USA > Vermont > Bennington County > Arlington > St. James' Episcopal Church, Arlington, Vermont : a sketch of the birth and growth of Saint James' Parish, the oldest parish in the diocese of Vermont, together with brief sketches of the lives of the bishops of the diocese and of the rectors of St. James' Parish > Part 9
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This purpose has been aided in large measure by deaconesses a members of Sisterhoods who are specially trained for this importa service. During the rectorship of the Rev. Richard C. Searing (188.03
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!) the women of the parish were instructed in the duties of the sictuary, and in the proper care of the altar and its coverings.
Later, during the rectorship of the Rev. S. Halsted Watkins, D.D. 900-04*), Mrs. Watkins, his wife, and Deaconess Louisa Brainerd, th trained in the care of the sacred vessels and in the care of the car and the sanctuary, gave valuable instructions to the women of te parish, and as a result the Rectors since that time have had the aid ( an Altar Guild with leaders who have been devout and painstaking in le details of their work, thus relieving the Rectors of many details of jeparation and giving them the opportunity for their very essential siritual preparation.
Among those who have been directresses of the Altar Guild in cent years are the following: Mrs. Clarence D. Gilchrist, Mrs. Edward Woodworth, Mrs. George R. Brush. The members at this date 941) are the following:
Mrs. William J. Bevis, directress; Mrs. John Henderson, Miss Eloise enderson, Miss Dorothy Leake, Mrs. Cora DuBois, Mrs. Alfred Coe, rs. Burton Immen, Mrs. Harold Bottum, Mrs. Herbert W. Congdon, irs. Philip T. Fifer, Mrs. Dorothy Squiers, Miss Betty Cole, Mrs. George Russell.
Among the many women who took responsibility, and showed ganizing ability or talent for holding groups together, ingenuity in esh ways of raising money, care and devotion in looking after property, 1 other of the hundred gifts and graces women do expend in the hurch's service in every parish in the land, here are a handful briefly :etched in a few lines of reminiscence by members of the town and rish who remember them best or remember their records:
For the few mentioned many more must be imagined doing as lietly and unstintingly the same sort of wholehearted work and ought.
Betsey Canfield, daughter of Nathan, and sister of Galen Canfield, as born in 1800 and lived all her long life, eighty-six years, in Arling- n. Her house was the one now called the Harry Lathrop house.
The Church was the center of her life. She greatly prized its serv- bes and worship. She was the first contributor to its Endowment Fund; ough, oddly enough, the record places her subscription two years after r death.
Mary Chittenden Deming, wife of Sylvester Deming, 2nd, was one the most active women of the forties and fifties. She took care of e altar linen, and kept the carpets and cushions in repair. She and hers in the early days often spent the day at the Church cleaning it od dusting the furniture. S
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Martin H. Deming, who became Warden and Lay-Reader of parish, was one of her sons. (Another, Sylvester, 3rd, was Treasu of the Panama Railroad. )
Mrs. Virginia Judson, the wife of Jefferson Judson, who was at ve die a time Warden of the parish, was another of the very active wom, working in the church in the eighties and nineties.
Mrs. Jesse Burdett was another; though not a native, she lived mt of her life in Arlington, and was long a teacher in the Sunday Scho She was one of the chief promoters of the plan to build the rec chancel, and succeeded in raising money by soliciting contributions this purpose. It was she who gave to the parish the house called Elmore house, which was used as the Rectory for over thirty years; fact, until the Burdett house was bequeathed to the parish by John Lathrop Burdett for the present Rectory.
George B. and Marion Rule Holden, who lived in the house now 1 home of Dr. Russell, were both lifelong residents of Arlington a members of St. James. They were among the few couples who w both baptized, confirmed, married and buried from the Church.
Alma Davis Hard, wife of Zadok Hard, was born, lived and died Arlington, a devoted member-like her husband-of St. James.' S was one of the first members-and a very active one-of the Auxiliar and was always ready to do her full share in any work to be done i the Church; whether it was many hours of sewing for the missiona boxes the Auxiliary filled with the best they could buy and make; the summer bazaars held every year to raise money for the Church; its care and beautifying for the great festivals and memorials of t Christian year.
