USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Walpole > A history of Walpole, New Hampshire, Volume I > Part 61
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Building Moved
New Bidq.
LeFt TOWN CONG. SOC. for "Hill Soc. 1829
Dichinson 1825-1829 Shared
1825 Common
Dickinson 1825-1831 Shared to 1829
1826 Prospect
Dismissed by Cong. Church in Walpole /83/
Whitwell 1830-1833
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN WALPOLE
Brownson 1833-1834
FIRST UNIVERSALIST SOCIETY-
Jennison 1831-1835
Wood 1834-1838
Ackley 1836-1838
Beckwith 1835-1837
1832 Common
Silsbee 1840-1842
Woodhouse 1838- 2
Jackson 1837-1845
WALPOLE TOWN CONGREGATIONAL SOC
? to 1848
Barstow 1845
Willis 1842 -1848
1843 Main
Town House
Tilden 1848-1855
Torn Down 1869
and so on
BURNED 1917
FIRST CONG. CHURCH OF WALPOLE,1917
NEW TOWN HALL 1918
WALPOLE TOWN CONG. SOC. (UNITARIAN)
COLLAPSED 1920
/722
All namas used for churches taken from most contemporary records.
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&Monadnock Assoc.
1
and so on
1873 Raised
1869 the remains were sold to the highest bidder. (See diagram of divi- sions in the Town Church.)
EARLY MINISTERS
Early records of the church in Walpole were kept by the church and by the town. The church records burned at the house of the pastor No- vember 23, 1771, so that the town records are all that are now available in the contemporary form. They appear to have been written into the town record book from some other source, particularly in regard to Mr. Leav- itt's pastorate, no entry being made until after the entries for 1766, after that gentleman had been dismissed.
The church is said to have been organized in 1757. On November 7, 1760 it was voted "That each settler .. . pay five shillings Sterling money to be laid out for the use of preaching. ... That Benjamin Bellows, Esq., Mr. Nathaniel Hovey and Mr. Israel Calkins be a committee to agree with the minister."
At 10 o'clock Monday, December 22, 1760 the settlers met at the fort and voted to give Mr. Jonathan Leavitt a call to settle in the work of the ministry in Walpole, to give him £75 as an encouragement and the right in the town reserved for the first settled minister. His annual salary was "to begin at £37 10 sh., to increase £3 15 sh. each year to £60 until there be 80 rateable poles in town, then rise 15 shillings per pole, up to £75 and remain there so long as he shall continue to be the minister in Walpole." Each settler was to pay £2 5 sh. toward the settlement and first year salary, Col. Bellows to pay the remainder. Mr. Leavitt accepted the call February 10, 1761 and was ordained and installed June 10, 1761, Serg't Israel Calkins being allowed $2 "for his servis in going for the minister to attend Mr. Jonathan Leavitt's ordination."
There is no further mention of Mr. Leavitt in the records until April 30, 1764 when at one o'clock in the afternoon the settlers met at the house of Mr. Jeremiah Phelps "To here the mind of the People concerning the Differences that has arisen between the Rev. Mr. Jonathan Leavitt and the people of said Town or any Perticular person or Persons in Said Town and to act on any Matter or Thing that Shall be then thought proper for the Settling or bringing those Matters to a Settlement or agree and Vote any other way or thing as Shall then be thought proper." It was "Voted that they think it best that the Rev. Mr. Jonathan Leavitt be no longer Minister in this Town."
Mr. Nathaniel Hovey, Mr. Abraham Smith and Mr. Edmund Jackson were voted "a committee to go to Mr. Leavitt to see Whither he will wait
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on this meeting." Apparently Mr. Leavitt did not wish to be heard at the meeting and it was voted to adjourn to May 15 "at three of the clock in the afternoon to meet at this house by the Desire of Mr. Leavitt." At the adjourned meeting Mr. Hovey, Mr. Smith and Benjamin Bellows Esq. were chosen a committee "to settle the affair with Rev. Mr. Jonathan Leavitt."
