USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lawrence > The first hundred years of Grace church > Part 2
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In 1883, the Ladies' Society gave a double stall and prayer desk. This, and the beautiful eagle lectern given in memory of Mr. Lawrence's infant daughter Rosamond, were decided steps toward the more churchly rendering of Morning and Evening Prayer.
Easter Day was then, as now, fittingly observed with special music, and lovely flowers adorned the Church. Easter, 1878, was probably not unlike other Easters of that
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time in this respect, that the Church was crowded and many were turned away.
In those days it was the custom of the clergy to exchange very frequently on Sunday, so the congregation was never surprised if the rector was absent and his place taken by another. However, as the visiting clergy comprised a rather small circle, they were not strangers.
Mr. Lawrence had a warm interest in children and young people and this led him to feel that the Chapel did not meet the needs of the Sunday School. He proposed that it should be taken down and on its site a new chapel built which would also have rooms that could be used for work. Parish houses were not then thought to be as necessary as they are today, for what could be accomplished in them was not realized, or perhaps, not so much needed. At first the Vestry did not look on this with much enthusiasm, but Mr. Lawrence succeeded in arousing interest in the parish. Money was raised by gifts, pledges, and entertainments of various kinds; some no doubt similar to those of today. The Sunday School too did its part. July 10, 1878, a Parish Meet- ing was called to consider the matter. By Thanksgiving Day, 1878, the Chapel, costing $5,400.00, was ready for use and service was held in it.
From that day to the erection of the present parish house it was not only used as was the old Chapel, for Sunday School and week-day services, but provided a place of meeting for the societies which as time went on came to play a greater part in the life of the Church. Not being a con- secrated building it could be used in ways not possible for the old Chapel, once the parish Church.
Here on Christmas Eve the children came from the Carol Service in the Church to the Christmas tree. Here too, they could at other times play games under the supervision of their elders and there are many memories of fun as well as work connected with it. Lectures were given. In 1878, under the auspices of the Guild for Young Men there was
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one on English literature of the Eighteenth Century. Later on there is mention of one on English Cathedrals by the Rev. William R. Huntington.
There were new societies. The Guild just mentioned was
RIGHT REVEREND WILLIAM LAWRENCE
divided into committees; one for hospitality, one for assisting in decorating the Church for festivals, one for furnishing the reading of papers before the Guild or parish, and one for providing entertainments to raise money for the new Chapel.
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In 1879, a sewing class for children was formed and con- tinued its good work until the teaching of sewing was in- troduced into the Public Schools; then, of course, it was not needed.
A new committee of the Ladies' Society was one for seeing that parish house and Church were kept in good order. Its duties consisted of superintending the cleaning which was done by women of the parish who needed the work and were paid from the Communion Alms. This was in a sense a kind of forerunner of the Chancel Committee of much later date, which in its turn developed into the Altar Guild.
Not content with what was being accomplished in the parish, Mr. Lawrence went beyond its border to nearby North Andover where he felt there was a good field for a mission. With a curate this would be possible, and in Sep- tember, 1880, the Rev. Augustine H. Amory of Brookline came, not only to assist in the work of Grace Church, but to have charge of the new mission. Thus began his connec- tion with Grace Church which was to last until he was called to be Rector of St. Stephen's, Lynn, in 1901. He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Paddock in Grace Church, June 12, 1881. The mission prospered, and by 1882 a church had been built and was consecrated in the spring of that year.
There was an impressive memorial service when President Garfield died in 1881.
November 29, 1883, Mr. Lawrence resigned to take the Chair of Homiletics and Pastoral Care at the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge. In 1888, he was made Dean of the School.
Building the parish house and establishing the North Andover Mission, important as they were, were only a part of the work he did which gave him such a hold on his people that his resignation caused a sincere and deep regret. So much did he become a part of the parish in the few years
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he was with it that it has always been a cause for pride of Grace Church that Bishop Lawrence was once its rector.
