USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > All Saints church, Worcester, Massachusetts ; a centennial history, 1835-1935 > Part 6
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Some years later these Busy Bees buzzed actively to obtain from the devoted architect of the Church, Stephen C. Earle, a design for an ornamental grandfather's clock, presented to the Parish Library, as a memorial of the first year of their corporate existence. The upper part of this highly decora- tive piece of furniture is carved to simulate a beehive.
On February II of this year, Dr. Huntington suggested the formation of a league of young women to work for the Church. Three weeks later a Council of Ten met with Miss Corinne Louise Nichols to organize the new society. After several months' existence as the L. B. Club, the name was changed to its present title of The Wednesday Club.
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The Charter Officers elected were: president, Corinne Louise Nichols; vice president, Emma Amanda Pratt; secretary, Caroline Clinton Dewey; treasurer, Mary Perkins Hobart.
There were thirty-six members the first year, holding twenty-five meetings. During this year the club published Number One of The Woodbine and Number One of the Easter Lily. These little magazines carried choice selections of various kinds, news of the Parish and club, calendar of Church year and events, etc. Proceeds from the sale of these publications benefited the club's treasury.
This year, also, the club gave a picnic for the Sunday School, and decorated the Church for special festival serv- ices. They also subscribed for a magazine for the Parish Library. For the Chancel Window Fund they contributed $547.14.
As Dr. Huntington's fortunate rectorship entered its fifteenth year in 1877, his remarkable qualities for organiza- tion showed in the birth of the following societies: The Guild (men's work), St. Cecilia Club, Wednesday Club, Saturday Club, Messenger Corps (to deliver the Parish paper) and the Busy Bees. The Parish Library was also developed under Miss Amy Kinnicutt as Librarian. Next year, the Women's Missionary Society was formed with Mrs. George Tilley Rice as president. The rector's salary had now risen to the comparatively respectable sum of $3,250. The Parish now carried a debt of $21,754, including $14,000 on the rectory. A fund of $300, the interest on which was to be devoted to building up the Parish Library, was gratefully received from George Holt, in memory of Mrs. Margaret Holt, the first endowment fund entered on the Parish records.
The Girls' Friendly Society makes its first appearance in 1879, with Mrs. Edward L. Davis as president. "The Society takes in those young women of the Parish, who, by reason of their duties, are prevented from attending the afternoon meetings of the Wednesday Club, and the Women's Missionary Society."
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On December 24, 1879, the London Guardian printed the following:
"Our readers may perhaps remember a notice some time ago of an interesting request from the Rector of All Saints Parish, in the Town of Worcester, Massachusetts, in the United States, for one of the old stones of the Worcester Cathedral, to be imbedded in the walls of the new All Saints Church as a symbol of unity between the American Church and the old Church in England.
"To that request the late Dean, the Honorable and Very Reverend G. M. Yorke, cheerfully acceded, and sent with the stone a cordial message of brotherly greeting.
"On the news of his sudden death his widow received the following letter which has been sent to us for publication, and which we willingly print, believing that it will interest all who care for the brotherhood binding the two Churches together in the Communion of Saints:
"'All Saints Rectory, Worcester, Mass., U. S. A., November Ist, 1879
" 'DEAR MADAM:
" 'You will not, I feel sure, count it an intrusion if I venture to offer you in my people's name as well as in my own the assurance of our respectful sympathy. The sad tidings of your husband's death reached us in the week's Guardian, and recalled at once many cherished associations with his name. It will interest you to know that today in the Church Tower we wreathed around the memorial stone from the Worcester Cathedral the laurel (which is to us in this neigh- borhood what the holly and ivy are to you), binding it with the semblance of mourning, and placing underneath a few commemorative words.
"'It seemed a fitting thing to do on All Saints Day in All Saints Church; and helped to deepen in us faith in the larger fellowship which knows no difference, but is indeed the Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints, the com- mon Mother of us all. I remain
Most truly yours, WILLIAM REED HUNTINGTON'
The annual Parish meeting for 1880 chronicled two most cheerful news items: the rector had declined a flattering call from St. Stephen's, Philadelphia, and the entire floating debt
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had been paid, leaving enough money in the treasury to show a balance at the end of the fiscal year. Next year the roll of communicants rose to an even 400, with an equal number in the Church School. At this time the rector made known, in the Christmas Holly, his long cherished wish for a private hospital to be maintained by and for the people of the Parish.