June 20, 1764 the settlers met to hear the report of the committee and to wait on the Ecclesiastical Council which was to be called. However, the committee came to an agreement whereby Mr. Leavitt released the town from any claim he held, and a Council did not meet.
There is no mention in the records of the cause of the difference between pastor and people, but Aldrich says "Ministers were not so easily dismissed in those days and had there not been something more than common to agitate and arouse the feelings of his charge there would have been a division of sentiment.
"One of the reasons for his summary dismissal, it is said, was that the parson was detected in leading home a runaway slave of his, a woman, by a rope round her neck and attached to the pommel of his saddle. Col. Bellows hearing of the outrage, declared 'That such cruelty should not be tolerated,' and 'that he settled parson Leavitt and he would unsettle him.' (AH 33) For more on Jonathan Leavitt see Churches and Ministers in Franklin County, Mass. published 1854 by Rev. Theophilus Packard Jr., available at Keene, N. H., Public Library.
Following Mr. Leavitt's dismissal Mr. Jonathan Moore supplied the pulpit. On September 26, 1766 it was voted to extend a call to Mr. Thomas Fessenden, a graduate at Harvard in 1758, to settle in the work of the ministry in Walpole. The beginning salary offered was £150, but there was the provision that "the people have Liberty to pay said Salary if they see Cause in good winter wheat that is Marchantable at four shil- lings per bushel; good rye at three shillings per bushel and good Indian Corn at two shillings per bushel; good beef at two pence per pound or good pork at three pence per pound the Pork being Hoggs that weigh Eight Schore and upward all which is to be delivered at the house of the Said Mr. Fessenden at the above Prices". Mr. Fessenden replied in part "the tender and manner of payment Does not in all things appear agree- able to your Design and the nature of the work you invite me to engage in." He suggested that such an arrangement might compel him to become a merchant. An agreement was reached and Mr. Fessenden accepted the call.
He was ordained Jan. 7, 1767. During his active pastorate the number
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admitted to the church, by letter and profession, was 365, and during that time he solemnized 299 marriages. . .. He mingled with his people in their joys and sorrows for nearly two generations. ... In sunshine and rain, heat and cold, mounted on his trusty old horse, clad in old fash- ioned style, wearing a cocked hat and small clothes, he climbed the hill . and punctually fulfilled his stipulated engagements to his patient .
congregation.
"From what is gathered from his writings, and what little information is gleaned from the old citizens of the town, it is inferred that he was a man-liberal in his views and popular as a preacher. He was fond of amusements, and at the social gatherings of the young, honored them by his presence. He liked a good dinner with his parishioners and never seriously objected to sipping a mug of flip with them on account of its being derogatory to the cloth to do so. On one occasion he preached a sermon to which some of his parishioners took umbrage, and urged him to retract the next Sabbath, which he promised to do. In his sermon the next Sunday, he made allusion to the offense given and said, 'If he had said anything in his last Sabbath's discourse that he did not mean to say he was sorry for it, and he hoped his apology would be satisfactory.'
"Mr. Fessenden at length became superannuated, when the town set- tled with him a colleague, in the person of Pliny Dickinson, May 6, 1805. . After Mr. Dickinson's ordination, he took rooms with Col. Caleb Bellows and soon became enamoured with his daughter Mary, who re- ciprocated his feelings." (AH)
At the time she was only five years of age. When she was nineteen their "bands" were published, in spite of her father's rising in church and ex- claiming "I forbid the bands." That was an unhappy day and the next Sunday Mr. Dickinson took for his text "I am a man of sorrows and ac- quainted with grief." The subject produced a nine day's gossip in the town, but the talk finally died away and Mr. Dickinson married his Mary and lived happily for many years.
He preached to his parish for most of the 26 years at $550 a year salary (reduced to $400 about the time when the Town Church was moved). After Mr. Dickinson left for the "Hill Society" in 1829, the Town Congre- gational Society occupying the church moved to the common in 1826, engaged Mr. Wm. G. Whitwell from 1830 to 1833; Mr. O. A. Brownson from 1833 to 1834; Mr. Horatio Wood from 1834 to 1838; Mr. Wm. Sils- bee from 1840 to 1842, he following a succession of supply preachers, about ten in number in the course of two years.
