. Hannah Hinck- ley, his mother, counted a Governor of the old Plymouth Colony (Thomas Hinckley) among her ancestors; she early instilled in her son's receptive heart and mind those ideals of duty, patriotism, and morality which made the pioneers the greatest, if sternest, exponents of liberty and unswerving devotion to religion that the world has ever known.
In her son, however, these characteristics of pioneer rigor were mitigated and harmonized by a tolerance, poetic nature, and abiding sense of humor that presently blended into a perfectly rounded character. A certain reserve of tempera- ment which he always maintained was sometimes inter- preted by strangers as aloofness, but the wise ones of All Saints were not slow to discover that at last they had brought home the rector they had long been seeking.
After careful preparation in private schools he attended Norwich University for two years. This institution had developed out of a military academy, and was doubtless a factor in creating that soldierly bearing and alertness of body and mind which Dr. Huntington carried through life. Although his father and grandfather were Dartmouth grad- uates he entered Harvard College in 1855. There he soon
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reached a crucial milestone in his career, for as a student he began to listen with absorbed attention to the preaching of Reverend Frederick Dan Huntington, then in the Unitarian ministry, but presently to shine as a bright beacon in our own Church as Bishop of Central New York. Of this happy influence the younger man wrote, many years later: "Few indeed have taken such a hold upon my affections, at a time of life when affections are strongest. To his influence as a preacher I owe my first interest in religion and religious things." After his conversion from Unitarianism the Rev- erend F. D. Huntington became rector of Emmanuel Church, Boston, where his young admirer served first as lay-worker, and later became assistant minister.
Still in deacon's orders, he conducted his first service as rector of All Saints on Sunday, December 3, 1862, and was ordained to the priesthood on the same day. His salary, it will be recalled, was set at $1300.00, with the understanding that he should be allowed a six months' leave of absence within his first year of service for travel abroad, he to arrange supplies for the pulpit during his absence.
At the Ordination Service the Reverend George S. Paine was raised to the priesthood with Mr. Huntington. The sermon was preached by the Reverend Frederick Dan Huntington. After the service a bountiful collation was tendered by the vestry, at the Bay State House, to the clergy and invited guests.
Under the new rector progress was slow but definite. At his arrival the Parish was not unprosperous, with 150 com- municants, 22 baptisms, reported for 1862, and an even 100 in the Church School, plus 17 teachers.
Only twenty-four years old when he first came to Worcester, Mr. Huntington's brief letter of acceptance, as may be noted herewith, was strictly a business communication:
"Cambridge, November 21, 1862
"MY DEAR SIR:
"Yours of the 18th containing the copy of a vote passed by the Wardens and Vestry of All Saints Church reached me only yesterday. Having already given the subject care-
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C
e shall be our stoff
rd
INTERIOR OF THE PEARL STREET CHURCH
ful consideration, I feel that I need make no delay in com- municating my decision.
"I accept the invitation extended in the vote, and cor- dially accede to the terms therein contained. You may expect me to enter upon my duties on the first Sunday of December.
Very respectfully yours, WILLIAM R. HUNTINGTON
"To: CHAS. B. WHITING,
Clerk of the Parish,
All Saints, Worcester."
In an article written at this time, and appearing in a local newspaper, a visitor to the old All Saints Church thus ex- pressed himself:
"I visited All Saints Church for the first time recently. It was a cold, frosty morning. The stove just within the door warmed us, and the bright sun streaming in through the illuminated tops of the windows over the two double rows of pews, just large enough for four, gave it a homelike look. . A new organ had been ordered, unpacked and placed in position, but only paid for in part if at all (in defiance of the judgment of some of the Church leaders). After the parishioners had rejoiced over their valuable acqui- sition, the creditors became alarmed and clamorous for their due, and, not finding it forthcoming, appeared themselves and were making preparations to carry away the instrument when such an unpleasant proceeding was stayed by the inter- vention of one of the Church's unfailing champions, who, having been summoned in hot-haste, goodnaturedly satisfied all demands.
"The young Deacon, Mr. Huntington, took his place, and while the Service started I stole a look at the Minister's wife. No one who remembers her face when it first appeared among us will deny it was a marvelous vision of beauty and loveliness, or greatly wonder that I divided my attention with her husband's sermon! The Services had not proceeded far when I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder, promptly fol- lowed by a heated soapstone, slipped in a quiet way across to my side. My heart was warmed more than my feet, and glowed with pleasure and gratitude at the care and solicitude with which the members of All Saints cared for the stranger in their midst."
