USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > Honesdale > History of the First Presbyterian society of Honesdale > Part 13
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to that effect to be announced from the pulpit. On the 22d of February following, the society met at the home of Mrs. S. D. Ward and the organization was perfected by the adoption of a constitution which states the objects of the society to be to aid the general society in sending to foreign fields and sustaining female missionaries, Bible readers and teachers who shall labor among the heathen women and children. The society decided to take two scholarships in Beirut and one in Persia, if such appropriation would be acceptable to the general society at Philadelphia. After deciding to meet the second Thursday of every alternate month the meeting adjourned.
The general board approved of this disposition of the funds of the society, and they were so appropriated. In Janu- ary, 1874, the treasurer reported that $272.35 had been con- tributed during the year, $100 in gold was appropriated to Beirut and $60 towards Mrs. Whipple's school at Oroomiah, in Persia. March 5, 1874, it was reported that $142.55 had been sent to Zacatecas, Mexico. October 10, 1878, Mrs. Ezra Hand, the president, informed the society that a Presbyterial society had been organized in Lackawanna Presbytery, which had been divided into four districts, and a request had been made to send delegates to Scranton to organize Scranton District. No- vember 7, 1878, Mrs. Ezra Hand and Miss C. N. Torrey were chosen delegates and Mrs. G. G. Waller and Mrs. W. B. Holmes alternates.
At the annual meeting, January 16, 1879, the treasurer reported a collection of only $187 during the year which showed a diminution, but during the seven years that the society had been in existence $1,755.50 had been contributed by the society and $345 by mission bands. This closed the work of the society as organized under the first constitution.
The Presbytery of Lackawanna was divided into four districts, a combination of which forms the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Presbytery of Lackawanna. The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Presbyterian church in Honesdale being a part of Scranton District, Mrs.
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G. G. Waller was made the first treasurer of the Scranton Dis- trict. In this society the reports are made quarterly. The officers under the new organization elected March 13, 1879, were Mrs. Ezra Hand, president; Mrs. R. Knapp, vice president; Mrs. F. W. Grennell, treasurer; Miss C. N. Torrey, secretary; Miss Ella Scott, assistant secretary. Collectors, Mrs. Spencer Keen, Miss Hamlin, Mrs. S. W. Powell, Miss G. Foster, Miss A. Wilbur, Miss C. N. Torrey. At the next annual meeting Mrs. H. M. Seely was made treasurer. Collectors, Mrs. Seely, Mrs. Stone, Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Richmond and Miss Hamlin. The presidents of this society up to the time when the Home and Foreign Missionary Societies were merged in 1895, were Mrs. Stephen D. Ward, 1872-74; Mrs. Ezra Hand, 1874-81; Mrs. Edwin F. Torrey, 1881-83; Mrs. W. W. Weston, 1883-84; Mrs. Horace C. Hand, 1884-86; Mrs. G. G. Waller, 1886-89; Mrs. Charles F. Rockwell, 1889-91; Mrs. R. T. Searle, 1891-94; Mrs. Horace C. Hand, 1894-5.
The Home Missionary Society was organized in 1886. At a meeting of the Foreign Missionary Society held April 21, 1886, a committee was appointed by the president, Mrs. G. G. Waller, to make nominations. This committee nominated Mrs. W. H. Swift, for president; Mrs. Josiah Foster, for vice presi- dent; Mrs. Richmond, for treasurer, and Mrs. Reed Burns, for secretary. As Mrs. Swift was unable to take the office Mrs. W. W. Weston was elected president October 27, 1886, when the first regular meeting was held. The persons who became members at the time of organization were Mesdames G. F. Bentley, W. B. Holmes, J. E. Richmond, Josiah Foster, Peter P. Brown, S. W. Powell, W. W. Weston, G. G. Waller, Reed Burns, W. H. Swift, Horace Hand, Isaac N. Foster, Coe Dur- land, Ulysses Wheeler, Charles F. Rockwell, Harriet Weston, C. C. Jadwin, Andrew Thompson, Chancy Cortright, Ezra Hand, Miles L. Tracy, John F. Roe, S. B. Wood, A. P. Thompson, Ulysses Beers, Robert N. Torrey, Misses Caro Torrey, Gertrude Foster, Annie Thayer. Mrs. A. T. Searle joined the society somewhat later.