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. .
UNITARIAN CHURCH HISTORY by Margaret D. Williams
The Unitarian Church-legally known as "The Walpole Town Con- gregational Society," was founded in 1842. At this time a group of the members of the old town society holding Unitarian beliefs decided to form their own society and build a new church which would be Uni- tarian. Land was obtained three-fifths by gift and two-fifths by purchase, bounded on three sides by what are now Main, Union and School Streets. (The School St. section was eventually sold for private building.)
The new church was finished, complete with horsesheds, by January 1843 and dedicated on June 14th of that year. The church tablets were given by Mr. Abiel Chandler of Boston who later lived in Walpole. Mr. and Mrs. St. John gave the first church lamps-bronze oil lamps. As one parish poet later wrote:
"Two stoves within the entry stood In winter crammed with blazing wood, Where boys with coals the foot stoves filled That tender feet might not be chilled."
The ladies group of the church-known as The Walpole Female Benevolent Society-furnished the carpets and cushions, making them with their own hands; also the red damask curtain that hung behind the pulpit.
In 1843 the Rev. Dr. Henry Whitney Bellows of New York gave the large Bible still in use. This was rebound over one hundred years later by Dr. Bellows' daughter, Mrs. Ellen Bellows Endicott.
Some years later the T.O.U.X. Club gave the marble baptismal font. In the 1860s the Rev. Henry W. Bellows gave the granite posts and chains to enclose the church yard to "protect it from stray animals which fre- quently roam the streets."
The Rev. Martin W. Willis was called as the first minister at a salary of $600 a year with the "privilege of vacating the pulpit two Sab's in the year."
In 1844 the clock from the Academy building was placed in the tower of the church.
In 1848 the ladies of the Sewing Society decided to build a parsonage. Up to this time the ministers were boarded or a house was rented for a parsonage. It was becoming increasingly difficult, however, to obtain suitable quarters so the ladies went to work. It was written the ladies-
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"Have stitched on the clapboards and quilted the roof,
And run every crack with a seam water-proof.
And who would have thought, that a house, barn and shed, Could be all put together with needle and thread."
These house-wifely efforts, plus gifts of money, finished the parsonage in the Autumn of 1850. The Tildens moved in just in time to have a housewarming on Christmas Eve.
Regular services usually were held twice a day on Sunday, one service in the morning and one in the early afternoon. As the parish poet recalls these former years-
"But, wonder strange! no empty pew Disturbed the preacher's anxious view The people come from street and hill And twice a day the pews they fill. No Sunday paper then had power To hold them in the morning hour;
Not summer's heat nor winter's cold Could keep them from the sacred fold."
The records are not clear, but it seems likely that the afternoon services were discontinued during the pastorate of the Rev. George Dexter.
In 1896 the Hon. T. Nelson Hastings gave the Hastings Memorial Parish House to the church in memory of his wife Amy Bridge Hastings. This gift extensively broadened the activities and life of the church and the Parish House was in almost constant use. From then on up to the present day the following used this facility:
The Sunday School;
The Unitarian Ladies Society and Sewing Group-formerly known as the Walpole Female Benevolent Society, then later as the Unitarian Ladies Society and finally the Walpole Branch Alliance of Unitarian and Universalist Women;
The Footlighters Club. This was a drama group formed in 1898 which gave plays and entertainments;
The T.O.U.X. Club-a secret noma, but was Ten of Us Ten-formed during the last years of the century by ten young ladies of the church who met for social and philanthropic work. This group gave the church a handsome central chandelier in 1901 for which they earned the money. They were later absorbed by the Ladies Uni- tarian Society;
The Unitarian Club-all men-formed in 1901 to encourage friendly relations among the men of the church and all others of whatever creed who were interested in the meetings which were educational as well as social;
The Young People's Religious Union, formed under Rev. Nichols' direction in 1902, a very active group in the church;
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In 1916 or '17 the Rev. Sanford inaugurated the showing of moving pictures. These were shown once a week and became a special event for the town. It being the era of silent movies, Arthur Sawyer or Louis R. Lincoln rendered on the upright piano ex- citingly dramatic or soulfully romantic music to point up the action on the screen;
In the 1920's the Unitarian Club mentioned above was reactivated as the Laymen's League, more familiarly known as the "Men's Club" and was very active in civic affairs. One member recalls that the "meetings invariably ended with a rousing game of Pitch!";
During this same era a Boy Scout Troop was formed and met here;
Suppers, dances, lectures, plus all the "good works" made the Parish House a hum- ming spot all of which contributed in cash and good will to the church and also to the community. (In 1962 all of these groups have passed into history except for the Sunday School and the Walpole Branch Alliance.)