At Christmas time, she was always one of the women who to their lunch and spent days winding the long ropes and wreaths evergreen for the beautiful decorations still every year provided at $ James'-one of its loveliest traditions; sometimes lunch was arrang at the house of someone living near the Church, and brushing the twi of fragrant hemlock and pine off their dresses, they all adjourned rest and be refreshed. Mrs. Mary Deming was one who often th entertained her colleagues. Very pleasant the social side must have ber -and still is-of this Christmas work, however early mothers 1 families must have risen on dark mornings to care for their househol first, and reach the church early for a day of winding greens. T] fragrance of the greens clings still to the memory of the group wl wound them!
Miss Sarah Cleghorn, who has kindly and diligently collaborate with the author in piecing out the mosaic of this chapter, contribut the following reminiscence of forty years ago:
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"St. James' Auxiliary suppers at the turn of the century were the le appetizing, cordial, cheerful affairs they are now. The one I best member was held at the home of those famous churchwomen, Miss at bie and Miss Abbie Hard-the house now occupied by the Lawrence vomgle family.
"Either memory magnifies that supper, or the house was pleasantly Sc wded with all ages. Children abounded in Arlington then as now, ul were a great element in the church. Among the children present at supper, I seem to remember little Annie Mattison (now Mrs. Harry led but, the organist and choir director), Mary Watkins, the Rector's lighter, little Herman Cullinan, Leone Viault (now Mrs. Atkins), arsel her brother Jerome, and Cora Sargood (now Mrs. Dubois). Among grown-ups hastening along with ourselves into the dining room were pbably Mrs. Mary Adams and her sister Florence Holden, Maude Teams (now Mrs. LaBatt), the J. K. Batchelders, and Charles Bucks, n Frank Canfields, and Miss Mattie, Mrs. Deming, the Goeweys, the ZHards, with their daughters; the Lathrops, McAuleys, the Phillipses, yinger and older, the Rector and Mrs. Watkins, the Woodworths, and dies ne , s. Ida Brownson and her daughter May (now Mrs. Jolley), under wose wing my Aunt and I appeared at the supper. Like all the other n thers and daughters in town, as it seemed to us, the Brownsons were rays doing something for the Church. May sang in the choir, and had a dozen other duties at St. James.
"May Brownson and I, as we sat at the plentiful table, found our- stres in too high spirits, running into giggles. Some seriously meant cuversation occurred at our end of the table which struck us as ex- umely amusing, and prolonged our unmannerly mirth. I was afraid ) ths at Ms Abbie and Miss Libbie would think it rude and ignorant of us to be a lost at the point of having to stuff our handkerchiefs into our muths; but if so, their sweet elderly faces, eloquent of health, good st se and goodwill, showed no disapproval of May, who was young enugh to be excusable, or of me, who was old enough to know better. "Indeed, Arlington has always had the pleasant reputation-at elleit among us Manchester people-of being hospitable to fun and filic, and pleased at the sound of mirth. 1
"For some reason, that characteristic Church party at the Misses "Ards' has always hung in my memory in a bright frame. I can't but EInk the brightness radiated from those two attractive sisters; for their ties, seen only a few times by me, and now long unseen by mortal orders, remain as clear to me as those of intimate friends. There was a ibchopy glow of active contentment in their expressions; their faces, dif- ent from each other, individual, were alike in this, that they
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beamed with understanding of life and comradeship with people. "So Christians should regard one another."
For something like fifty years Miss Libbie and her sister betvethe them taught the infant class in the Sunday School. If one of tout couldn't take it, the other did. Thus half a century of Arlington a. came once a week, for two or three impressionable years, under 1 gentle wisdom, and received the influence of their sunny, pract every-day-lived religion. Wasn't it a famous educator who "Give me a child until he is seven years old, and I will answer for m for life"? To one who has had the pleasure of seeing something what is being accomplished by the untiring and resourceful pres t. R day Arlingtonians, it is eloquent to hear so many of them say, "I Miss Libbie and Miss Abbie for my first Sunday School teachers."
Mrs. Clara Louise Stewart
Mrs. Stewart was one of the faithful women in the eighties
0 nineties, who volunteered her services for seventeen years as orga , and director of the choir. Mrs. Stewart spent her early life in Bro lyn, New York. She was educated in a young ladies' school at Jama Long Island, and here she developed her musical talents which were be the joy of her later life.
She married Capt. Bernard W. Ward, whom she met on a sea voy. Of this union were born Clara Collins, and Charles, who died in e: childhood.
