ILLINOIS HISTORICAL SURVEY 
 
STORYOF A CHURCH 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/storyofstpaulspaOOcowe 
 
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Story 
 
 St. Paul's ParisK 
 
 Embodying Numerous Reminiscences 
 of die 
 
 Social and Political Life 
 
 >fdu 
 
 or me 
 
 Town of Peoria Illinois 
 
 from 1834 to 1882. 
 
 Church Events — 18824928 
 Briefly Sketched in Appendix 
 
 B$ Benjamin Coxtfell 
 
Prbss of 
 
 Morrison B. Bourland 
 
 Peoria, Illinois 
 
 a. d. 1929 
 

 w. 
 
 To George Shipman Mc Reynolds 
 my oldest friend, who was contemporary? with me in me 
 Old Brick CKurck, me memories associated with which 
 are equally dear to us, and to whose sympathetic interest 
 is owing the production of this little Volume. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The first four chapters of this story were written along 
 through the years as opportunity offered and urge prevailed, 
 from about 1906 to 1916. In 1915 and 1916 the earlier portions 
 up to 1859 appeared in a weekly leaflet of St. Paul's Parish 
 under the supervision of the rector, the Rev. H. L. Bowen, 
 ceasing when the leaflet was discontinued. At that time the 
 unpublished part extended to the time of the schism, which 
 divided the Church in 1873. 
 
 In the ten years while this was in writing, many changes 
 occurred which made it seem advisable to revise the original 
 manuscript somewhat to fit the time of publication in the 
 leaflet. But now (1928) other changes bring the same kind of 
 discrepancies, another ten years having passed. Therefore, it 
 seems best to follow the original manuscript this time without 
 change. All that is necessary for the reader's right under- 
 standing is to remember when persons are referred to as if 
 living, who are now dead, or conditions stated not now 
 existing, or sentiments expressed not now held, that such 
 statements date between 1906 and 1916. Foot notes are also 
 added in many places to help make this clear. Changes 
 occurring between 1928 and time of publication may or may 
 not be noted. 
 
 Sources of information for this work are as follows : Old 
 Parish Record from 1848 to 1872; Church Registers; City 
 Directories for 1844 and later; David McCulloch's History of 
 Peoria; Memoirs of Bishop Chase; Old Newspaper Files in 
 the Public Library ; Personal interviews with many old citizens 
 and Church members, some mentioned in the text, and nearly 
 all now dead. 
 
 Benjamin Cowell. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. Early Years 3 
 
 II. Civil War to Roberts' Resignation .... 35 
 
 III. Pre-Schism 49 
 
 IV. Schism 64 
 
 V. Revival 76 
 
 VI. Lady Washington Reception 82 
 
 VII. Dickens Party 90 
 
 VIII. The Devil and the Churches 100 
 
 IX. Interlude 107 
 
 X. Ghost Story 108 
 
 XI. Mr. Morrow's Activities 112 
 
 XII. Two Noted Parishoners 119 
 
 XIII. Two Characteristic Incidents 125 
 
 XIV. Trouble and Resignation 129 
 
 XV. Indecision and Conclusion 133 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 A. Supplement 136 
 
 B. Church School (Sunday School) 138 
 
 C. Choir 140 
 
 D. Note on Church Ghost 144 
 
 E. The P. E. Sewing Society 149 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 EARLY YEARS 
 
 The story of St. Paul's Parish from one point of view is 
 like the story of an ordinary man's life, very human, full of 
 disappointed aspirations, follies and shortcomings, yet dom- 
 inated by endeavors both earnest and more or less successful. 
 Probably it is from this point of view that progress is most 
 easily measured. Certainly it is this point of view that fur- 
 nishes material most interesting to the average reader. While 
 the progress of true religion, more vital to the Church, might 
 be better traced from a theological standpoint, it would be a 
 more difficult course to pursue successfully, and one likely to 
 differ essentially with each student of the subject. For this 
 reason I will attempt to present pictures of the past as I find 
 them in records and memories, subject to occasional infer- 
 ences, and trust that thereby progress in many ways will be 
 disclosed. 
 
 The Parish of St. Paul's is that corporation which arose 
 from the wishes of several people to become members of a 
 Church organizations in accord with the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church in America, supplemented by the determination of that 
 famous missionary, Philander Chase, after he became bishop 
 and after the seed had been sown in Peoria by a previous 
 organization known as St. Jude's Church. Therefore, to begin 
 with the beginning, something must be told of that previous 
 organization. 
 
 The worship of God in Peoria, first Indian, then Roman 
 Catholic under the French, was completely submerged for a 
 while until revived under American rule with Protestant bias 
 by people mostly of Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian faith. 
 According to Mr. Aurin Garrett, the first Episcopal minister 
 to hold service in Peoria, was a Mr. Sill from New York. He 
 did not remain, but the next year (1834) the Rev. Palmer Dyer 
 organized a parish under the name of St. Jude's. Its members, 
 so far as I have been able to ascertain, numbered less than a 
 score, very few of whom were Churchmen in its most meager 
 
 3 
 
definition. Of only four can I be certain, viz.: the Reverend 
 Palmer Dyer, Wm. Widdenham, the wife of A. 0. Garrett, 
 pioneer tavern keeper of our town, and the wife of Dr. 
 Rudolphus Rouse. 
 
 The history of Peoria abounds in records in which Mr. 
 Garrett and Dr. Rouse are prominent. But the Church that 
 played no small part in the development of our city's stability 
 received its first impetus undoubtedly at the hands of these 
 otherwise modest and retiring women. Both lived to see the 
 fruit of their labors. Mrs. Mary Garrett, frail in figure and 
 delicate in health, left here about 1854 or 1855 and died in 
 California soon after. Mrs. Rouse died in 1882, outliving her 
 husband nineteen years. Those old enough to remember Dr. 
 Rouse will recall the sternness of his disposition and realize 
 how much it must mean that his wife's religious principles 
 should have prevailed, he having been brought up a Baptist. 
 When Dr. Rouse built his house on the corner of Jefferson and 
 Main Streets, it was considered the most palatial in the state, 
 and the little doctor was a conspicuous figure in the progres- 
 sive interests of the town. Consequently I can not but think 
 that to the influence of Mrs. Rouse is owing much of the 
 Church material that entered into the foundation of St. Paul's 
 Parish. 
 
 Though St. Jude's was the first organized Church body in 
 Peoria, October 27th, 1834), the Methodists, Baptists and 
 Presbyterians organized very soon after, grew rapidly, and 
 soon dominated the religious sentiment of the town. St. Jude's 
 must have languished or completely died out; for in 1848 
 Bishop Chase found it necessary to reorganize the Episco- 
 palians he found here into a parish under the name of St. 
 Paul's. In the fourteen years that had passed since the be- 
 ginning of St. Jude's one of its first wardens, Samuel C. 
 Baldwin, had moved away; one of the vestrymen on record, 
 Judge A. M. Hunt, remembered as a jolly good fellow, was 
 killed while on a trip to St. Louis, by falling from the deck of a 
 steamer in his sleep. Dr. Geo. A. Kellogg, P. A. Westervelt, 
 and Wm. Frisby, clerk, died or moved away, probably, as their 
 names do not appear in Drown's City Directory. Of the re- 
 maining names on record, A. 0. Garrett, Dr. Joseph C. Frye 
 
 4 
 
and Dr. Dickinson seem to have connected themselves with 
 other religious bodies. Dr. Rouse, Wm. Widdenham and Wm. 
 Mitchell, county clerk, are the only men on record as members 
 of St. Jude's who became members of the new parish of St. 
 Paul's; of these men Wm. Widdenham only was a communi- 
 cant at the time St. Paul's Parish was organized, and he is 
 not on record as a member of St. Jude's except through the 
 statement of his son. 
 
 According to H. B. Rouse, oldest son of Dr. Rouse, about 
 all the religious instruction the young people of that time 
 received was of an evangelical nature. This shows what a low 
 ebb the affairs of St. Jude's had reached. Mr. Rouse distinctly 
 remembers the first Episcopal service he ever witnessed. Some 
 man met him on the street and asked him if he did not want 
 to go to Church with him. He acquiescing, was taken to the 
 courthouse, and when he saw the white-gowned clergyman 
 thought he was in at a Roman Catholic service, and shortly 
 backed out and left. St. Jude's certainly must have been with- 
 out a clergyman at this time. Bishop Chase mentions officiat- 
 ing in Peoria in 1835 and again in 1837. He says in a letter 
 to his son : 
 
 Robins Nest, October 23d, 1837. 
 Eight o'clock in the evening. 
 My Dear D. : 
 
 I feel too tired to work or study this night, and must 
 content myself with talking with you on paper. Having been 
 invited to preach at Peoria, fourteen miles from this, your 
 mother and brother, Philander, and myself set off in our 
 Quaker coach, Cynthia and Sol being our steeds, last Sunday 
 morning (yesterday) at a little after sunrise. We were there 
 just in time enough to commence service in season. This was 
 in the Presbyterian meeting-house. The congregation was 
 pretty large, though but two or three of them, besides our- 
 selves were Church people. The great object before me was to 
 make, or be the means of making, by the grace of God, as 
 many worship the Maker of all things, and the Judge of all 
 men, as possible. Accordingly, having brought with me a large 
 basket filled with Prayer-books, I addressed the people in a 
 similar manner to that which I used when you attended with 
 me the protracted meeting on Pretty Prairie, in Indiana. The 
 result was, that on distributing the Prayer Books among them, 
 a far greater half of the most respectable part of the males 
 
 5 
 
and some of the females, joined audibly in the service, a thing 
 never before witnessed among them. Never did I feel more 
 gratified. In the afternoon the responses were still more uni- 
 form and distinct, and the posture of kneeling, to which I had 
 in a previous address exhorted them, more general ... I 
 was nearly exhausted with the very long exercise of speaking 
 both morning and evening, and could with difficulty perform 
 the visitation of the sick, which I was invited to do by the 
 
 family of Dr. C. . Then came family worship, and this 
 
 closed the labors of the day. 
 