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October 9, 1895, the Home and Foreign Missionary So- cieties were united under one set of officers excepting that each society should have its own treasurer. During the existence of the Home Mission Society Mrs. W. W. Weston was its only president and Mrs. J. E. Richmond was its only treasurer. Mrs. Weston in her annual address gave a resume of the work of the society during the nine years of its existence. She said, "It has held us close together, as it has held us close to the interests of our country and its peoples, the needy and destitute, the sin sick and weary, black and white, women and children, the teachers and the taught, and how glad we have been to carry them and their needs to our one Father in heaven. I am glad for all meetings, for the many sweet associations growing out of them, for the faithful work of officers with whom I have taken counsel through all these years, and for the no less faith- ful attendance and ready help of those not holding office." She spoke kindly of Mrs. P. P. Brown who had died, having chosen a life of simplicity, full of good works and alms deeds, a wel- come visitant in the prison, upon the canal boats, in the needy or the prosperous houses. The treasurer's report has told of material gifts, of seed sown in far off Alaska, in the moral wastes of the undefined west, among the ignorant degraded inhabit- ants of the southwest, the colored race in the south, and the mountain people of the central Atlantic states, to give to them ideas of a higher and better earthly life and hope of a glorious eternity.
At this union meeting, held November 13, 1895, the fol- lowing officers of the United Home and Foreign Missionary Societies were elected: Mrs. Andrew Thompson, president; Mrs. W. W. Weston, first vice president; Mrs. Charles F. Rock- well, second vice president; Mrs. W. H. Swift, third vice presi- dent; Mrs. S. E. Jenkins, treasurer of Foreign Society; Mrs. J. E. Richmond, treasurer of Home Society; Mrs. H. F. Weston, secretary. An account of this first union meeting is an index to all the meetings. The meeting was opened with singing, prayer and reading scripture after which the South American
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foreign mission field was considered. Mrs. Rockwell had an article on Brazil and Mrs. Richmond had one on Chile, Mrs. Searle and Mrs. Jenkins on the Republic of Colombia. The home field was then taken up with an article on New Mexico by Mrs. Swift. The pressing need of funds for the collegiate institute at Salt Lake was laid before the meeting and it was decided to appropriate $25 of the funds in the treasury to that object. The meeting was closed with prayer. These meetings are held monthly and the researches of the intelligent women who constitute the membership of the society are of educational value sufficient to make the meetings worth attending if there were no higher motives. The women of the society have studied the resources of heathen nations and the needs of the people until they have a more extensive knowledge of some of these countries than many of our business men. And the ob- ject of this study is one of disinterested benevolence and help- fulness. The home mission field has so enlarged in recent years that home mission work partakes largely of foreign mis- sion work. The noble women who are engaged in this work would be amply repaid by the consciousness of well doing if nothing else were left as a memorial of their work but the mis- sions sustained by them which are constantly bearing fruit, making an enduring monument. Schools and churches are being organized and the people that are degraded are being lifted up to the standard of Christian civilization.