In 1901 the church caught on fire in the basement from an overheated furnace. Mr. Hastings, living just across the street, was one of the first on the scene. Even though the church was filled with dense smoke, he ran down the aisle and rescued the Bible from the desk. One of his sons recalling the incident said, "I was terrified as I watched Father disap- pear into the smoke and wondered if he would be able to get out again. Looking back on it, it was remarkable that the fire was contained in the basement when only hand pumps were available with which to fight it." Continued the son: "Father said he would shoot the first man that broke the windows as that would spread the fire."
In 1912 the Unitarian Church united with the Congregational Church in celebrating the joint 150th Anniversary of the two churches.
In the early morning of February 19, 1920, probably around 3 a.m., the church building collapsed under the heavy weight of rain and snow that fell during the night. A neighbor living above the church on School St., recalling the event, said "the last thing we saw before dark was the church steeple. Upon looking out the next morning, to see how much snow had fallen, we could not believe our eyes. The church, steeple and building, had vanished! We thought we must be dreaming!" Even though the steeple with its bell crashed into the body of the church, next door neighbors heard nothing. Rotting timbers and the unusually heavy snow fall caused the collapse.
The organ, but slightly damaged, was saved owing to the front wall being left standing. Again Mr. Hastings from across the street came to the rescue. He owned a large tent fly which he and others immediately spread over the organ, keeping it from further damage until it could be taken apart and stored in the Hastings barn.
Everything else was lost or damaged beyond repair. The damage was
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estimated by one Boston newspaper as being around $100,000. Morning services were held thereafter in the Parish House until the completion of the new and present church.
The shock of the loss had hardly been realized before a committee was formed to raise money to rebuild. Insurance on the fallen building cov- ered fire only, so no help could be expected from that quarter. Mr. Rob- ert Peabody Bellows, of the firm of Bellows and Aldrich of Boston, was the architect chosen to draw up the plans which he kindly donated to the church. The interior of the church resembled in a great part the interior of the famous King's Chapel in Boston. The building was com- pleted in 1922 and was dedicated April 10th of that year. The clock in the steeple was given by the town and became known as the Town Clock.
The lights in the church were given by Miss Dorothy Whitney and her mother. The angels on the organ were given by Mrs. Ellen (Bellows) Robinson (Endicott), and the box pews by Mrs. Francis G. Flint in memory of her husband.
During World War II years it became advisable for the Walpole and Charlestown parishes to combine under one minister. This was done in 1943. Mr. Jenkins resigned because he did not wish to serve two parishes even though he thought it best that this should be done.
In 1948 the Walpole and Charlestown churches became once again two separate parishes each with its own minister. At the end of Mr. Lyding's ministry, he and Mrs. Lyding were given a scroll in appreciation of their years of unselfish service to the church and community. It is recorded that Mrs. Lyding was her husband's "most faithful and efficient helpmate who has endeared herself to all."
The Rev. Orrin L. Kosmo succeeded Mr. Lyding. Mr. Kosmo was set- tled Sept. 1, 1957, installed Dec. 1, 1958, and at this writing-1962-is successfully ministering to the parish.
Two events took place in 1961. One was the celebration with the Congregational Church of their joint 200th Anniversary. A combined worship service was held in the Town Hall as part of this celebration.
