USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Gardiner > Christ Church, Gardiner, Maine : antecedents and history > Part 15
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The house first occupied was the Hathaway House, Number 40 Lincoln Avenue. A few years later, Mrs. Cochrane bought the old Wharf House, on the same street, which was partly re- built. After the fire of 1915, the Home was much enlarged. The building, part of which is very ancient, is now occupied by the Mckay family.
At the time of the removal to Gardiner, Sister Dorothy was matron, and then the Maynard sisters were in charge for several years, before the late Mrs. Foye took over. She was succeeded in 1912 by Sister Margaret Mary, who came to Gardiner with her ward, Miss Julie Raeuber. These two made a perfect and devoted team till Miss Julie's death in 1957. The Home was closed in 1959, because of the new policy throughout the State of boarding destitute and homeless children in various families, and increased federal assistance.
When the House of the Good Shepherd closed its doors, a very precious thing was lost. At first the Home housed both boys and girls, but later there were girls only. The children learned to cook, to sew, to take care of the rooms. More especially, they learned the beauty of worship, in a room which had been trans- formed into a lovely chapel, called the Stella Chapel "in memory of the beloved wife of our dear Bishop." Sister and Miss Julie were constant helpers and examples. Canon Plant and his suc- cessors were untiring friends and ministers. The thing which struck a visitor to the House of the Good Shepherd was the evi- dent happiness of the children, and their good manners.
The Home, for all the years that it operated in Gardiner, was the happy target of benefactions which were poured out by its citizens. One good man would give the Thanksgiving Dinner, an- other the Christmas Party. A devoted succession of doctors and dentists gave their services. There were picnics and excursions.
Though the Home took in those of all Faiths, the teaching was that of our church, and Sister was one of the most faithful and most loved members of Christ Church, as she is today. In closing this brief account, let me quote the comments made by two faculty members of one of Toronto's Girls' Schools, in de- scribing a visit to Maine:
"Church and State have planned and founded and financed an ideal orphanage; it is Sister who has made it a home, and
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the atmosphere one senses so quickly is the atmosphere of se- curity and of tenderness which is the birthright (alas! so often wrenched from them) of all children everywhere. . . They came, feeling the world a howling wilderness, straight into the wise and loving care of Sister Margaret Mary. Here they find security. Here they find gay tenderness, and here they find, we do not doubt it, the beginnings of a knowledge of and a love for that Good Shepherd who has led them to this haven."
Another unique work in which a remarkable woman gave of her intelligence and time was the Sewing School, conducted for fifteen years by Mrs. Frederick T. Bradstreet, daughter of Capt. George Dearborn. Mrs. Bradstreet had had her training at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where she had lived before her mar- riage. She was not only an almost perfect needlewoman, but could design clothes and organize classes. Spinning, weaving and "shaping" had mostly gone their way, and good ready-made dresses had not come. Mrs. Bradstreet felt the need of enabling small-town girls to make clothes that could give them no feeling of inferiority among city children with city dressmakers.
The school was held in the parish house, and was non- denominational. Seats were arranged in squares to hold six classes of six to eight girls in each, for which young teachers were developed. Mrs. Bradstreet had skill and authority. She is pictured as inspecting class after class, and leading in curious little songs when the children needed a break. Of the many, I give one quoted by my sister, set to the tune of "O Susanna":
"And oh, my sewing, that's the work for me,
I just can have the nicest time With sewing on my knee."
Miss Gilmore has spoken of the time of Bishop Burgess as the Golden Age of Christ Church. I now speak of an aspect of Canon Plant's regime as an age of light, because of the work of one man, Robert Hallowell Gardiner III, who had become Senior Warden on Ammi Davenport's death. I have already told of his part in the great centennial celebrations in 1920. At that time the Vestry said of him, "By the unstinted employment of his strength and the most generous use of his means, he has contributed in ways too numerous to mention to the recent extensive repairing, improving and beautifying of the Parish Church."
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He was also a tireless worker in the Diocese, for twenty-eight years a member of the Standing Committee, and on other com- mittees too many to count. At nearly every Diocesan Convention when he was present, he was the leading layman. He was for years a delegate to the National Convention, and for several terms national head of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew.
