USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Amherst > Around a village green; sketches of life in Amherst > Part 3
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The village church stands on a piece of ground one and seven-eighths of an acre in extent, a lot having been added to the original purchase through the generosity of Mr. Austin Dickinson, Mr. Henry Hills, and Mr. Luke Sweetser. The grade of the land was raised seven feet from the old level when the building was put up. Mr. George Hathorne of New York drew the plan on ecclesiastical lines; C. W. Lessey was the contractor ; Church and Hoyt of Amherst the builders. So rapidly was the work pushed forward that the walls were half finished when the corner-stone was laid on September 21, 1867. The prayer that President Stearns offered at the ceremony is spoken of in a contemporary paper as remarkably beautiful, fervent, and appro- priate. Mr. Jenkins' remarks so fittingly voiced the spirit of the occa- sion that I give them here.
We lay this corner-stone in affection for our village. Born here or having come here from other homes, we confess a love of this quiet, peaceful spot. Like Jerusalem, the mountains are round about. Like the Holy City it is beautiful for situation. We love it,- its noble view of hill and meadow; its glory of cloud- shadows upon the forest-covered hillsides. We love it,- its beauty, its quiet, its schools, its colleges, its people. In affection for our beautiful village we lay the corner-stone of a new Chris- tian church. We lay this corner-stone in gratitude. We remem- ber the fathers. They built churches here. We have entered into and been blessed by their labors. We would build our work upon theirs. We have put under this stone manuscripts of pastors who served this church. We bind ourselves to them. In gratitude for their labors, for their Christian confession, we lay this corner- stone. At peace with foreign nations ; at peace among ourselves, we lay this corner-stone in gratitude for national benefits. We lay this corner-stone in hope; we hope for propitious skies above our building, for favoring circumstances on every hand, for a suc- cessful completion. We lay this corner-stone in hope that gener- ations far down the future will worship within these ascending walls, their gratitude to God being augmented by the remem- brance of what we do.
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We lay this corner-stone in a large charity towards all men and towards all noble sentiments. We are Catholic, liberal to every thing but wrong; we count not all wisdom and piety with ourselves. Building for ourselves a house of worship, we profess charity towards all men, declare our delight in all the good in them, in all the good they do. We rise above prejudices today, and put the corner-stone of our new church in its place, exer- cising the largest charity towards all men. We profess our charity towards all noble sentiments. We Puritan New England Congre- gationalists are not without common human susceptibilities. The fine and pure we would gratify, and would make our building a gratification and incentive to them. We desire to say in the structure we rear that towards whatever is elevating, helpful, refining, we cherish the greatest charity and affection.
We lay this corner-stone in penitent, truthful love of Jesus Christ. We are sinners. He is a Savior. We seek a house in which to worship Him, in which to come nigh unto Him. We seek a house which shall entice us to fellowship with Him, and within which, encouraged by all that surrounds, we may imbibe more and more His spirit, and be charged more and more with His courage. Such sentiments should be supreme in our hearts now. We lay this corner-stone, we build this edifice, not for our- selves, not for those who after us shall inhabit houses here and walk these streets - no, we build for Jesus. Receive it, O Jesus! It is our offering. Put thy dear consecrating name upon it; make it thine - all thine, from lowest foundation stone to topmost work on spire! In affection for our village, in gratitude to God, in hope, in charity towards all men and towards all noble senti- ments, in penitent, trustful love of Jesus Christ, do we lay this corner-stone.
Under the corner-stone, in a hermetically sealed box, were placed a copy of the Springfield Republican for September 19, 1867, a copy of the last issue of the Hampshire and Franklin Express, published in Amherst, manuscript sermons preached respectively by Reverend David Parsons and Reverend Royal Washburn, former pastors, together with the address by Mr. Jenkins, a list of the officers of the church with various other church records, catalogs of Amherst College, a circular of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, specimens of cur- rent United States coins, and several photographs, among them one representing the church building as it then appeared. The stone bears no inscription save 1867.
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The village church was dedicated on September 23, 1868. Mr. Jenkins was installed the following day, President Stearns preaching the installation sermon. It fell to Mr. Jenkins eight years later, after Mr. Stearns had died in office, to pronounce a fitting eulogy in the village church the Sunday following his funeral.