Her life was a very useful and varied one. She accompanied husband on many of his voyages, visiting many foreign countries.
In 1861, leaving this country at the outbreak of the Civil War, went to China just as another war was beginning there, known as Taeping Rebellion.
Mrs. Stewart witnessed many of the horrible scenes of this war was obliged to stay at the Consulate as the slaughter of every "foren Th devil" had been decreed.
At about this time she was afflicted by the death of her husband.
After her return from China in 1868, she married James Stew M.D., a physician in Brooklyn, New York. About 1880, she and husband came to Arlington where they settled and spent many haj years.
The Rev. John Randall, who was Rector of St. James' Church, vited her to become a member of the congregation, and here she " baptized and later confirmed by Bishop Bissell.
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She gave her services as organist for seventeen years. She was a day School teacher for about the same period. She was also gener- in her financial help and was ready to give in difficult periods.
The Rev. Richard C. Searing said of her: "When I think of Mrs. of wart it is to recall a sweet, kind face, always smiling cheerfully, gtoch a keen interest in the welfare of her friends. In dear old St. let Thes' Church the Rector always loved her services at the organ, which racu): played with so much taste and skill as to add much beauty as well ho ussmoothness to our worship."
Mrs. Stewart died in Boston, April first, 1903, and the funeral hinos held at St. James' Church where she labored so long and faithfully. pral'e Rev. S. Halsted Watkins, who was at that time Rector of the " ish, officiated.
It has been possible to secure a real character sketch of one of al devoted and successful women in the history of the parish, done wth intimate knowledge by her niece, Dorothy Canfield Fisher. All the are one must regret that such a portrait, bringing out of the past a tiesp sonality and life, is the only one I have been able to obtain.
It must stand therefore as the prototype of the whole gallery our Anders would have liked to find in this book, both of the men and mmen associated so usefully and loyally with the corporate life of the Lurch.
Martha Hulme Canfield was the daughter of the Rev. Dr. Eli Fwley Canfield and Martha Crafts Hulme, and was born in 1850 in Nw York City where her father was Rector of a church. Brought up the city, through her childhood and youth, she was nevertheless a life- log Arlingtonian, for like all the Canfields she felt steadfastly that "Alington was her real home.
She was continually brought back here for long vacations by her "a"Eher, to the brick house across the street from St. James', where his an ther, Mrs. Almera Hawley Canfield, his aunt, Miss Pauline Hawley, h sister, Miss Mary Ann Canfield, his brother, Mr. Zadok Canfield, all walid together in a typical old-time family group.
The little Mattie's mother, Dr. Canfield's beloved wife, died when h daughter was only seven years old, so the child had but little recol- andletion of her mother.
Ster It was one of her sayings that she had been brought up by a father, anda randmother, two aunts, one uncle and an elderly Irish housekeeper,
faithful Rebecca, who ran Dr. Canfield's New York home for nny years.
As was natural for a child with all these elderly guardians, in many sheys "Miss Mattie," as she was always called, belonged to the genera- En of older people; and yet at the same time (because she was and re-
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rly all her life the only "child" in the home with pec om twenty to sixty years older than she) she also kep ild-like quality of bright, cheerful, unquestioning accepta of what she found around her.
Her brother, Dr. James Hulme Canfield, used to say of her, fon and yet with some anxiety about what life might be to her, when It alone by the death of her elderly protectors, "Mattie at fifty-five just the same 'good dutiful child' she was at ten." The "old fol who made up the family at the Brick House lived to a fabulously ver able age, all of them, so that it was not until Miss Mattie was an a lady herself that she was left alone in the large old home. By that te her niece, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, who like Miss Mattie had alws spent much of her childhood and youth in Arlington had married settled permanently with her husband and family in the North Disti of Arlington, so that Miss Mattie always had some of her close kind very near her.
By that time also, the pattern of her life had set into a sustain firmness which was in no way changed till the day of her death sixty-nine years of age. Her main interest was the Church. As if were still, as she had been in her childhood, the daughter of the Rec she never missed a service. Nor was she ever late. Nor early. Punct to the instant, when the last bell began its summons, Miss Mat prayer-book in gloved hand, stepped from the front door of the Br House and crossed the street. If she was a little too early in gett ready, she always sat down in the "front parlor" and waited till familiar bell began to sound. She never was too late.