May 4, 1893, he was elected Bishop of Massachusetts, and on October 5th of that year he was consecrated in Trinity Church, Boston. To take part in the service a goodly number of bishops came. Bishop Whipple, sometimes called the Apostle to the Indians, preached. Mr. Amory, always closely associated with Mr. Lawrence, was one of his at- tending presbyters, and the other was his cousin, the Rev. Arthur Lawrence who has already been mentioned as hav- ing preached a sermon at his ordination to the priesthood in Grace Church seventeen years before. In the congrega- tion were members of his old parish.
Although it cannot be said that the tie between Bishop Lawrence and Grace Church had ever been broken, yet now there was an official connection. However, when he made his annual visitation for Confirmation, or on other occasions, he always seemed more the former rector return- ing than the Bishop of the Diocese. He delighted in recalling old memories and it was a great pleasure to him to run across old parishioners in his travels in this country. To him it was a sign of how far the influence of Grace Church reached. So, through the long years, years full of responsibil- ities, either laid on him by virtue of his office, or assumed like the Pension Fund, he never forgot the comparatively short time spent in Lawrence. In his farewell letter to his parishioners he said: "My interest in Grace Church has been, and always will be, very deep." This was indeed true to the end of his long life.
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CHAPTER III
1884-1901
The Rev. Augustine H. Amory succeeded the Rev. Wil- liam Lawrence and assumed the duties of his office as rector on January 1, 1884. For eighteen years he gave to his people faithful, unselfish service, never sparing himself if he could help someone in need or comfort some household saddened by sickness or death. His calls, even if of necessity short, brought cheer to many a shut-in.
These eighteen years were years of progress for the Church in many ways. New societies were organized. Some of them lasted only a few years, meeting the needs of the day. There was the White Cross Society for boys and Children's Ministering League for girls. The Church Temperance Society continued its work with success. In 1891, a branch of the St. Andrew's Brotherhood was formed. The Altar Guild in its elementary form of Chancel Committee was finding useful work to do, preparing little by little for the more exacting service that it would be called on to give the Church later on.
In 1892, the Mothers' Society had its first meeting. The original purpose of the Society was for the benefit the mothers themselves might derive from having meetings where they could bring young children, have a short talk from the rector, and sew for the poor; ending the afternoon with a supper. In 1901, they organized and took their place with the other women's societies working for the Church. Hard workers they have always been. One of their special means of raising money has been giving dinners and suppers.
In 1888, the Young Women's Guild became a branch of the Girls' Friendly Society and in addition to its work for and with girls, has taken an active part in activities of the Church.
The first of many improvements was in 1886, when the
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plaster was removed from the ceiling and an open timbered roof was built in with rafters and dormer windows.
In 1886, property in the rear of the Church was acquired to protect it, with the time in mind when it would be pos-
REVEREND AUGUSTINE H. AMORY
sible to build a new Chancel in the place of the very shallow one, and to enlarge the Church in other ways. It was nine years later, 1895, before the project was taken up in earnest.
May 30th of that year the committee consisting of Mr. Amory, Mr. C. J. R. Humphreys, and Mr. Geo. E. Kun-
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INTERIOR PRIOR TO 1896.
hardt, was appointed by the Vestry to consider what could be done. A large sum of money would be required to do it properly. All in all, it was a very serious problem, but it appealed to the people, and when on November 17th Mr. Amory wrote a letter to the parish giving the report of the Committee and asking the entire parish to attend a meeting November 20th, when the plans for the proposed addition would be explained, there was a ready response. This was something which appealed to the imagination, something that would require more than ordinary effort, and this, no doubt, acted as a stimulus. There was a large fair in the City Hall in December.
Cram, Wentworth and Goodhue were the architects, and in the spring work began. How the parish must have watched the building going on, eagerly awaiting its com- pletion, anticipating that it would be ready for the fiftieth anniversary, October 11th!
This could not be, but by Sunday, October 18th, the celebration of the anniversary began in a Church very different from the old, but one much improved in many ways. The dignified sanctuary with its fine woodwork and beautiful credence table; the new organ, towards which Mr. Edward F. Searles contributed so generously; the Durant Chapel, a memorial of great value given by Miss Maria Durant in memory of her brother Warren A. Durant; the choir stalls; and for practical use the choir room; the fair-sized sacristy in place of the tiny robing room; what all these must have seemed to the people who had worked and given of their time and means!