 This morning we rose in health and much refreshed with 
 quiet sleep. After morning prayers in the family, I proceeded 
 to administer the Lord's Supper to the sick persons — doctor's 
 mother, and his brother's wife ; the latter being, to all human 
 view, near her change of this, I trust, for a better world. The 
 visitation office was, as directed by the rubric, performed with 
 the administration of the Communion. The scene was exceed- 
 ingly solemn. Several relatives and prior acquaintances of the 
 sick were present, and the whole number of those who partook 
 of this blessed ordinance was twelve. . . . After dinner, 
 we returned to our peaceful home, and found all well. 
 
 This is the history of our little official excursion; may 
 God sanctify it to the benefit of many. . . . 
 
 Your loving father, 
 
 P. Chase. 
 
 The Rev. Palmer Dyer must have left, then, before Octo- 
 ber, 1837. The first meetings of St. Jude's were held in an 
 upper room of A. 0. Garrett's tavern, corner Main and Wash- 
 ington (part of this building is still standing in the rear of the 
 Campbell Hay Co.*), later, as we have seen, in the Presby- 
 terian meeting-house, and still later in the Court House. 
 Apparently, St. Jude's never had a lodging place of its own 
 but was knocked about from pillar to post until it died from 
 sheer neglect. Drown's Directory for 1844 says "This Church 
 is now extinct." 
 
 But it was at Peoria and under the leadership of the 
 Rev. Palmer Dyer, the rector and organizer of St. Jude's, that 
 the convention was held that called Philander Chase to the 
 bishopric of Illinois ; and it was Bishop Chase who gave to St. 
 Paul's Parish the ground that has been her lasting foundation. 
 The seed that Palmer Dyer sowed fell on ground good, bad, 
 and indifferent ; but the bad and indifferent is of meager rec- 
 ord, while the good has grown a bountiful crop. I wish it 
 
 * No. 100, Corner of Main and Washington Streets. 
 
 6 
 
were possible to discover how much the Bishop's basket full 
 of Prayer Books counted for in the twelve years' life struggle 
 of the Church that ended in the Parish of St. Paul's Peoria. 
 
 The Church in Peoria has had other periods when its 
 chances for life seemed desperate ; but we of today can hardly 
 estimate the despondency that must have come to the few 
 faithful Churchwomen who lived through the dozen years. 
 Twelve years in a leaky, drifting boat at sea; think of it! 
 Think of that devoted mother, Mrs. Rouse, with her growing 
 boys and girls, keeping up courage for twelve years, — and 
 winning out, for five of her children were baptized together 
 July 15th, 1849. Quiet determination generally wins out ; and 
 notwithstanding the failure of St. Jude's to find a place to 
 grow in, the floating church tendencies in the community sud- 
 denly crystallized, about what central will it is now difficult to 
 determine, — probably the Bishop's. 
 
 Bishop Chase's daughter, Mary C, had married I. S. 
 Chamberlaine ; and the Bishop had started them in teaching 
 school in Peoria. One might guess that through them the 
 Bishop would soon have become possessed of a fair knowledge 
 of the situation in Peoria, and that the Churchmen there 
 should have felt that the Bishop's interest might be concen- 
 trated for that reason upon the chances for a live Church in 
 the city. Whatever the guess, the fact remains that St. Paul's 
 Church sprang into existence almost at once. 
 
 The witness of this fact is before me now, — an interesting 
 crystal — viz. : a small book in marbled boards with a white 
 paper slip pasted on the cover bearing the title in small capi- 
 tals "ST. PAUL'S parish." It is a quaint, modest volume, well 
 preserved, without a dog's ear, with two small holes worn in 
 the fly leaf and a few idle pencilings and ink marks thereon. 
 Yet this little work contains records not only of the corporate 
 life of a Church, but records of men, the best of men and the 
 best of character. The book is worthy of its first entry. 
 
 1848 
 
 We, whose names are hereunto affixed, deeply sensible of 
 the truth of the Christian religion and earnestly desirous of 
 promoting its holy influences in our hearts and in those of our 
 families and neighbors, do hereby associate ourselves under 
 
 7 
 
the name of "St. Paul's Parish" in communion with the Protes- 
 tant Episcopal Church in the United States of America and 
 Diocese of Illinois; the authority of whose constitution and 
 canons we do hereby recognize and to whose lithurgy and mode 
 of worship we promise conformity. 
 
 Dated Peoria, March 27th, A. D. 1848. 
 William Mitchell *Anne Mitchell 
 
 "Thomas Squire *Ellinor Perin 
 
 *George Stewardson *Susan E. Cockle 
 
 *John Murphy *Mary W. Taylor 
 
 E. C. Sanger *Mary J. Squire 
 
 H. A. Foster * Charity Stevison 
 
 Ben L. T. Bourland *Lucretia Knowlton 
 
 Jno. D. Arnold * Hannah L. Wilbur 
 
 *Wm. Widdenham *Mrs. Mary P. Vinton 
 
 * Joseph Downing **Ann Hemmant 
 
 *I. S. Chamberlaine *Mary C. Chamberlaine 
 
 **Boyce Hemmant 
 
 * Confirmed persons and communicants. 
 ** Candidates for confirmation. 
 
 The handwriting of this entry is that of I. S. Chamber- 
 laine and the book itself is probably a blank book that he had 
 used for other purposes, as pages at the front have been cut 
 out and the page containing this entry is marked at the top 
 corner "19." The probability is that not all of the Church 
 people of the town were interviewed for the purpose of signing 
 this call, as notable names are missing on this page that appear 
 shortly thereafter on the records. 
 
 In accord with the sentiment expressed, the same evening 
 saw an assembly of those interested, as the next page in the 
 record shows: 
 
 Peoria City, March 27th, 1848. 
 
 Notice of a meeting of the voters attached to the congre- 
 gation of the Episcopal Ch. in this city to be held in the room 
 of said congregation at 7 oclk, P. M. of this day, for the 
 purpose of organizing a parish & electing officers therefor 
 according to the canons & customs of said Church having been 
 duly and publicly given, there were present at the time and 
 place above specified, Rev. I. S. Chamberlaine, minister in 
 
 8 
 
charge, & seven others, voters aforesaid : Whereupon the Rev. 
 I. S. Chamberlaine directing, H. A. Foster was appointed 
 Secty — and the meeting being thus organized — on motion of 
 E. G. Sanger Esq. it was resolved 
 
 That the meeting now proceed to the election of officers 
 for this parish for the ensuing year ecclesiastical. 
 
 Wherefore upon the same having been voted for — Mr. 
 Thomas Squire was declared duly elected Senior Warden, Mr. 
 Henry Rugg, Junior Warden & Mess. Washington Cockle, 
 George Stewardson, Henry A. Foster, E. G. Sanger, Ben L. T. 
 Bourland, Wm. Widdenham and Dr. E. Andrews vestrymen 
 as aforesaid. 
 
 Which being done and prayer offered by the clergymen 
 present to the great Head of the Church for the prosperity of 
 that portion of it thus organized amongst us, the meeting on 
 motion adjourned. 
 
 I. S. Chamberlaine, Attest: H. A. Foster, 
 
 Deacon res't in Ills. Sect, pro tern. 
 
 The next page records changes in the vestry which had 
 occurred in two weeks time. As official records seldorr contain 
 comment I am at sea as to the meaning of these changes. The 
 earliest parish register existing begins in 1854, though entries 
 partially covering the previous years have been made in this 
 register. In all entries discovered so far I can find no further 
 mention of Dr. Andrews or Henry Rugg. Whether these resig- 
 nations as recorded April 10th, 1848, were from reluctance 
 to continue in a position which demanded serious adherence 
 to the customs and principles of the Church, with which they 
 were not in full accord, also whether they retired at once from 
 all connection with the Church or not, it is difficult to say. It 
 is known that Mr. Rugg was brought up a Congregationalist, 
 although he was attached to the Episcopal worship on account 
 of the richness of its service, particularly the musical part, as 
 he was a good tenor singer. He afterwards became a member 
 of the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 The resignations of Mr. Rugg and Dr. Andrews were ac- 
 cepted and the vacancies filled by Dr. Rouse and Wm. Mitchell, 
 Wm. Widdenham being made Junior Warden. The vestry so 
 constituted continued throughout the year "ecclesiastical." 
 
 9 
 
Wm. Mitchell was elected treasurer and H. A. Foster clerk at 
 the second meeting of the vestry, April 14th, 1848, the first 
 meeting, April 13th, being without a quorum, — a custom thus 
 early established and still at times religiously observed. These 
 meetings bear affinity to more recent assemblies for another 
 reason. Their frequency denotes an interest and determination 
 that our present vestry justly inherits; there was something 
 to do and they meant to do it without waiting for another term 
 of court. 
 
 Consequently we can see energetic men, some tall and 
 sprightly, others short and round, notably the massive head 
 and square shoulders of B. L. T. Bourland, the curling locks 
 and heavy eyebrows of Dr. Rudolphus Rouse passing down 
 camphine-lighted Main Street. To join them on the corner we 
 can see Bill Mitchell, as people delighted to call him, skipping 
 across lots from the Mitchell House, the present home of the 
 Peoria Star,* and passing behind Geo. B. Bestor's house, site 
 now occupied by W. S. Mulford.** Bestor himself as well as 
 Washington Cockle, postmaster, are high in affairs political 
 rather than ecclesiastical. Our kodak catches the party as they 
 pick their way through the mud — April mud — which covers 
 the Adams Street crossing too deep for composure other than 
 that of a High Church standing and a Broad Church footing. 
 Bless you, they don't mind it; this is not the day of patent 
 leather in Peoria. They scrape the surplus mud off on the 
 rough plank sidewalk, pass the boys drumming their heels on 
 barrels and boxes in front of Fisher Bros, produce warerooms 
 on the corner, farther along Bartlett's Dry Goods store, and 
 now draw near the business center of the town — on Main be- 
 low Washington. Possibly young Mr. Willard, little dreaming 
 how much of his future is bound up in their endeavor, watches 
 them through his store window, as they stop before a double 
 brick store building where a narrow stairway separates John 
 Bryson from Hiram Farrell, two men who never grew much 
 of anything but old together on their real estate. 
 
