USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > A history of Grace Church in Providence, Rhode Island, 1829-1929 > Part 18
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To supplement the work of the group organization and to act from month to month in directing and supervising the affairs of the parish Dr. Sturges, in 1922, organized the Parish Council, consisting of the officers and staff of the Church, a representative of each of the organizations, and some members at large. This Council met every month and did effective work for several years.
In spite of all these efforts Grace Church, like many others, was not meeting the quota assigned to it for the work of the Church at large. Moreover, as the result of repairing the ceiling and redecorating the church in 1922, a considerable deficit had been carried over from year to year. By 1924 this amounted to some $30,000 and caused the Vestry considerable concern. At Easter, a very special effort was made to wipe out at least a major part of the debt. The offering of over $10,000, though of unprecedented
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size, did not achieve the purpose. Another attempt the next Easter brought in less than $6,000 and left a debt of upwards of $15,000. Under these rather discouraging conditions the Junior Warden was requested to devise some appropriate method of dealing with the situation. Acting under his advice, the Vestry appointed a General Committee on Finance to direct the campaigns for funds and pledges. This committee was made up as follows: Wm. A. Viall, Chairman; A. Livingston Kelley, Lauriston H. Hazard, Wm. S. Innis, Wm. B. MacColl, Edward C. Mayo, and Barnes Newberry. To this committee, instead of to the Rector, the annual pledges were made and on its members fell the responsi- bility of bringing the matter of pledging, as well as of increasing pledges previously made, in persuasive fashion to the more well-to- do members of the congregation. By their efforts the large debt was extinguished before Mr. Lawrence assumed the rectorship in November, 1926, and the pledges for 1926 reached $46,700, the largest total that had ever been achieved. Under the stimulating direction of this new committee the canvass of the fall of 1925 was especially vigorous. No small part of the zeal of the canvassers was the result of the service for all the parish organizations on the Sunday evening preceding December 6th, the Sunday set for the canvass, and the inspiring sermon then preached by the Rev. Henry K. Sherrill of Trinity Church, Boston.
Early in April there came the disturbing news that, owing to the failing health of Dean Rousmaniere of St. Paul's Cathedral in Boston, Bishop Lawrence was looking to Dr. Sturges to take the position of Vicar, with the succession to the Deanship.1
The Vestry met through April to deliberate with Dr. Sturges on the call; but it was soon evident, as in so many previous cases, that the invitation to what would be generally regarded as the larger work was one to which duty compelled a hearing. With the greatest reluctance on both sides, Dr. Sturges sent his resigna- tion to the Clerk of the Vestry on April 25, 1926,-a resignation which was formally accepted September 15th, when Mr. Lawrence was technically elected his successor, to take effect on October Ist, thus rounding out a rectorship of exactly ten years. In the course of this letter, Dr. Sturges spoke of "the deep personal sorrow entailed" by the decision and the "inward persuasion that the summons which takes me away from a position whose opportunities
1 As Dean Rousmaniere died on September 26th, the day Dr. Sturges preached his farewell sermon at Grace Church, Dr. Sturges entered on his work at the Cathedral as Dean rather than Vicar.
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I cherish and from friends whom I love is a call I am bound to heed." In a letter sent the next day to all his parishioners he wrote:
MY DEAR FRIENDS:
After earnest consideration I have decided to accept the election of the Chapter of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston to become Vicar of the Cathedral.
You will surely understand that it has been hard for me to con- sider severing a relationship that is dear to me and runs deep. You can see that it is not a light matter to leave Grace Church with all that Grace Church has come to mean to me and all the high opportunities for leadership it offers. And I do want you to know that my decision to go elsewhere costs me very great sorrow.
It is only because I know in my heart that the summons which has come is a summons to a harder work, and because I am in- wardly persuaded that it is God's call, that I can bring myself to leave friends and established relationships and go out to try further and try anew for the Master and His Church.
My gratitude to God will continue all my life for the unfailing loyalty and support which my Vestry and Congregation have freely given me all these years, for the large patience which my people have exercised towards my failings and my failures, and for the friendships given to me and mine that have made these years with you full of enduring happiness.
Faithfully your friend,
PHILEMON F. STURGES.