In the early summer of 1880, Dr. Huntington wrote to Miss Eugenia Tiffany, who was traveling abroad, one of his typically gracious and playful acknowledgments, which must be retailed in full:
"The Rectory, Worcester, Mass. June 9th, 1880
"MY DEAR MISS EUGENIA:
"Your kind remembrance of my little girls went to their hearts. Each of them rejoiced in the thought that her scarf really and truly came from Rome and cannot possibly be an 'imitation!' Whether it is you or they that must be brought in guilty of smuggling is a question which I have not yet decided in my own mind, and unless the U. S. Revenue offi- cers take it up I think I shall let it rest, at least until you return.
"Miss Nellie has told you how opportunely your Easter card arrived. Let me again thank you for remembering me in so graceful a fashion. The other day we had our annual gathering of the infant scholars at the Rectory. On the cards of invitation we dignified the occasion by calling it a 'Garden-Party,' euphemism at which those of the parents who have observed my front yard of late must have smiled. Not only is there no garden, but by dint of assiduous foot- ball and baseball practice, Frank and his playmates have reduced what little turf there was to a hard earthy surface, variegated only on wet days by those little mounds which the ingenious 'angleworm' for some inscrutable purpose turns up!
"However, to this 'garden,' such as it was, the infants rallied to the number of 115. We had the usual program of amusements, the see-saw, the hammock, the suspended candy-bag, the foot-race, 'On the Green Carpet,' (this also a satire on my 'lawn') and the ever popular fire-balloon. An additional attraction was offered in the shape of the Wash- burn goat, harnessed to a two-seated wagon, and guided by Rob and Henry. Candidates for the ride were so numerous
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that we had to limit the trip to the distance between the two fences. Davies Taintor rebelled against this restriction, appearing to entertain views about occupancy of place similar to those attributed to General Grant. But the others acquiesced in the principle of rotation, and Davies was handed over to his nurse. When it came to forming the procession it was a pretty sight indeed. The Bartlett twins headed the line of march, and the column was so long that when it had completed the circuit of the Rectory the rear was still visible to the van.
"Finally we got them all arranged in a row on the stone curbing of the fence which separates Dr. Bull's grounds from mine. They filled the entire length of the curbing and some four or five of them spilled over upon a settee. The exem- plary quiet and order in which they sat waiting for their ice- cream and cake might have shamed many an assembly of their elders,-the Chicago Convention, for instance, of whose turbulent behavior we heard distressing accounts. Finally they all went home safe, and sound, with the excep- tion of one boy, who was hit full in the eye by the foot- ball. Him I pacified with a Fourth of July toy pistol, and a box of percussion caps,-so that I may say all went away happy!
You are wondering, no doubt, why I should fill up my letter with trifling thoughts, and talk about such an insignifi- cant affair; but what would be the use of my writing to you about matters of great public interest, the tidings of which have perhaps actually been flashed across the ocean since I began to write? All these things you will find served up for you in tomorrow's paper, and they will have become an old story long before this tardy letter reaches you. But a
glimpse of present-day life in Pearl Street is a thing you can- not get by telegraph, and so, perhaps, after all, my modest little picture of the infants and their delights may be of more real refreshment to you than if I had dwelt ever so fully upon the excitement in which the politicans have been keep- ing us for the last week.
'The Church misses you, and I trust that, in spite of all the Cathedrals and Basilicas, you do, now and then, just a little miss the Church,-yes, even modest All Saints, corner of Pleasant and Irving Streets, which has as yet neither treas- ures of art nor grand historic memories to entitle it to a place in guide books, but within whose walls, nevertheless, there breathes a certain atmosphere of home which is better than all the other things put together.