But his greatest work was as secretary of his country's com- mission looking to the World Conference on Faith and Order, held at Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1927. Though he died three years before the conference, he did more than any other person, clerical or lay, to make this conference possible. He set up a special office on Water Street, Gardiner, from which went out a steady stream of correspondence, pamphlets, exhortations. The preparation for this conference was his greatest life work, and the tremendous labor he devoted to it undoubtedly shortened his days on earth. To it he gave all his admirable qualities of unfailing patience, sympathy, and persistent industry, as well as the larger part of his private means. He was as ready for the drudgery of detail as he was to speak the quiet word which dissolved the occa- sional pettiness of the meeting where he was.
He died in June, 1924. There were many resolutions of love and of grief that sounded through our stricken national church when he passed over to the other side. I quote the final paragraph of Bishop Brent's noble In Memoriam:
"Grief were idle without purpose being born of sorrow. The faithful and the true need not the praise of tongue or pen to give them their rightful place in life. They live by earned right in the fabric of human society. In relation to Robert Hallowell Gardiner, mere threnody or pious eulogy is idle chatter. He is today more fully alive than he ever was. We did not know how heavily we were leaning upon him while he was by our side, so modest was he, never seeking his own, hiding himself that his cause might be the better seen. He was like the underground streams that bathe the feet of violets and feed the verdure from beneath by hidden service. Of him it may be said, as it was said of another whom he knew and revered-He wist not that his face shone. Now that we can take measure of him as never before, we discover him to be one of the foremost leaders and inspirers of our day. Without his sort, hope would wither, faith decline, and love grow cold. There is an ache in our hearts and
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a void in our fellowship which must abide. And yet all the while we rejoice that the Church raises up such men to enrich and in- spire mankind. A bend in the road hides him but he remains of our company, a little in advance of the rest, as he passes into the enjoyment of that unity for which he labored diligently and well."
The Southern Churchman of Richmond, Virginia, said of his appearance at the General Conventions: "He had no special gift of eloquence, and yet there was scarcely a day during its sessions that he did not lift the Convention to a high place of vision. Sometimes after the hours of discussion, when men's minds were jaded, and the dust of verbal strife had blurred the outlook, he would walk to the platform, holding a slip of paper in his hands. He would then read a greeting sent to the Con- vention through him from some group of Christians half across the world, or perhaps he would ask us to send a message to some gathering of believers in the Far East. In either case he left us all ashamed. .. When he came before the Convention it was like the noiseless opening of a window, letting the fresh air of heaven into a close and heated room. We got used to his services so quietly rendered, and took him for granted as men take for granted the sunshine and the stars."
And The Churchman said in part: "It is safe to say that no other person in the Episcopal Church has worked so long, so tirelessly, or so practically for reunion of the Christian churches as did this layman. There is an appeal in the fact that this can be said of a layman, for it was Mr. Gardiner's conviction, ex- pressed many times, that if Christian unity ever came it would come through laymen and not through clergymen-a conviction which the Churchman shares."
Finally I quote the concluding paragraphs of the resolution adopted at the Diocesan Convention of 1925 by a rising vote:
"A wise counselor of the Church at large, and known in nearly every quarter of the Christian world for his labors in behalf of Christian unity, he never regarded a parochial or dio- cesan problem as trivial or unworthy of his attention. Deeply read not only in ecclesiastical history and polity but in theology, he had trained not only his heart but also his mind in the knowledge of God. He was in countless ways the ideal layman. He taught by precept and example that missionary work begins
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at home but never ends there, that the power of the living Christ must be extended to the furthermost corners of the world and that it must be brought to bear in the life of the smallest village in the State of Maine. And in all his dealings he dis- played always and everywhere the gifts of Charity.
"His entrance into life deprives the Diocese of one of its most effective counselors, and of its most distinguished layman. Yet in the blessed Communion of Saints we can join with him and he with us in prayers and in service for the further exten- sion of the Kingdom of Christ and His righteousness."
