USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Medway > Fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the Village Congregational Church, Medway, Mass., Friday, Sept. 7, 1888 > Part 7
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VILLAGE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, MEDWAY, MASS.
MEMBERSHIP OF THE VILLAGE CHURCH SUNDAY- SCHOOL IN 1888.
OFFICERS.
FRANCIS W. CUMMINGS, Superintendent.
SUMNER H. CLARK, Assistant Superintendent.
GEORGE H. DAME,
PALMER WOODWARD, Librarians.
WILLIAM S. RICHARDSON, Secretary and Treasurer.
TEACHERS AND CLASSES.
ADULT BIBLE CLASS, NO. 1, DEA. MILTON M. FISHER, Teacher.
Miss Eliza Fisher, age 86.
Mrs. Ezra Macker.
Miss Lizzie Farnum.
Mrs. Susan J. Bullard.
Miss Lizzie Treen.
Mrs. Monroe Morse.
Miss Lottie Whitney.
Mrs. Eliza B. Lincoln.
Mrs. Adelaide E. Thompson.
Mrs. Horatio Kingsbury.
Mrs. Elizabeth L. Young.
Mrs. Jerusha W. Whitney.
Mr. and Mrs. E. F. Richardson.
Mrs. Joseph W. Thompson.
Mr. and Mrs. George Kingsbury.
Mrs. Mary B. Dunton. Mrs. Roxa B. Hammond.
Mr. and Mrs. W. D. Gilpatrick. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Hodgson.
Mrs. Almira Wiggin.
Mrs. Havillah Clark.
Mrs. Ellen E. Richardson.
Mrs. William A. Jenckes.
Mr. Edmund I. Sanford.
Thirty-four members.
JUNIOR BIBLE CLASS, NO. 2, REV. RUFUS K. HARLOW, Teacher.
Mr. Sumner H. Clark.
Mr. Thomas F. Mahr.
Mrs. Harriet A. Clark.
Mr. William A. Hopkins.
Mr. Addison Ramsdell. Mr. Frank W. Plummer.
Mr. James C. McElroy.
Mrs. Emily P. Ramsdell. Mr. Alvin E. Clough. Mr. James McDonald.
Mrs. Abbie E. Clough. Mr. Martin H. Bowman.
Mr. Wilbur W. Clough. Miss Sarah E. Haskell.
Deacon and Mrs. Peter Adams.
Mr. and Mrs. Lucius H. Taylor.
Mr. James T. Adams.
Mr. Daniel Rockwood.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE
Mrs. Cora E. Clough.
Mr. Robert L. Andrews.
Mrs. Georgia A. Andrews.
Mrs. Sarah M. Sanderson.
Mrs. Burnette Paige.
Mrs. Emma J. Grant.
Mrs. Mary A. Holbrook.
Miss Mary E. Bell.
Miss Gertrude Crooks.
Miss Lilla Crooks.
Miss Florence A. Bullard.
Miss Eunice Guptil.
Miss Climena Philbrick.
Twenty-seven members.
YOUNG MEN'S CLASS, NO. 3, DEA. JOHN W. RICHARDSON, Teacher.
Herbert W. Jones.
Everett S. Crosman.
Charles R. Adams.
George E. Wilson.
William C. Axford.
George H. Freeman.
Frederick H. Miller.
Louis E. Thompson.
William R. Ferry.
Frank A. Abbott.
Edwin L. Dame.
Harry W. Parker.
Twelve members.
YOUNG LADIES' CLASS, NO. 4, MRS. ALFRED DANIELS, Teacher.
Miss Jennie F. Parsons.
Miss Lena B. Hixon.
Miss Grace A. Jenckes.
Miss Blanche L. Crimmings.
Miss Ida R. Cummings.
Miss Alberta Grover.
Miss Margaret Higgins.
Eleven members.
YOUNG LADIES' CLASS, NO. 5, MISS TACIE P. HAWKES, Teacher.