 Here then at last was found a lodging place, a birthplace 
 for the Church in Peoria ; humble enough, a back-room above 
 
 * No. 137 to 145 Corner of Jefferson and Fulton. 
 ** No. 315 Main Street. 
 
 10 
 
H. G. Farrel's drug store, small, low ceilinged — but in the 
 heart of the town, as it should be, as we always hope it will 
 be, metaphorically as well as literally. 
 
 St. Paul's Parish began its life under the administration 
 of a deacon, — I. S. Chamberlaine had not yet been ordained. 
 He is not the only deacon, by the way, who has presided over 
 the destinies of St. Paul's — but that is coming rather close to 
 home.* During Mr. Chamberlaine's deaconship, the Rev. 
 Joseph Mayo of Limestone, neighbor of the Rev. John Benson, 
 the many years priest and pastor of Christ Church, Limestone, 
 came in once a month to administer Holy Communion. These 
 occasions were feast days for more than the people of St. 
 Paul's. Mr. Chas. Mayo, son of the Rev. Joseph, tells of his 
 father's first visit to St. Paul's. (The name Mayo to others, 
 as well as to the writer, seems like a halo 'round Peoria, and 
 in earlier days it, to all accounts, must have scintillated. The 
 Rev. Joseph and his sons and daughters were a bright and 
 lively family brought up in the love of God and of each other ; 
 and the basketsful of love left over have always served to 
 make their neighbors happier and better.) They all came in 
 together this time. Pleasant Valley, which might have been 
 so named for their passing through it, was no more country 
 than the fields each side of the Farmington Road, now Main 
 Street, clear to the front of the bluff and down at least as far 
 as to where St. Paul's stone church now stands. Speaking of 
 the Farmington Road, during that part of the '30s when St. 
 Jude's Church was languishing, Farmington was considered 
 by some — Mr. Rugg for instance — as having a brighter future 
 than Peoria, not ecclesiastically but temporally. That was 
 before the wonderful whiskey fortunes were made. 
 
 But on this morning the Mayos were thinking neither of 
 Farmington nor whiskey, but of the beautiful day and the 
 beautiful fields and the picturesque city spread out like a 
 fringe along the blue lake, with the fresh green hills beyond. 
 May God and man keep those hills across the water always 
 fresh and green to rest tired eyes and help tired hearts to work 
 
 * Mr. Percival, our rector at the time of writing, was delighting all 
 hearts with his bright and winning ways and earnest efforts to live up to 
 our pride in him. 
 
 11 
 
more bravely day by day. The Mayos stopped at Mrs. Gus- 
 torf's on Hamilton Street and from there they set out to find 
 the little upper room on Main Street. The Rev. Joseph stopped 
 a man to ask him where it was, and he not knowing, a young 
 lady just in advance of the party stopped and turned saying, 
 "Pardon me, but if you wish to go to the Church room I will 
 show you where it is; I am going there myself." Mr. Chas. 
 Mayo says that he always has remembered the beauty and 
 sweetness of this charming young woman who came so delight- 
 fully to their assistance ; and those who remember her even in 
 her later years can appreciate Mr. Mayo's feelings as he first 
 looked upon the lovely face of Mrs. Washington Cockle, the 
 mother of our present vestryman, Chas. S. Cockle. 
 
 At the first celebration of the Holy Eucharist in St. Paul's 
 Church the room was well filled. Mr. Mayo says that in the 
 prayers everybody turned around and knelt to their chairs, 
 that there was no altar rail, and but few at a time could par- 
 take of Communion. One corner of the room was screened off 
 for a robing closet and according to the custom of the times 
 the black scholastic gown was assumed for preaching the 
 sermon. It might be interesting to contrast the changing of 
 robe for this purpose with the change that is now made when 
 the priest takes off his chasuble before going to the pulpit and 
 resumes it again after the sermon. If a mere matter of show 
 under criticism, how much does the one custom differ from 
 the other? Mr. Mayo remembers the singing, aside from what 
 their own family contributed, as done by young ladies mostly, 
 their leader as the one who was or soon became Mrs. 0. C. 
 Parmely. Mr. Mayo's memory, naturally chivalrous, seems 
 more easliy to recall the women than the men; and though 
 he does not mention him, Mr. Henry Rugg must undoubtedly 
 have been one of the singers, unless some other religious body, 
 as they have done at times since, had outbid St. Paul's for his 
 tenor voice. I wonder how our present choir would have 
 sounded in that small room, and I wonder how the town would 
 have taken the sensation? The vestry, if they had not all re- 
 signed, might have been kept busy answering questions, and 
 not musical questions, either. 
 
 12 
 
But that particular alarm clock was set to go off later. 
 It was enough for Evangelical Peoria to float the simple Epis- 
 copal proposition then before it. That proposition, as far as 
 the general public was concerned, was the accumulation of 
 funds to build a Church on a piece of property on the edge of 
 town offered to St. Paul's Parish for that purpose by Bishop 
 Chase. That particular corn or potato field was owned pre- 
 vious to the Bishop's holding by Wm. Tobey and was situated 
 on the corner of Main and Monroe Streets. Mr. Gray lived in 
 a house opposite on Main. And now if they would work for 
 it, the vestry of St. Paul's could have a church building far 
 enough out into the country to have a chance to grow. That 
 they appreciated this fact is seen by the record, which shows 
 how October 29th, 1848, they decided to procure more elbow 
 room while it was low in price, and how incidentally they 
 started another custom not now neglected. 
 
 "October 29th, 1848. ... On motion of E. G. Sanger, 
 W. Cockle and E. G. Sanger were appointed a committee to 
 wait upon the P. E. Sewing Society and request a loan of 
 eighty dollars for the purpose of buying ten feet more ground 
 adjoining Church lot and to propose to pay six per cent for 
 the same." 
 
 Eight dollars a foot for ground fronting Main Street! It 
 was lovely of the ladies' sewing society; but what was the 
 matter with E. G. Sanger and Washington Cockle? Did they 
 not know that the women of St. Paul's always could and would 
 gladly more than double anything the vestry asked ? Think of 
 the splendid depth of chancel and choir stall accommodation 
 the P. E. Society had at its fingers' ends to say nothing of 
 guildhall, parsonage etc., all for eight dollars a foot. "The 
 children of this world are in their generation wiser than the 
 children of light." But that is hardly fair as buyers of Main 
 Street property in those days were not numerous even among 
 the worldly ones, and there were worldly ones then, they 
 tell us. 
 
 The Bishop's gift was officially accepted September 27th, 
 1848. The next month R. Rouse and W. Cockle were appointed 
 a committee to solicit subscriptions towards building a Church 
 and the P. E. Sewing Society were solicited as before men- 
 tioned. It is a matter of regret that so many tenacious customs 
 
 13 
 
or habits took root in our parish in its infancy; here is an- 
 other: The committee on subscriptions were appointed in 
 October; the following February it was "on motion resolved 
 that the committee on subscriptions proceed to discharge their 
 duty and that the secretary prepare a proper book for the 
 purpose." 
 
 They could not have been waiting for the people to return 
 from their summer holidays ? Possibly the forerunner of Tripp 
 & Co.,* Tucker & Mansfield, I suppose, had been slow in order- 
 ing the proper style of blank book or there was a delay on 
 account of navigation. But the chances are that the courage 
 necessary to begin soliciting was as slow coming as it is now. 
 Slow as it was, it was probably not so slow as the coming of 
 the money needed. 
 
 April 9th, 1849, brought a new Church year and the elec- 
 tion resulted as follows: John Birket, Senior Warden (a name 
 of great subsequent importance to the Church in Peoria) ; 
 Thomas Squires, Junior Warden ; Rudolphus Rouse, Washing- 
 ton Cockle, Geo. C. Bestor, E. G. Sanger, Eldrick Smith, H. A. 
 Foster, Wm. Widdenham, vestrymen; W. Cockle, Secretary. 
 At vestry meeting the evening following, Thos. Squires and 
 H. A. Foster were appointed a committee "to ascertain the 
 actual cost of materials and labor to build a Church edifice 
 according to the plans and specifications prepared by Mr. 
 Ulrichson." Mr. Chas. Ulrichson was in a way, therefore, the 
 father of the first Church building; and it is with pleasure 
 that we can realize how long the work of superintendency in 
 St. Paul's one way or another remained with the name. His 
 wife, and later his daughter also, have been constant in pre- 
 paring and executing plans and specific work to the good of 
 the parish. For much of its early existence the vested choir 
 had a mother in Mrs. Ulrichson.** 
 
 Apparently the small money prospect was pinching the 
 young parish and "actual cost" was called upon to show its 
 face, in hopes, perhaps, that it might be made to shrink to 
 
 * At the time of writing, Tripp & Co. were still doing business at 
 208 Main Street; the old reliable office supply house for many years. 
 
 ** Position now held and for the last twenty years by Miss Mary 
 Armstrong. 
 
 14 
 
dimensions fitting their emergency. I note that no contractor 
 other than the architect appeared upon the scene to give 
 chance for future squabbles. Work and materials were to be 
 bartered for separately and Mr. Ulrichson alone was to be 
 held responsible. I wonder how frequently the roof leaked in 
 the first building. I can find few entries of repairs and should 
 judge that Mr. Ulrichson's work on the building was as good 
 as either the ecclesiastical work inside or the spiritual work 
 outside. However, before there could be any inside, either 
 actual cost or the public had to be conjured. 
 