Sunday morning there was a large congregation. The vested choir sang for the first time. There was a procession down the north aisle and up the center aisle. This would hardly be noticed now, but then it was quite out of the ordinary. On the Altar was a cross, a memorial, now so a part of the Altar that it is hard to realize that there ever
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CHAPEL ALTAR 1896
could have been a time when this Symbol of all symbols was not before the eyes of the congregation.
Fine autumn weather gave a touch of gladness to the fiftieth anniversary. On Monday the Convocation met at the Church. There was a service of Holy Communion and Te Deum. Dr. Donald of Trinity Church, Boston, preached. After the service the Saunders, as at the twenty-fifth anni- versary, entertained at luncheon the Vestry, visiting clergy, and others from out of town. In 1899, a chalice, paten, and flagon and cruet for water were given in memory of Mrs. Daniel Saunders.
There was an inaugural organ recital given by Everett E. Truette of Boston, Monday evening, November 30, 1896.
For the first time colored altar cloths were used, very simple, but these were replaced later on by others more worthy of the Church.
There were services on Wednesday mornings. The great- est gain, however, was the installation of the 8:00 A.M. Service of Holy Communion, so vital to the spiritual life of any congregation, and such a common practice in these days that it seems strange that this greatest act of worship was not always one of the Sunday services, and the great privilege of attending was not given the people every week.
In June, 1898, the Rev. George S. Fiske came to assist Mr. Amory.
The five years from the fiftieth anniversary went on quietly in the parish although there was the Spanish War during that period. No one looked for change, but alas a great change came when it was understood that Mr. Amory had been called to St. Stephen's, Lynn, and would accept the call. This was indeed a grief to the parish and to Mr. Amory. It was a hard thing to sever the relation of priest and people.
His resignation took effect October 31, 1901.
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CHAPTER IV
1902-1920
The Rev. Arthur W. Moulton, who had been Mr. Am- ory's curate since the summer of 1900, took charge of the ยท parish. Mr. Moulton was a graduate of Hobart College and the Episcopal Theological School. He was soon afterwards elected rector, and in 1902 entered on the work which he was not to relinquish until his consecration as Bishop of Utah in 1920.
Feeling deeply the significance of the services of the Church, he tried in every way to make them fine and dig- nified; worthy, as far as possible, of the worship of Almighty God. He taught that this was not something vague, but a very real and definite duty of anyone who claimed to be a Christian. In his teaching he always laid stress on the Sacraments. He established the Three-Hour Service on Good Friday, and the mid-week and Saints' Days celebra- tion of the Holy Communion.
Looking back over the years, how many blessed memories there are of those who have knelt in the Chapel week in and week out and who now rest from their labors.
He rejoiced in whatever was done to adorn the Altar. In 1905, the white Altar cloth was given by the women's societies. This was followed by the green, procured by money raised by subscription. Later on the red and then the violet were given which completed the set of altar cloths for the Altar in the Church. The Altar in the Chapel too, had, in turn, cloths proper for all days of the Church year. Eucharistic lights were first used in the Chapel; later on, in the Church.
In 1904, the General Convention was held in Boston for the first time since 1877. Some of the parish were able to attend it, and as it has never met since in Boston, probably for many it was the only time they have ever had the priv- ilege of coming in actual touch with the deliberations of that
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body, or had their enthusiasm for missions stirred by attend- ing the meetings at which the Bishops from different fields in this country and other countries told of their experiences and their needs. It was an illustration of the fact which a
RIGHT REVEREND ARTHUR W. MOULTON
General Convention always presents; that the Church is always far greater than parish or diocese or country even.
Grace Church had the opportunity of hearing a number of Bishops right at home. Bishop Hall of Vermont, Bishop Sessums of Louisiana, Bishop Gailor of Tennessee, Bishop
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Weller of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, Bishop Graves of Shanghai, and Bishop Partridge of Kyoto, an imposing array of names, came out from Boston to preach.
November 15, 1904, the house at the corner of Jackson and Garden Streets was bought to be used as a rectory.
