Norwalk After Two Hundred & Fifty Years

We are now ready to notice that while there have been five church buildings, there have ministered in this parish fifteen clergymen as installed pastors, not includ- ing the present speaker. This gives 16 years as the aver- age length of the pastorate, a splendid record. The long- est pastorate was that of Mr. Dickinson, who died in 1771 in his 83rd year, having been pastor for fifty-one years. The shortest pastorate was that of Mr. Henry Benedict, who was dismissed in 1832 after serving the church for four years. To the names of the regular pas- tors as found in the manual should be added as supplies Mr. Dunham, a young man who did splendid work dur- ing a year's service; Dr. Plummer, previously of Rich- mond, Virginia, who, while remarkably effective, was un- fortunate in having been associated in the minds of the people with secession and therefore found his later min- istry not acceptable to a large portion ; and Mr. Everest, a man of remarkable pulpit power, under whom many of the present members of the church connected themselves with it. It would be difficult in this long list of pastors to single out any as peculiarly worthy of mention. Dr. Hall was perhaps the ablest theologian, and he had a large reputation, filling the high position of Professor in Auburn Seminary. If to-day people think of him as severe and uninteresting, let them recall the fact that he was ever leveling his knightly lance at error and unhors- ing it, at any rate, to his own satisfaction. Mr. Weed was, I should judge, on the whole, the ablest preacher. His reputation for brilliant sermons spread far, and at this distance of years, I have marked the enthusiasm with which competent judges have mentioned him as a public speaker. Stories of his eccentricities linger, but these did not interfere with his success in the pulpit, nor diminish the affection of his people ; his peculiar habit of twisting his handkerchief while preaching is recalled, but he held his audience spell-bound by wonderful ser- 43 mons preached absolutely without notes and toward the end of his ministry, at the speed of three each Sabbath. We cannot but regret that so able a man should have burned to the socket so early. While Dr. Hall was so eminent a scholar, it should be added that he must have been eminent as an administrator, for a man who can bring up six children on a salary for years of not over eight hundred dollars give them all a decent education, and a son a college education, must have been a genius in other ways than philosophizing. One meets the hints of this side of the pastor's life in the quaint account of the committee records such as this: "Voted that Mr. Handford should have three score pounds allowed, for the year ensuing, for his rate and he is to be paid as fol- loweth: 30 pounds in wheat and pease and barley; of the other pounds, 22 pounds is to be paid in beef and pork at the common current price that it brings when it is "dew." And this "The Society declare that they will appoint a committee to get people voluntarily to cart and give wood for Mr. Tennent and trust by that means he will have a proper supply of that article." And there is a grim suggestion about the report of a town meet that voted "the inhabitants of any town shall not be un- der any obligation by force of any vote to pay any provi- sion for the answering of their several proportions of Mr. Buckingham's salary." There is nothing new under the sun ; when those early settlers desired to rid themselves of an obnoxious pastor, they simply stopped his pay. So there are some things ancient that will hardly warrant imitation. This is all of a piece with the action noted in the town records: "Mr. Cornish shall be hired to teach all the children in the town to learn to read and write, and the townsmen are to hire him upon as reasonable terms as they can." Buy your teacher cheap Queues and knickerbockers and buckles and cocked hats may amuse us as ancient, but we are very like the first settlers on the money question. Get your teacher cheap. The singing of the church service has always had the attention of the church people. Frequent mention is made in the old records of appropriations for the im- provement of the singing, and within the memory of some of you, Dr. Thomas Hastings, the eminent musi- cian and religious composer, father of the present Pro- fessor in Union Seminary, conducted a singing school in a small hall down town which was attended by seventy or more aspirants for choir honors. Later, the well- 44 known William B. Bradbury gave instruction. The fol- lowing is the list of the choir which sang in the old church and also gave their service when the present church was erected: William S Lockwood, William