 But first as a proper foundation the Bishop on May 14th 
 wrote the vestry offering certain valuable books that had been 
 placed at his disposal for the benefit of some parish, and 
 stating that he "thereby name St. Paul's Church, Peoria, Ills., 
 as the object of the above specific benevolence, and provided 
 the books be kept and never sold (where are they?) but used 
 for said Parish and Minister forever. I do give the same into 
 their hands . . ." The catalogue begins with "Maury's 
 Principles of Eloquence, 1 vol." A popular ex-president of 
 our Men's Club* will undoubtedly be pleased to know that such 
 fundamental principles were incorporated in the beginning of 
 St. Paul's Church. The list continues : 
 
 Patrick Lowth and Whitley's Commentaries 4 vols. 
 
 Homes Introductions 2 vols. 
 
 Arminian & Calvinistic Controversy 2 vols. 
 
 McKnight on the Epistles 
 
 Burnett on the 39 Articles 
 
 Hooker's Works 
 
 Hobart on the State of the Departed 
 etc., etc., ending with "Percival on the Roman Schism." 
 
 It is barely possible that the list scared the Peorians into 
 action. So much solemnity was formidable. There was only 
 one resource, one that is always to be relied upon : they called 
 the ladies in. At least there is no proof to the contrary, and it 
 is a positive fact, and the evidence is found in the records im- 
 mediately following, that the people indulged in a Ladies' 
 Fair; and on the same date another entry shows that the 
 
 * Dabney T. Maury, who shortly before the time of writing, together 
 with his wife, had been devoted workers in Church and Sunday School. 
 They were deservedly popular and were woefully missed when they left 
 town for Evanston. 
 
 15 
 
church building had been commenced. The cornerstone was 
 laid July 28th, 1849.* It is odd that the clerk of the vestry 
 should have considered it unnecessary to mention the fact on 
 the records. The Fair, however, was not done in a corner, and 
 the usual results followed. 
 
 The exact date of this important social event is uncertain ; 
 but it took place in the winter of 1849-50. The ancestor of all 
 St. Paul's Church fairs was not unworthy of its progeny in the 
 essentials, sociability and success. In minor details the con- 
 trast between then and now is about as great as is that ot 
 ritual — in reverse order. This fair, so I am told by Mr. Rouse, 
 ran one week. One full week of fun and frolic ! The work and 
 worry are forgotten. I take it for granted that the whole 
 town attended. Why could not some one have saved a program, 
 if they had such a thing? I guarantee that had there been one, 
 no advertisement would have appeared on its pages though no 
 "Merchants' Association" existed to defeat its object. Not that 
 the merchants would have objected to appearing in such com- 
 pany or because they were at all niggardly, but because that 
 was the day of innocence in the art of advertising. Otherwise 
 the advertisements, as Drown's Directory will show, would 
 have eclipsed the practical part of the entertainment. Witness 
 the efforts of such enterprising citizens as Caleb Whittemore 
 showing the figure of a soldier at guard with tall hat and 
 plume and the legend: "Gun and Whitesmith — and all orders 
 promptly attended to" — typical emblem of the attention that 
 continued for over sixty years; and that of Wm. A. Herron, 
 druggist, whose stately words, "The public are respectfully 
 informed . . ." is peculiarly characteristic of the banker of 
 today.** Part of the quaint advertisement reads like a 
 prophecy, "Having recently embarked in business and being 
 desirous of establishing a reputation, he will spare no exer- 
 tions to give satisfaction." Had our Church people realized 
 their opportunity in the program line, what could they not 
 have done, especially unencumbered as they were with anyone 
 in authority inclined to object? 
 
 * The stone so marked was saved when the old church was torn 
 down and is now embedded in the wall of the Tower Vestibule of our 
 present building. 
 
 ** Now deceased. 
 
 16 
 
In looking for a suitable room to hold the fair, the ladies 
 had no such chance as now. No "Women's Club" existed, not 
 even Rouse's Hall* had yet been placed daringly among the 
 fine residences that surrounded the Court House Square. But 
 they were able to find a good place. The Masons' Hall was 
 opened to them. It was conveniently near. They could look 
 out of the windows of St. Paul's room and see it across the 
 intervening back yards of the principal stores of Peoria. This 
 building is still standing on the alley behind Franks & Sons 
 on Fulton Street. Think of it! That disreputable rookery, 
 once the scene of a gathering of all the most fashionable and 
 highly respectable of Peoria society. The stamp of respect- 
 ability has been for many years washed out and stained black 
 under the loose principles of our city administration. But at 
 the time no better place could be found than the Masonic Hall 
 over Gurney's leather store. 
 
 And here, according to common law regulations that gov- 
 ern absolutely on such occasions, men were persuaded to 
 purchase all sorts and conditions of goods temptingly arrayed 
 and temptingly offered by saleswomen perfectly innocent of 
 the intrinsic value of the articles they sold but wise concern- 
 ing the value of their personal attractions and consequent 
 power. Flowers, — so much to pin a rosebud in a buttonhole, 
 — and what man ever regretted the experience however great 
 the charge? Refreshments, a man is always hungry when he 
 can choose his waiter from the most charming of the town! 
 Fortune-telling, old as the hills, but costly, especially to the 
 popular. 
 
 Who won the gold watch that was raffled off one evening? 
 Young Mr. Hotchkiss, of course. He always won everything 
 and lost nothing except his savings. Reckless in the extreme 
 was Newell Hotchkiss; he didn't care whether school kept or 
 not. In fact, all he cared for was a certain Miss Rouse, and 
 when a wonderful and gorgeous bonnet was put up for raffle 
 he emptied his pockets with his usual luck, and then went on 
 a hunt for Miss Martha. But Miss Martha was in hiding ; she 
 knew the bonnet and she had her suspicions as to Newell's 
 intentions. Nothing in the world would tempt her to wear an 
 
 * Site of the Peoria Life Building. 
 
 17 
 
unbecoming bonnet. Matters grew interesting for the crowd 
 and serious for the young couple. The sympathizing women 
 did all they could to screen the young lady, but Newell was too 
 determined. They say that when he found her the scene was 
 the liveliest one on the program. What became of the bonnet 
 is a mystery ; but the story ended as all good stories do. 
 The ceremony took place some time later. 
 But of all the attractions that were billed to take place 
 none were looked forward to with so much expectation as the 
 Mayo family glee performance. The fame of the Hutchinson 
 family had but begun to spread when Rev. Joseph Mayo was 
 preparing to leave his home in Ohio for the Illinois prairies. 
 His large family of boys and girls caught the inspiration and, 
 under the instructions of their talented mother, reached such 
 a degree of perfection as to make their three weeks' journey 
 overland a musical tour. I understand that they were so suc- 
 cessful as to alarm the conscience of the austere father, who 
 might have dreaded the possibility of his children adopting 
 a traveling profession to the break-up of his home. But in- 
 stead of a break-up it proved an additional tie. They were 
 bound all the closer together by the joy of the musical har- 
 mony. Eventually they could line up ten voices; but at this 
 time, Joseph and William, bassos ; George and Charles, tenors ; 
 Frances, alto; and possibly Herbert, were those who stood 
 forth on this memorable occasion. One of the most attractive 
 numbers in their repertoire was a pathetic song in which 
 George, the best voice of them all, took the air and the appre- 
 ciative audience were thrilled with (the words live only in 
 memory now) : 
 
 On board the Valiant we set sail, 
 
 Her streamers waving in the ivind. 
 
 On high flew Jack; he ivaved his cap in air; 
 
 He saw his own dear Mary weeping there. 
 
 And heard her sigh, "Adieu, adieu," 
 
 And heard her sigh, "Adieu." 
 
 Mr. Rouse can not say whether this song was what 
 
 smoothed the ruffled waters that threatened shipwreck to 
 
 Newell Hotchkiss' hopes or not; but it ought to have done 
 
 more than that. Some are bold enough to think that it may 
 
 18 
 
have had something to do with the departure of young 
 Matthew Griswold for the East from whence he soon returned 
 with his bride. 
 
 One thing, however, will always remain a mystery, viz.: 
 what the wheelbarrow was used for — 
 
 Apl. 3d, 1850. Resolved, that the sum of five dollars be 
 paid to James L. Riggs, being the amount paid by him for a 
 wheelbarrow, which was lost at the time of holding the Ladies' 
 Fair, and which had been borrowed and used on that occasion. 
 
 Did Newell Hotchkiss use it to dispose of the bonnet? 
 Was that before 0. C. Parmely set up his livery? Matthew 
 Griswold could not have taken it East in accord with the old 
 nursery rhyme. This was St. Paul's Church Fair, and people 
 were supposed to be able to find their way home without aid. 
 But that is far afield. Not even an echo of a grumble has come 
 down the years; for a good brick church seating 350 people 
 and costing $5500.00 was dedicated September 15th, 1850, the 
 exact middle of a century of American progression; and in 
 one year's time not a pew was vacant. 
 
 So far this history of the Church has been largely and 
 necessarily secular. But late in the year 1849 there came to 
 Peoria a man whose life was given to the Church and whose 
 dominant power was the stay of the Church for years, whose 
 devotion was unexampled, whose determination raised the 
 Church to its highest point of prosperity and yet in a sad 
 hour brought it to the verge of destruction. The name of 
 Alexander G. Tyng is written in indelible ink across the his- 
 tory of St. Paul's Parish. That he was an angel of God both 
 for our blessing and our chastening, I fully believe. He was 
 a young man in 1849 and a representative of the youth and 
 enterprise of the town which he chose for his life work. How 
 many young men of the highest social circles in p eoria today 
 would be willing every Sunday to carry a small melodeon from 
 the house to the Church, particularly if it were down Main 
 Street and up a narrow flight of stairs ? Young Tyng was not 
 ashamed or afraid to do this, week in and week out for a year 
 or more, notwithstanding the fact that it gave the other fel- 
 lows a chance to walk ahead with the pretty Brotherson girls 
 
 19 
 
after Church. He was not so short-sighted, either, for Mrs. 
 Brotherson was the kindest-hearted woman that ever lived, 
 and it was Mrs. Brotherson who pla3^ed the melodeon. Perhaps 
 that accounts. Henry Rouse and the other boys had their 
 laugh at the time; but as the roses blossomed on the fair 
 cheeks of one of the loveliest young women in the town (God's 
 blessing never was so full of grace in all our land as when he 
 gave Peoria this perfection of a woman) and it became evi- 
 dent that young Mr. Tyng had advanced fortifications where 
 they were beginning to tell, almost any one would have been 
 willing to take his chances on the melodeon for what went with 
 it. There was one gentle lady, who just before her death 
 recalled vividly how, all of sixty years before, her poor heart 
 failed her as she stood beside her two friends, the Brotherson 
 girls, in the Church choir, and wondered, as she said, "if my 
 plain face( one of the most interesting of faces that I have 
 known and admired) could possibly interest anybody with 
 those pretty ones so near." 
 