With the same unvarying regularity and punctuality, she taught boys' Sunday School class. It would have been unthinkable for her have missed it. Saturday evening she always "studied" the next de prepared Sunday School lesson on the printed leaflet-she never nee to re-read the Bible story, for that was as familiar to her as the air breathed. The boys she taught felt in her a simplicity of personality cheerful "young" uncomplicated attitude towards life, so much their own that she seemed very close to them. She never helped young person over one of those periods of gloomy self-question doubts about the significance of life and the truth of religious dog in which temperamental adolescents are apt to suffer. She would h been incapable of giving such help, for she was incapable of feeling such doubts, herself, or even of conceiving of them; and when t were mentioned in her presence, her instinct was to turn away quic from any talk about them as being "morbid." But somehow, in young, smiling presence, looking into her sunny clear blue eyes, feel the emanation from her of that perfect confidence in the structure
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pa and the universe which, in more intellectual people is conscious segious "faith in God," the troubled adolescent felt his anxious doubts fears dissolving away. Everybody "felt more cheerful" as the ang went, after a chat with Miss Mattie. And for her class of fixly, vital, ten and twelve-year-old boys, too young to guess at the x tence of dark psychological complexities, Miss Mattie was an ideal Ge her. She was sincerely and wholeheartedly interested in them and fh kind of problems they faced. She was thoroughly at home with hn and they with her. They enjoyed each other, year after year, de- mae after decade; and those who watched her used to think that constant example she set of visibly enjoying her life in the Church Is good daughter enjoys being at home in her father's house, had as ay "religious" an influence on the young, as the most skillful, od theological scholar could bring to bear on older members of the ke sh.
She was brought up in the mid-nineteenth century way, without y having been taught any useful skills by which to earn her living, r for many years in her middle maturity was entirely occupied (again nhe nineteenth-century tradition for unmarried daughters and nieces) care for the older people of the family. Her father was a bed-ridden wheel-chair invalid for many years, devotedly attended by his Lit, middle-aged daughter, who dressed and undressed him, helped him a read aloud to him for hours of every day. It would hardly be ac- late to say that she did this uncomplainingly, for that word implies thought that some other way of life might have been possible. Miss ctie simply accepted this duty as a natural one, which she never stioned, or debated or analyzed, any more than she did the religious ah to which she had been brought up, and which was her spiritual ter, home and refuge always.
When she was finally left alone by the death of the last of the ler generation, she had, to live on, only one of those traditionally i New England old-maid's incomes. It was far too small to cope quately with the steadily increasing cost of living in modern days. this ordeal of material narrowness and meagreness of resources, ays one of the hardest of the undramatic difficulties of life to sus- without bitterness or impatience, this too Miss Mattie met and quered by accepting it as so natural that she was practically unaware t. If there was not enough money for new clothes, well, there were ity of old ones left. She would have liked to be able to "do" more the library which by that time had come to be her second great rest in life, and in which she worked as devotedly, as "naturally" as had cared for the feebleness of her kinsfolk in their old age. But without money, with her own inexhaustible willingness to serve,
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with volunteer help from younger neighbors who were drawn by into work among the books, the library grew, became more and n useful to the town, to which Miss Mattie belonged as to her own fan She never had time to fret because she had little money, because was growing old, because she was alone. Useful, busy, untrout zestful, cheerful, she trotted indefatigably with that quick short of hers, familiar to generations of Arlingtonians, from library to hc from home to Church, from Church to library, till death came for with a kind, merciful suddenness and total unexpectedness. She instantly, with one mild exclamation as of surprise .. . "Oh!" ... w out having had to live an hour, an instant in the dark shadow of foreboding of death, and passed, smiling and sunny, from the life had known so well how to live."
Some of the residents of Arlington or those who lived here in t. youth have been asked to give their personal impressions of Miss C field as they remember her.
Mrs. Henry LaBatt says: "Miss Mattie or Aunt Mattie, as she known by all, especially the children, was dearly loved. Any time cared to run in, step to the front door, pull the bell, ting-a-ling, 0 the door, go down the spacious hall to the living room in the So b Wing of the 'Brick House,' which was her home, one was sure to b welcome guest; for Miss Mattie, always smiling, was ready to hava heart to heart visit, especially on subjects that were of most interest o the children. I remember what good times we used to have up in attic, playing house with dolls or other things that came into a chi mind. Some of my happiest memories as a child and then through years, memories which I vividly recall, are of Aunt Mattie. She wo almost always have candy, nuts and raisins on the table, and these wo be passed to the delight of the children.