October 20, 1897, Mrs. W. B. Holmes was elected presi- dent, an office which she still holds in 1905. At that meeting Mrs. W. H. Swift, Mrs. C. F. Rockwell, Mrs. W. W. Weston and Mrs. R. T. Searle were elected vice presidents; Mrs. Horace Weston, secretary; Mrs. J. E. Richmond, treasurer Home Mis- sions and Mrs. S. E. Jenkins, treasurer Foreign Missions. At the meeting of December 19, 1900, tributes were rendered to the memory of Miss Gertrude Foster, a member of the society, known for her good works. In 1901, in the tribute of Mrs. C F. Rockwell to the memory of Miss Caro N. Torrey, she is credited with having been the moving spirit in organizing the
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parent society in 1872. She visited Philadelphia and became acquainted with the work, then she made personal appeal to the women of the church and "to her wise counsel, her efficient and faithful service, is due in large measure the formation and the perpetuation of the society." She filled the office of secre- tary for nine years and organized the first mission band of "Helpful Workers" in 1873, more familiarly called "Miss Tor- rey's Band." Mrs. Holmes and Mrs. Horace Hand both spoke fittingly of Miss Torrey. At the meeting of September 17, 1902, Mrs. W. W. Weston's touching tribute to the worth of Mrs. W. H. Swift, was read. Among other things she said Mrs. Swift was from the first a member of the Home Mission Society and for many years a vice president. Her satisfaction was great in the organization of the society. She had long desired to see this field for practical work opened. "She maintained in con- nection with her husband's pastoral duties a close acquaintance with the varied circumstances and needs of the constantly grow- ing congregation, kindly sympathizing with those who were in sorrow, and looking after and suggesting means of relief to those who needed assistance of any kind." In 1902 Mrs. M. L. Tracy was elected one of the vice presidents, and Mrs. An- drew Thompson was made treasurer of the Foreign Missionary Society, and in 1903 Mrs. E. C. Mumford was made treasurer, and Mrs. J. A. Bodie secretary. At the meeting in 1903 the following minute was made: "During the year two of our mem- bers have passed on to the life immortal and triumphant, to the rest and peace unending. May 6, 1903, Mary F. Ward ended her earthly life. She was the first president of the society for three years, from January, 1872, to February, 1875. She gave time and care to all that came up while holding office reluc- tantly. She was always an able and dignified officer, thorough and conscientious. Mrs. D. M. Eno died August 22, 1903. She was a true mother and never failed in her contributions to the missionary work."
The members of the Home Mission Society in 1900 were as follows:
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MESDAMES
W. W. Weston.
R. N. Torrey.
M. E. Gillen.
P. B. Peterson.
C. Cortright.
F. I. Keen.
H. F. Weston. U. Beers.
M. H. Tracy.
Oscar Bunnell.
A. Reitenauer.
B. L. Wilcox.
C. R. Brady.
R. Tillou.
L. O. Rose.
C. M. Betz.
P. R. Collum.
W. H. Lee.
W. G. Jenkins.
Harry Rockwell.
Z. J. Lord.
W. W. Wood.
George Penwarden.
E. F. Torrey.
E. S. Foster.
H. C. Hand.
J. W. Kesler.
D. M. Eno.
U. V. Wheeler
Irving Many.
C. C. Jadwin.
George Baker.
S. B. Wood.
R. M. Stocker.
H. W. Blandin.
E. C. Mumford.
Charles E. Mills.
W. H. Stanton.
W. H. Swift.
R. Ransom. G. S. Keen.
W. H. Stone.
G. F. Bentley. W. R. Allen. McKown.
MESDAMES
J. E. Richmond.
Oliver Bunnell.
John Congdon. Isaac Tibbetts.
Andrew Thompson. W. B. Holmes.
A. T. Searle.
R. T. Searle.
S. E. Jenkins.
Otis Avery.
E. A. Penniman.
J. A. Bodie.
F. B. Penniman.
C. C. Lane. Charles Crandall.
H. A. Woodhouse. S. F. Cory.
S. W. Powell. Coe Durland.
R. A. Smith.
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HONDEDALE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
MISSES
MISSES
Susie Haines.
Fannie Beers.
A. V. Spettigue.
C. N. Torrey.
Harriet Sutton.
Fannie Bennett.
Names of members of the Foreign Missionary Society in 1900:
MESDAMES
MESDAMES
R. W. Tillou.
W. B. Holmes.
R. A. Smith.
E. A. Penniman.
C. F. Rockwell.
G. S. Keen.
S. W. Powell.
A. Marsh.
U. J. Beers.
Otis Avery.