 This is not the only memory of heart failure in that room. 
 The saintliest of men that ever lifted up his voice in prayer 
 and praise in Peoria, Rev. John Benson, whose long life ended 
 peacefully a number of years ago, told how in the early days 
 of his ministry he was invited to take a service in St. Paul's 
 room. He had gotten as far as the sermon and had given out 
 his text when he became as one dumb. His voice was com- 
 pletely gone, he could not make a sound. He stood there before 
 all the people, their eyes on him awaiting his words, and he 
 speechless. The moisture gathered on his pale face, he felt 
 the strain slowly creeping over his sympathetic congregation. 
 He closed his eyes for one moment of intense prayer, and as 
 though the hand of the loving healer of all ills had touched 
 him he felt the power of speech come back. Assuredly Christ, 
 the loving, patient, life-giving Christ, had forever touched 
 with His power this servant of His, whose voice, however 
 feeble, was like a pure spring of living water never ceasing 
 to bring rest and comfort to the weary and afflicted in the 
 desert places of life's journey. His heart was an endless 
 Halleluia, his life a beautiful cathedral window for all who 
 knew him. 
 
 20 
 
The memorial windows in that little room of old St. Paul's 
 are stained in pure colors truly, for hunt as one will, no mis- 
 chief making element is discoverable. The little old melodeon 
 sends down the years only harmonious strains. What though 
 young Roswell Bills and little Peckham carried it about with 
 them on the streets in serenades, and "Come where my love 
 lies dreaming" blended with its plaintive piping under dainty 
 Miss Kuhn's window, was it not indicative of the good will 
 of all men toward each other, of whatever religion? Michief 
 making must have been of later breeding or shortlived and 
 seedless. The Canada thistle had not yet got a foothold in 
 our western prairies. The English sparrow and the box elder 
 with its caterpillars had not come in 1850. But what was more 
 to the Peoria people, and the Church, Mrs. Matthew Griswold 
 had. She was only one of the scores of women whose lives 
 have been given unsparingly to the work of the Parish of St. 
 Paul's. It is always the women who do the real work. (So 
 far the Indian has stamped our land with his traits.) But 
 however much Peoria looked for her coming and however 
 much it afterward became to her, dreadful seemed the sacri- 
 fice at the time. She has told how she came from her lovely 
 home in the East by rail, river and canal. The trail wandered 
 farther and farther into the endless, desolate West. To ex- 
 change the stately buildings of her home city for the low 
 rambling barracks squatting on muddy streets, and the Gothic 
 Church for the low back room brought tears hard to hold back. 
 
 From the same well whence came the tears came the 
 generous fountain of hospitality that was the pride of St. 
 Paul's for many years. The Griswold home may have started 
 in the old brick house recently wrecked for the patrol building 
 beside the City Hall but soon the mansion, doomed to hotel 
 purposes for a while and then but a bill board stand,* on South 
 Madison Street off Main, became a victorious rival of the 
 Rouse and Brotherson homes. Bishop Chase may have hugged 
 the grate fires in the Doctor's house, but the grate fires Mrs. 
 Griswold started — warm as her heart — were lighted for his 
 successors, and frequently lighted. 
 
 * Now the home of the Peoria Evening Star. 
 
 21 
 
I can remember years ago how funny I thought the 
 parody on the Psalms that, on account of his Lordship's fre- 
 quent visits, originated from the young scion of the household : 
 "Why hop ye so ye high hills, why do ye hop? Because he is 
 coming, my Lord Bishop'. Why hip ye high hills, why do ye 
 hip? Because he is coming, my Lord BishipV , etc. And those 
 grate fires; seldom has their like been seen. No wonder the 
 bishop came. Particularly if the same dainty little maiden 
 with the loveliest black hair and eyes, coy and bewitching, 
 touched matches to the cunningly piled wood and coal, and 
 the flames crept, curled and darted till all was blazing, and 
 the jolly roar up the chimney made you welcome, and the 
 warmth came out and held you captive with a charm second 
 only to the warmth of welcome in the Griswold heart. 
 
 So it was that Mrs. Griswold stopped her weeping and 
 stayed to make a home — St. Paul's Parish was made of homes. 
 It is not only brilliant men and fashionable women to whom 
 St. Paul's is indebted for its success. John Birket, said to be 
 one of the plainest, quietest of men, when approached by the 
 subscription committee, took their breath away by a proposi- 
 tion to give as his share to the new building whatever a certain 
 piece of ground he owned should be sold for; and $1000.00 
 was thus realized, one-fifth of the total cost of the new build- 
 ing. He certainly did not ask how much others were giving 
 for fear he should give more than his share. 
 
 It was a great day, that of the dedication, a proud day 
 for Bishop Chase, a day of general rejoicing and good fellow- 
 ship. The Rev. I. S. Chamberlaine, although he had put his 
 best endeavor into the growth of the young Church, was not 
 to experience as rector the joys of the new building. His 
 resignation was sent in and accepted early in the year (1850) , 
 although his occasional services were obtained until the coming 
 of Rev. J. W. Cracraft. Mr. Cracraft, whose rectorship in St. 
 Paul's numbered seven years, was a man of considerable 
 strength of character, a bachelor with many of the traits of 
 a bachelor to mar the work of an otherwise excellent clergy- 
 man, and for the condition of the times rather an indifferent 
 Churchman. His likes and dislikes were strong and uncon- 
 cealed ; and I suspect he gave the P. E. Sewing Society plenty 
 to talk about. 
 
 22 
 
One of these tales, not exactly ecclesiastical but illustra- 
 tive of what a misfortune a bachelor habit can be, lingers in 
 the memory of one of the gentlest of women. Unexpectedly 
 (a prerogative of the clergy with a precedent in the Bishop) 
 Mr. Cracraft dropped in to tea on one of his parishoners. She 
 was considerably flustered, knowing that her visitor was 
 whimsical about his food. But she got together what she could 
 and set her table with a well-cooked juicy leg of mutton, pota- 
 toes, biscuits, cranberry sauce and tarts, then asked the good 
 man out. "Mutton!" He despised mutton. "Biscuits!" He 
 wouldn't think of so indigestible a food. He refused every- 
 thing but the potatoes ; and the poor little woman, worried and 
 chagrined, watched the dish rapidly disappear. Whether the 
 lofty conversation of the Rev. Mr. Cracraft sufficiently repaid 
 her for her earthly humiliation may have been known to the 
 P. E. Sewing Society, but is not otherwise recorded. 
 
 There must have been something in the man to counter- 
 balance this unpopular trait as well as kindred failings, for 
 the Church grew under his pastorate. Even his enemies could 
 not deny this. One of them in after years confessed to a 
 peculiar circumstance illustrative of the interest he inspired. 
 She was a close neighbor, which may account for the bitterness 
 that kept her from entering the Church doors, living directly 
 behind the Church in a small brick house on the lot that for 
 many years of late has been like Uriah's wife in the eyes of 
 the parish; and the voice of the preacher reached her ears 
 every Sunday in a tantalizing way. At last she could resist 
 the seductive tones no longer and Zacchaeus-like climbed a 
 tree that grew close to the chancel window. There for many 
 Sundays she attended Church, escaping only the collection 
 plate and pew rent. 
 
 But one day came, bringing with it the Rev. Dr. Tyng of 
 New York City, whose powerful voice rang out in startling 
 tones as he gave out his text: "Come in! thou blessed of the 
 Lord. Why standest thou without?" Like an apple struck 
 squarely with a stone, she dropt from the tree, and bruised 
 both inwardly and outwardly crept into the house, trembling 
 with fright and mortification. 
 
 23 
 
So in season and out of season the Rev. Mr. Cracraft 
 worked; and his vestry changing slightly from year to year 
 had but little business to record. There is but one entry on 
 the clerk's book for 1851 and but one for 1852. Here it seems, 
 'That country is happy that has no history.'' For the sole 
 meeting for 1852 records the appointment of a committee to 
 obtain subscriptions for more ground. This is evidence of 
 growth, making it desirable to add to the building. But the 
 effort must have fallen flat, as the record continues eventless ; 
 two meetings in 1853, the first only appointing delegates to 
 convention, the other voting a payment of $107.00 for repairs 
 to the rector's room, resolving that a notice be read to the 
 congregation on the subject of "Sabbath collections," and 
 showing a list of subscriptions for expenses. 1854 opens with 
 trouble. 
 