Miss Juliette L. Grant.
Miss Bertha F. Wilder.
Miss Mary S. Mason.
Miss Emily McBride.
Miss Hattie M. Brackett.
Miss Amy S. Grant.
Miss M. Agnes Sanderson.
Eight members.
YOUNG LADIES' CLASS, NO. 6, MISS ELLEN H. BULLARD, Teacher. Miss Edna F. Grant.
Miss Pearl H. McElroy. Miss Myrtie G. Fiske.
Miss Mary E. Taylor.
Miss Grace W. Edmands.
Miss Katherine C. Cary.
Miss Bessie A. Hodgson.
Miss Alenia M. Carmichael. Miss Nellie F. Hopkins.
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VILLAGE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, MEDWAY, MASS.
Miss Emily M. Adams.
Miss Mary L. Plummer.
Miss Carrie Butters.
Miss Alice L. Crosman. Miss May E. Alden.
Nine members.
MISSES' CLASS, NO. 7, MRS. S. E. SPENCER, Teacher.
Miss Minnie A. Morse.
Miss Nellie J. Hodges.
Miss Hattie C. Norton.
Miss Florence C. Hodges.
Miss Edna M. Norton.
Miss Gertie Pearson.
Miss Bessie M. Carmichael.
Miss Bertha E. Miller.
Miss Laura M. Ballou.
Miss Bertha C. Parker.
Miss Leila E. Almy.
Miss Marion R. Force.
Miss Lilla Grant.
Miss Mary F. Grant.
Fifteen members.
MISSES' CLASS, NO. 8, MRS. MARIA C. NEWELL, Teacher.
Miss Bertha E. Hodgson. Miss Susie Butters.
Miss Grace C. McElroy.
Miss Lottie C. Simmons.
Miss Helen E. Richardson. Miss Helen S. Grant.
Miss Mary Kingsbury.
Seven members.
YOUTHS' CLASS, NO. 9, MRS. IDA KARNAN, Teacher.
David P. Wilder.
Alec Cary. Eugene C. L. Morse.
Frank W. Hopkins. Ralph W. Crosman. Louis Dunton.
Six members.
YOUTHS' CLASS, NO. 10, MRS. J. P. PLUMMER, Teacher.
Allen Dean Reynolds.
George Edgar Carmichael.
Robert Dwight Wilson.
Perley Aldrich Crooks.
George Thomas Adams. Walter Francis Hodges. John Gardner Sanderson. Frederick Orrin Joslynn.
Eight members.
Miss Edith M. Bigelow.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE
BOYS' CLASS, NO. 11, MISS LILLIAN W. BRIDGES, Teacher .
Clyde Hunt.
Robert J. Hodgson.
Walter R. Adams.
Charles Grant.
Alvin Noss.
George Grant.
Lewis W. Norton.
Warren D. Bigelow.
Roger S. Hodges.
Albert M. Richardson.
Ten members.
PRIMARY CLASS, NO. 12, MISS MARY E. FISHER, Teacher .
Bertha C. Newell.
Ada Jocoy.
Bertha S. Holbrook.
Pearl Sutherland.
Florence A. Cary.
Marion Moore.
Ida M. Coleman.
Jeanette Pollard.
Carrie Hodges.
George W. Richardson.
Alice Miller.
George Holmes.
Maud G. Barton.
Warren E. Thompson.
Lucy C. Snow.
J. Bertram Norton.
Ida B. Norton.
Willard M. Barton.
Louisa E. Thompson.
Clement A. Holbrook.
Rhetta Noss.
Ralph Ashworth.
Bessie B. Hodges.
Percy Green.
Hattie L. Fisher.
Fred Andrews.
G. Ethel Karnan.
Leroy M. Karnan.
Alice Dunton.
Harry J. Adams.
Flossy Frink.
Harry Dunton.
Martha Butters.
James S. Hodgson.