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"With kindest remembrances to all your fellow travelers, I am
"Ever your attached friend and Minister,
W. R. HUNTINGTON"
December of 1882 witnessed the twentieth anniversary of Dr. Huntington's rectorship. On this occasion the Wednes- day Club, under the leadership of Miss Sarah Bennett Hop- kins, presented him with a screen of black satin, hand embroidered by members of the club and framed in ebony. A reception was tendered to the rector, and a pitcher and tray of solid silver presented. The sixth issue of the Christmas Holly was published (proceeds for the Christmas tree); a missionary box was sent to the Mississippi State Prison, and another to the Easter fair of our fledgling, the new St. Matthew's parish.
To those most intimate with Parish affairs, it had long been evident that the dreaded sword of Damocles had for many years hung suspended over the heads of our people. At the Advent season of 1883 it fell. From the wealthy and prominent Grace Church, New York City, came a call which could not be denied. Warnings indeed had been issued aplenty. Back at the close of 1874 the church people of Iowa sent a heartfelt and unanimous summons for Dr. Huntington to become their bishop, but fortunately it came at the great crisis of rebuilding after the first fire, so that our beloved rector felt free to decline, using the noble language of the following letter:
"All Saints Rectory Worcester, Dec. 17, 1874
"REVEREND BRETHREN AND GENTLEMEN:
"Your letter, conveying the official information of my election to the Episcopate of Iowa, reached me on Monday. If I seem too hasty with a reply, it must be remembered that the subject has been on my mind since the receipt of the telegraphic despatch you were kind enough to send me immediately upon the adjournment of the Convention. The fact that the Diocese of Iowa has done me a signal honor, wholly out of proportion to my deserts, while it touches my
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heart, ought not to blind my judgment; and my judgment, not unguided, I trust, by Him whose blessing you sought upon your choice, prompts me to decline the office to which you have invited me. This I accordingly do. In view of your own urgent appeal, as well as of the genial, affectionate letters addressed to me by other clergymen and laymen of the Diocese, it seems only right that the foremost of the various considerations which have governed my decision should be stated.
"The parish of which I have been the rector during my whole ministry is without a church, and has been so since last Easter. We are in the midst of an arduous building enterprise, begun, not, indeed with an express promise on my part that I would see it through, but certainly with a general understanding on the part of my people that we were pledged to stand by one another in the work. You know that the times are not particularly favorable to under- takings of this nature. I am assured by evidence, the force of which it is not easy to gainsay, that my departure just at this moment, when the money needed for the new church is only half raised, will certainly cripple, and possibly ship- wreck the endeavor. It may very well be that my friends here exaggerate the value of my assistance in the work they have in hand; but it is equally possible, and, may I not say, even more probable, that you also have overestimated your need of me. It would indeed be a source of great pain to me thus to have embarrassed and delayed the action of your important Diocese, had I to reproach myself with having given anyone the slightest reason to think that my connec- tion here could be severed at this time. It is, I believe, known to you that some weeks ago I wrote to the brother clergyman who happened to be almost my only acquaintance (I can not now say my only friend) among the churchmen of Iowa, begging him to use every effort in his power to keep my name from coming before the Convention. If in that letter I refrained from saying flatly that, if elected, I should decline it, it was merely because delicacy seemed to forbid my assuming in an unsolicited communication the pos- sibility of such a result. I was only apprised that I had been mentioned in connection with the vacancy; all that I had a right to ask, therefore, was that my unwillingness to be con- sidered a candidate should be stated to the electors. It is a satisfaction to know that my correspondent himself did not misapprehend the tenor of the words.
"With the expression of an earnest hope that God, in His
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own time, will send you a Bishop richly endowed with all the qualities that fit a man for wise and gentle leadership, I remain your brother in the faith and love of Christ,
WILLIAM R. HUNTINGTON"
Having reached the decision to lay down his Worcester ministry, he was wise to make the intervening period of the briefest, which he certainly did, by presenting his resignation on November 26, to take effect only four days thereafter. The text of this his last parochial document shall also be given in full:
"All Saints Rectory, Worcester, Massachusetts November 26, 1883
"Wardens and Vestry,
All Saints Church
"GENTLEMEN:
"With this last week of November the twenty-first year of my ministry comes to an end. I am now desirous of laying down the sacred charge assumed at your request so long ago, and herewith tender to you my resignation of the Rectorship of All Saints Parish.
