USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Trinity church in the city of Boston, Massachusetts : 1733-1933 > Part 13
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We should be devoutly grateful to Almighty God that Trin- ity Church has prospered, and that it is much used by so many people. There is an awe, a lift, a unique encouragement from worship with this great company. The obvious danger is that within so great a multitude many are lost in the crowd. Mem- bership in Christ's fellowship commits one to a very definite way of life, a daily discipline, an exacting ethical standard, an entire devotion. Attendance at services is a bare beginning, a sort of minimum requirement for those who propose to take religion seriously. Unless our full membership is in regular attendance, unless we assemble ourselves as a Christian army, to pray, to plan, to develop, and to accomplish, we are not under way. Regular church attendance and recourse to the Holy Communion is expected of every disciple of the Lord in our Church. Our Lord knows us as individuals. He is pres- ent and is disappointed if any of us fails to come. He knows we need regular spiritual food to grow on. Therefore with
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breadth let us be sure to combine definiteness as a watch- word. Definiteness in Churchly duties, prayer, public worship, self-examination, Holy Communion, stewardship in material things; for such has been found to be good discipline toward the higher sequel to that definiteness-unqualified allegiance to Jesus as Master and Lord. Let us be faithful at prayer, that we may hope to measure nearer His stature and be able to meet others in His spirit. Though we welcome inquirers at Trinity Church, our proper function is to win and to train thoroughgoing modern disciples of Jesus, who are confirmed and publicly avowed, and who share in His life work of hu- man redemption. We cannot be too definite about this.
The Episcopal Church in Boston has long been charac- terized by a wholesome simplicity. It is to-day singularly free from display and ecclesiastical pomp and ceremony. We have admired and we have expected genuineness in the following of Jesus, Who was always so simple, so unostentatious, so approachable. One who has been the greatest living contribu- tor to this high tradition in Boston, the Rt. Rev. Dr. William Lawrence, now in his eighty-third year, at the last Diocesan Convention made a plea that we should have as our first em- phasis the emulation of the humble Jesus. It is just in so far as we are true to that plea from our most venerable living leader that Trinity Church will grow in power to commend the way of Christ to the citizens of Boston in the future. At this two- hundredth anniversary may every one of us, in some quiet moment, take solemn thought in profound gratitude for this wonderful church which has been committed to us as a trust by the faithfulness of those who have gone before. And let us each rededicate ourselves to our Lord Jesus Christ and His service. Let us offer ourselves, our souls and bodies a reason- able, holy, and living sacrifice to Him Who is the Church's one foundation, remembering that all we have here is raised in tribute to the humble Jesus Who gave His life that men might find life in the family of God.
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MEMORIALS OF PHILLIPS BROOKS
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Memorials of Phillips Brooks
T HE real memorial of Phillips Brooks is the changed lives of countless human beings. But Trinity Church has several reminders of him, besides the noble church building. On the lectern, holding the Bible, is the wooden desk used by Mr. Brooks to hold his sermons, as he preached in Philadelphia and in the second Trinity Church on Summer Street, from which it was saved from the great Boston fire. In the baptistry is a marble bust of Mr. Brooks, by Daniel C. French, given by parishioners. Seventeen years after Mr. Brooks's death, a bronze statue of him, with the figure of the Christ touching and inspiring him, designed by Augustus St. Gaudens, was erected under a canopy at the north side of the church. It was the gift to Trinity Church from many per- sons, through a large representative committee of Boston's citizens .* Of the money raised for the memorial, an unex- pended balance of over $62,000 was given to the church. Under authority of the Supreme Judicial Court, some of this has been used for the Bela Pratt statue of Phillips Brooks, which stands near his ancestral home at North Andover; for a pulpit bearing his name in the new Memorial Church at Har- vard College; for a bust of him in the Hall of Fame at the University of New York; for a stone figure of him on the west porch façade of Trinity Church; and for other purposes connected with his memory, or for charitable uses which are not connected with an ecclesiastical body.