Josie Butters.
Ray Hodges.
Lottie Butters.
John Taylor.
Katie Butters.
George F. Wiggin.
Bertha Green.
Leslie Wiggin.
Sadie E. Norton.
Fred Gilpatrick.
Ruth B. Richardson.
Carl R. Hodges.
Forty-six members.
Officials
5
Teachers
12
Scholars
. 193
Total 210
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VILLAGE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, MEDWAY, MASS.
The Ladies' Benevolent Society was organized in 1849, with fifty-two members, for the purpose of aiding in benevo- lent works and promoting the social and religious interests of the community. It has frequently contributed to furnish and repair the church, to supply the Sunday-school library, and to give aid to the sick and destitute in the neighborhood. In early times its work abroad comprised the Five Points Mis- sion in New York City and the Kansas sufferers, and much time was devoted to work for the soldiers during the War of the Rebellion. Its annual charity is the " home missionary barrel," the interest in which increases every year. The aggregate value of these barrels for the past sixteen years is, in round numbers, $3,000.
A young misses' benevolent society, called the "Merry Workers," was organized in April, 1883, with eight members from ten to thirteen years of age, under the lead of Miss Louise H. Haskell, now Mrs. G. B. Towle. They have aided the Ladies' Society in some of their enterprises, and have sent a barrel of clothing valued at $60 and $40 in money to the Rev. Edwin Adams, at Chicago, to aid in his work among the Bohemians. Their present membership is sixteen, with Miss Tacie Hawkes as President, who succeeded Miss Has- kell in 1884.
Four years ago this autumn the pastor formed a class among the young people, which met weekly for ten months in the year for instruction in religious truth and duty. The first fruits of the revival of last year were from this class. Many others among the youth of the congregation having cherished a Christian hope, it was thought advisable to merge this class into a Young People's Society of Christian En- deavor, and in April, 1887, such a society was formed. It numbers at present thirty-nine active and eleven associate members. Its meetings are well attended, and the growing facility of some of its members in Christian service is grate- fully recognized by the pastor.
There are certain miscellaneous facts and statistics that may be appropriately mentioned here. The oldest member
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of our church is Mrs. Sally (Daniels) Ware, who passed her ninety-ninth birthday June I, 1888. A native of Franklin, in her girlhood she became a Christian under the ministry of Dr. Emmons, and united with his church seventy-nine years ago. She removed her relation to us in 1862. In the un- questioning contentment of a little child, she is waiting for the summons home.
Mr. David Daniels is the oldest male member. He cele- brated his eighty-ninth birthday August 4, 1888. He came to this church from the church in East Medway in 1845. As a singer and player on stringed instruments he in former times held a prominent position in the singers' seats here and at East Medway. The infirmities of old age restrict the range of his once busy life, and remind him that the end is near.
The youngest member is George Carmichael, who joined the church last July, two months previous to his thirteenth birthday.
The aggregate membership for fifty years is 630. Of these 441 joined during the first pastorate, 189 during the second - IIO by profession.
I have been unable to find any record of the benevolent contributions during the first pastorate. The total of these during the second pastorate to date is $10,032.96. The years of largest beneficence are 1874, when the amount given was $928.75, and 1887, with its total of $919.16.
Our church has been the recipient, as well as the giver of gifts. While it cannot be said to have been born with a silver spoon in its mouth, it very early received as a gift, a silver spoon from Mrs. McLeod, a parishioner of Mr. Sanford in Dorchester. The gift was intended for the use of the pastor in removing any accidental impurity from the sacra- mental wine. On Christmas, 1868, Mrs. Edena Sanford, sister-in-law of Rev. David and mother of Milton Sanford, presented the church with a choice and expensive communion service, which has been kept with such sacred care by " Aunt
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VILLAGE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, MEDWAY, MASS.
Eliza Fisher" that it is as fresh as when it left the hands of the polisher in the shop of the silversmith.