 Peoria, March 14th, 1854. 
 To the Vestry of St. Paul's Church, Peoria, 111. 
 Gentlemen: 
 
 Our Parish ought, as you well know, to be in a much more 
 vigorous and prosperous condition than it is: While our city 
 has, during the last eighteen months, increased in population 
 two or three thousand, our congregation has remained about 
 the same. It is vitally important to the interests of our Parish 
 that the Church should be enlarged. Now, gentlemen, I am 
 fully satisfied from the fact that my influence in my Parish 
 has for some time been evidently decreasing, that these two 
 desirable and all imporatnt objects can not be accomplished 
 while I remain in charge of the Parish. Being fully persuaded 
 of this, I feel it my duty to resign, and herewith present to 
 you my resignation . . . With sentiments of Christian 
 respect, I am, gentlemen, Yours, 
 
 (Signed) J. W. Cracraft. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Tyng, the following reply was sent: 
 Rev. and Dear Sir: 
 
 We have received your letter with sincere regret and 
 should accept it with great reluctance. Being convinced that 
 the Church has flourished and will continue to flourish under 
 your ministry ... we would request that you take the 
 matter under further consideration. . . . Circumstances 
 beyond our control have prevented the enlargement of our 
 building, yet we still hope before long that may be accom- 
 plished . . . Respectfully, &c, 
 
 W. Cockle, Clerk. 
 24 
 
These letters are practically duplicates of thousands of 
 others before and since all over the country. It is easy to 
 expect much, because over-sanguine, and then to get discour- 
 aged when these expectations are not realized. Mr. Cracraft 
 said he was fully satisfied that expectations could not become 
 realities under his administration. His vestry apparently 
 knew what he meant. He meant to shake them up by the heels. 
 He could make a meal on potatoes if necessary, but he intended 
 that his Church should live better. And it was so. 
 
 You will notice that the reply to Mr. Cracraft contained 
 an implied promise and that it was sent on motion of Mr. 
 Tyng. Mr. Tyng was always making motions that were mo- 
 tions to a purpose, not stagnations; consequently it is not at 
 all surprising that we find on record March 26th, 1855, the 
 following : 
 
 . . . Resolved, in tendering our thanks to Mr. Tyng for 
 the gift of the proposed library we wish also to place on record 
 an expression of our sense of his numerous other liberal acts 
 and services towards this Parish, more especially in regard to 
 the recent enlargement of the Church edifice, which originat- 
 ing in his suggestions has been carried through mainly by his 
 liberality and personal attention. 
 
 The reference to the library is explained by a letter on 
 the minutes of the previous meeting. 
 To the Wardens & Vestry of St. Paul's Church: 
 
 Herewith I enclose to you my account against the Church, 
 leaving a balance due me of $2437.95 including all bills for 
 building, balance on organ, &c, which amount I propose to give 
 to the Church on the following conditions, to-wit: that the 
 vestry appropriate of the revenue of the Church to be paid 
 before all other claims one hundred and fifty dollars on the 
 first of May and the first of November each for eight years, 
 being twenty-four hundred dollars in all — said amount to be 
 expended under the direction of the Rector of the Parish in 
 purchasing a Theological Library. The books to be marked 
 "St. Paul's Church Library" and to be forever the property of 
 the Church and for the use and under the direction of the 
 Rector. 
 
 (Signed) Alexander G. Tyng. 
 
 I have been informed that only two payments were ever 
 made by the vestry in compliance with this agreement, and 
 that the responsibility of living up to the rest of the bargain 
 
 25 
 
was forever shirked. Can it be that even old St. Paul's found 
 it impossible to make both ends meet? But it is easier to raise 
 money for a steamboat excursion than a library. Then $300.00 
 worth of theology in addition to the foundation library from 
 Bishop Chase may have seemed ample for the Rev. Mr. Cra- 
 craft until such golden days should come as we are ever hoping 
 for. Whatever they thought of their library in those days, 
 their successors must have thought even less, for somehow, 
 sometime, the whole thing must have evaporated. There is no 
 trace of it now existing. 
 
 There was another gift made to the Parish at the same 
 time, by Matthew Griswold, of which the greater part is still 
 with us. I refer to the marble baptismal font and two cathe- 
 dral chairs of oak. All that is most sacred in St. Paul's Church 
 clusters around that font. Simple now compared with every- 
 thing else in the present Church, it bears witness to the 
 simplicity and purity of its use. May it never cease to guard 
 The True Faith in St. Paul's Church. Against the fading 
 power of a theological library, cost it ever so much, I place 
 the life-giving, standard-bearing font. One of the oaken Gothic 
 chairs, as they are called in the resolution of thanks, adorns 
 our present sanctuary, and the central rib of its back still 
 serves to keep our bishops upright — or forces them to sit 
 sidewise — the bishop's throne is no easier than the monarch's. 
 That our vestry was duly appreciative of these gifts is shown 
 by the fact that they published resolutions concerning them to 
 the world in the Western Episcopalian. They probably real- 
 ized in time how much easier it was to publish good resolutions 
 than to keep them. 
 
 So in the winter of 1855 our vestry had the pleasure of 
 buying coal to heat about twice as many cubic feet of space 
 as before. Each side of the old building was extended to the 
 limits of the lot, making it cruciform. The chancel was trans- 
 ferred to the Monroe Street addition and a tower was erected 
 on the northeast corner on Main Street, through which another 
 entrance was made. Thus finished the shape of the Church 
 was the only thing in any way symbolic of the Cross. There 
 was a chancel, of course, with a rail separating it from the 
 
 26 
 
body of the Church and raised platform height, but containing 
 no sanctuary and no altar. A table, chairs, a pulpit and a 
 lecturn were all the chancel contained. The prayerbook and 
 the clergyman's vestments were all that marked a faith differ- 
 ing from other churches in the city with, in some instances, 
 the exception of the font. Rev. J. W. Cracraft's churchman- 
 ship was marked the same way as was, undoubtedly, that of 
 most of his parishoners. For two years he ministered to the 
 people in the building he had longed for and obtained, and for 
 the same time the clerk's books had use for only three partial 
 pages, recording principally the following elections, which are 
 placed here to mark some of the changes that had occurred : 
 1856 1857 
 
 A. G. Tyng, Warden A. G. Tyng, Warden 
 
 J. P. Hotchkiss, Warden M. Griswold, Warden 
 
 John Johnston R. Rouse 
 
 Dr. R. Rouse P. R. K. Brotherson 
 
 P. R. K. Brotherson John Johnston 
 
 J. W. Hansel J. W. Hansel 
 
 Geo. C. Bestor Dr. Colburn 
 
 M. Griswold E. J. Cowell 
 
 W. Cockle W. Cockle 
 
 It is appropriate to mention here that Matthew Griswold 
 had served as vestryman since 1850 and retained his office 
 till his death. 
 
 April 18, 1857, the Rev. Mr. Cracraft sent a long letter 
 of resignation to the vestry, in which he said he was sorry 
 to have to, etc., etc. And the vestry responded in the same 
 vein. And letter and resolutions were printed and 500 copies 
 distributed to ensure all knowing the situation exactly as 
 they, the rector and vestry, wished them to know it. All little 
 differences existing between the rector and his people were 
 carefully covered from sight, as they should be in a final part- 
 ing, and only the good things were mentioned. Perhaps if this 
 beautiful Christian spirit had prevailed at other times the 
 parting might have been indefinitely postponed and the stoiy 
 of St. Paul's Parish widely different. Christ Reformed Church 
 might never have been organized. But, as it was, the vestry 
 at once got on the track of a man they wanted and called him. 
 
 27 
 
He declined, as recorded in a subsequent meeting, and some of 
 our vestry will comprehend the clause that ends the minutes : 
 "After general consultation in regard to the interests of the 
 Church, on motion adjourned. ,, 
 
 In the next meeting, however, they took another hitch 
 and called Rev. Henry N. Strong of Marshall, Mich. They took 
 the precaution previously of accepting a lot in the cemetery 
 that had been offered them. They were not obliged to bury 
 their hopes this time, for Mr. Strong accepted. Before leaving 
 the subject of this cemetery lot, the attention of the vestry is 
 called to the fact of its present neglect. Several of our parish- 
 oners were buried there and the Church at least should pay 
 the ordinary care of the lot. As it stands now, it is a disgrace 
 to us all — out of sight, out of mind, I suppose, as very few if 
 any of the parish know of its existence, its care having been 
 a personal matter for years with those who are not npw living. 
 
 The coming of the new minister meant new activity, and 
 in September, 1857, a meeting of pewholders decided to raise 
 the pew rents 50%. As a financial proposition the rental sys- 
 tem seems here to show an advantage over the pledge system. 
 It would have been impossible for any meeting to increase the 
 pledges of others 50%, or any per cent, for that matter. Not 
 that this raise was agreeable to all pew holders then. But they 
 had to accept, grumble or no grumble, or leave, which alter- 
 native suggests an advantage in the present system. October 
 of this year saw great preparations for the coming convention, 
 which was to be held in Peoria, and Messrs. Cockle, Hansel 
 and Tyng were appointed a committee to call upon the mem- 
 bers of the congregation to make arrangements to accommo- 
 date delegates. I can imagine these men quietly turning over 
 this difficult matter to their wives. The canvass, mind you, 
 could not then be made over the telephone or by automobiles, 
 but was a house to house canvass, on foot. There was a con- 
 vention the next year, however, that the men did not turn 
 over to any one. 
 
 That the Church should have thrived so well at this time 
 is much to the credit of the rector, whose sixty-nine baptisms 
 and sixty-eight candidates for Confirmation inside of two 
 
 28 
 
years attest to his energy. For the years of his rectorship 
 were unsettled years for the country at large ; and the conven- 
 tion above referred to was one of a series of political conven- 
 tions that made the year 1858 the most memorable year in 
 the history of Illinois. It was in 1858 that Lincoln and Douglas 
 met in debate at Peoria. 
 
