USA > Vermont > Bennington County > Bennington > The one hundred year old meetinghouse of the church of Christ in Bennington, Vermont: being a record of the centennial of the same held in the meetinghouse, August the 19th and 20th, 1906 > Part 3
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It will perhaps occur to you to wonder how these good old souls kept warm in the long, cold winters of this climate during the almost equally long sermons. At first and for many years there was no stove in the meeting-house. They had no stoves in their own homes. They believed it a virtue to resist such a carnal indulgence. But
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after a while there is evidence of a growing desire for something more than intellectual or even spiritual heat, for in Mr. Hiram Harwood's di- ary, under date of July 24, 1817, it is recorded that "Mr. and Mrs. French1 came here with a subscription for a stove for the meeting-house, by the ladies," and on December 26, 1818, there is another record: "This day drew from Capt. Norton's one hundred and fifty bricks and one and a half bushels lime to the meeting- house where E. Montague built a short chimney. The stove was set up on a high box level with the top railing of the pews, the pipe standing perpendicular. After its completion fire was kindled in the stove and operated well. Glass was put into broken windows, all of which was accomplished chiefly by S. Hinsdill, E. Waters, S. Hathaway, Sen., N. Dexter, S. Bingham, J. Nichols, and others." Whether this is the big box-stove which is remembered as standing in the porch, or vestibule, as we now call it, a little south of the doors to the main aisle, or whether that came later, I have no means of knowing. The record would seem to indicate that this stove stood at first in the main aisle. Possibly it was later removed to the porch when the two which stood at this end of the house were introduced.2
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At all events, this was the signal for a display of human nature, as developed by Puritanism, in a most pronounced manner. Some could not stand the heat of it, though shut in their box pews, perhaps fifty feet away; some it made "dizzy" to pass by it on the way to their pews, and some withdrew from the services. But, like the camel in the fable, it had gotten its nose under the tent, and soon it got into the meeting- house, dragging with it two long smoke-pipes. These extended from the stoves, now two in- stead of one, placed in the aisles at the right and left of the pulpit, down along the outer base of the gallery, and rested on iron arms that ran out to support them, till they reached a point about ten or fifteen feet from the singers' gallery, then making an abrupt turn passed gradually up till they ended in a big drum over the central aisle, from the upper side of which a pipe rose directly to the chimney above. This drum was supported at first by an iron arch made stable by being fastened to the pews at the side of the broad aisle, but later by three iron guys, which were fastened, one each to the base of the gallery right and left, and one just under where the clock is now. It was soon found, however, that the drippings of soot from the joints of these pipes
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were not conducive to the peace of mind of the worshipers, who had on "their best" in honor of the Lord's house, nor were the stoves entirely satisfactory. They had been great pyramidal affairs originally made for coal, but made over to burn chunks of wood. So all were removed, and, in their place, long box-stoves taking a three-foot stick were substituted, the pipe at the same time being removed to run under the gal- lery, over the aisle, ending as before, and at the joints of it little pint tin pans hung to catch the drip.1 Not very handsome, but they answered the purpose.
But I have now carried you ahead of my story, down into the fifties. From the first, it is believed, the little foot-stoves, familiar objects of curiosity to-day, filled with warm oak or hickory coals from some nearby hospitable hearth, were the only means of warmth known in the church, and it was the sexton's duty to see that any such stove, left behind by some careless owner, did not become a cause of fire to the meeting-house. I can believe also that the tipping over of one of these during meeting time might prove a distraction.
The putting in of stoves did not at first do away with the habit of foot-stoves. Indeed, well
NEIGHBORS OF THE MEETINGHOUSE Prior to 1869
Mrs. John V. D. 8. Morrill
Caroline Reed Robinson, wife of John V. D. S. Msrrill, attorney at law, and daughter of the late Danlei Robinson, for many years president of the old Troy and Boston rallroad, passed away at the Robinson home- stead in Old Bennington Tuesday, Jan. 28, at 12:45, after a brief finees that baffisd the best medical skill.