By the sale of real estate bequeathed to this church by will of John Chestnut, on the decease of his widow Jane, a fund of $400 has been secured, called the "Chestnut fund," the income from which is annually expended for the aid of indigent members, and for the supply of the communion table. John and Jane Chestnut were the two original mem- bers, who removed their relation from the church in Ireland.
There are these noteworthy facts in addition, to which we call attention. This church has had but two pastors and four deacons during its half-century's existence. It has never been without a pastor for a day, since the installation of its first pastor, October 3, 1838. There has never been a year without additions to its membership. It has never had a quarrel over doctrine, discipline, or practice.
Dear brothers and sisters of the Village Church, and you who have been such, and are today our welcome guests, and you whose interest in this branch of the one church of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, has brought you to join in our festivities, I have tried to tell you some of the events that signalize our history. How incomplete is the record! But could I tell all that men have seen and known, how small a part of the full record it would give! To gain completeness we must know what God has written. The real history of a church reminds one of those ancient manuscripts called pal- imp-sests, on which one writer penned his sentences over those of another whose writing was illegible. Underneath man's story of the church's life is God's story, as yet invisi- ble. But in the light of eternity God's story will blaze forth and explain, and illuminate, and glorify man's story, and bring honor to His name, who hath given such power of achieve- ment unto men. In that day we shall know all that the Vil- lage Church has done for the help of men and the glory of God.
As the pastor of this church, I am profoundly thankful
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that this semi-centennial observance was decided upon ; for as I have seen the heartiness and enthusiasm with which this entire people have undertaken this work, it has demonstrated in a most conspicuous manner how dear to these hearts is this household of faith, and how greatly its prosperity interests all. And then, as I have read the responses sent to our invitations from places that are near, as well as distant, I have been impressed with the value of this celebration, in the wakening in so many hearts of memories so precious. As I have considered the love expressed for this sanctuary, where souls were blessed - the love expressed for the old compan- ions and friends, living and dead, who worshiped together here, the love expressed for our pleasant village, the birth- place of some of them, the residence of all of them for a sea- son ; above all, the deep affection expressed for the first pastor, the universal testimony to his courtesy, his kindness of heart, his fervent piety, his deep love for his people,- I have said, if no other result comes from this gathering, this alone is enough to warrant all the outlay that such a celebration in- volves. But other results must follow.
The April sunbeam that with noiseless drills punctures the hard earth, does more than break the spell of winter : it makes of frost-rock warm and mellow soil, in which the buried seeds feel summer and awake to life. So the church's anni- versary breaks through the hard overlay, that absence, and distance, and new surroundings and engagements commonly produce, and quickens memories that honor God and bless the soul.
Wide is the area that the interest in this day touches. From distant India ; from the deck of the "Morning Star;" from the Pacific slope; from the central valleys of our land, this church's children send loving thoughts to mother and home. From warmly attached friends, who for a time are sojourning among a people, strange in language and customs, have come messages of kindly interest and tokens of ready helpfulness. But beyond and above these multitudes of earthly participants in our joy, may we not believe that we
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VILLAGE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, MEDWAY, MASS.
are "compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses" who have passed from this church to their heavenly home, from whom, could we but hear it, would arise a chorus to our anniversary hymn, of "Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, forever and ever."
The maker of books sometimes places an engraving at the close of a chapter, which represents a hand holding out a flam- ing torch, as if passing it forward. We are certain that another hand is reaching forth to take it, although we do not see it. Thus a generation, as it passes, holds out the torch of its church life to the generation coming up to take it. Among the children of today are the church's servants and support- ers in the future ; and although, as time passes, the minister and officers and members, who today constitute the church, depart, the lighted torch will be grasped by other hands, and may perhaps flame all the brighter from the transfer.