The ministers, with their length of pastorate, of the Walpole Town Congregational Society are listed below:
Rev. Martin W. Willis Rev. William P. Tilden
Rev. Thomas G. Lothrop Rev. Charles Ritter Rev. C. T. Canfield
Rev. D. H. Ranney Rev. Thomas Dawes
Dec. 6, 1843-May 1, 1848 Sept. 27, 1848-June 1, 1855
Nov. 6, 1856-
Nov. 3, 1858-Apr. 17, 1859 Jan. 1, 1860-June 10, 1860 Apr. 1, 1861-Dec. 1, 1861 1862-Jan. 1, 1865
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Rev. Nathaniel Seaver, Jr. Rev. Russell N. Bellows Rev. George Dexter
Nov. 23, 1865-May 10, 1868
Oct. 18, 1868-Oct. 1, 1869
June 19, 1870-May 2, 1873
Rev. William Brown Rev. John Williams Rev. George W. Patten
Mar., 1887-Feb., 1890
Rev. Francis S. Thacher
Rev. English Crooks
Nov. 25, 1890-Nov., 1892 Nov. 1, 1893-1894
Rev. Frank W. Pratt
Jan., 1896-Jan. 1, 1900
Rev. W. L. Nichols
Nov. 22, 1900-Dec. 1, 1905
Rev. Hilary Bigrave
Supplied in interim
Rev. Samuel Raymond Maxwell
July, 1906-Jan. 1, 1909
Rev. C. Emile Aimar
Aug. 17, 1909-Apr. 1, 1915
Rev. Lewis H. Sanford
Feb. 1, 1916-Feb. 16, 1922
Rev. Robert N. L. Holt
Oct. 5, 1922-July 1, 1941
Rev. William P. Jenkins
Jan. 21, 1942-1943
Rev. Ralph Edward Kyper
Sept. 17, 1944-Apr. 1, 1948
Rev. Otto Lyding
Aug. 1, 1948-Jan. 15, 1957
Rev. Orrin L. Kosmo
Dec. 1, 1958-
THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH by Lula Sargent
As has been previously noted the Church on the hill, after the division, included the Universalists and the orthodox Congregationalists. Relations becoming intolerable, the Congregationalists withdrew and after a series of intervening steps described earlier in this chapter finally formed a new religious group on Nov. 20, 1832, and called it "The First Congre- gational Church and Society in Walpole". They decided to build a church. Surrounding towns helped with contributions for the building, funds coming from Brattleboro, Vt., Boston and Worcester, Mass., Town- shend, Vt., and Keene, Rindge, and Fitzwilliam, N. H. Friends from as far away as New York assisted as did the Church in Lebanon, N. H. In late 1833 or early 1834 the Church was completed at its present site.
According to the treasurer's books, the church received repairs in 1845. In 1873 plans were made to raise the church nine feet at a cost of $4000, of which Benjamin Aldrich would pay $1000, Ladies' Sewing Society $1200, rest of Society $1000. It was actually raised 10 ft. 4 in. George D. Pollard of Greenfield, Mass., very quietly and efficiently did the raising, while Alfred Burt was the carpenter in charge. A vestry and kitchen were built underneath the raised sanctuary, with a projection to the east for the pulpit, organ and choir. The walls of the sanctuary were papered drab, the ceiling cerulean; carpet was crimson and black, up- holstery in scarlet. The slips which originally ran crosswise were turned into line, four gained by removing the old pulpit. The organ was moved
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Aug. 1, 1875-Sept. 1, 1883 In spring, 1884-Oct. 1, 1886
from the gallery to the new projection and separated from the pulpit platform by a black walnut balustrade made by Messrs. Burt and Cow- dery. The black walnut pulpit, small marble top black walnut table, and two heavy black walnut chairs were anonymous gifts; Miss Katie How- land gave an elegant pulpit Bible; Edwin Hosmer the 12 light chandelier and wall brackets with 18 lights. The total cost, not including the settees in the basement, was $5,833.38. Oliver Martin, B. F. Aldrich, E. K. Sea- bury, and G. W. Cowdery were the building committee. Oliver Martin and B. F. Aldrich paid the deficit of $1,511.11. The horsesheds were also improved.
During the alterations services were held in the town hall.