It is doubtful if Grace Church ever had a Rector more truly beloved or whose personal influence for good was more intense. In the report for 1920 Mr. Gardner had said, "The Rector preaches to us not what we wish but what we need to hear. Never has the pulpit of this great parish been better filled or its Rector done better work. He has sized up our parish situation and our parish problems and is dealing with them wisely." And again in January, 1925, the report reads :
"In the long line of strong men who have occupied the pulpit of Grace Church during the last half century there is no one who has won more fully the love, the respect, and the confidence of our people than has our present Rector. He has preached to us the simple word of God and to lose him would be a catastrophe none of us is willing to face."
4
REV. WM. APPLETON LAWRENCE, D.D.
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As Dr. Sturges was not to leave until the fall, the Vestry had the benefit of his advice in accomplishing his desire and theirs that the new rector be chosen immediately so that there be no vacancy. Attention was directed almost at once to the Rev. William Apple- ton Lawrence, son of the distinguished Bishop of Massachusetts, who had himself declined to be considered for the rectorship of Grace Church at the time of Dr. Greer's resignation. Mr. Law- rence was Rector of St. Stephen's Church in Lynn, Massachusetts, a very important church of over two thousand communicants, strategically placed in a busy manufacturing city. Here, with large congregations, in which young people were conspicuously numerous, Mr. Lawrence was doing a notably vigorous and effective work.
A committee of the Vestry consisting of Messrs. Viall, Kelley, and Huntington was appointed to go to Lynn to hear Mr. Law- rence. The Vestry was so well satisfied with the appreciative report of this committee that at least five other vestrymen took an early opportunity to hear Mr. Lawrence, either in Boston or Lynn.
On June 18, 1926, the Vestry voted unanimously to call the Rev. Appleton Lawrence, subject to the consent of the Bishop, which was at once secured. Mr. Lawrence, having visited Grace Church, signified his willingness to accept the call, provided it was not necessary for him to come to Providence until early in 1927. Cer- tain heavy responsibilities in Lynn, he felt, must be discharged before he could be free to leave.
The Vestry, assuring Mr. Lawrence that he was the man wanted, urged him at the same time to shorten the time of waiting as much as possible. Mr. Lawrence with characteristic energy so met the situation in Lynn that he was formally instituted as Rector of Grace Church by Bishop Perry on Sunday morning, November 28, 1926.
During the interval from Dr. Sturges's leaving to the arrival of Mr. Lawrence, Mr. Carmichael was minister-in-charge. The Rev. Roland Cotton Smith, D.D., formerly Rector of St. John's Church in Washington, and Professor Norman B. Nash of the Theological School in Cambridge were the preachers at the Sunday morning services.
The first months of Mr. Lawrence's rectorship were saddened by the retirement of Rathbone Gardner, whose impaired health convinced him that, after a quarter of a century of unremitting devotion to the affairs of Grace Church, the time had come for
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other hands to take the helm. In spite of urging, he declined to continue in any honorary capacity and even insisted on resigning as Vestryman.
As early as March, 1926, Mr. Gardner had turned over the leadership to William A. Viall, who as Junior Warden for over a decade and latterly as Chairman of the General Committee on Finance had gained a thorough knowledge of the affairs of the parish and become experienced in dealing with its problems.
At the annual meeting in January, when Mr. Gardner's decision not to accept further office was made known, the Corporation passed the following resolution of well deserved tribute :-
"Resolved that, inasmuch as Rathbone Gardner for many years Senior Warden of Grace Church has stated that he is unable to accept re-election, the Corporation deems it a privilege to place on the records of the Parish an expression of its appreciation of his long and faithful service and its regret that his health makes it seem unwise for him longer to continue in office.
"Rathbone Gardner was chosen Vestryman in 1887 and Director of Ushers in 1897. He has written twenty-five annual reports of Vestry to Corporation and has been for twenty-five years an officer of the Corporation, from 1902-1905 as Secretary and since 1905 its presiding officer, as Senior Warden. Through all these years Mr. Gardner has performed the multitudinous duties of these offices with rare devotion, tact, and earnestness. He has given so generously of his time and large abilities to the service of Grace Church that his counsel has for years shaped the policies and determined the action of the Church which has been so near his heart.
"This Corporation hereby records its deep sense of his devotion and its thankfulness that it has been permitted to have him as the beloved leader of the Corporation through nearly a quarter of a century."
At the same time that Mr. Gardner completed forty years on the Vestry, the Corporation took note that Mr. Babcock had been in office for thirty years and Mr. Campbell for half a century.