Brothers and sisters ! As we from this standpoint look over the past and anticipate the future, let us write these two things in the book of memory for a memorial : "What God has done for us, what God promises to do for us;" and as we include this anniversary day among past things, let us " thank God and take courage."
At the conclusion of the discourse a very impressive feature of the occasion was introduced. The congregation, standing, sang the hymn of Dr. Watts commencing
Let children hear the mighty deeds Which God performed of old.
As they commenced on the stanza
Our lips shall tell them to our sons, And they again to theirs,
a procession of children entered the church and advanced along the three aisles to the pulpit. The primary scholars, thirty or forty in number, from ten years of age down to four,
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proceeded up the center aisle, led by the youngest member of the church, a lad of thirteen, who carried a banner bearing the date 1938. All the children, some seventy-five in number, grouped themselves about the platform, each one wearing a ribbon badge on which was printed a picture of the church and the date of this anniversary, with the legend "Christ the Corner-stone."
The pastor then said a few words to the children, remind- ing them that very few of that large congregation except themselves would live to see the year inscribed upon their banner. He asked them to remember that the church had a claim upon them, and that they must love it and care for it when the older people are dead and gone. He expressed the hope that they would from their childhood love and serve Christ, the church's Lord and Master.
In order to impress the leading events in the history of the church upon the minds of the children, a set of questions had been prepared, to which they then made answer in con- cert, as the pastor asked them, viz. :
What does this gathering celebrate ? - The fiftieth birth- day of our church.
When was this church formed ? - September 7, 1838.
How many persons formed it ? - Thirty-four.
How many of these are still living ? - Nine.
Who was the first pastor ? - The Rev. David Sanford.
How long was he in active service ?- About thirty-three years.
Who succeeded him ? - Our present pastor, the Rev. R. K. Harlow.
When was he installed ? - February 13, 1872.
How many members has the church today ? - Two hun- dred and thirty-two.
Why do we celebrate this day ? - Because we wish to keep in mind God's goodness to this people.
The children then sang their "Anniversary Hymn,"
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VILLAGE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, MEDWAY, MASS.
written by the teacher of the primary class, Miss Mary E. Fisher. At the conclusion of this service the following children were baptized :
Edmund Leon, son of Eugene and Nellie Buell ; Walter Earnest, son of Walter and Nellie Hawkes ; Florence Almeda, daughter of Erastus and Almeda Cary ; James Atkins and Lucy Crosman, son and daughter of James A. and Lucy C. Snow.
The parting hymn and benediction closed the afternoon service.
In the evening a social reunion was held in the vestry, which was largely attended. Among the guests present were Rev. Dr. Spalding, of Newburyport; Rev. Dr. Horton, of Cheshire, Conn .; Rev. Calvin Cutler and wife, of Auburndale ; Dr. Gilbert O. Fay, of Hartford, Conn .; Rev. George Y. Washburn, of Everett; Mr. Charles Wheeler, of New Mexico, N. Y .; Mrs. Adeline Sanford, of Northboro, widow of the first pastor ; Mrs. Samuel F. Barger, of New York City; Mrs. Abigail Hiller, of New Haven, Conn., daughter of Deacon Samuel Allen.
After prayer by Rev. Mr. Cutler the pastor announced letters from Rev. Daniel Butler, D.D., Rev. William M. Cornell, D.D., Rev. George M. Adams, D.D., Rev. Thomas Richmond, Rev. George F. Walker, Rev. Henry M. Holmes, Rev. J. B. Wicks, Mr. David B. Hixon, Mr. Eliab M. Allen, Dr. Theodore W. Fisher, and Dr. Henry W. Brown, some of which were then read.
The three following, from Medway-born and bred boys, we give to the public entire :
LETTER FROM ELIAB M. ALLEN, SON OF DEACON SAMUEL ALLEN.
MARIETTA, Ga., August 7, 1888.
R. K. Harlow and Others, Committee on Invitations: Your cordial invitation to unite with you in the fiftieth anniversary services of the organization of the Village Church, Medway, is received, and I sincerely wish I could accept.