During March 1873 there were special preaching services at the church for two weeks, of a revivalistic nature. Sunday evenings there were serv- ices of praise, full of enthusiasm, singing of songs old and new. During the week prayer meeting was held Thursday evening.
Life was not all serious-there were sugar parties, operettas, sociables with Ma Sweet and her seven daughters . . .
A pipe organ, formerly in Mt. Vernon Church in Boston, Mass., was purchased in 1880. In 1883 a parsonage "to be called the Kilburn Parson- age as a memorial of our two children, Mary Theresa and Charles Wil- liam Kilburn, whom God has taken to himself", was presented to the Church by Elijah C. Kilburn of Fall River, Mass., a native of Walpole and former member of the Church.
The first Children's Day was held in 1885.
In 1888 there was a Christian Endeavour Society with some 30 mem- bers.
Electric lights were installed in 1908, and in 1911 extensive repairs and improvements were made, including hardwood floors, new carpets, new vestry seats, new lectern chair, and rug for the vestry platform. In 1923 new horsesheds were built.
An item of interest is that Walpole Troop No. 1 of the Boy Scouts was organized and existed until 1925, apparently sponsored by the Church.
The earliest record of any Sunday School is a receipted bill dated 1836 for a book case, a few items listed in 1841, with the present treas- urer's books beginning in 1861.
A new kitchen and rest rooms were added in 1952. In 1962, just ten years later, a basement was excavated and new Church School rooms and all-purpose room or assembly hall built.
Following is a list of the ministers serving The First Congregational Church of Walpole:
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Rev. Edwin Jennison Rev. B. B. Beckwith Rev. Seth R. Arnold
Aug. 31, 1831-Mar. 1835 Mar. 1835-Jan. 1836 1836-1836
Jan. 10, 1837-June 5, 1845
Aug. 6, 1845-Dec. 30, 1851
Dec. 30, 1851-Mar. 7, 1853
Rev. Gabriel H. DeBevoise
Rev. Lysander Dickerman
Rev. William E. Dickenson
Rev. S. T. Robie
Sept. 8, 1875-Sept. 1876
Rev. Edwin Seabury
Rev. Fred Lyman Allen
Sept. 26, 1877-June 23, 1884
Rev. William H. Teel
Sept. 1884-Mar. 21, 1889
Rev. G. I. Bard
Sept. 17, 1889-Feb. 2, 1897
Rev. E. A. Keep
June 28, 1897-Apr. 18, 1903
Rev. William F. Warren
Feb. 1904-Dec. 28, 1906
Rev. Alfred J. Wilson
Aug. 1907-Apr. 1909
Oct. 17, 1909-Nov. 8, 1925
Rev. Henry G. Megathlin William M. Parker (layman)
July 1926-July 1927
Oct. 1927-1934
Rev. John H. Allen Rev. Walter B. Wiley Arnold Brown, Lic.
1934-1937
1938-1941
Rev. Adolph R. Linblade
1942-1945
Rev. John P. McGee
Sept. 1947-June 1951
Rev. Norman R. Farnum, Jr.
Nov. 1951-Nov. 1955
Rev. Peter R. M. Farrell
Dec. 1955-Apr. 21, 1956
Rev. William O. Wagner
Oct. 1956
ST. JOSEPH'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH by Frank Driscoll
The building that is at present known as St. Joseph's Catholic Church was built in 1845 by the Methodist Society, who occupied it until 1860. It was then rented to the Episcopal Society, and they conducted services there for about two years.
In those days there was a small group of Catholics in Walpole who had no place where they could attend Mass. They were diligent, hard- working people with large families. The nearest Catholic Church was in North Walpole or Bellows Falls, Vt. It meant a few miles' walk for them each Sunday to attend Mass, but they didn't hesitate to trudge those miles in all kinds of weather.
In the meantime, they dreamed and hoped that they might someday have a Catholic Church in Walpole. They formed a committee of men, including Bartholomew Driscoll, Bartholomew Kiniry, Thomas Griffin, Dennis Griffin, Daniel O'Brien, Patrick Drislane and John Harty and
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