She was born in Troy, N. Y., on March 27, 1850, and grew to woman. y : hood in that city, tho eince child- t, hood she passed the summer months at the old homestead on the hill.
She completed her education at the Troy Female Seminary under the fate Francee Willard, the famous precep- tress, becoming an accompllehed French and German scholar.
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She was married to Mr. Merrill 'April 16, 1886, and came directly to Old Bennington to live permanently Ths beautiful residence and grounde occupying the site of the old Cata- mount Tavern, now the property of Mrs. George Lane, was built and laid out by Mr. Merrill in anticipation of their marriage in 1885, but It wae the future hride who planned and had oversight of the details.
Mrs. Merrill organized the public library at Old Bennington, now con- taining upward of 3000 volumes, and selected practically all the purchaasd | works. She was a member mi the Old First, church, and all her adult life was a teachsr in its Sunday school. A great iover of children, shs 'was an ideal Instructor and pri- [vately tutored many neighborhood children in French and German. She was dsvoted to church work, and tho not a religious enthuslast, had an un- faltering faith in her God and Saviour
She was the author, in collabora- tion with her husband, of that classic entitied "Historle Bennington," which has run through many editions and is to be found in most of the public libraries and colleges In the country and In hundreds of private collec. tions.
She was a great lover of nature, and especially of flowers and shrubs, and marvelous creations cams Into be- ing under the touch of her magle hand.
Shs possesssd a most loving and iovabis, most nobis and loyal charac- tør, as swest as charity and steadfast as the rock-ribbed hilis. She will be sadly missed in ths community of which shs was such an active and valued member. But lest we forget, Lsavss have their time to fali,
And flowers to wither at the north-wind's brsath, And stars to set; but all, Thou bast all seasons for thine own, O death !
Bssides her busband, dsceassd leaves two sisters, Miss Mary and Miss Lulu Robinson, who occupy the old homestead, and one brother, John A. of Boston.
The funeral wifi he held from the .old Daniel Robinson homestead on Friday afternoon at 2 o'clock. Her pastor, Rev. Isaac Jennings, will of- !. ficiate. Intsrment will be in the fam- ily lot in Old Bennington cemetery.
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of the present church edifice to the main entrance of the Walloomsac Inn. The location of the main entrance. of the old meeting house is marked by an iron bar driven into the ground. The building ran North and South, with three entrances, one at the North, South and East respectively. The pul- pit was at the west end. The dimen- sions of the structure were fifty feet by forty. On the east side there was an annex twenty feet square. On the sec- ond floor of the annex was conducted for a long term of years a day school, without question the first school es- tabl'shed in the state. In this connec- tion mention should be made of the ! fact that Clio Hall, the first institution for' the higher education in the state, was incorporated by the Legislature which sat in the old meeting house in the winter of 1780. The exact date of the Act of Incorporation is November 3, 1780.
.bours, Mrs. Elinor W. Squ'er has made La very generous gift which will make possible the erection of a modest but .. In the first meeting house was chos- beautiful monument, bearing a large en the first Committee of Safety. Here, bronze tablet six feet and one half led by the great Patriot Pastor, Jed- high, by three feet and seven inches ediah Dewey. the people rendered in width, with rounded top. On the upper end of this tablet will appear in thanks to God after the capture of "Fort Ticonderoga; prayed for their low relief the or ginal building accord- compatriots on the eve of the battle ing to the sketch found in Rev. Isaac of Bennington, "and, later, rendered Jennings' "Memorials of a Century." solemn thanksgiving for the memor-| On the remainder of the tablet will be able victory of August 16, 1777. Here were brought 700 prisoners, Hessians
an inscription of three hundred words recording the great events which have www :- trakt mominrahlo in the · an-
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down till the sixties the grandmothers persisted in this comfortable habit of their youthful days, filling them at the hearth of the stove in the porch.
I may add here that there seems never to have been a "Sabbaday house" connected with this or the old meeting-house, for that matter, whither the fathers and mothers and children used to go for the noon hour to replenish their foot- stoves, their stomachs, and their stock of local information. But the hospitable doors of Land- lord Dewey across the way, the homes of Major Aaron Robinson, and Truman Squire, and doubtless others were ever open with welcome for this purpose.