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I recollect the gratification of the village people upon the announcement that the new church was a certainty ; that it was no longer necessary to walk two miles in winter and summer to the West Parish, as much as all loved the mother church, and respected good Dr. Ide. Nothing would afford me greater pleasure than again to visit my native town, and the church where my name was enrolled, soon after its organization, under the pas- toral care of Rev. David Sanford.
Such a visit as your invitation proposes would awaken reminis- cences of the past both pleasant and sad. It would be pleasant to see Charles River, in which I sported in summer and on whose icy surface I skated in winter, and the old hills down which I coasted with schoolmates of both sexes, though many of the scenes of my youth have been so changed by the ravages of time and progress of modern improvements that I should fail to rec- ognize them. It would be exceedingly gratifying to give and receive the warm grasp of friendship with my contemporaries of early years, but, alas ! how few would I recognize after a lapse of more than forty years.
And the older citizens - " Our fathers, where are they?" The names of Barber, Walker, Metcalf, Sanford, Mason, Cary, Daniels, Clark, Harding, Dr. Brown, and too many others to mention here - all present to my mind and memory, but most of whom have passed " over the river." Peace to their ashes ! The old school-house would not be recognizable, nor the old Metcalf cabinet workshop ; where Rev. S. J. Horton was an apprentice, and where we boys would occasionally spend a winter's evening making molasses candy and having a good time, when Captain M. was from home. (Thanks to good Mrs. M. for not reporting us when he returned.) The counting-room of the Medway Cotton Manufacturing Company, where Stephen J. Metcalf was chief, was another choice place in which to pass a leisure hour. What a "happy home " was the hospitable house of Dr. and Mrs. Brown, who always welcomed the young people when inclined to spend an evening and listen to charming music from his daughter and him- self !
The church edifice in which you will meet has been remod- eled till it is not the same building in which I worshiped with relatives and friends. The last time it was my privilege thus to meet was in 1853. Since then I have made several flying visits,
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when I recognized very few of my former acquaintances. Not- withstanding the sad memories the occasion would recall, I should be very happy to meet with you, and would certainly do so if my present home was within a reasonable distance.
My church membership is traceable from your church to the Second Congregational Church in Norwich, Conn., from there to the Presbyterian church at Greensboro, Ga., and thence to the Marietta Presbyterian church, where it will remain until removed by orders of the " great Captain of our salvation " to join the com- pany of the redeemed of all ages.
Hoping the exercises and reunions will be as pleasant as anticipated, and that the members of the church may grow in Christian graces and prosper in all lawful undertakings, I subscribe myself one of the Medway boys,
ELIAB METCALF ALLEN.
LETTER FROM DR. THEODORE W. FISHER, SON OF DEACON M. M. FISHER.
BOSTON, September 3, 1888.
Rev. R. K. Harlow, and Committee on Invitations.
DEAR FRIENDS : Excuse delay in answering your kind invita- tion to attend the semi-centennial of the Village Church. I am seldom master of my own movements many days beforehand, and I am still in doubt whether I can come or not, on account of the absence of my first assistant on his vacation. I may be present through the day, and not in the evening.
I need not say I am interested in the event you are about to celebrate. My earliest and most sacred memories are bound up in the records of the Village Church. The more important events of my early manhood are also associated with her history. We are about the same age, which is another bond of union. I shall read with great interest all the contributions to her biography, if I do not hear them.
Allow me to congratulate the committee on the prospect of a most enjoyable and profitable celebration.
Yours very truly, THEODORE W. FISHER.
I Superintendent of the Boston Lunatic Asylum.
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LETTER FROM DR. HENRY W. BROWN, SON OF DR. ARTEMAS BROWN.
HUBBARDSTON, Mich., August 30, 1888.
To H. P. Sanford and Others of the Invitation Committee.