The most striking official changes in the years of Mr. Lawrence's rectorship before the end of the first hundred years were in the personnel of the Vestry and the adoption at the annual meeting of 1929 of a new plan for its election. Before Mr. Lawrence had been at Grace Church two months Mr. Wm. S. Innis had been elected to take Mr. Gardner's place on the Vestry and Mr. Wm. A.
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Viall1 had been advanced from" Junior Warden to Senior Warden, having performed many of the duties of that office for the greater part of the preceding year. At this time Mr. Lauriston H. Hazard, the son of a former vestryman and himself on the Vestry for over fifteen years, was elected Junior Warden. As the year 1927 advanced two more vacancies were caused by the resignation of Dr. G. Alder Blumer and the sudden death of Mr. Frank T. Easton, the Chancellor of the Diocese. These vacancies were filled by the election in November of Mr. William Kenyon, and Mr. William W. Moss, a law partner of Mr. Gardner's. In 1928 the fourth change in two years resulted from the death of Mr. Frederick D. Carr, the Treasurer of the Diocese, whose place was taken by Mr. Edmund C. Mayo.
At the time of his death, Mr. Easton was working with much concern and interest on a plan which would prevent the possibility of a sudden change in the direction of the property of Grace Church, worth well over a million dollars, and of its great work, through the hastily considered action or misdirected zeal of a few persons who might happen to control one annual meeting. His purpose was to substitute for a Vestry elected for one year only, and hence liable to sudden voting out of office, a Vestry only a minority of which could be retired each year since the vestrymen would be elected in three groups and those in each group would hold office for three years. This plan commended itself to the Corporation after Mr. Easton's death and was authorized by the Legislature at its session of 1929. The Corporation took advantage of this opportunity also to remove the old fashioned restriction whereby women on the Corporation were ineligible to serve on the Vestry.
In the spring of 1927 the Vestry authorized the Rector to add a trained stenographer to the staff, which resulted in the appoint- ment of Miss Mary I. Macleod, who began her work as Rector's Secretary on May 1, 1927, Miss Tucker becoming Parish Secretary.
In the fall of 1926, a Boys' Club was started. Under the effec- tive leadership of Mrs. Fred B. Barrows this grew with such prom- ising rapidity that by January, 1928, it had enrolled over two hundred members, some hundred of whom were members of the Church School. Mr. Lawrence and the Vestry felt that this opportunity for constructive work demanded the special attention of a member of the staff and steps were taken to secure
1Mr. Viall became the seventh Senior Warden and had been the eighth Junior Warden. His service as Senior Warden began with the fourteenth Rectorship.
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a suitable man to put in charge. This led to the appointment in May, 1928, of Mr. Ardoin Casgrain. He was succeeded on April 1, 1929, by Mr. John Drysdale.
Between 1926 and 1929 there were few changes in the church edifice. In the summer of 1927 it was found that the stonework of the steeple was in dangerous condition, with the cross and pieces of stone so loosened by the weather that they might fall to the street. This necessitated repointing the steeple inside and out at a cost of over $5,000, again placing the Church in debt. Through the generous interest of friends and societies three lanterns were placed over the main doors on Westminster and Mathewson Streets at this time.
The services of the Church went on much as before. In the latter part of Advent, 1927, Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Matthews arranged a noon period for rest and quiet in the midst of Christmas shopping. At twelve o'clock the chimes rang out for ten minutes, after which there was a twenty-minute period of quiet music from organ and violin.
At Easter, 1927, the singing of carols at the 8.30 a. m. service of Holy Communion was by the Church School Choir, composed of some twenty or more girls of the Church School, dressed in vestments of blue made for them by Trinity Circle of Kings Daughters. As a result of the generous interest of Mr. Thomas E. Marsden in this auxiliary choir a place was prepared for it in the old choir-loft at the rear of the church, and since Christmas, 1927, the Junior Choir has regularly formed part of the procession on Sun- day morning.
At the principal service on Easter, 1927, there was an overflow congregation holding service in the Assembly Room downstairs. For their benefit Mr. Lawrence repeated his sermon, after which many came into the church and filled some of the seats left vacant by those who had gone out before the Communion. This arrangement was so much appreciated that it has been the practice since.