The church was built of Monson granite in the form of a two-armed or perpendicular cross. The main entrance is through the porch into the vestibule; there is also an entrance through the tower, and on the south side a third entrance protected by a covered porch for the bene- fit of those who ride to church from a distance. Besides the main spire above the tower, there are two small spires which serve the pur- pose of ventilation - a great innovation at the time they were built. The interior woodwork is chestnut throughout, pews, platform, wain- scotting, and rafters, the last left visible both in the church proper and in the lecture room. The finial fastened to the top of the steeple is higher than an average man is tall; a good-sized man could get inside the crown and still have room to stretch his arms. This finial stood straight and true to symbolize, as its originators intended, the work of the Christian church. It took the hurricane of 1938 to move it, and for a time there was danger that the crowning ornament of the church might have to be taken down. But through the generous loyalty of the daughter of Mr. Jenkins, Mrs. Grant Squires of New York, the finial has been restored, and now stands straight and true once more.
The difference that the village church produced in the feeling of the parish was summed up by Mr. Austin Dickinson in his character- istic brusque way. Recalling the transition, he said, "Now people went to church. Before this, we had meeting houses and people went to meeting." Only a born New Englander can appreciate this dis- tinction. I might add that those now sat in new dignity in the transept of the church who formerly sat conspicuously in the " amen corner " of the meeting house.
To the members of the parish gathered in their new church the warmth of coloring was a grateful change from the somber hues of the third meeting house. The interior of the church, finished in natural wood, had a soft gray tone relieved by a border of Lesbian design in blue and salmon. The stained-glass windows - almost the first in Amherst - threw bright glints of light on the pews and on the gold- headed canes at the heads of the pews. The red and blue and yellow gleams were like the jasper and sapphire and topaz jewels of heaven to the children when the pastor read the Scriptures in the Book of the Revelation. The hangings back of the choir rail were of a rich
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red damask. Parted, they revealed the organist, Miss Mina Beaman at the keys. Hangings of the same rich material covered the south door leading to the parsonage, through which came the pastor, the young, dignified Mr. Jenkins, to conduct the morning service. The carpet of the church was red, with a delicate pattern traced in black. The cushions, comfortably stuffed, in the pews were of red damask. (The pews here were privately owned also.) The font, which stood near the pulpit platform, was filled every Sunday with wild flowers from the fields about Amherst. When someone offered orthodox objec- tions to the font being used for flowers, Mr. Jenkins said that the wild flowers from the fields which bloomed under the wide heavens did not desecrate the baptismal font - and the flowers thus welcomed added to the joy of the service. On Easter, a few years later, the pul- pit platform steps were filled with potted plants that had grown through the winter on plant stands placed by sunny windows in many Amherst homes. Beautiful calla lilies, enchanting fuchsias, fragrant red geraniums, colorful Martha Washingtons, and cheerful patience, were all there.
The pulpit, made from a cedar of Lebanon sent to this country by the Reverend Daniel Bliss from the mountains of Syria, filled the church with its sweet odor on damp days. The chips from that cedar of Lebanon were a cherished possession in many homes. Mr. Bliss also gave to the Village Church a reading desk of olive wood, cut from the Mount of Olives. Mr. David Parsons, the village carpenter, a son of Doctor David Parsons, made tiny cups, the size of a thimble, from the pieces of olive wood, with rare skill. These were kept on the parlor what-nots as prized souvenirs. Some of these are in Amherst homes today.
Before me is the sermon Mr. Jenkins preached on July 25, 1869, when the pulpit and reading desk were first installed. His text was chosen from Psalms 104:16, " The trees of the Lord are full of sap ; the cedars of Lebanon which he hath planted." He reminded his hearers that, when Solomon was making preparations to build the temple, eighty thousand wood-cutters were sent up the sides and to the top of Lebanon to fell the cedars and fit them for transportation to Jerusalem. The work of securing a cedar log for the Amherst pulpit involved many difficulties, but two men at length accomplished it. Here are some of the facts, as Mr. Jenkins recorded them.