You will wonder how the house was lighted when, in the short winter days, the dominie had more to say than usual, or for any reason a meeting was held after candle-lighting. It was by candles brought by the good dames in candle- sticks, which were set up at the junction of the pews, where partitions, crossing one another, made a convenient and stable resting-place. Children of that day, now grown to very ma- ture years, recall how they were forbidden, when sent to the great box where the "dips," as they were called, were kept, to select the best and
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hardest for home consumption. They must leave these "to use in the meeting." Later, lamps came into use, and on great occasions the chandelier was borrowed from the courthouse, just beyond the burying-ground, until that was burned,1 then this present chandelier was hung here by Captain Frost as a memorial to his mother.2 It was her bequest.
But you will now expect me to come to that especial service held one hundred years ago, on Wednesday, January 1, 1806, to dedicate this meeting-house. In giving you this picture I am obliged to say that I must paint more from com- posite scraps and tradition than from record. Everybody was awake bright and early, and full of eager interest to get the chores out of the way that they might be in time for service; for had n't they watched the progress of the build- ing as it wore its delayed way along through a year and a half, at least every Lord's day, as they had gathered for their service in the old, now somewhat out of repair and abandoned, meeting-house on the Green? And even this seems to have been sold, if not taken away, before the new one was done. (I may insert here the fact that it came into the possession of An- thony Haswell, was turned into a dwelling-house,
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afterward acquired by Benjamin R. Sears and built over by him, and then later converted into the house now owned by Thomas Vail, north- west of the monument.)
It was a pleasant day for the season, though somewhat cloudy and chilly. The ground was pretty firmly frozen, wind in the southwest,- so says Mr. Benjamin Harwood's diary, - but this would make little difference, for they had awaited this occasion so long, they had even expected and been promised it four weeks earlier,1 and now in good season families were seen on foot and on horseback and pillion wend- ing their way over the hills from as far north as Shaftsbury, and as far west as the state line, and as far east as the mountain, bound for the new meeting-house. In other and earlier days every one was compelled to go to church who could not furnish a satisfactory excuse, or be disci- plined by law.2 But to-day they wanted to go. It was a great event. Indeed, these church events in the early New England days furnished about all the general social excitement the town had.
Gathered in front of the meeting-house, the mounted ones dismounted at the horse-block which stood just at the north, between the gate to the burying-ground and the church, or over
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at the horse-block in front of the Dewey tavern, and all, mingling with the crowd that were in front of and standing on the stone approach to the new building, exchanged greetings, or stopped to chat, perhaps, or went to the tavern or other nearby house to warm their toes and fingers, and fill their foot-stoves, and then ar- ranged themselves on the hard seats of the new square pews, some with faces toward the pulpit and others, presumably the children, on the other side, looking toward the singers. The gallery contingent of men and boys waited out- side until the arrival of the minister, who, after all but they were seated and the deacons had taken their places, slowly and with great dignity, dressed in the long cloak with one or more capes and ministerial cap or hat of the day, proceeded up the main aisle, ascended the winding stair- way to the lofty pulpit, entered the door and shut it behind him. Then the noise of the feet of the gallery contingent was heard through the house as they ascended to their places. There was no organ in those days provided or allowed to drown out this intrusion upon the solemnity of the house. Hanging his hat and cloak on the peg provided, the minister, "Priest" Marsh 1 - for although not then the pastor of the church,
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he had been invited to preach this sermon by vote of the proprietors, November 27 before - sat down for a moment until all were quiet, and then rising, introduced the service with appro- priate words, which have been preserved for us, printed with his dedication sermon at the press of Anthony Haswell.