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Although slight of figure and boyish of face, Mr. Hunt- ington gradually impressed his vestry with a ripe and sea- soned judgment that astonished them all. His keen blue eyes must then have sparkled with even a fresher brilliance than what we of the next two decades so joyfully recall.
In September of this same 1862 he had become engaged to Theresa Reynolds, youngest daughter of Dr. Edward Rey- nolds of Boston, and a niece of Wendell Phillips. They were married on October 14, 1863, and were blessed with four children. But after less than ten happy married years, the heaviest cross of his life was laid upon him in the loss of that beloved consort. He never married again, but had the advantage of receiving into the rectory as housekeeper and companion his sister-in-law, Miss Miriam Reynolds, who re- mained a valued member of his family till her death in 1908.
Before the service of ordination, the senior warden re- ceived by mail from the new rector the following astonishing suggestion: "It may be well to have the surplices (if you have more than one) whitened and pressed." This meticu- lous attention to detail in the preparation for services and arrangement of programs was at all times characteristic of the man; haphazard and slipshod were adjectives unthink- able in application to him or any of his doings.
In spite of his admirable stock of common sense and innate good taste, the young rector felt his inexperience keenly, and was wise to stipulate a six months' period of travel, reflec- tion, and preparation before settling down to the hard tasks and heavy responsibilities of parochial ministration. During this half-year the Reverend Samuel S. Spear supplied the rector's place, to the general satisfaction of the Parish.
Churchgoing seventy years ago was obviously quite a different kind of habit from that of today. Nowadays a body of over 1900 communicants rarely produces a congre- gation exceeding 350 in a church that seats 1000. In 1862, 150 communicants somehow filled a church of 500 sittings to the extent that overflow meetings made a problem for regular discussion at vestry meetings.
In 1864 the roster of communicants numbers 133 (includ-
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ing the familiar names of Corinne Nichols, Benjamin T. Hammond, and Isaac N. Metcalf) a decrease of 17 from that of two years previous. At the annual Parish meetings Dr. Huntington established the obvious custom, not previously noted in the records of the vestry, of reading a report on the state of the Parish. This year the Church was enlarged, as previously noted, to supply 125 additional sittings.
According to the Parish records the only effect of the Civil War on All Saints Church was the allocation of special con- tributions in April, 1865, to the U. S. Sanitary and Christian Commission, and "Relief of Freedmen" in February; the other ten, in order of the calendar, were: Foreign Missions, American Bible Society, Diocesan Missions, Parish Library, Episcopal Funds, Relief of Aged and Indigent Clergymen, Sunday School, Education of the Ministry, Worcester County Orphans' Home, Domestic Missions.
The year following the close of the Civil War saw a sharp rise in the number of communicants to 176, with 130 pupils and 23 teachers in the Church School. (This present desig- nation of the traditional Sunday School is, of course, a coin- age of the twentieth century.) For the liquidation of the Church debt there was raised at the Easter offering, and by subscriptions within the church, the sizable sum of $3,750. The total offerings for the year were $4,407. On Easter Day of 1867, the Church School Festival included the singing of a number of carols, prayers, Scripture readings, a recitation, and distribution of flowers and prizes.
In 1868 the house next to the Church (at the west) was acquired for a rectory, and plans were set on foot to remodel another house, at the rear, or south side, into a chapel. That the rector was already "building castles on Pleasant Street," within five years of his arrival at All Saints is evident from the annexed quotations:
"EXTRACTS FROM RESOLUTIONS MADE AT PARISH MEETING, APRIL 30, 1867
"Voted, that the Parish fully appreciates and cordially responds to the expressed desire of the Rector, for the erec-
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tion, whenever the means can be obtained, of a church of durable material, of ample dimensions, of architectural proportions and beauty, which shall be honorable to the society and an ornament to the City.
"Voted, that, as preliminary to, and a preparation for, this larger undertaking, it is in the mean time the duty of the Parish to provide sittings and regular services in some tem- porary place of worship for all who may be desirous but unable to procure seats in the present church."
A characteristic dictum of the rector is recorded at this date: "The Holy Eucharist has never been successfully explained, but how many, to their great and endless com- fort, have taken it unexplained, and given thanks to God." The sincerity of his devotion is evidenced by the following comment of a parishioner: "His eye never roamed about the church as if to learn who was or was not there. He was there himself to worship God and not to gratify idle curiosity."