 In the intense excitement of politics it would have been 
 only natural to expect that Church interests would suffer. The 
 foremost men on both sides were members of St. Paul's. At 
 vestry meetings Washington Cockle might listen and vote on 
 questions concerning Communion collections, the advisability 
 of paying 21/2% to the sexton for collecting pew rents, etc.; 
 but his heart was possibly with the coming struggle for the 
 life of the Democratic party. The question of mixing plaster 
 of paris with the first coat of plaster in ceiling the Church 
 was vastly less important to him than the mixing of Geo. W. 
 Raney with the post office at the expense of Peter Sweat, both 
 good democrats and both members of St. Paul's. While in 
 medieval times records political were possible only through 
 records ecclesiastical, modern Church records are as skeletons 
 where political events are concerned. So while the years 1858- 
 1859 are made alive in political records with details full of 
 fire and fury, in these same years the clerk of St. Paul's vestry 
 jots down items calm and commonplace. Even when some- 
 thing goes wrong he is as innocent of it as the chief of police 
 is of gambling.* For note what happens at the end of the 
 following record : 
 
 Pew Holders' Meeting — Easter Monday, 25th April, 1859. 
 At a meeting of pewholders held at 9 o'clock this day in the 
 Church, pursuant to notice — after morning prayers, the rector 
 being in the chair, offered the account of the treasurer for the 
 past year, also statement of the financial affairs of the Church 
 for the coming six months to October 1st, 1859. Mr. Cowell 
 appointed secretary — Dr. Colburn and Mr. Hansel appointed 
 tellers. Moved by Mr. Brotherson that the number of vestry- 
 
 * 1915-16-17 was a time when the city was stirred up over an effort 
 to induce or force the city administration to co-operate with a league of 
 citizens to clean up the city, stop gambling, and close the Sunday saloon. 
 The Chief of Police came in for considerable criticism for his apparent 
 ignorance of the gambling resorts, which were then unearthed by the 
 league and their paraphernalia burnt. 
 
 29 
 
men shall be seven (7). Seconded by Mr. Tyng. Carried. 
 While the balloting was proceeding the following resolution 
 was offered and passed: "Resolved that St. Paul's Parish be 
 in future governed by the constitution for parishes in canon 8 
 adopted at Peoria in 1857." Upon counting the ballots the fol- 
 lowing were found to be the result: 
 
 For Wardens— A. G. Tyng, 10 ; M. Griswold, 8 ; M. Mc- 
 Revnolds, 11 ; J. W. Hansel, 9. 
 
 For Vestrymen— R. Rouse, 19 ; E. M. Colburn, 19 ; P. R. 
 K. Brotherson, 16; J. W. Hansel, 9; W. Cockle, 15; J. Birket, 
 8; E. J. Cowell, 7; Z. N. Hotchkiss, 11; M. McReynolds, 1: 
 A. G. Tyng, 9; J. McClellan, 10; W. H. Chandler, 7; H. S. 
 Austin 2;** 
 
 of whom the following were reported by the tellers duly elected 
 for wardens: A. G. Tyng, M. McReynolds; for vestrymen: 
 R. Rouse, E. M. Colburn, P. R. K. Brotherson, W. Cockle, Z. N. 
 Hotchkiss, J. McClellan, J. W. Hansel. A motion was made 
 by the chair that the above be unanimously elected wardens 
 and vestrymen, but was not recorded. 
 
 Here something must have happened behind the scenes; 
 for before the curtain drops with the beautiful landscape 
 painted on it we catch the following: "Mr. Tyng here offered 
 his resignation as a warden of the Church, and also upon 
 authority from Mr. Cockle offered his (Mr. Cockle's) resigna- 
 tion as vestryman — Mr. Brotherson also offered his resigna- 
 tion as a vestryman of the Church and upon authority from 
 Mr. McReynolds offered his (Mr. McReynolds') resignation as 
 a warden. Without further action the meeting adjourned. 
 E. J. Cowell, Sec'y." Some action truly though few words. 
 The live men of the Church step back gracefully and won't 
 play. Why ? . . . Does anyone living know ? I don't. Some 
 bomb exploded surely and wrought havoc. For the record 
 shows repeated meetings shorthanded, and finally a vestry 
 made complete without these men. 
 
 However, there is no great loss without some gain. One 
 of the best and strongest men in the history of St. Paul's now 
 came to the front. The more I pore over these old records, the 
 more I admire this man. He was young, energetic, painstak- 
 ing, unassuming, never dictatorial, a hard worker, kind and 
 
 ** Compare what seems to be the number of voters (19) with the 91 
 in 1915, and 83 in 1928, although women vote now, whereas they were 
 then barred by Canon. 
 
 30 
 
considerate, with a world of common sense. I refer to W. A. 
 Willard, who was mayor of Peoria for 1860-1861, and vestry- 
 man, secretary and treasurer of St. Paul's from 1859 to 1865, 
 when he died. He carried the Church through the war. But 
 though Mr. Willard was unassuming, the vestry were not, for 
 November 23d, 1859, ". . . Moved by Z. N. Hotchkiss that 
 the Rt. Rev. Henry J. Whitehouse, Bishop of Illinois, be called 
 as pastor of St. Paul's Church . . . Unanimously carried." 
 (When further along we begin to hear the cry of "Oppression" 
 raised by some of these unanimous voters, remember this.) 
 The Bishop declined the honor, and December 7th the vestry 
 "Resolved that the vestry extend a unanimous call to Rev. 
 Joseph M. Wait of Newport City to assume the rectorship of 
 this Church, offering him a salary of one thousand dollars per 
 annum, and that the circumstances of our Church congrega- 
 tion be fully explained to him, with assurances of our belief 
 that if our Church is well filled and a good interest sustained, 
 we shall be able to increase his salary after the first year . . ." 
 The vestry having called Mr. Wait, he proceeded to call the 
 vestry: "Jan. 17, 1860 . . . Rev. Joseph M. Wait being 
 present, he stated that he was much pleased with this place 
 and the courtesies received here, but that he could not possibly 
 come to this Parish and support himself as Rector for the 
 salary offered . . . finally that he could not minister to us 
 for less than fourteen hundred dollars. After consultation it 
 was moved that the salary offered to Mr. Wait be increased to 
 fourteen hundred dollars. Carried." 
 
 And then the vestry called the pewholders: "Resolved 
 that the treasurer be authorized to make out bills against the 
 pewholders for the full half year ending the first of April, 
 1860, this resolution only intending to apply to the present 
 emergency. Carried." 
 
 Here in May 14th, 1860, occurs one of those incidents or 
 experiences that bear witness to the littleness of ordinary 
 human judgment. Exasperated by the failure of some to pay 
 their pew rents, the vestry goes on record resolving "that the 
 following pew bills be destroyed as worthless," and then pro- 
 ceeds to make them indestructible by record. Here for fifty 
 years so pilloried are thirty-eight names. What must it have 
 
 31 
 
meant to many on that list to be so recorded? Some I know 
 were good Church workers with sensitive souls and perfectly 
 honorable in their dealings, who would never have been delin- 
 quent unless it were beyond their helping. The mere fact of 
 being unable or unwilling to pay pew rent might be true of 
 all these thirty-eight; but if all the failures of the parish : 
 oners of St. Paul's as reprehensible were spread upon the 
 records ? How much more deserving of the word "worth- 
 less" are such records; why record names at all? Only God 
 knew what was before the names on that very vestry as well 
 as the names so needlessly recorded by them. For one of the 
 thirty-eight, a widow, working hard for her living, was in 
 after years so prospered that by her legacy, a widow of one 
 of this vestry was enabled to continue Christ's work to the 
 end of her days. Another, father of a large family of young 
 children, his wife very ill, his fortunes at the lowest ebb at 
 this time, was later to become one of those whose strength 
 and courage was freely given to St. Paul's as it approached the 
 most desperate struggle of its existence. Other names there 
 are among the thirty-eight that have been an honor and a 
 blessing to St. Paul's through their wives and children, one 
 of whom the Church holds in constant memory by a tablet on 
 her walls ; one has been lavish in money, in gifts, in faith, in 
 work up to this day, though her name is on no tablet. Three 
 others on this list are to be found on other lists of honor and 
 glory that put this St. Paul's record to shame; two captains 
 and one private served their country with greater sacrifice 
 than any other on the parish lists of all the years. Captain 
 P. A. Davidson was promoted twice for gallantry, and Captain 
 C. E. Dennison wrote his name with his life blood on the battle- 
 field of Murfreesboro. And these are the names that stand 
 on St. Paul's records as among the worthless! I move you, 
 wardens and vestrymen, that this roll so honored in after 
 years be notated at once, not that tardy justice be rendered 
 to these great names — they do not need it, it would be pre- 
 sumption to think so — but that he who reads hereafter may 
 realize how fallible, futile, and really worthless is any record 
 of this kind. 
 
 32 
 
The foregoing is not meant to hold up the vestry of that 
 time for condemnation. They were kindly, earnest, conscien- 
 tious men who, though attending to business energetically, 
 would never have hurt another's feelings needlessly. 
 
 The trouble in their ranks the previous year had been 
 wisely and happily overcome, as the Easter elections show, and 
 the strong and willing workers had come back into harness 
 ready to do their best. "April 17th, moved by Mr. Griswold 
 that two members of the vestry be appointed alternately for 
 each month to remain near the door and seat strangers and 
 new occupants of pews." It is pertinent to remark here that 
 Mr. Griswold became a constant attendant at this post for 
 many years thereafter, as well known, liked and looked for as 
 our present Senior Warden.* 
 
 May 14th, 1860, besides what has been commented on at 
 length, contains the following interesting minutes: "Bill of T. 
 Lawrence for papering and fixing Church, of $600.00, and re- 
 ceipted by account of W. A. Willard, for which the Church 
 owes him and he is to wait as agreed." On motion, Mr. Broth- 
 erson and Mr. Hansel were appointed a committee to investi- 
 gate sale for taxes by City of Peoria of some town lots deeded 
 to Bishop Whitehouse in trust for a new Church in Peoria by 
 Mr. Birkett. Many of our Church people will remember that a 
 similar circumstance occurred immediately upon the occupation 
 of the present building, which resulted in the parish of St. 
 Andrew's. As for the $600.00 item, I can well remember the 
 elaborately paneled ceiling that looked so stately to my young 
 eyes and helped to illustrate the grandeur of the temple in the 
 Bible stories that Mrs. Brotherson, and afterwards Mrs. Tyng, 
 used to tell Ker class of little tots in the tower. 
 