D. Smith, Edward Smith, Edward C. Bissell, Thomas B. Butler, Joseph St. John, Moses O. Banks, William L. Quintard, Mrs. Hart, Alexander Smith, George Bissell, Samuel Seymour, Reuben St. John, George H. Randle, Horace G. Hyatt, Legrand Whitney, William Scribner, Storrs Hall, Charles Piatt, William K. Lewis, Lorenzo Hubbell, Juliette Betts, Eulalia Betts, Julia Lockwood, Elizabeth Lockwood, Mrs. William B. St. John, Frances Lyon, Mariett Lyon, Harriet Scott, Jane Collins, Mary Hyatt, Susan Scott, Elizabeth Scribner, Isabella Wilson, Jane Meeker, Mary Stuart, Sarah Hanford, The Misses Durant. A member of this choir mentioned the other day that their choir did not escape the troubles to which choirs are peculiarly subject; for as a result of the riv- alry of two aspirants for leadership, the entire choir re- fused to sing for some time, and the tunes were started by some of the deacons from among the congregation with the aid of the tuning fork ; imagine such a calamity to-day. St. James could hardly have imagined the con- ditions surrounding the modern church choir, or he would not have asked: "Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?" for chorus choirs always do just that ; sing chords, act discords. We may imagine, too, as a result of glances at the records that there were circumstances elsewhere that demanded tact. Much attention is paid to the proper seating of the con- gregation, and certain pews were jealously guarded. In 1708, it is mentioned that the town voted Mr. Samuel Hays into the great pew to sit in upon public days, and the town voted Mrs. Hanford, the widow of the first pastor, into the pew with Mrs. Buckingham, the wife of the then pastor, all of which is suggestive of preroga- tives carefully insisted upon. Just imagine what would have happened had she gone without the warrant. One could hardly turn around except by vote. Perhaps pos- sible friction was thus provided for, as in that other pro- vision: '"The society by vote provide that the justices shall remove and sit with their wives." One wonders, in view of this gracious permission, whether the tithe- men (with which officers, by the way, we are still pro- vided) weren't needed to keep even the justices in order. These, then, are some of the conditions under which this 46 church grew. Time does not permit of my reviewing each pastorate as I would like to review it, for each had its peculiar points of strength ; nor yet of mentioning many details of church life that might prove interesting. These would necessarily include references to churches which have sprung from this church — or been largely recruited from it — Darien, Wilton, New Canaan, South Norwalk and Westport. Perhaps when our own cele- bration takes place a more elaborate review will seem advisable, and perhaps enough has been said to at least suggest the special points that interest us all. Our heritage is magnificent. We are to hand it down ennobled and beautified — not entirely, indeed — not so much by what we do as by the spirit of our endeavor. Our church history focuses at faithfulness. There is something better than reading history; it is making history. May we lay no chipped stones ; may Christ be the head of the corner. 48 AT THE GRACE EPISCOPAL CHURCH Rev. J. McClure Bellows spoke as follows: GOD, we have heard with our ears, and our fathers have declared unto us, the noble works that Thou didst in their days, and in the old time before them.'' — From the Litany. As one stands in the midst of this\ splendid latter day civilization, and }< looks back through the years that are/ gone, it is hard to realize the conditions and the atmos- / phere of those days in which our fathers lived and moved. They were days of peculiar hardships and perils, with naught else to sustain the founders of this, our common- wealth, than the vision of a distant day, when their descendants should build upon that which they, them- selves, had laid a superstructure, whose strength and light should command the respect and admiration of the world. How clear that vision was time has proved. The American nation stands to-day a mighty specimen of evolution from beginnings that are a pride and honor to the history that records them. Three forces especially distinguished the character of our forefathers: Frugality, simplicity, religion. To this latter force much of their heroic achievement is due. To them the Fatherhood of God was not a mere belief; it was the conviction that ruled their lives, that sustained them through hardship and peril, the conviction that filled them with confidence and hope in the future fruition of all they planned and did. In the power of that conviction they, left home and kindred across the sea, to be led by the hand of God, as i