At an inspiring service on the morning of Whitsunday, May 27, 1928, Mr. John Ingram Byron, a candidate for Holy Orders from Grace Church, was ordained deacon by Bishop Perry. The Rev. G. E. Tobin of Westerly was his Presenter and Mr. Lawrence delivered the sermon and charge to the Candidate.
During these years a familiar and welcome figure in the pulpit of Grace Church was that of the venerable Bishop Lawrence, who was also regularly among the Lenten preachers. His gracious
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personality, his words of fatherly counsel and ripe wisdom, his sharing with Grace Church of his rich memories of the past and his confident hopes for the future had, as it were, the character of a serene and loving benediction from the past generation on the youthful activity of today.
One of Mr. Lawrence's chief concerns from the beginning of his rectorship has been that of religious education, in its broadest meaning, from early life to the latest years. To this end he has instituted many aids and instruments both direct and indirect.
A Junior Vestry was formed among the members of the Church School; Morning Prayer at certain seasons was interrupted for a few minutes to give space for a simple and direct sermon to the children before they went downstairs to their classes; an ex- perienced teacher has been given the responsibility of stimulating Christian nurture in the pre-school years; and varied opportunities for intellectual and spiritual development are offered to those of adult years. Chief among these latter are the Parish Library, with a large number of worth-while books most conveniently avail- able, and the Book Club, which recommends at frequent intervals books selected with particular thought and skill to meet the needs of the modern city congregation. To further the same end the Parish Helper was revived early in 1927. Its five or six issues each year inform all parishioners of the more important matters of concern to the Parish and the Church at large while the Sunday leaflet, now mailed to all families, keeps the weekly program and the current events in Grace Church constantly before the con- gregation. Of somewhat similar import are the weekly luncheons in Lent, giving to some of the men of the parish a pleasant chance to join in discussion and more informal conversation with the visiting preacher at the noon-day services.
The most noticeable and perhaps the most beautifully devised of these new educational resources is the Children's Corner, near the Chapel steps, set apart at Christmas, 1926, by the exhibition of an appropriate crêche and other instructive and ornamental devices. This Corner perpetuates the memory of Hope New- berry, in whose memory the necessary furnishings were given.
Several other important gifts have already marked Dr. Law- rence's1 rectorship, some of which call for special mention. Mr.
1 The honorary degree of D. D. was conferred on Mr. Lawrence by Lawrence College, Appleton, Wisconsin, on April 23, 1929, in the following terms:
"WILLIAM APPLETON LAWRENCE, grandson of the founder of the college: Your name, which unites so happily the names of town and college, is one which we are glad to honor; but it is in your own right, because of the distinction you have won as a preacher of the word of God, a minister to the spiritual needs of your people, and a religious administrator of unusual power, that, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the board of trustees of Lawrence College, I now confer upon you the degree of doctor of divinity, honoris causa, and admit you to all of its rights and privileges."
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and Mrs. Wm. A. Viall presented a handsome bronze and marble tablet as a memorial of all those connected with Grace Church who gave their services to the country in the World War. This, designed by Gorham, with ninety-seven names on it, was unveiled on Armistice Day, Sunday, November 11, 1928. Dean Sturges preached the special sermon for the occasion.
A new Tower Clock, with a beautiful set of Westminster Chimes to strike the quarter hours, as a memorial to Russell Eyre Sisson, was given by his family and dedicated on Easter Eve, 1929.
The renewed Triptych was in place early in 1929, designed by Ernest Pellegrini and representing the Ascension. On the left panel are St. Thaddeus, St. Bartholomew, St. Matthew, and St. James the Less. The great center panel represents Christ standing on the world in an attitude of blessing, holding in His left hand the New Testament. St. Peter is on Our Lord's right, and St. John standing on the left, with St. James kneeling. On the right are St. Andrew, St. Simon, St. Philip and St. Thomas. In the center panel two angels hold a scroll with the inscription, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye here gazing up into heaven."
Mr. Standish Howland gave candlesticks for the side altar in memory of Dr. Rousmaniere; an acousticon was installed in certain pews early in 1927 for the benefit of deaf persons, through the generosity of a parishioner; Miss Helen G. Chase gave a beautiful crêche which was placed outside the church at Christmas, 1928, and attracted much attention; and a marble and brass tablet in memory of Dr. Greer was erected on the wall of the Baptistry in time to be dedicated at the centennial celebration. Mr. Thomas E. Marsden gave the Junior Choir for Christmas, 1927, a pro- cessional cross beautifully carved, with a passion-flower starting at the base and growing up to flower at the top, and having on the left arm the Tudor Rose symbolizing the Resurrection and on the right arm the Easter Lily symbolizing faith in immortality.