The exact order of the service is not at hand, but we have a little eight-paged leaflet with six original odes prepared for the occasion, four of which were sung at this time, and the sermon which "Priest" Marsh preached, embodied in it the prayer of dedication. Immediately before the sermon we are told he read the sixth chapter of second Chronicles, and following it - the sermon - I suppose the dedication ode was sung.1 The people remained seated during the singing but stood for the prayer in those days. They also remained standing in their pews, after the benediction, until the minister had resumed his cloak and hat, and descended the long wind- ing stairway of the pulpit, and passed with dig- nity down the broad aisle and out at the main door. Then would come the slamming down of seats, - for you know they were hung on hinges,2 - the opening and perhaps slamming back of pew-doors, and the exit of the people to discuss
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the sermon or other topics, and their luncheon, while they waited for the communion service, which perhaps followed in the afternoon, since this was the beginning of new things -a new year, a new house, almost a new minister, and a renewed sense of covenant obligations.
It is estimated by a chronicler of the day that there were about fourteen hundred persons present.1 He also records that "Mr. Marsh's sermon met with universal applause." There is no record that there was any other minister in the pulpit with him on this occasion.
Reference has been made several times during this discourse to the choir. The controversy throughout New England over the question of church music is familiar to those who have read much of Colonial times, and the stern objection always raised to innovations in this direction. The transition from Ainsworth's "Book of Psalms " or from Sternhold and Hopkins's "Hymnody," which preceded it, or the "Bay Psalm Book" of 1640, to Watts's Hymns, caused a wrench on the part of the more conservative members of the congregations, but not so great as the introduction of "new-fangled tunes" and the abandonment of the lining out by the deacon. There was no scientific knowledge of music in
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New England until about a quarter of a century before the settling of Bennington.
Indeed, the introduction of reading the Holy Scriptures at service seems to have been a de- cided innovation only a few years earlier.1 But soon the spirit of progress introduced the oblong book with notes, the singing-school, and the big bass viol. The one our fathers used was first brought into our singers' gallery in the summer of 1810, four and one half years after the dedi- cation, causing so much of a spirit of disapproval that one good Puritan mother left the house, not to return again that day. Following this came in due season the 'cello, the violin, flute, and clarinet, though at first it is recorded that the violin was permitted only on condition that it be held, during the performance, not under the chin as for profane music, but upright, as the 'cello and bass viol were played.
With these innovations came soon the trained choir. The days of psalm singing were over and "lining out" became a thing of the past. Choirs began to sing "odes," in which the congrega- tion took no part. This term, so unfamiliar to modern ears, needs a word of explanation. "Ode" is primarily a Greek word applied to a composition in verse, more or less complex, and
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designed to express exalted or worshipful emo- tion, showing, as do the Greek traces in the architecture of the period, the classical taste and studies of the beginning of the nineteenth century.
The singing in this old church has always been a prominent feature. The "Memorials of a Century" says, "Deacon John Fassett was the first leader of the singing in the old meeting- house," and seven of his descendants have been leaders since. The first hymn book used in this church was Watts's "Psalms, Hymns, and Spir- itual Songs," followed by the "Church Psal- mody; afterward, in 1865, the "Sabbath Hymn and Tune Book " was introduced, which was superseded by the present collection,1 compiled by a direct descendant of the Fassetts and Rob- insons and one-time member of this choir, of which his father was formerly leader.
At the time of the dedication Col. Jonathan E. Robinson was leader, that "sweet singer in Israel," whose voice, so remarkable, is remem- bered to this day by the oldest inhabitants, and his choir, many of whom were Robinsons or Fassetts or had the blood of one or the other or both in their veins, extended from the wall here at my left, away around to the wall at my right,
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with a double row in the singers' gallery. It must have been an inspiring and uplifting act of worship when those sweet voices took up these odes, written for the occasion, and ex- pressed the gratitude which was in their wor- shipful hearts for this new house of worship.
As I have said, the people all remained seated during the singing, rising and standing only for the prayers. But this custom was later reversed; sitting for prayers being adopted by vote in 1849, while the people all rose for the singing and turned their backs on the pulpit and faced the choir as they, with their oblong book of notes and hymn book of words,-sometimeseven keep- ing time by raising and lowering their tune book, so full of the spirit of song were they,-made melody unto the Lord. It would be interesting to go more at length into this subject, to mention names already on the tongue of the older ones among my hearers; to speak of the singing- schools, the rehearsals, the orchestra gathered under Frank Sly, and the sweet music for which this choir has ever been noted, but I have not time.