The South Side Mission, which eventually became St. Augustine's, had its beginning in services held in private houses. These services were so successful, and such interest was shown, that by 1905 the people who attended them were anxious for a church. Steps towards this end were taken and May 1, 1905, Bishop Lawrence laid the corner- stone. January 21, 1906, it was ready for use and the first service was held. January 14, 1907, the Mission was organ- ized as a parish and the Rev. C. Bertrand Bowser, Mr. Moul- ton's first curate who had been minister in charge, was elected rector.
The tablet in memory of Mr. Amory was given by mem- bers of the parish in 1908. The following year Mr. Moulton published a book entitled "A Memoir of Augustine Heard Amory," which received much commendation.
For five years, from 1908, Mr. Moulton's second curate, the Rev. Harold Edward Ford, worked faithfully with good results in the Church School and in other ways. He gathered material for a parish directory. During the enforced absence of the rector on account of ill health, he was in charge of the parish for several months, at which time the faculty of the Episcopal Theological School gave their assistance by com- ing in turn on Sundays to preach.
From Lawrence Mr. Ford went to Des Moines, Iowa, where he held several important positions in the Diocese. In January, 1917, he died heroically trying to save books of the Diocese from a fire in which he lost his life.
In 1909, a new oak floor was laid in the Church. Easter of that year two brass vases for the Chapel Altar were given and the practice of covering the alms basin when presented at the Altar was inaugurated by the gift of a set of silk veils.
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A Litany Desk in memory of James Joseph Hughes was used for the first time Rogation Sunday, May 1, 1910.
A branch of the Guild of St. Barnabas for nurses was organized in 1910, and for many years was a source of pleasure and profit to its members; bringing them together once a month in the houses of the associates for a short ser- vice, followed by whatever the hostess for the day furnished for their entertainment.
IgII was another milestone in parish history, its sixty- fifth anniversary. October 8th, the seventeenth Sunday after Trinity, there were services in commemoration of its founding, together with celebration of the fifteenth year of vested choir.
March 19, 1912, marks the forming of the Acolyte Guild. For several years previous to that time young men, many of whom had been choir boys, assisted the clergy in the services. So many were desirous of being permitted to do this that it seemed best to have a guild into which the can- didates would be admitted by a religious service. From that day to this, the Acolyte Guild has been a most useful society in the Church and has been of benefit to its members in giving them the privilege of sharing in some degree in the conduct of the service.
In December, 1911, the parish was canvassed to install the duplex envelope system of weekly giving for Grace Church and the Church at large.
The Processional Cross in memory of Joseph Carpenter Brown was given in 1908, but not until 1913 was there a cross on the exterior of the Church, when one was placed there in memory of H. F. Hildreth.
1914 found another of the Lawrence family at work in the Church, for the spring of that year the Rev. W. Appleton Lawrence, son of Bishop Lawrence, and himself one day to be a bishop, became the third curate in a parish very differ- ent from the parish his father first knew thirty-eight years before. He entered on the duties which fell to him as curate
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with enthusiasm, and made for himself a place in the regard of the people. Like his father, he was interested in children and young people.
He was ordained to the priesthood by his father in Grace Church, St. Mark's Day, April 25, 1915. In December of that year he was called to be rector of St. Stephen's, Lynn.
In 1915, a mission was held in the parish. The Rev. Fred- erick C. Lauderburn was the conductor. In order that the people might better understand its purpose a group went about the parish making calls, explaining its meaning and the good that might be looked for if the people, as far as they were able, would attend the meetings; not looking for sensa- tion for there would be none, but for the help they might receive if they sincerely sought it.
The instruction given each afternoon at the Church School was an interesting part of the mission and must have made as real an impression on the young listeners as it did on the older people who were present. Later on in Mr. Peabody's rectorship Mr. Lauderburn again conducted a mission.
Mr. Moulton, in 1916, published a second book "It Came To Pass," a collection of short sketches describing certain dramatic situations in the New Testament. This book also was well received.
In 1916, the connection of the Rev. Malcolm E. Peabody with the parish was established, first as curate, later as rector.