R. N. Torrey.
G. S. Purdy.
C. Durland.
W. T. Moore.
L. O. Rose.
D. M. Eno.
H. S. Salmon.
J. A. Bodie.
W. H. Lee.
W. W. Weston.
J. K. Jenkins.
A. Thompson.
H. Weston.
I. Tibbetts.
J. W. Kesler.
J. E. Richmond.
M. L. Tracy.
W. H. Stanton.
J. D. Weston.
W. H. Swift.
E. F. Torrey.
R. Burns.
R. T. Searle.
C. Cortright.
A. T. Searle.
E. C. Mumford.
J. A. Hiller.
R. H. Brown.
C. C. Lane.
Wilcox.
C. C. Jadwin.
U. V. Wheeler.
G. F. Bentley.
C. Eldred.
Josiah Foster.
W. W. Wood.
W. H. Stone. H. C. Hand. MISSES C. N. Torrey. Fannie Beers.
G. W. Penwarden.
MISSES
H. Sutton.
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WOMAN'S WORK.
In connection with this society there are a number of mis- sion bands of children. The Hopeful Workers was the first mission band and it was organized in 1873 by Miss Caroline N. Torrey who was its faithful president for nine years. Lillian Baker was secretary and Kate Dunning was treasurer of this society, later Emma Ward was elected vice president. In 1883 Mary Jenkins was secretary, Bessie Weston treasurer and Mary Baker collector. April 10, 1884, the two mission bands the Mission Helpers and the Hopeful Workers were combined and Mrs. M. L. Tracy was elected president, Bessie Weston and Mary Waller vice presidents, Alice Tillou secretary, Mary Jenk- ins treasurer and Hattie Rockwell collector. They chose the name Mispah. Others mentioned in connection with this so- ciety are Clara Torrey, Kate Wilsea, Bessie Waller, Hattie Weston, Lizzie Vetter, Kittie Torrey, Helen Holmes, May Fos- ter, Dessie Groner, Louise Jadwin, May Tarble, Annie Lane, Blanche Kesler, Miss Wefferling, Emma Tillou, Jennie Lee, Mary Weston, Carrie Weston, Marion Wilder, Jennie Searles, Marcia Allen, Grace Jadwin, Margaret Tallman, Clara Wilder. They raised about $31 a year from regular dues and appropriated a portion of it to a scholarship at Kolapoor. In May, 1886, $50.97 was realized from a concert in Liberty Hall, given by the Ario quartette, Miss Seymour and Mrs. G. du B. Dimmick; $130 was realized from a bazaar and equally divided between the Mizpah and the Soldiers of the King bands. This band was discontinued about 1896.
The "In His Name Band" consisted of Miss Clara R. Tor- rey's Sunday school class and was organized about 1892. In 1904 they gave $75 to support a little New Mexican girl at Santa Fe. Bessie Waller and Clara Torrey had a boys' band for about two years and the boys contributed their dues freely. The Loving Service Band was organized by Kate Stanton and is now in charge of Irene Tibbetts Yerkes.
The second mission band in the church was organized in 1873 with Mrs. Holmes as president. It was called the "Yakoot Baracat" band, being named for the Syrian girl whom the band
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were educating. This band existed about fifteen years and when Dr. Jessup was here in 1903 he reported that Miss Bara- cat had become the wife of one of the professors in the college at Beirut and that she was a Christian woman of culture and influence. "The Titus Mission Band" was organized April 30, 1890, with Mrs. Holmes as president, Miss Carrie Weston vice president, Miss Angie Schoonover secretary and Miss Vinnie Rose treasurer. This band consists of three Sunday school classes of girls and is still active. "The Busy Bees Mission Band" was organized in 1881 by Mrs. George G. Waller and is still active under the management of Miss Edith Swift.
Mrs. Richmond states that the membership of the Home Mission Society was originally thirty-three and they raised an- nually $50.30. The present membership is fifty-two and the annual offerings are $89.55. During these years the pledges to various schools and teachers have been promptly paid. Also donations to various objects have been volunteered. During these eighteen years sixteen have been removed by death. Since 1889 the society has contributed annually to Ingleside Seminary, Virginia, $30; also since 1891, $30 annually to a teacher's salary in Penasco, New Mexico. Meetings are held every third Wednesday in each month, foreign and home work being taken up alternately.