But most important of memorials of Mr. Brooks is the Phillips Brooks Memorial Endowment Fund begun under Dr. Mann, fostered by Dr. Sherrill, and for which an earnest. appeal is made by Dr. Kinsolving in his chapter on the future of Trinity Church.t Begun in 1919, the Fund soon grew to over $ 200,000; it is now about $300,000, book or purchase values.
* See page 1 16.
t See page 171.
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XI THE CHURCH PLATE
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The Church Plate
T HE first gift of silver plate recorded is a "large Hand- some Silver Basson," to be used for christenings, from Captain John Cutler of Boston, in 1739. It weighed nearly thirty-four ounces. The wardens had put upon it the name and coat of arms of the donor. It was stolen from the second church building on Summer Street in 18 51.
In 1742, Governor Shirley of Massachusetts presented, in the name of His Majesty George II, five pieces-two flagons, a chalice, a paten, and a plate for offerings, of white silver- weighing together over 181 ounces. These pieces bear the English coat of arms. This gift was one of the King's "usual Bounty" to royal governors on receiving their commissions.
In 1790, Mrs. Hannah Rowe gave twenty-six ounces of silver for a second chalice, as the increasing number of com- municants required two. At the same time the chalice from Governor Shirley was made over so that the two chalices would be alike in size and design. Mrs. Rowe was a daughter of William Speakman and the wife of John Rowe, who had been a vestryman or warden for over twenty-five years. In The Old Silver of American Churches, by Edward A. Jones, published in 1913 under auspices of the National Society of Colonial Dames, is a picture (Plate No. xxxII ) of the King George pieces and the Rowe chalice.
In 1812, two patens, one of them matching the 1742 paten, were procured by the rector, the Rev. J. S. J. Gardiner. Three years later, two patens with covers were given by Mrs. Hannah Smith.
In 18 29, the proprietors of the church presented to the archi- tect of the second structure, Mr. George W. Brimmer, in grate- ful recognition of his plans and services given, a large silver ewer. On it is a bas-relief of the second structure. Mr. Brimmer accepted it, but asked that it be used by the church. The fol- lowing year, another ewer, like the Brimmer one but with the
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arms of the Winthrop family, was given bythe Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts, who was at that time a vestryman.
In 1876, the Rev. Thomas Amory, rector of St. Teath Parish, England, presented a paten.
In 1878, two chalices were given by twelve members of the vestry.
In 1905, a gold chalice, with jewels from a "bracelet of many stones," came from the executors of Mrs. Sarah Wyman Whitman, as instructed by her; and a gold paten was given by the Women's Bible Class in loving memory of Mrs. Whitman.
In 1906, a plate was given by request of Mary J. Eastburn, deceased, the widow of the eighth rector, Bishop Eastburn.
In 1932, a wafer box and a small chalice for intinction were given by members of the church staff and by the Altar Guild, in memory of Elizabeth L. Mitchell, long the parish visitor.
The silver includes also three small chalices, two wafer boxes, two patens ; and three portable Communion sets, one of which was used in the World War by Chaplain Sherrill, later the twelfth rector, and another marked "E. M. P. in lov- ing memory of P. B."-Phillips Brooks.
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XII DESCRIPTION OF THE CHURCH BY H. H. RICHARDSON Architect Reprinted from Consecration Services of Trinity Church, Boston Printed by order of the Vestry, 1877
OPENED FOR WORSHIP IN 1877 TRINITY CHURCH, COPLEY SQUARE
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Description of the Church
A T the time of the burning of the old Trinity Church, on Summer Street, the project for a new building was well advanced. Land had been bought, competitive designs had been invited and received, and a selection made; and a considerable amount of work had been done on the drawings for the new structure.
In a modern Church, if the logical sequence of one part from another is not as close as in a mediaeval Cathedral, still it is true that every detail of the construction, from the front steps to the finish on the roof, must be thought over, viewed in the light of all probable contingencies, and fixed with toler- able distinctness, before the excavations can be safely begun.