Reading in the March, 1867, number of Hours at Home an article by Reverend Mr. Jessup of the Syrian Mission on " The Cedar For- ests of Lebanon," several members of the parish were struck by the statement that " the pulpit desk in a little country church in northern
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Pennsylvania is veneered with cedar wood taken from a branch of the largest cedar in the grove." Keenly interested as they then were in the enterprise of building the new church, they inevitably wished to secure something of the same kind. The wish was communicated through Mr. Sweetser to Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Bliss of Beirut, both members of the Amherst church. Mr. Bliss attempted to secure a suitable piece of timber, but after three attempts had ended in failure he was ready to give up. Even a persevering man might falter in such a matter. A little feminine persistency was needed, and this was com- municated at the critical moment in a letter from Mrs. Jenkins. Mr. Bliss replied (May 13, 1868) :
Your letter quite changed my mind. Your remark that you did not like to give up anything that you had undertaken appealed to a sentiment that I have long cherished. I made up my mind at once that you should have a cedar log and an olive branch, also, if possible. I communicated my intention to the Rev. S. Dodge. He joined me. We took horses from Beirut and started at three in the morning, changed horses, and continued our journey to the top of the mountains.
The log, at last secured, came from a tree at least two thousand years old and was about seven feet in length and two and a half feet thick. It was rolled down to the foot of the mountain, where it could be loaded on a camel. Mr. Dodge and Mr. and Mrs. Bliss paid all the expenses for obtaining the log. It was brought to the United States, without freight charges, on a ship owned by a Boston man, a friend of the Amherst church. The wood was sawed and put by to season. It was made up by Young Brothers, after a design by Mr. Hathorne. The cost of making the pulpit was defrayed by Mr. Howard Sweetser of New York, a son of Mr. Luke Sweetser. The time from the day the log was cut on Lebanon to the day the pulpit was placed in the Amherst church was slightly more than fifteen months.
Mr. Jenkins reminded his hearers of the great names of Solomon and Hiram and of the two great peoples, Hebrew and Tyrian, pre- eminently associated with the cedars of Lebanon. What changes have taken place in the intercourse of peoples since these vanished kings conducted their royal negotiations about timber ! Then it was no com- mon feat to float rafts made of logs from one harbor on the coast to another. Now so direct is the communication between the most distant ports of the world that a log of cedar may make a voyage of thousands of miles more easily than it could make the trifling passage from Beirut to Joppa then.
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The pulpit was a perpetual reminder of the close connection between the First Parish and the Christian missions. From the beginning of the century the parish had shed its light into foreign lands, and it so happened that the wife of the President of Amherst College was always chosen the president of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the First Parish. There were many Amherst families with missionary affiliations.
Reverend Daniel Bliss, the founder and first president of the Protes- tant College at Beirut (now the American University), had married Miss Abbie Wood, the charming niece of Deacon Luke Sweetser. Their children spent much time in Amherst. One son, Howard Sweet- ser Bliss, succeeded his father in the work at Beirut. Another, Fred- erick Bliss, became a distinguished archeologist and had charge of exca- vating Solomon's temple, his knowledge of the languages and the ways of native people especially fitting him for this work. Besides the Blisses, there were in Amherst the Ballantine and Fairbanks families, the Bissells, and the Hartwell children, all sent home from India for their education. Reverend Mr. Hobbs, a well-known missionary among the North American Indians also brought his family to Amherst for a time. Robert College in Constantinople, founded by Cyrus Hamlin, owed much of its success to its second president, Reverend George Washburn, who graduated from Amherst College in 1855.
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was looked upon with the utmost reverence. Its periodical, Life and Light, lay on almost every parlor table. The paper cover of the little maga- zine was a lovely lavender color, appealing strongly to the eye in con- trast with the drab covers of other publications. The people of the church always contributed faithfully to the cause of missions, but generally did not give large sums. I knew, for I went around with a small book and received and recorded subscriptions - this before I was ten years old. Everybody on Amity Street was sure to give. Faculty Street too was a banner neighborhood, and so was the street that led up to the Massachusetts Agricultural College. This last, Pleasant Street, was so much a part of the town that, so far as I can remember, it did not have a name in those days, or if it did its name was seldom mentioned.