The sweet organ, that so helps us to-day, is the gift of recent years by a son and his wife,1 in honor and memory of one whose figure as
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deacon of this church and leader and performer in this choir for many years is well remembered, in whose name, John Fassett Robinson, the two names, referred to already as prominent in our music, were blended.
But I must hasten on. Reference, though brief, should be made to the earlier figures which were familiar in this pulpit, though we are to- day concerning ourselves more with the edifice, whose hundred years of life calls us together. The Rev. Daniel Marsh, or "Priest Mash," as more familiarly known, who preached the dedi- cation sermon, was installed during the early summer of 1806 and remained here until 1820; a man of irenic temper, frequently called in by other churches to help settle differences, and of marked pastoral gifts. He was often seen on foot going over these hills that he might be by the bedside of the sick or in the home of the afflicted in his widespread congregation. Especially was he gifted in prayer, and for this reason sought for for this service on especial occasions, while in the pulpit he was a man of dignity and resource, honored and beloved of all. Two discourses of his beside his dedication sermon have come down to us from the press of Mr. Haswell; one preached before the legisla-
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ture, and another- an address-delivered from this pulpit at the celebration of the sixteenth of August, 1809.
Mrs. Marsh also is remembered as a remark- able woman, and should be mentioned here as the mother of our Sabbath-school,1 which she started in her own house, and supposed to be the first in the United States, though others now claim that distinction. It was probably the first in this state. She also drew up a series of Bible questions which she had printed at Mr. Has- well's Book Shop, a forerunner of the question- book familiar in our youth, and was the or- ganizer of a "penny society" in the interest of the missionary cause, just then a new and pop- ular movement of the day. You will recall that the Haystack prayer-meeting at Williamstown was held the same year as the dedication of this church.
The Rev. Absalom Peters, then a young man just out of Princeton Seminary, succeeded him.2 He, too, was a man of unusual gifts as preacher and organizer. This latter led to his early call to work as a secretary of the United Domestic Missionary Society, and to the for- mation of the American Home Missionary So- ciety, of which he was the first secretary. He
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was also an editor of a home missionary journal and of the "Biblical Repository," and a frequent contributor to the press. While here he was distinguished for a courageous stand he took in behalf of good morals in the community and a general interest in what commended itself as valuable for society. Several sermons of his are extant, and among them also an address on music, which reveals his spirit and, as well, the temper of the times on this subject. Later he became a teacher of young preachers in Union Theological Seminary.
In the summer of 1826 the Rev. Daniel A. Clark was installed here.1 He was a man of unusual power in the pulpit, a finished writer, and a keen dissector of human motives; at the same time of great simplicity and directness. The children in the congregation listened to him and understood him. It was a time when the great social movements of reformation, especially in the line of intemperance, were stirring the community. There was an infidel club in town. He spared nothing that seemed to him to need regeneration. Above all, he sought for souls, and the tally of one hundred and twenty-six added to the church during his ministry of five years indicates his fidelity, while
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his sermons, many of which were published in two good-sized volumes, indicate why revivals attended and followed his ministration here and elsewhere.
Next to him, in the course of a year and a half, the Rev. Edward W. Hooker became pastor, remaining here over twelve years, during which one hundred and seventy-four were added to the church.1 He is remembered by the older ones of my congregation - tall, dignified, schol- arly, faithful, a man who wrought well for his Master, and was indeed a representative pastor of his day. His contributions to the music of the choir by his flute, of which he was passionately fond and on which he was an expert performer, frequently passing from his pulpit down the north aisle to the singers' gallery and back again, that he might aid in this part of the service, are well remembered, and spoken of to-day.
Following him came the Rev. J. J. Abbott, who remained but two years,2 and then the Rev. R. C. Hand, who was pastor for five years, though not in good health during at least the latter part of the time.3
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