Trinity Church was no exception to this rule: the character of the design, and the nature of the ground, on which the building was to stand, brought problems for the solution of which no familiar precedent existed, and which were to be worked out by accurate and anxious theoretical investigation.
On testing the ground at the site a compact stratum was found, overlaid by a quantity of alluvium, upon which a mass of gravel, about thirty feet deep, had been filled in. Upon such a foundation was to be built a structure, the main feature of which consisted in a tower weighing nearly nineteen million pounds, and supported on four piers. The first pile was driven April 21, 1873. Every pile was watched, numbered, its place marked on a plan at a large scale, and a record made of the weight of the hammer with which it was driven, the distance that the pile sank at the last three blows, and the height from which the hammer fell. With these indications, a map of the bearing stratum was made, with contour lines, showing the surface of the clay bed.
Meanwhile, the preparation of the plans for the superstruc- ture was going on, and the last of the four thousand five hun- dred piles which support the building had not been driven
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before the mason-work was begun. On the 10th of October, 1873, the contract was made with Messrs. Norcross Brothers, of Worcester, Mass., for the masonry and carpenter-work of the structure; the Building Committee, who had a large quan- tity of stone on the ground brought from the ruins of the Summer Street Church, undertaking to furnish all the founda- tion stone, except that for the great piers of the tower, which it was necessary to construct of special stones. Under the centre of the Church, a space ninety feet square had been reserved for the tower foundation, and this had been driven uniformly full of piles, as near together as practicable, over two thousand be- ing contained within the area. This area, while the foundation walls for the other parts of the Church were building, was sub- jected to various processes, in preparation for its future duty.
The piles within these limits were cut off at "grade five," six inches lower than the piles under the other portions of the building, as an excess of precaution against any failure of water for keeping the wood saturated. The ground was then exca- vated around the heads of the piles to a depth of two feet, and replaced with concrete. The concrete was mixed on the ground, put into barrows, and wheeled on plank ways laid on the heads of the piles to its destination, and thrown into the excavation. Four successive layers, each six inches thick, were put in, and each thoroughly compacted with wooden ram- mers. The upper surface of the concrete was kept one inch below the heads of the piles, on the theory that the piles being the true support of the structure, it was important that every stone should rest firmly upon them, without coming in con- tact with the concrete, which might some time sink, by the settlement of the gravel filling, and cause dislocation of any masonry which might rest partly upon it and partly on the un- yielding piles. The concrete, however, had an important use in preventing the lateral motion of the piles, and to some extent connecting them together.
Before the close of this season, the first course of one of
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the four pyramids which form the foundation of the tower piers, had been laid on the piles, and as an experiment the out- side joints were cemented up, and the whole then grouted with cement and sand till the joints and the space between the stone and concrete were flushed full. The pumping, which had been constantly kept up to free the excavation from the water which came in through the gravelly bottom, then ceased, and the water was allowed to enter the cavity, which it soon filled to the depth of about four feet, and the operations on the ground were suspended until the following spring. During the winter, however, extensive preparations were made for the following season. Choice had been made of the Dedham gran- ite for the ashlar, and of Longmeadow freestone for the trim- mings and cut stone work, and the contractors hired land and opened quarries of their own, both at Dedham and Long- meadow. The Dedham granite is a fine grained stone, of a beautiful color, rather resembling a sandstone in effect, and harmonizing very well with the brown freestone, but, like most red granite, being only found at the surface of the quarry, there was difficulty in procuring stones large enough for the water-table and some other portions, as the same atmospheric or other influences which had changed the upper part of the granite ledge from its natural gray to salmon color, had caused also frequent seams, imperceptible at first, but which showed themselves by the falling to pieces of the larger stones while being dressed.