"How much it has cost me to make this decision, and how much it costs me now to put my purpose into words, I will not attempt to say. I am called to another work; all things considered it seems to be my duty to obey the summons, and this I purpose doing when the obligation which now binds us together shall have been loosed.
'Looking back over the period of our official connection I can recall no time when the relation between you and me has been other than that of mutual respect, confidence and goodwill.
"I have to thank you for a thousand kindnesses, and for a generous indulgence in respect to the shortcomings of my ministry which I shall never forget. It is my wish that this resignation shall be put into effect on Friday next, Novem- ber 30th, a day which marks alike the beginning of the Sea- son, and the end of my one and twenty years of service.
"I am quite sure you will agree with me in thinking that this quick severance of our connection-though it may look abrupt-will really be wiser than any long delay in parting. If I can be of assistance in providing for the supply of the
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Pulpit during the month of December, or even for a longer period, do not fail to let me know it.
"With the heartfelt prayer that God's best blessing may ever rest on All Saints Church, I am, with constant affection
Your Minister and friend, WILLIAM REED HUNTINGTON"
The deep and abiding affection in which Dr. Huntington was held by every member of All Saints Parish can be no better expressed than by offering some quotations from a most charming tribute by the late Mrs. Charles F. Wash- burn, reprinted in pamphlet form from The Churchman of December 26, 1918:
"The advent of the young, boyish-looking rector attracted little notice. Now and then one might hear a kindly, half pitying remark-that he seemed very young, even for the care of so small a parish and that his delicate appearance for- bade the hope of his going on long with his work.
"The young rector was soon spoken of as a force to be reckoned with and the little church became the center of interest to many outside of its own parish. People who did not attend its services began to wish to be there, at least on festival days. The liberal views of the rector won friends among those most opposed to liturgical worship. His reply is remembered to a mother, who wished to have her child baptized, but feared he would not accept her brother as god- father, because he was a member of a Congregationalchurch. 'Indeed I will accept him,' said he, 'you could not have a better man.' Such sentiments made many friends for him, and we began to realize that here was a man working for the advancement of the Church of God and not wholly for his own little part of it. .
"It was impossible to live near to the church, to live near to him, without being stirred by his resistless energy, without feeling the force of his underlying purpose in the upbuilding of All Saints.
"For these few years the presence of his young wife lent a charm to his home. Peacefully in life she walked among us, and calmly at last gave back her soul to God. Her youthful figure rises before us as we think of him. No other parish shared her life. She must remain ours, and ours alone forever.
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"Whatever had been the previous preparation of Dr. Huntington for his work, he had now taken his degree in a higher school, the school of suffering, of loss. God himself had set his seal upon his work. Suffering did not embitter him, rather did it deepen and enrich all the forces of his nature. He knew of the deep things of God and gave them without stint to his people. He felt a tenderness of spirit for every one. How his manner at a funeral service would touch the heart, as he said in tender tones: 'Peace be upon this house and upon all that are therein.' Whatever the anguish, it was soothed; however dark the path, light irra- diated it.
"No one was more ready than he to enjoy an apt reply to any playful remark of his own. At this time his parish used a hall, as a temporary substitute, for their Sunday services. The Swedenborgians had it in the afternoon. The Wednes- day Club had given an entertainment, to which the children from other parishes had been invited. One boy who belonged to a Sunday School at the Congregational Church lost his question book, The Little Pilgrim, from the pocket of his coat which he had worn to the party. Some one had stuffed it into the lectern so that the following Sunday it could neither be raised nor lowered. Dr. Huntington wrote a playful note to the mother, returning the book and accusing her of dis- turbing the peace of his service because he could neither raise nor lower the lectern. She wrote in reply that 'not- withstanding her high respect for him and for All Saints she was rejoiced that he was forced to admit that Congrega- tionalism had fixed the standard of the Episcopal pulpit.' Nothing could exceed his pleasure at this reply, or his glad response that she had not left him a word to say.