The first Japanese to come to Amherst College was Joseph Neesima, class of 1870, who on his return to Japan founded the Doshisha, the first institution of higher learning in his own country. At his sug- gestion the Japanese government invited Colonel William S. Clark, the president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, to come to Japan to establish the agricultural college at Sapporo, which still
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exists. Neesima, a member of the samurai class, left Japan at the risk of his life and came to this country as a stowaway on a Boston ship. He was befriended and aided in his education, both at Andover Academy and at Amherst, by Mr. and Mrs. Alpheus Hardy. From the following incident it may be inferred that he had gone to the Sunday school of the First Parish and had received good instruction there. Freshman River is a very small stream flowing under a bridge by the old mill at Mill Valley, but there are deep holes in it. His classmates took Neesima to swim there, and he nearly drowned in one of the deep holes. When the students pulled him out, he said, " Me no afraid to die, but me ashamed to drown in a river like him."
After the move to the village church, Sunday school was always held in the Lecture Room, across the hall from the church proper. Here also stained-glass windows gave color to the gray walls. The chairs were painted a light gray and were arranged in a small circle. This innovation was a relief from the ancient custom of sitting stiffly on long settees. It was pleasant to be able to look into each other's eyes as we sang, " Blest be the tie that binds."
We had a very modern Sunday school. It opened with a charming little pageant. The school assembled promptly at two o'clock on the Sabbath. Now the clock on the Episcopal church was the standard time for the town - sometimes called " the Lord's time." The col- lege clock was always two minutes slower. As the Episcopal clock struck two, we were all in our seats in order, but we did not begin yet - we waited. Just before the college clock struck, the door would open and there would enter a little procession, the children of Profes- sor L. Clark Seelye, later President of Smith College. In memory I see Ralph Seelye leading, then Hattie in a light blue silk dress with a parasol to match, then tiny Abby in pink silk dress and parasol. The brother escorted the little girls, parasols still raised, down the center of the room, closed the parasols, and seated the sisters in the front seats. Then the school, old and young, rose decorously, sang the first song out of the book of " Pure Gold " (we liked best to sing " Jerusa- lem, my happy home "), and school began with the Golden Text to be recited, and long passages from the Bible. Professor Seelye did not learn for a long time of the divergence in clocks. It grieved us when his children came by Episcopal time.
There were festive occasions when the hospitable teachers invited their classes to supper. Miss Millie Clark (later Mrs. Frank W. Stearns) was my Sunday school teacher at one time. I recall a small children's party held at her father's house, when to the horror of us all a small boy swallowed a cent intended for the Mite Box. Colonel
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Clark promptly took him by his heels, turned him upside down, and shook out the shining penny. Those were Homeric days when one gave first aid immeditately to his neighbor on the field of action. Colonel Clark brought up his family according to this regime.
Mr. Jenkins talked to the children on Christmas Eve from the text, "The ox knoweth his owner and the ass his master's crib," Isaiah 1:3, dwelling upon the imagery of the crêche so beloved by children today, but then entirely unfamiliar to the children of Am- herst. Our Puritan ancestors frowned on the celebration of Christ- mas. Mr. Jenkins was considered a " liberal," though he had been brought up in Puritan strictness. He often told the children the story of how earnestly he prayed one late afternoon when he was a small boy. His father kept Saturday night strictly. Every member of the family must be indoors at sundown to begin the Sabbath with due decorum. Mr. Jenkins and a youthful companion had taken a long walk one Saturday, and as they climbed the long hill to their homes the sun sank from sight and it began to grow dark. How hard the boys prayed for the sun to stand still as in Joshua's day. And their prayer was answered, for when they panted to the top of the hill, lo! there was the sun, not yet set. Just time for them to reach home. Some families in Amherst still kept Saturday night in the sixties. Rarely were there evening companies on that night. A week-end of gaiety was almost impossible.
At Christmas time the lovely gray walls of the lecture room were lettered with words in green: "Emmanuel," "Glory to God in the Highest," " On Earth, Peace, Good Will to Men." Around the piano in this room on Saturday afternoons the children gathered to learn the Christmas carols, "Wonderful Night," "Carol, Carol, Chris- tians," "Joyfully, Joyfully," "Carol, Christmas Bells," "It Came upon the Midnight Clear," "We Three Kings of Orient Are," "God Rest Ye, Merrie Christians." We sang " Merrie Christians" as more churchly than " Merrie Gentlemen," though the words did not match the tune; and of course we were entirely unaware of the old English idiom, "God rest ye merry." Mrs. Jenkins played the carols and taught us to sing them. She made a charming picture as she played and sang. Her eyes were blue, with black lashes, her face animated. A red cashmere shawl thrown over her shoulders enhanced the bright- ness of the scene.