Signed: Kenneth C. M. Sills Richard L. Sloggett George C. de Mott A. Edward Scott Henry B. Nash
Have I given too many quotations from eulogies of this great soul? I do not think so. Not only in such moments of bereavement do men pay worthy tribute to those whom they ad- mire and love, but also through their own speaking or writing, their thoughts and prayers, they give testimony unconsciously to their own divine origin and to the glory of God. They are inspired, unselfish, and at their best. So Matthew Arnold in Rugby Chapel, the great poem in memory of his father, has lifted countless hearts. So Shelley in his mourning for John Keats in Adonais raises us to a vision of Eternity.
With Canon Plant resting in Europe and about to resign the Rectorship of Christ Church, the Rev. E. C. McAllister came to us and was welcomed with enthusiasm. He began his min- istry in November, 1923. In July, 1924, Bishop Brewster ac- cepted the Canon's resignation and approved the election of Mr. McAllister. He came with high hopes, and I note several im- portant happenings that stand out in the records among the duties of this parish priest most faithfully performed.
In 1925 there were repairs in the church, and what was then a modern heater installed in the rectory. The Christmas Service was notable for an organ recital by Charles Black, for- merly our church organist, and then studying at the Eastman College of Music. There were then twenty-five in the choir,
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and they sang hymns and carols for the veterans at the Soldiers' Home at Togus. In June of this same year the 166th anniversary of the coming of the Rev. Jacob Bailey to the Kennebec, and the 225th anniversary of the founding of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, which had sent him, were remembered by an address in the church by Dr. Lincoln of Brunswick.
Sometime this year there was a special week of prayer, to be remembered because on the final day the speaker was the Rev. H. A. Clark of the Free Baptist Church. It was about this time that Mr. R. P. Hazzard became a notable giver to our church, paying notes of the Parish and straightening out our title to the Reed House, which had been bought by means of a mortgage. He founded the Ruth Hazzard Trust. I find a note in the North East that Mrs. Walter Powers "has finished an order for embroideries sent to the Parish by the Diocese, and is now working on altar linen and cottas for the home church."
On Nov. 27, 1927, the Vestry voted to accept the resignation of the Rev. E. C. McAllister with deep regret. He had come to the Parish with high hopes, almost exactly four years before. Between these dates the story is of a beautiful, hard-working Rectorship, and a gallant battle with failing health. The special- ist had pronounced "his vocal cords so weakened that he must have an extended rest or lose the use of his voice." The Rev. William Rice took temporary charge of the Parish.
Edward C. McAllister had entered our clergy after fifteen years as a business man. To pay for his course at the Theo- logical School, he served as a ship's carpenter for several sum- mers. His wife, a lovely, dedicated woman, came from Pa- ducah, Kentucky. She had a real gift in painting miniatures, as he had with the writing of verse. His sermons were short, simple and most beautiful. I quote the conclusion of one concern- ing the Virgin Birth, which fortunately has been kept. It was spoken at a time when, under the influence of too confident science, many people treated all miracles as pure myth.
"There is questioning, and there are assertions of authority and more questionings. Why do we question? For here we have the Lily of the Valley; the hush before the dawn; man's highest reach to what he can grasp of purity and awe. Rather, we put the shoes from off our feet."
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Mr. McAllister has been spoken of as a most neighborly man. People took their sorrows to him, and he bore them as if they were his own. It was the complete failure of his voice, together with a blood poisoning which coursed through the whole system, which finally made his resignation essential. Sister Mar- garet Mary has said of him that he was a most wonderful parish priest, "the kind of man from whom martyrs are made."
I quote also part of the tribute from the Parish which ap- peared in the February number of the North East in 1928:
"During the four years of his ministry, Mr. McAllister has been a power for good not in this parish only, but throughout the city. His rare eloquence in the pulpit, his spiritual and truly Christian influence as a pastor, his fearless citizenship, the beauty and sweetness of his character have endeared him to all classes of persons, and to old and young alike, throughout the community. We had hoped that he might remain with us through many fruitful years, to his contentment and our benefit; that his dear wife might feel herself one of us, his children grow up to be citizens of Gardiner. This was not to be."
Ten years later the following hymn by Mr. McAllister ap- peared on the cover of the North East for October:
"Christ our salvation Wrought in bitter pain; Worthy of honor, Yet with sinners slain;
"Scourging and mocking, And the hateful tree, Gall and the spear-thrust Met on Calvary.