"On Sundays in Sunday School as a teacher she would have the sa gentle way of teaching the children in her class.
"In her passing all mourned the great loss that came to the co munity as well as to the Church."
Mrs. Alfred Buck: "I remember that Aunt Mattie was collect. books for a library as long as forty years ago. This seemed to be . great desire for the community-a library. She began with thi. books. When the number had increased to fifty she said to me: 'Magy I have fifty books now.' Aunt Mattie liked people and people liked drop in and visit with her. She saw the good in people; was very ta ful and had the faculty of getting along with people, and often vb able to adjust their differences. Fr
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"Her uncle Zed Canfield met me on the sidewalk one day wheeling baby in the carriage. He said to me: 'O, you are just like all the men, you are bringing up your children on the street.'
"I was very much vexed at this remark for my baby was only six anths old. So I went right down to Aunt Mattie to tell her. What Aunt Mattie say? She laughed and said 'Why, you know Uncle ok&d.' When I left Aunt Mattie I was smiling."
Professor Charles A. Adams, of Middlebury College:
"Your letter from the 'Brick House' brought back tender memories. me, 'the Brick House' means 'Miss Mattie,' as we all called her, a e showing the respect and love we all felt for her. I see her now ough the eyes of childhood. It is in the evening and we have gone make a call. I love to listen to her clear sympathetic voice as she ruires about every one in the family or as she talks about some town in atter of common interest. I see her opening the front door, and with ss a short business-like step, walking to the store to do her errands, pping every now and then to chat with and encourage some neighbor. "Again I see her on Sunday, crossing the street to St. James', and : did not need to hurry then for there were no cars to disturb one's ughts or safety.
"Or, again, when it was time to decorate the church, at Christmas, wrking with 'the greens' in the Town Hall or later in the basement of church, there she was, ever cheerful and encouraging and happy. - "When shall we see her. like again?" :
From Clarence E. Hard: "When Miss Martha H. Canfield passed ay St. James' Church suffered an irreparable loss. Her faithfulness chad devotion to the church were shown in many ways. She not only uglgre generously to the support of the church but was also untiring in KE: care of certain church properties. Her record as teacher in the we urch School would be hard to parallel.
"She served faithfully as teacher for many, many years. My earliest he toollections of Miss Canfield go back to the time when as a pupil in St. Jnes' Church School, I became a member of her class. Her knowledge e o the Bible was truly wonderful. It seems to me that one outstanding ture of her teaching was the stress she laid on memorizing the lecollects for each Sunday. There was a certain freshness of mind and berit about Miss Canfield that was an inspiration to young and old. I More often felt that much of the best tradition died with her. She was ily a sweet and loveable gentlewoman."
From Mrs. Georgia F. Rice: "I remember Miss Mattie as a very iable, even tempered person, very sincere in all her dealings. She not y believed the teachings of Christ but lived them. Consequently she is one of the most selfless persons I've ever met.
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"The loving care given to her father and her aunt over a long per of years with perfect contentment rather belies the modern idea that be happy one must selfishly 'live their own life' without the burden even caring for own's own. I do not think Miss Mattie even thought the devotion given to her family as a burden, but rather more a. duty, which she certainly fulfilled.
"Her perfect trust in people is best shown by the way in which 1 Gr books in the Library which she opened to the Town in the wing of 1 home were charged. At certain hours ( I think in the afternoon) door was unlocked. Any resident of the town simply went in, took 1 time in choosing a book, and then went to the desk and wrote down a pad of paper placed there for that purpose his name and the name the book borrowed. It always seemed to me that a person who cor trust others to be honest must be thoroughly honest himself."
Mrs. Lawrence A. Cole: "One of the outstanding things in 1 3 memory of 'Aunt Mattie' is the recollection of her connection with 1 Church; always in her pew, morning and evening services alike. Sez was a great worker in the Sunday School. From the first of my going St. James and for many years after, Miss Mattie had a class of old boys. She was always interested in all children, and was always prese and taking part in the Christmas tree festivities for the Sunday Scho She was one that was always sought after as a sponsor at Baptism a I think if all her Godchildren were gathered together they would rea from Arlington to Shaftsbury."
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