DEAR FRIENDS : Your invitation to be present at the celebra- tion of the fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the Village Church, Medway, was duly received, and in reply I beg leave to state, in behalf of myself and family, that business engagements will prevent our accepting the invitation. This is the season of the year when the unripe apple, the immature watermelon, and the lucious cucumber get in their fell work, and the services of a physician are required to minister unto those unfortunate mortals whose digestion does not "wait upon appetite, and health upon " neither.
Your invitation calls up tender memories. " How dear to this heart are the scenes of my childhood !" Ah ! pleasant days, illu- mined by youthful sunshine. Their memories revisit me for a moment and then sink back into the gray past. The Village Church ! I remember well the installation of the first pastor, Rev. David Sanford. I was at that time but seven years of age. Gen- erous friend, faithful pastor, devoted Christian ! He fought a good fight ; he kept the faith ; he won the crown. The lesson of his life is the best legacy he could leave the Village Church. When you contrast your present condition as a church and society with the trials and struggles of the beginning, you may well say, " How great a work the Lord hath wrought!" Of those who sat down with you half a century ago, how few survive ! I may never again worship in the Village Church, but there my heart will ever be, with you ; there are the graves of my kindred : there sleep the honored dead ; those some of you have loved and revered ; those who have led me to worship in the Village Church ; who taught me "line upon line and precept upon precept ; " who strove to turn my wayward feet into wisdom's path.
I close this too long letter with best wishes for you all, and expressing the hope that the good providence of God that has attended you in all your history may continue still your strength and shield. Standing, as it were, upon the divide, you can look back upon fifty years of progress, and look forward with confidence and hope. Very truly yours, HENRY W. BROWN.
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VILLAGE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, MEDWAY, MASS.
The reading of the following poem, written for the occa- sion, concluded the formal exercises of the evening :
A MEMENTO.
" How dear to each heart are the scenes of our childhood, When fond recollection presents them to view !" Like vistas that open in life's tangled wildwood To let the soft sunbeams of memory through.
As time hurries on, how these pictures allure ! The saints of our childhood - how saintly they seem ! Each face was more fair, every true heart was truer, In days that are fled like a beautiful dream.
Turn back to the time of the prayer meeting olden, When our vestry settees were all facing the south, As if to warm up every heart, and embolden, With live coals of fire, every hesitant mouth.
The brow of our leader a halo is wearing Like saints in the sweet, holy pictures of old,
For he is our pastor, so tenderly caring For all the wee children, the lambs of the fold.
If any assailed us with looks that were frigid, To fright the young Christian away from the goal, With query too deep or with doctrine too rigid, His smile, ever gracious, was balm to the soul.
Mr. Sanford's discourse is no tinkling cymbal, For charity tuneth his soft silver lyre ; With reverence he turneth to blind "Father Kimball," Whose soul like an eagle doth ever aspire.
Oh, then each young heart keenly felt it a pleasure To follow his intellect, deep and profound ; His voice flowing on in a half plaintive measure, While all that he said was most solid and sound.
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He leaned on his staff like a pilgrim aweary - Now blithely he treadeth the pavement of gold ; His eyes were fast bound with a dark bandage dreary ; The King in his beauty those eyes now behold !
Who's that next discoursing? You scarcely can hear him, His voice is so low as he argues of sin,
With eyes rather stern - bold transgressors must fear him - A nose finely Roman, a lip chiseled thin.
'Tis Dr. Monroe ; his advice you must follow ; If sick, he'll constrain you his plasters to wear, His powders to take, and his doses to swallow ; He worries about you with fatherly care.
Those hands and that heart full of skill and of feeling To help every sufferer ready and quick
Now rest where the foliage is fragrant with healing, And th' inhabitant no more shall say, " I am sick."
Next good Captain Cole cheers us on with his praying ; We swallow his doctrine, whatever it be, For young people listen with awe to the saying Of one who has sailed on the far-reaching sea.