"Who then would follow Let him face the loss, Bend to the burden, Bearing well the cross:
"Hold to the Victor- He alone the way- On through the darkness Unto lasting day."
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Since 1894, Christ Church had had two noble Rectorships, one very long, the other short, but both ending in broken health and failing powers. It was inevitable that under such condi- tions, in spite of the work and devotion of these fine men, the Parish should suffer. The Rev. Nelson W. Bryant, who was elected Rector in December, 1927, and who came to Christ Church the following month, had been educated at Tufts, Yale, and the Episcopal Theological Seminary in Cambridge, and was a disciple of Bishop Sherrill. He found the Parish for the most part in the hands of old people. The Church School had de- teriorated, and the mill folk did not feel at home in the church. "It was the church for the upper crust." Moreover, there was an unfortunate feud between two of the leading laymen.
Nelson Bryant was, and is, a high-minded, able man. He was, and is, a notable preacher, combining the gifts of eloquence and brevity. But what the church needed was hard work with the young people, which the new Rector tackled manfully. He did his best to breathe life into the Church School. His finest work was with youth. The church had a basketball team in the local league for the first time, and several names of young men so important in later years appeared in the group which turned to him. I mention Donald Ireland, Norman Gardner and John Daley. The first named is now Senior Warden in Shrews- bury, Massachusetts; the two latter are our Junior and Senior Wardens today. John Daley was first elected a vestryman in 1931.
1928 was Nelson Bryant's first year as Rector of Christ Church. In the twilight that closed the McAllister regime, Judge Harold Cooke, the Senior Warden, had given notable service as lay reader. At a social hour, given by the Altar Guild in honor of the Reverends McAllister and Rice, both of whom were present, and spoke, Judge Cooke was presented with a surplice because of his work as lay reader just mentioned. In November came a meeting of the Men's Club, "the largest attendance in its his- tory." A Parish Cabinet had also been created, consisting of the leaders of each organization, with a member of the Vestry and a member from the Parish at large. This foreshadowed the present Parish Council. A sewing club for the girls of the community, meeting at the parish house, had also been formed.
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The beginning of 1929 was noteworthy for a Watch Night service on New Year's Eve, and a Service of Lights at the Epiph- any, in which each member of the congregation carries from the church a tiny candle, lighted by relay from the candles on the altar. This year was celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Woman's Auxiliary in Gardiner. On the evening of the first Sunday in March, Christ Church, with a union service, was host to the other churches in the city, two hundred and fifty attending the service. The regular evening prayer was read, and the Universalist minister preached the ser- mon.
I enjoy recording here an informal event which must have been an enriching experience to the four men who took part in it. The Rector of Christ Church, Nelson Bryant, with the Rev. J. Harold Bessom of St. Matthew's, Hallowell, and the Parish Clerk and Crucifer of Christ Church, J. M. L. Bates and John Daley, climbed Mt. Katahdin together. The weather was perfect. At the summit the collect, epistle and gospel for the Transfiguration were read. As those four good men looked out over the great forest of our northern wilderness, and the shining mirrors of pond and lake, they must have thought of our Lord at his prayers in the Wilderness of Galilee.
At home in the next year or two, I note that the rectory has been repaired and painted. Says the North East, "It now stands forth in its true nature as one of the most beautiful houses in the city." A Galahad Club for boys has been formed. The Rector has promised a new prayerbook for everyone in the Church School with perfect attendance to Christmas. In the spring of 1930, the memorial tablet given by the World Con- ference on Faith and Order, in memory of R. H. Gardiner III, was unveiled, with President Sills of Bowdoin making the ad- dress. The House of the Good Shepherd is carrying on strongly, with a General Electric refrigerator, then a thing of magic, in- stalled, and upwards of fifty applications of necessity declined. That year there were twenty-one children in the Home. In Octo- ber, 1931, Mrs. Alice Bradstreet White, of whom I have already spoken, died, remembering both Church and Diocese in her will.
At the Diocesan Convention of 1932, Mr. Bryant presented a summary of the splendid accomplishments of the Bowdoin
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Conference for Young People, held for the first time in 1930, urging its substantial support. The Bishop added his enthusias- tic endorsement of this report.