He was Master of Baguio School for American boys, Baguio, P. I .; returning to this Country he entered the Episcopal Theological School.
The time for the United States to cast its lot with the Allies in the World War was drawing near, but even then it was not realized, horrible as it was, that one day it would have a far-reaching influence on the lives of many of the people, and that for the time at least, it would cause many a
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change and adjustment in carrying on the parish. Before this country was in the war Grace Church opened the doors of the parish house to a branch of the Surgical Dressings Committee which met once a week to work for the Allies making dressings for the wounded.
May 3, 1917, very soon after the entrance of this Country into the War, Mr. Peabody, accompanied by five men of Grace Church, went across as Red Cross Chaplain at Base Hospital No. 5, known as the Harvard Unit. From 1918 to 1919, he was Chaplain in the United States Army, 102d Field Artillery, 26th Division, A.E.F.
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His ordination to the priesthood by Bishop Lawrence shortly before he left was a memorable service in the annals of the parish. No one of the congregation on that occasion will ever forget it. To the solemnity of this service was added the realization that not only was the candidate re- ceiving authority from the Church for the office of a priest, but that he was going forth to perform his priestly duties as a chaplain amid the dangers and horrors of war.
The Grace Church Roll of Honor grew longer and longer with the names of those who had entered the service of their Country, until at the close of the war the parish could proudly claim that beside rector and curate, it had been represented by two hundred ten, seven of whom were commemorated on a service flag by gold stars.
As time went on the Grace Church Monthly was largely given over to letters from men across the sea written to the rector. In spite of Red Cross and other war activities, the work of and for the parish did not flag, though societies were handicapped in winter by the closing of the parish house in order to conserve fuel.
In June, 1918, Mr. Moulton went across and the Church was left for the time without rector or curate. During the summer the Rev. Charles P. Otis, once a choir boy in Grace Church, was in charge. In the fall Dr. Drown assumed responsibility, coming on Sundays to preach, with the Rev.
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Donald K. Johnson acting as his assistant. For the first and only time in its history the Church, by order of civil author- ities, was closed for two Sundays on account of an epidemic of influenza.
In March Mr. Moulton returned and on March 27th a reception was given to him in the parish house. Parishioners and other friends to the number of eight hundred or more came to bid him welcome, rejoicing that he was again in their midst.
On the Sunday after Easter a service in commemoration of those who had died in the War was held throughout the Diocese.
At a special Parish Meeting March 3, 1919, it was re- solved to give the right to vote to women who had the qualifications required by the laws of the parish.
In June, Mr. Peabody came back, and with Rector and Curate once more taking up their work Grace Church bade fair to being its normal self again, with no premonition of the great change which in a few short months would threaten it.
In October, Mr. Moulton went as a clerical deputy from Massachusetts to the General Convention, meeting in Detroit, at which he was elected Missionary Bishop of Utah. Although Grace Church boasts of having given five bishops to the Church, he was the only one elected while rector, and the only one consecrated in the Church.
During the winter the Prayer Circle in connection with the Church Mission of Help met every Tuesday evening in the Chapel to pray for the sick.
The need of a new parish house had been felt for many years and there had been a fund started for it, but a great step forward was taken at the annual Parish Meeting in the City Hall on January 12th, when it was voted to build a new one on Garden Street in the rear of the brick block at the corner of Jackson and Garden Streets. A fund of $50,000.00 to be raised between January 25th and January
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28th, was pledged. In a few weeks the old parish house was sold to the Caledonian Club and the architect's plans approved by the Vestry.
Grace Church, recognizing that it had a part to play in the Churches' Call which in Massachusetts was called the Nationwide Campaign, sent delegates to meetings held in Boston in connection with it. There were stereopticon pic- tures in the parish house illustrating the mission work of the Church, and part was taken in Community Services. These were some of the ways by which response was made to the appeal of the National Church.
All too soon the winter was over and spring had come, bringing near the consecration of Bishop Moulton which took place April 29, 1920. That day which meant so much to his people to whom he had ministered for nearly twenty years began, as was fit, with a celebration of the Holy Com- munion at eight o'clock.
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