To meet this difficulty, search was made and a red granite found at Westerly, R. I., which, although also a surface stone, and less delicate in color than the Dedham, was of admirable quality, pieces twenty feet long or over being easily procured. The contractors, with praiseworthy enterprise, secured land here, and opened a third quarry, from which was taken all the ashlar below and including the water-table, as well as a portion of the largest foundation stones. At all these quarries work was prosecuted through the winter, and a large quantity of material
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accumulated, besides many hundred tons of dimension granite of ordinary kinds, for the foundation of the great piers, for which contracts had been previously made, and which was procured from various localities, partly from Rockport, Mass., part from Quincy, and some of the best stone from the coast of Maine. These were all large stones, weighing from one to four tons each, and as the work for which they were destined was the most important as well as the most trying, in the building, they were accepted only under severe restrictions, no stone being received of less height than twenty or more than twenty-four inches, or less than four feet long, and a certain proportion were required to be eight feet long, or even more.
On resuming operations in the spring of 1874, it was found. that the tide water, coming in through the gravel, had af- fected the setting of the cement. The concrete was in a favor- able condition, but the grouting of the masonry which had been started for the pier was still very soft, although made with a cement which, under ordinary circumstances, sets rap- idly. In view of this unexplained difficulty, as well as the need of being able to proceed rapidly with the piers, without being obliged to wait for the setting of any doubtful cement, it was thought best to reduce the matter to certainty by using Port- land cement throughout the piers. A variety of English and French Portland cements was tried, but the result seemed equally good with all, some difference in the rapidity of set- ting being the principal variation. The stones already set were taken up and relaid, and with the substitution of the different cement, treated as before; the outer joints being packed close, and the inside grouted until completely full. .
At first the Portland cement was handled like Rosendale in similar circumstances, the cement being mixed rather dry, and after being put into the joints with trowels, compressed as much as possible with rammers; but further experience, and careful trials, showed equally good results by first filling the larger joints with a trowel and the dryer mortar, and then
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mixing some rather rich cement, sufficiently liquid to pour into the smaller joints from a bucket, stirring it well with the thicker portion, until the whole was of a medium consistency, and had penetrated every interstice of the stone-work. Each course was levelled up to a uniform surface with cement, and chips where necessary, before the next course was begun, and the upper bed of the third course from the top, and all the vertical and horizontal joints of the two upper courses were taken out of wind and pointed, so as to form a perfectly close joint.
Toward the close of 1874, the four pyramids of solid gran- ite, each thirty-five feet square at the base and seven feet square at the top, and seventeen feet high, were completed; the main walls of the Church being then well advanced, and the Chapel, which had been urged forward with great rapidity, nearly finished. In the construction of other foundations than those of the tower, the stones which had been brought from the ruins of the old Church after the fire, were utilized as far as possible; but the action of the heat upon them had produced some curious results, very unfavorable to their use in a new building. The stones which were simply cracked through were easily managed, but many of the stones, which when delivered on the grounds were as square and neatly jointed as any one could wish, on being placed in the wall let fall large chips from the corners, concave on the side toward the interior of the stone. These would be followed by successive shells, separat- ing like the coats of an onion, and apparently of indefinite number.
This scaling took place first at the corners, and as the con- centric layers fell away, the stone was reduced to a round ball, completely useless for building purposes. The best and largest of the old stones, those from the tower, had been most ex- posed to the fire and were most subject to this defect. Even after a stone had been safely placed in the wall, and was appar- ently perfect, the imposition of the next course would some-
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times cause shells to separate from the upper corners of the stones already laid, so that the stones above them rested on the summit of a convex surface, which it was impossible to wedge up, and both courses had to be removed. The only certain mode of testing the stones was by striking them with a hammer, when the clear ring of a sound stone could by a little experi- ence be distinguished from the dull note of blocks which con- tained latent cracks. The defective stones were thus separated from the sound, and rejected.