In January of 1933 Christ Church suffered a blow when the Rev. Nelson W. Bryant resigned, having accepted a call to St. George's Parish in Newport, Rhode Island. Thus what promised to be a distinguished Rectorate, as it had begun, was cut short after only five years.
CHAPTER III
THE RECTORATE OF TOM G. AKELEY
FOUR SERVICES OF MUSIC-R. H. GARDINER IV-THE REV. HAZEN RIGBY-TWO ORGANS-TOM AKELEY A GREAT PARISH PRIEST-THE CHURCH FENCE-A LARGE VESTRY AND A GROWING WORK-THE RECTOR IS CALLED TO NORTH DAKOTA-BRIEF RECTORATE OF THE REV. R. RHYS WIL- LIAMS-THE REV. CHARLES E. KARSTEN JR. COMES TO CHRIST CHURCH.
Immediately after our loss of Nelson Bryant, the Rev. Tom G. Akeley accepted a call to Christ Church, and began his work in March, 1933. Father Tom, as he was affectionately called through most of his long term in Gardiner, was born in North Dakota. He came to us, with his lovely wife and their two sons, from St. Margaret's Chapel, Belfast, where he had been the first clergyman in residence, having come from Newcastle in 1931. At Newcastle he had been priest-in-charge for two years. He had begun his sacred work in his native North Dakota, first with the Indians at Dunseith, and then in Fargo. Very soon after reaching Gardiner, he was made editor of the North East, which was now to appear quarterly, and to be published in Gard- iner.
In 1934 I note one of Canon Plant's many appeals for the House of the Good Shepherd, from Falmouth Foreside; he being president of the corporation of that institution. "The House of the Good Shepherd is making a valiant fight to keep its head above the turbulent waters of these times, through its treasurer and other officers .. . due to recent reductions in income, one half of the house is being closed for the summer."
In the same number of the North East, Fr. Akeley tells us that St. Andrew's Mission in Pittston is thriving. For thirty
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years it had been under the guidance of the Rector of Christ Church. For the Easter service at St. Andrew's this year there was a vested choir of fourteen.
In the next two years, I record two bereavements. In October, 1935, Agnes Darling Plant died. She and Canon Plant had celebrated their golden wedding earlier that month. In December, 1936, Eliza Cox Akeley went to her reward. I quote from the tribute to her by Bishop Brewster:
"As a Rector's wife she exemplified a rare balance of dis- cretion and cheerfulness. Interested in all good works in the Parish, she was free from any assumption of dominance in its affairs."
At her funeral Christ Church was filled. Twenty-one of our diocesan clergy, together with Bishop Brewster, attended. There were also two extra-diocesan priests in the procession, as well as the former Rector, Nelson W. Bryant. This was truly a great outpouring of affection for one of the loveliest of women.
At about this time Canon Plant resigned from the Rectorship of St. Mary's of Falmouth Foreside, after eight years there. The Parish of St. Mary's voted him Rector Honorarius, just as in 1924 Christ Church had made him Rector Emeritus. Rarely are two such honors held by one man. On Easter Day, 1937, the Canon gave Christ Church, as a memorial to his wife, "a very beautiful silver communion service and portable altar to be used for the sick and shut-ins." I have quoted from the North East. On that day Canon Plant again conducted the early service in our church.
During the season of Lent in 1939 there was a beautiful and unusual observance at Christ Church. On four Sunday afternoons, the Christ Church choir sponsored and presented four services of music which were rich in beauty, as the North East recorded, and which emphasized the fact that for many people music is one of the clearest forms which prayer can take. For the first service, six local organists joined our own in playing an organ program. The second was presented by Christ Church choir under the direction of J. M. L. Bates. The third was an organ recital by our own organist, Donald A. Ireland, assisted by Miss Ellen Blodgett of Portland and Mrs. Clyde Potter. The fourth was held on Palm Sunday, when the church choir sang
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Stainer's cantata, The Daughter of Jairus. Mr. Ireland was re- sponsible for all the arrangements of those musical occasions.
In this same year died William R. Gay. He had sung in the choir for fifty years, and served on the Vestry for forty. He had been our treasurer and collector for part of his Vestry term. He was a modest, quiet, and utterly faithful man who represented a long and honorable line that had worshipped in our church.
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