'Slowly but surely the day drew near, when the tie that bound him to All Saints, as rector, was to be severed. It would be impossible to describe the feelings of his parish- ioners as they saw the day approach. It was like nothing so much as the hopeless feeling with which we accept the fact that one whom we love and on whom we most depend must die. He was no less agitated than we. No farewell sermon was preached-it would not have been possible. He said his parting words in the homes of his people. They seemed almost like the farewell words of the dying. When our doors closed upon him, it seemed as if the walls of the house rocked. One could not believe that life could go on without him. But it could and did. The interval of a year spent in travel, between leaving All Saints and going to Grace Church
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during which he still seemed to be our own, soothed our pain and enabled us to look more calmly on the inevitable. When at last he was really gone it comforted our hearts to know that he never ceased to remember his Worcester parish with deepest affection."
Regarding his ultimate aims and achievements, it is prob- ably fair to say that his controlling life-motive was church unity; the formulation of a sound platform for all Christians to stand upon. The multifarious divisions of Christendom were to him a fatal weakness. The basis for this welding of all Christian sects he found in his later famous "Quadri- lateral": "The Holy Scriptures as the Word of God; the primitive creeds as the rule of faith; the two Sacraments ordained by Christ himself, and the Episcopate as keystone of governmental unity."
The fire of 1874 and the building of the second All Saints stimulated his interest in religious art to the extent of his becoming almost a national authority on matters of eccle- siastical taste and reverence, culminating in the leading part assumed by him in planning and building the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, of which the rarely beautiful Hunt- ington Chapel is no mean part.
Essentially energetic and galvanizing, but at the same time mystical and poetic in temperament, Dr. Huntington com- bined the man of thought and the man of action in a wholly enviable life of service, which it was our high privilege so largely to share.
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CHAPTER III
DR. VINTON AND BISHOP DAVIES
As quick action was imperative, in view of Dr. Hunting- ton's hurried departure, the vestry on December 7 appointed Reverend L. H. Schwab as minister in charge. In this emergency the vestry bestirred themselves to their utmost, and on April 28, 1884, after five months' interregnum, were fortunate in receiving an acceptance to their call, from Reverend Alexander Hamilton Vinton, then rector of the Church of the Holy Comforter, Philadelphia. His first sermon as rector of All Saints he preached on September 7. Dr. Vinton at this time was thirty-two years old, of different temperament from his predecessor, perhaps less magnetic, but a gifted preacher, splendid organizer, and a most devout and sincere churchman, of high intellectual and spiritual charm.
Before the calendar year was finished some important changes might already be noted. The Church Temperance Society first emerges on the records, with the rector as presi- dent, and John W. Young, O. W. Norcross, Dr. Charles L. Nichols, and Stephen C. Earle as officers. Likewise the Children's Charity Fund was organized on Christmas Eve; through this agency the cumulated birthday offerings of the children of the Parish were to be laid upon the altar at the Festival Service on Christmas Eve. To us of today Dr. Vinton's first year of 1884 is also noteworthy for the inauguration of the annual union service on All Saints Day of all our Episcopal parishes.
The annual budget was fixed at $8,545, including $3,000 for rector's salary and the rectory. St. John's mission was organized during the year, the cornerstone being laid on July 5, and in November it was voted that our choir should in the future be vested.
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About 1885, the new rectory, 13 Ashland Street, was ac- quired by the Parish; during this year also the rector was authorized to purchase a Parish Burial Lot in Hope Ceme- tery. A memorial cross was to be erected thereon, bearing the names of those who should be laid to rest beneath it. "Thither the flowers from the Church may be brought on the festival day of the Church, and at other holy times, and from this care should spring a fuller appreciation of the mean- ing of the Parish name, and the privileges belonging to us in the discharge of the duties of All Saints."
On October 1, Reverend Philip M. Washburn was chosen assistant minister. He became a candidate for holy orders while a communicant of our Parish, and was ordained deacon by Bishop Paddock at a service at which Dr. Huntington came from New York to preach the sermon.
Next year a newspaper called the All Saints Parish was started, and also the Twenty Minutes Society, a group of boys and girls from the Church School banded together and pledged to work for missions at least twenty minutes a week. One result was a large box of useful gifts sent to one of the Church missions. The number of communicants-now recorded at 352, compared with 425, as last listed under Dr. Huntington-shows the importance of continuous rector- ship in the life of a congregation.
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