Mr. Lawrence, with his practical faith in democracy and his desire to give to all an opportunity to share in beautifying and pre- serving the church, instituted two means to such ends in the Thanks- giving and Memorial Fund and in the significant custom of having potted lilies given as memorials as an important feature of the Easter decorations. In 1927, the first year, there were ninety- eight such memorial lilies. The Thanksgiving and Memorial Fund, established early in 1928 with the full approval of the Vestry, gives to everyone the opportunity to have his commemora- tive gift, however small, formally recorded as a permanent part of
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an ever-growing fund. Already this fund has demonstrated its usefulness both to donors and to the Church.
As early as the annual meeting of 1928 plans had been formed for a fitting celebration in May, 1929, of the hundredth anniversary of Grace Church. The Senior Warden was then authorized to appoint a committee, consisting of five members of the Vestry and five other members of the Corporation, to take the matter in charge. This committee determined on a celebration extending from Friday, May 17th, the exact anniversary of the first service, through Sunday, the 19th, and divided its responsibilities as follows :- Chairman, William A. Viall; Vice-Chairman, Lauriston H. Hazard; Program Committee, John P. Farnsworth, Richard B. Watrous; Finance Committee, A. Livingston Kelley, Edmund C. Mayo; Memorial Committee, G. Maurice Congdon, Roger Gil- man; Historical Committee, Henry B. Huntington, John H. Cady.
The following program was arranged in ample time to secure the presence of all the living ex-rectors as well as of Bishop Perry, Bishop Babcock, and Dr. Faunce.
Friday, May 17th, Diocesan Service of Holy Communion, with formal procession of the Clergy and sermon by Bishop Perry. Luncheon for the visiting clergy and invited guests. In the evening at 8.30 a musical festival of thanksgiving and praise.
Saturday, Church School Field Day at Centennial Farm with Service of Dedication at 3.30. Saturday evening at 8.15 in Infantry Hall, Parish Reception, with greetings and reminiscences from the three living former rectors, Dr. Tomkins, Dr. Crowder, and Dean Sturges.
Sunday at 9.00 celebration of Holy Communion, particularly for all who had been confirmed in Grace Church. Church School Service at 10.00. Anniversary Service at 11.00, with sermon by Dean Sturges, followed by Holy Communion. Community Service at 7.30 p.m., with addresses by President Faunce and Dr. Bradford of the Central Congregational Church.
The committee on the memorial, after prolonged deliberation, decided to take the opportunity to carry out a cherished plan of Dr. Lawrence's and to fill a real need in the equipment of the parish for its summer work especially, by the purchase of a suit- able site for a camp and for outings in summer for members of the congregation particularly the choir and the young people's societies.
After careful examination of several possibilities the committee chose an old farm in the town of Glocester near the village of
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Chepachet, about half-way between the through routes to Putnam and Danielson, just off the Chopmist Hill road, which the Church purchased at a cost of $11,500. Centennial Farm, as it has been named, consists of one hundred acres, with a pond some twenty acres in extent, a farm house and other buildings, a good field for sports, and pleasant woods leading up from the pond. Its attrac- tiveness and desirable possibilities as well as its promise of large usefulness were demonstrated throughout the summer of 1929. With a few improvements it bids fair to fill well the needs of the parish and to furnish the means of refreshing outings for young and old in the parish from spring to fall and even perhaps in some of the winter months.
The celebration went off smoothly and well, in a fashion worthy of the dignity of the anniversary. The weather was propitious and the spirit of loyalty and interest widely manifest. A large number of the clergy of the Diocese were present at the opening service and the luncheon that followed. Bishop Perry, who had just preached a gracious and impressive sermon, took an appropriately different tone at the luncheon, over which he presided in genial and happy manner. Dr. Holyoke of Calvary Baptist Church, a veteran among Providence pastors, and Bishop Samuel G. Bab- cock of Massachusetts, whose assistantship at Grace Church in 1889 gave him claim to a longer acquaintance with Grace Church than perhaps any other clergyman present, were the chief speakers. After them the Senior Warden and Dr. Tomkins made informal remarks in response to the Bishop's bidding.
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