MATERNAL SOCIETY.
In 1860 a Maternal Society was organized, largely through the instrumentality of Isaiah Snyder's first wife. In an un- signed report the following is recorded, "Mrs. Snyder being deeply impressed with the responsibility of mothers in the training of their children felt that such a prayer circle was greatly needed and her efforts to awaken an interest upon this subject were unwearied until she saw their accomplishment in the formation of the society." The object of this society can be gathered from the preamble and constitution: "Impressed with a sense of our entire dependence upon the Holy Spirit to aid us in training up our children in the way they should go, and hoping to obtain the blessing of such as fear the Lord and
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WOMAN'S WORK.
speak often to one another, we, the subscribers, do unitedly pledge ourselves to meet, at stated seasons, for prayer and mutual counsel in reference to our maternal duties and respon- sibilities, with a view to this object we do adopt the following constitution." The constitution provides that any mother in the church may become a member by subscribing to the con- «itution, also that they shall meet the first Wednesday of each month for prayer and conversation tending to promote maternal faithfulness and piety. Each mother was obligated to read scripture and to pray for her children and also the children of others, especially the children of a deceased member. A large number of the devoted mothers of the church have been mem- bers of this society, also bringing their children with them, whose names they have enrolled as members.
For many years the women of the church held prayer meetings. Mrs. Horace Tracy writes to Mrs. Miles L. Tracy: "One thing I remember, in my own connection with the church, is the weekly prayer meeting at Grandma Ward's that I used to attend. Your mother and two aunts were nearly always there, ( Mrs. Ezra Hand, Mrs. Daniel Kirtland and Mrs. Stephen Torrey, ) Mrs. Stone, her sister, Mrs. Spear, and a few others. I remember one incident, Mrs. Crane was nearly always there and in the first meeting after her husband was converted, she asked to have the hymn sung, 'O could I speak the boundless worth,' etc. Nearly all present began to sing, one after another dropped out until at the close only one or two were singing with Mrs. Crane who kept on seeming so absorbed that she did not notice the others had stopped. Mrs. Stone came to me after the meeting and said I did not want to sing, I wanted to hear Mrs. Crane sing. Wasn't it beautiful?" This was about 1856. William Crane and his wife and Putnam R. Williams and wife removed to Neenah, Wis., sometime after this. The women of the church have had a number of organizations and prayer meetings in the years since that time.
In 1883 a Woman's Christian Temperance Union was organized, comprising nearly all of the active Christian women
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HONESDALE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
in the church besides women from the Methodist, Episcopal and other churches. This society is still active and working for the education of the young in the principles of temperance and the uplifting of the masses.
The women of the church and congregation have had a great many societies and organizations of various kinds for the advancement of some good work of which no mention can be made here, as it is beyond the limitations of this work to any more than indicate the endless activities that have engaged the attention of the noble women of the church. Every deserving cause, even though it is unpopular, is sure of sympathy and support at their hands. They have taken the initiative in many of the improvements that have been made in the church prop- erty. In fact not only Honesdale church but all of our churches would languish if it were not for the consecrated work of the Christian women of the land. The boxes and barrels of cloth- ing and books that have been sent to freedmen and destitute fields in the south and west, also flowers that have been sent to the city hospitals, and many more acts of kindness and mercy that have received inspiration and help from the kind-hearted women of our church, are a part of the unwritten history of the church which is of such a character that none of the kind doners would care to have the details given. In God's great book of remembrance the faithful will not be forgotten though their deeds were never told on earth.