The children of Grace Church, at six on Christmas morning, sang carols at the home of their rector, Reverend Henry F. Allen, the son-in-law of Harriet Beecher Stowe, but it had not been the custom before Mr. Jenkins came to sing carols in the Congregational church.
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Nor was it regarded with favor when we began to wind Christmas greens to decorate the lecture room. I do not recall that the church was ever trimmed with evergreens in those days. But the young peo- ple captured the lecture room. We would gather in a large room downstairs to wind ropes with laurel brought from the Pelham Hills - such fragrant work - and then we would set up at one side a Christmas tree of spicy hemlock with the Christ Child at the top.
And then, from this warm, fragrant place, we would go out under the stars in the clear, frosty air, glad to be breathing its vigor as we walked in snow-plowed paths, gazing upward to find the North Star. The village church choir, going home in a big sleigh about midnight after choir rehearsal, would stop under the big cedar tree in front of our house to sing one carol more. Then with bells echoing and moon- light clear on the snow, be on their way. Carols were sung out- doors in Amherst long before they were generally sung in New Eng- land towns.
As soon as Mr. Jenkins came to Amherst he talked about matters relating to the improvement of the village. Even small boys were im- pressed. I have before me a tribute of youth to Mr. Jenkins, a copy of a paper called The Young American, printed by Winfred Stearns, the youngest son of President Stearns, in the attic of the President's House. Besides a printing press, Winfred had in his domain many things of interest : a fine collection of birds' eggs, old flintlocks, butter- flies, stamps, and all the things boys love to collect. This is a quota- tion from his paper, published in 1867.
EDDYTOWREAL
Rev. Mr. Jenkins delivered a beautiful lecture Friday eve- ning on " Simple Tastes." It was a jolly good lecture and just as beautiful as the beautiful spirit of our village church Pastor and that is saying a good deal. It recommended just what Amherst needs. We shall now expect to see the door-yards cleaned up, all slovenly places made neat, and all pigs kept in their stys where they belong if they belong anywhere. We shall expect to see trees trimmed, briars and brush removed from the walls and fences, sidewalks made neat and an abundance of flowers every- where as soon as June comes. We shall expect to see also happy homes, happy school, old men and children playing together, no- body trying to make a great display, everybody simple in their ways and old Amherst as fresh and blooming as Paradise. Nature has given us the big hills and valleys for a " garden of Eden " with nothing wanting but tasteful Eves and sympathizing, indus- trious Adams to dress and keep it.
Special Correspondent
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Mr. Jenkins gathered the Sunday school teachers for an inspiring round table once a week. He had printed for each meeting in good clear type at the Office of the Amherst Record questions on the lesson for the next Sabbath. References to Scripture suggested the answers, somewhat after fashion of the " test your knowledge " quizzes of the present day. At one time he gave his teachers copies of a little book bound in crimson cloth entitled, "The Soul's Cry and the Lord's Answer," and printed with it was " Sunbeams for Human Hearts from God's own Word." Therein were quotations from Scripture joined with answering passages. For instance,
" I have gone astray like a lost sheep." Psalms 119:176. " I am the Good Shepherd." John 10:11.
Answers to problems in school books were not looked upon with favor at this time, but Mr. Jenkins probably felt that an answer to the soul's question was a beginning, not an end of striving.
On the library tables of Mr. Jenkins' parishioners would be found for the study of the Bible a copy of Josephus, a Bible dictionary, Barnes' " Notes," Conybeare and Howson's " Life and Epistles of St. Paul," and in the bookcase Scott's "Comprehensive Commentary on the Bible " and Reverend J. H. Ingraham's "Prince of the House of David " and " Pillar of Fire." I recall that Mr. Jenkins said that the Springfield Republican was the best religious paper he received. The Saturday issue always contained religious items, including a com- plete sermon by some well-known minister. With the religious books on the table would lie Richard Henry Dana's " Two Years before the Mast," or some other book the pastor had spoken of as being good reading for young people. There likewise was sure to be an anthology compiled by Doctor Josiah Gilbert Holland called " Christ and the Twelve," the scenes and events in the life of the Savior as treated by the poets. Doctor Holland, who was born in Belchertown and had been for seventeen years an editor of the Springfield Republican, was frequently in Amherst. One would meet him and his little wife cross- ing the common and would stop for a chat with them.
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