We fancied his face and his form like the ocean - In breadth and dimensions expansive and grand ; He's reached the still port that is free from commotion, And anchored his bark on the heavenly strand.
How oft some good brother would soar in his prayer, And get "on the mount " e'er he came to " Amen ; " If east was the wind and his brain full of care,
He talked of the " cold streams of Babylon " then.
The lofty Isaiah, whose rhetoric blazes Lent words to the wise and the ignorant too, Petitions were framed of Ezekiel's fine phrases - The cherubim hovered, the seraphim flew.
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VILLAGE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, MEDWAY, MASS.
Mr. Haskell was master of Sabbath-school singing ; His tuning-fork slender his quick ear obeyed ; He led all the hymns with a voice full and ringing ; No cabinet organ then lent us its aid.
Now he sings where no discord e'er mars the grand chorus That rolls from a rapture no mortal hath told, Where anthems of glory are pealing victorious From Heaven's stately organs of sapphire and gold.
O, scenes of the past ! all so quaint and so tender ! We smile at your garb, but the teardrop will start ; Thus humor and pathos in unison render A tribute of song, welling warm from the heart.
Remember Review Club and Sewing Society, When readings were given to quicken the thought; Poe's "Raven " enlivened us even to satiety, While ladies their tatting most patiently wrought.
At Kingsbury's Pond was our regular "outing," With sage-cheese, and doughnuts, and blueberry cake, And such demonstrations of feasting and shouting As gay jolly picnickers only can make.
The sweet water-lily held there her dominion, And spread her white banners beneath the green wood, So lovingly floating, with pinion to pinion, Like legions of angels that watch o'er the good.
Now the lilies are sickly and scattered and dying, As thin, straggling hairs on the brow of the old, And the wild hermit-thrush is so plaintively crying In sweet notes of sorrow where thickets enfold.
For many who bent their strong arms to the rowing, Or sported with glee on the cool, shady shore, Are scattered and flown like the thistle-down blowing; In the grove of the Mayflower they wander no morc.
SEMI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE
Forget not the days of the Puritan Hymn-book, When congregational music was new ; Assemblies, then singing with heartiest vim, shook The rafters, we're told, and the tale must be true.
Milton Sanford's kind bounty had built us an organ ; The namesake of Handel came here every year, And taught us such tunes as would conquer a Gorgon - " Coronation " and " Arlington," " Lenox " and " Mear."
Ah! then, when the organ so grandly was pealing, And all voices chimed in a harmony fine, Our pastor would raise his blue eyes to the ceiling As if he caught echoes of harpings divine.
" A dream of fair women " its shadow is flinging, Who trustingly walked in the shadow of death ; Around them are lovely forget-me-nots springing, And perfumes as pure as the white lily's breath.
Sing, tenderly sing of that circle departed, And mothers we buried beneath the green sod ; Now dwelling with angels, and all the true-hearted, Who circle forever the throne of their God.
If spirits could speak to a poor human brother, What message would thrill through the love-lighted sky ? A message to cherish and help one another, For brief are our moments and quickly they fly.
Oh, let us so live that when fifty years vanish, And others shall read the review of our life, It prove not a record to burn and to banish, All blotted with discord, all darkened with strife.
If Jesus' sweet spirit has shone in our faces, And gentleness coined what our lips have expressed, How tranquilly then we may give up our places, And go to the grave as a bird to her nest.
IO1
VILLAGE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, MEDWAY, MASS.
For our life shall flow on with an unceasing blessing, Like breezes of spring from the warm, sunny south, The cold, icy earth into fruitfulness pressing, With the whisperings soft of its odorous mouth.
True Christian affection forever endureth ; Love's fine golden key is to humble hearts given - The key that our entrance to Glory assureth, Unlocking the wide pearly portals of Heaven.
A season of social interchange closed the day, whose events abide in the memory of the participants and enrich the history of the Village Church.
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