Mrs. Clarissa Tucker Tracy was born in Jackson, Susque- hanna county, Pa., November 12, 1818, her maiden name being Tucker. She commenced to attend school when she was three and one-half years old and learned to read and write some the first term. When 14 she began to teach and when 16 she went to Harford Academy and took an advanced standing, hav- ing G. A. Grow and Charles R. Buckalew for classmates. Mr. and Mrs. Richardson were her teachers. The last year she was at Harford the Richardsons invited her to accompany them to Honesdale to assist them in their school at that place. She came and after two years the Richardsons decided to establish
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a school at Bethany, and the trustees of Honesdale Academy hired Miss Tucker to continue her teaching here, which she did. She went to board with T. H. R. Tracy, where she met her future husband, Horace H. Tracy, whom she married in 1844, their married life was terminated by his death in 1848, after which she resumed teaching in the private schools where she did such good work that she is still remembered favorably by her old pupils. When the academy was built she went in as the only lady teacher at first. She says, "we had a delight- ful and prosperous school with five teachers." After a few years she decided to go to Neenah, Wis., where P. R. Williams, William Crane and Mr. Robinson, Seelyville families, had gone. She taught there a number of years then went to Ripon, Wis., and was made superintendent of the female department of that college. She says: "As near as I can estimate I have taught in all sixty-four years. I have taught every graduate of Ripon up to '95 or '96 and some since. I have taught seven or eight judges, including Judge Seely, of Honesdale, and Judge Hand, of Scranton, seven or eight senators, several scores of lawyers and doctors, and four or more scores of ministers, and about a dozen missionaries in the foreign field. I am profoundly thankful to my Heavenly Father that he has permitted me to do this work. I passed my 85th birthday the 12th of Novem- ber last, (1903). My title in the faculty now is professor emeritus, but I have many things to do still and hope I may continue to have while I remain in this life."
Mary Franks Goldsmith Haines was born at Coldenham, Orange county, N. Y., December 22, 1808, and she died in Honesdale, September 3, 1895, aged nearly 87. She joined the Goodwill Presbyterian church at Montgomery, N. Y., when she was 17 years old and she took her letter to Darnestown Presbyterian church, Maryland, whence she took her letter to Honesdale church in 1887. She had been a Presbyterian 70 years when she died. She was an industrious, kind, hospita- ble, truthful, honest Christian woman, with an abounding cheer- fulness even to old age. Her daughter, Susan, is a faithful
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HONESDALE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
member of the church and her son, Benjamin, is the well known editor and proprietor of the Wayne Independent.
Lucy Waite Forbes, one of the charter members of the church, was born in Brookfield, Worcester county, Mass., Oc- tober 11, 1785. Her husband, Charles Forbes, was born June 28, 1785. They came to Honesdale from Smiley Hollow, Sus- quehanna county, Pa., in 1827, and in 1828 he erected the Wayne County House on the corner of Park and Main streets where Hotel Wayne stands. His hotel was the first polling place in the town, and here the first subscription paper for preaching in Honesdale was circulated by the hotel clerk, Ed- ward Mills. The first postoffice in Honesdale was established in 1828 with Charles Forbes postmaster. He was also a trustee of the Presbyterian church for a time. Mrs. Forbes was re- lated to the late Chief Justice Waite of the supreme court, and she was the mother of seven children, Lucy Ann, Sophie W., Clarissa R., Catharine G., William E., Aaron G., and Mary E. Two of these children, Sophia and Catharine, became members of the church. Lucy Ann married Zenas H. Russell and be- came a member of Grace Episcopal church, and Mrs. Russell's children, Mrs. R. J. Menner, Mrs. W. H. Dimmick and Henry Z. Russell, were all prominent members of Grace church. Mrs. Forbes died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Z. H. Russell, August 25, 1855, aged 70. She retained her membership and her pew in the Presbyterian church as long as she lived.
Rebecca Schoonover, wife of Levi Schoonover, was one of the nine constituent members of the Honesdale Presbyterian church. Her maiden name was Rebecca Tompkins and she came from Morris county, N. J. She was converted under the preaching of Rev. Phineas Camp and she joined the Bethany church on profession of faith soon after that church was organ- ized in 1818, and she came to Honesdale church with her letter from Bethany church. Her children were Daniel, George, Fanny and Levi. She died in 1841, aged 42. Levi Schoon- over, her husband, was the son of William Schoonover, the first settler on the Dyberry, and he was the first white child
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