In November, 1874, the Chapel building was finished, the transept, chancel and aisle walls, as well as the western front, being then high above ground. During the winter, the stone for the remainder of the building was cut, the larger portion of the work being upon the granite for the upper part of the piers which carry the tower. These were built of blocks of Westerly granite, each five feet by two and one-half, and twenty inches high, with hammered vertical and horizontal joints. These were laid in cement, in pairs, forming a pillar five feet square in section, the joints of alternate courses crossing. For laying these piers and the adjoining walls, as well as the arches between the piers, a massive scaffold was built, standing independently upon the four pyramids of the tower founda- tion. Four derricks stood upon this structure, and not only the pier stones, weighing two tons each, were easily handled, but the same stage served afterward to carry the centres for the great arches, and the whole superstructure of scaffolding, to the very top of the tower, no outside staging being used. This · "great stage," as it was called, remained in place for more than two years.
In the construction of the great arches, and for tying the piers at their summit to the walls of the nave and transept, iron was used, but sparingly, and as a matter of precaution, rather than necessity, the weights and points of application of the adjoining walls having been calculated to furnish sufficient re- sistance to the thrust of the arches, without the aid of ties.
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In general, throughout the building, the use of iron was avoided as far as might be, and with the exception of the stair- case turret, which is supported by a double set of iron beams over the vestibule below, no masonry in the Church is depen- dent on metal for support. In the Chapel, where the exigencies of convenient disposition demanded some wide spans, iron beams are used, and one or two of the stone lintels are rein- forced by concealed girders.
Some changes in the design were made as the work went on, in compliance with real or fancied necessities of conven- ience or construction, and it is not out of place to say, that the modifications of outline required by the change in pro- portion of walls and tower thus made, can hardly yet be con- sidered as fully carried out, so that the actual building at pres- ent lacks, perhaps, the unity of the original design, without at- taining a new unity of its own. Especially is this the case with regard to the western towers: a lowering of the Church walls, made in hope of affording an additional guarantee of good acoustic quality in the building, which was felt to be a para- mount consideration, changed the proportion of walls and tower in a manner which should have been counteracted by increasing the height of the western front, including the tow- ers which form a part of it, and the amended drawings com- prehended this alteration as an aesthetic necessity, but the in- crease of height not being a constructional necessity, and the additional cost being of some importance, the full completion of the design was, to the regret of all parties, abandoned till some future time.
In modifying the internal form to meet the new require- ments, the present shape of ceiling was adopted in place of that originally intended. In the modified form the tie-beams cross the Church at the level of the wall plate, coming at the cusps of the trefoil.
Although it was often suggested during the progress of
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the work, that the great piers, at least, should show the stone face apparent in the Church, this has, nevertheless, from the first conception of the design seemed in many ways undesir- able, and propositions looking to that end have been, after careful consideration, always finally rejected. A rich effect of color in the interior was an essential element of the design, and this could not be obtained in any practicable material without painting. Brickwork, which might have been strong enough in color, would not have endured the strain upon it, and the use of granite was a necessity of construction. The cold, harsh effect of this stone in the midst of the color dec- oration, could not be tolerated, and as between painting di- rectly on the stone, and plastering it to secure a smooth sur- face, it seemed decidedly preferable that there should be no difference in texture between the piers and the other walls, but that all should be plastered alike. The commonplace criti- cism that plaster "conceals construction," can hardly be con- sidered to apply here, for the piers and arches being simply portions of the wall, it would be difficult to show any reason for plastering the other walls which would not apply equally to the piers; and that the inner surface of the walls must in all cases be exposed, is a dictum from which the most con- scientious would shrink.
In July, 1876, the last stone was laid in the tower. The body of the Church had already been roofed in, furredand plastered, and in the tower itself a bell deck had been built, with a hatch- way for hoisting. It remained only to roof the tower, and give up the building to the joiners and the decorators. The design of the Church had always contemplated tile roofing, at least for the towers, but it was with some difficulty that an entirely suitable tile was found. English tiles were imported as samples, but were found too absorbent to be depended on in our try- ing climate. A glazed or semi-glazed surface seemed requisite, and this was at length found in an American tile, made in Akron, Ohio, and affording some advantages in closeness of
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