The year 1868, in addition to seeing the communicant roll rise to 200, witnessed also the introduction of what we all consider an essential factor in the service of our Church: a choir of men and boys. Mr. Isaac N. Metcalf, a seasoned tenor, and director of the quartet which had previously led the singing, organized and inspired this new venture. At that time it is probable that the Church of the Advent in Boston maintained the only other boy choir in the diocese. Easter Day, April 5, was the choir's birthday.
This first choir comprised a most distinguished personnel including the two wardens, Sumner Pratt and Meltiah B. Green, as well as two vestrymen, Charles M. Bent and Edward L. Davis. The choir sat on a platform raised one step at the head of the two aisles. The men and boys, arrayed in their Sunday best, but without vestments, walked silently and reverently to their places. Later, this first choir acquired such distinction as to be invited to membership in the Parish Choir Festival held annually in Boston. The only members of this choir now living are believed to be Eben F. Thompson, and Charles B. Smith of Fitchburg. The late Luther M. Lovell, whose term of service (approach-
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ing sixty years) exceeded that of every other chorister, joined the Parish in 1872.
Beginning at about this time, All Saints enjoyed the serv- ices of particularly fine organists :- Henshaw Dana, Fred Chase, Walter Merrifield, and Arthur Whiting. In 1881 Mr. Metcalf resigned as choirmaster, after which the choir was reorganized with Mr. Bent as precentor and Mr. Whiting choirmaster and organist. In 1885 Mr. George Arthur Smith, then organist of Union Church, began his long and successful service as organist of All Saints.
Under Dr. Huntington's inspired leadership progress was inevitable. 1869 showed 245 communicants, with an out- standing confirmation class of 48, and 203 in the Church School. The total offerings were $3,545. Two memorial windows, one in the chancel and one opposite, were received as gifts of individuals. The dwelling-house at the rear of the church was this year actually converted into a "beautiful and commodious chapel." "Every tenth pew, in order of occurrence, has been made forever free. These are to be known as Guest Seats. On Sunday evenings, the entire church is free." May 6 and 7 witnessed the annual Diocesan Convention in All Saints Church.
At Christmas time the women of the Parish held a fair, netting $121, for the purpose of starting a Mission Chapel Fund. Additions were made from time to time, and an association was formed, of All Saints parishioners, to further this work. In 1871 it was deemed prudent to build, and on St. Matthew's Day, September 21, the new mission was opened for worship, on or near the site of the present St. Matthew's Church.
About this period, our Parish began, for the first time, to assume a position of prominence and influence among the churches of the city.
Then, as now, much of the Church's work was performed by the loyal and devoted women of the Parish; in 1870 first appears the "Rector's Aid Society, Mrs. William R. Hunt- ington, president." Six departments of church work are also listed, but not specified, each directed by a married
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woman. In midwinter the boy choir made a pilgrimage to Webster to supplement the rector's "Lecture on English Cathedrals" with "Illustrations of Choral Music."
In a sermon preached January 20, 1870, Dr. Huntington expressed his strong convictions on the subject of Church Unity, or, the belief in the essential singleness of purpose on the part of all Christian denominations. This favorite thesis he expanded in what was perhaps his best known book, The Church Idea, published this same year. Its popularity required a second edition twenty-nine years later. In line with this thought, he urged the men of the Parish to support the Young Men's Christian Association. He closed his sermon with these stirring words: "To love the Church because it is Christ's Church is a better thing than to fight for it because it is our Church. It behooves us all to remem- ber that envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness are more likely to keep us out of Heaven than the most earnest churchmanship, which cannot clear itself of complicity with these, is likely to get us in. Those pearly gates swing not on their hinges either to a proud or an unloving soul."
The following year Dr. Huntington was sent as a delegate to the General Convention. So valuable were his services at the convention that he continued to be a member of that body during practically all the remainder of his ministry, or through thirteen successive triennial conventions.
In stressing his convictions in the matter of systematic giving, the rector composed a circular letter to the Parish, saying in part: "It is very far from my mind to force any plan of this sort upon those to whose judgment it does not commend itself. Giving has little significance, and certainly no religious significance, when it is not perfectly willing and cheerful." The fact that such an encyclical was necessary, or that the principle was open to question, shows how much education in this regard the Parish really needed.
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