 A wonder of a tower was this one of St. Paul's whose long 
 and narrow stairway we climbed to reach our upper room to 
 cluster around our charming teacher. Those far away days 
 are full of a sweetness of their own, and the romance of the 
 tower appealed not to the children only. Every notice of a 
 
 * In 1915 the Senior Warden was Madison Horton, father of our 
 Vestryman, Philip Horton. He was a most faithful attendant at the door 
 and his acquaintance with the members of the Church was phenomenal, 
 everyone seemed to know him and he every one. 
 
 33 
 
vestry meeting must have had an heraldic significance in its 
 call to the Tower, where the clan gathered to take counsel. 
 The magic words "At the Tower" head almost every clerk's 
 entry from 1859 to 1865 inclusive, or during Mr. Willard's 
 long clerkship. Mr. Willard could well be called the watchman 
 of the Tower, faithful unto death; the tower, a symbol of 
 strength and watchful care, guarding the entrance to the 
 House of God, a refuge and defense against the world, the 
 flesh, and the devil for all those who enter in faith and trust. 
 The old tower had no cross, as has ours today, but the spirit 
 was there the same. I am glad that today our Rector stands 
 in the tower entrance to count his flock as they pass out. 
 
 Two more items there are to mention before the date that 
 makes "before" and "after" in all histories of our country. 
 "April 10, 1861 . . . Moved that the children be requested 
 to sit with their parents or guardians in the Church." I sup- 
 pose that was because the children, permitted to sit together, 
 were restless and disturbing, and not that they were to be 
 coerced into attendance. Today there are many times that the 
 church-going habit is largely dependent on the teacher's asking 
 pupils to sit with them. But who would think now that such 
 a matter should be settled by the vestry? The vestry was "it" 
 at that time undoubtedly. They were not so dictatorial, how- 
 ever, as to be incapable of gracious action, as witness the next 
 resolution that: ". . . The Rector, Wardens and Vestry do 
 unanimously tender their thanks to each and every member of 
 the choir for their punctual and constant attendance." 
 
 34 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 CIVIL WAR TO ROBERTS' RESIGNATION. 
 
 The line of demarkation drawn between April 10th and 
 the next meeting at the 'Tower" is a line that cut deep into 
 all hearts then, and yet a line so thin upon this record it can 
 not be found except, perhaps, a trace is shown in two short 
 phrases occurring "May 27th, 1861 . . . Hard times . . . 
 par funds"; and an entry for July 3 same year: "Whereas, the 
 continued and increasing disarrangements of business have 
 caused some to give up their pews . . ." It is a matter for 
 thought that during the entire duration of the war these are 
 the only traces on the record to show that there was a war at 
 all. "Hard times" — "Par funds" — and every heart in Peoria 
 was pounding with emotions uncontrollable. Fort Sumter and 
 Lincoln's call to arms, and only "Hard Times," "Par funds" to 
 show for it — Marvelous! 
 
 It has been said time and again that St. Paul's Church is 
 conservative, cold as ice. Was it true at this crucial time? 
 J. W. Hansel was Senior Warden, W. A. Willard, Secretary, 
 responsible for every entry on the record during the war. .but 
 W. A. Willard was Mayor of Peoria as well as secretary of 
 the vestry ; and he it was who presided over the mass meeting 
 held the evening of April 15th at the Court House where the 
 tense feelings of aroused patriots found expression in fiery 
 speeches and resolutions of loyalty to the flag. And it was the 
 eldest son of J. W. Hansel who that evening drew up the first 
 form of enrollment for the volunteers and headed the list with 
 his name. Surely these men could afford to hide their feeling 
 in "Hard times," "Par funds." Those who feel deepest say 
 least. So St. Paul's Senior Warden was the first to make a 
 real sacrifice for his country. Warden is a good word here — 
 his name might have been Abraham. 
 
 At this famous meeting there were others of St. Paul's 
 Parish, you may be sure. Senator Geo. C. Bestor — the name 
 of Bestor has always been enrolled on St. Paul's register — 
 opened the meeting and, together with Willard, Bryner and 
 Webb, drew up the resolutions ending: "As Illinoisians we 
 
 35 
 
pledge the United States all we are and all we possess for the 
 preservation of this glorious Union." Spoken like followers of 
 St. Paul himself. St. Paul's not only spoke but acted during 
 the excitement of that week. Beside young Hansel, there were 
 three others noticeably prominent. These were C. E. Dennison, 
 Captain of the National Blues ; John Hough, First Lieutenant 
 of the picturesque Zouaves; and P. A. Davidson, Captain of 
 Battery A in Second Regiment, Illinois Light Artillery. 
 
 But Saturday of that week was the great day for St. 
 Paul's. Harry Bestor says he remembers it, and if it had not 
 been so far down town from our house on Fourth and Franklin 
 for a seven-year-old, I think I should have been one of the 
 boys that tagged behind the Blues as they marched up the 
 street that day and filed into place in front of Senator Bestor's 
 house on Main Street. I can imagine myself squeezed in some- 
 where, looking on. 
 
 There on the porch was our minister, Mr. Wait, and a 
 number of others of St. Paul's people I was to know later. 
 Perhaps had I listened I might have heard their names pro- 
 nounced. But would I have listened with that array of blue 
 uniforms drawn up in solemn order facing the speaker on the 
 porch? Mr. Bestor was a good speaker, and all that week he 
 had been at it early and late. And now after Mr. Wait had 
 offered a prayer, he stepped forward and addressed the sol- 
 diers, earnestly, eloquently, no doubt. But hearts were full 
 when he called Captain Dennison to stand forth, and the beau- 
 tiful flag that Mrs. Bestor and Mrs. Gregg had made was placed 
 in his hand. "Oh say, can you see by the dawn's early light?" 
 It was a young lady who sang, Miss Harris ; and as the chorus 
 was reached, all, soldiers and citizens together, sang. I don't 
 know how well they sang, but do you suppose that the greatest 
 choruses since the war could ever mean so much to those who 
 sing or listen ? And the cheers and the tears were fresh enough 
 for a month ahead to unnerve the hand that wrote "Hard 
 times" — "Par funds" for this word Hard is re-written with 
 a capital H and confused. Yes, Mr. Willard, it was hard, hard 
 for all. 
 
 36 
 
Only three days before had Captain Dennison's company 
 left on the T. P. & W., escorted to the station by three other 
 companies, themselves soon to leave, and among them John 
 Hough, First Lieutenant of Zouaves, and first bass singer in 
 our choir, the choir who so recently had received the vestry's 
 vote of thanks for self-sacrifice and promptness. I have been 
 told that both John Hough and Captain Dennison were pre- 
 sented with swords by the ladies of the Church. This might 
 have been the case, and while canonically it might have been 
 a breach of Church etiquette had the vestry participated in 
 it, that is still a matter for discussion. Customs change. In 
 1429 Joan of Arc received her sword from the chapel of St. 
 Catharine de Fierbois. As a Christian symbol the sword has 
 always had its place. I am strangely tempted to affirm when 
 I think of these soldiers who left their places in St. Paul's to 
 uphold the Union with their might, that whatever were their 
 failings otherwise, as Churchmen they possessed enough of the 
 virtues of St. Paul to be worthy of remembrance when our 
 eyes rest upon the sword in the first window in our Church. 
 
 But the men were not alone in the patriotic action. The 
 women of St. Paul's came right to the front with their might. 
 On the 27th of April Rouse's Hall held a meeting called for 
 the purpose of organization, and to make arrangements for 
 preparing bandages and lint for the use of soldiers, adjourn- 
 ing to meet the following Tuesday, April 30th, at Mrs. Gris- 
 wold's house to begin work. Mrs. Griswold's home, therefore, 
 ever open to the call of the Church, was first to respond to the 
 call of the country. And the little gathering of earnest workers 
 so fostered grew and grew, until it became first "The Ladies' 
 Soldiers' Aid Society of Peoria"; President, Mrs. A. G. Cur- 
 tenius; Secretary, Mrs. Caroline Cockle; and later in 1863: 
 "The Woman's National League of Peoria." Of course, these 
 members of St. Paul's Parish did not come forward as such, 
 but as citizens of Peoria, and in their readiness to unite with 
 those of every faith to do what was of paramount need, they 
 proved their catholicity. Did old St. Paul's teach Christian 
 unity and civic duty any more conscientiously than that of 
 today ? Foremost then, are we foremost now ? 
 
 37 
 
While the people of St. Paul's were meeting constantly, 
 burdened with the nation's welfare, the first year of the war 
 only three vestry meetings were recorded: May 27th, July 3d 
 and September 4th. There were seven meetings in the follow- 
 ing year, 1862. The shadow of "Hard times" hung over the 
 vestry, as well as the country. But they continued to pay in 
 "par funds." For were not all working, heart, soul and body, 
 at home, in camp, on battlefield, to hold all funds at par? "Hard 
 times" — "Par funds" — brief record of the war, but full of 
 meaning. "Suffering" and "Responsibility" — "Self-denial" and 
 "Preservation of our promise to mankind" — "The Nation's 
 flag"— "Tattered" and "Restored"— "The Christian Cross" and 
 "Crown." Sometime when you come out of Church look across 
 at the government building and consider how much more for- 
 midable it seems than the Church or the soldiers' monument. 
 But ! 
 
 1862 brought a loss to the Church of another of its chor- 
 isters, Charlie Tracy. Charlie Tracy — was there ever his like 
 in the Church before or since? A beautiful tenor voice, a 
 perfect gentleman, a sunny cheerful disposition, his services 
 always freely given whenever needed, gay, happy, loved by all, 
 young, petted yet unspoilt. Can you match him? Who will 
 qualify? And he, too, must go! When in the Fall of '62 the 
 77th marched off to war, Washington Cockle's front yard held 
 many with "Fall" in their hearts. For after Mrs. Cockle had 
 presented the flag to the regiment, they marched away, and 
 among them was St. Paul's favorite, First Lieutenant of Com- 
 pany "B" — our Charlie. There are those in Peoria today who 
 are not ashamed to remember their heartache then. There 
 must have been more than one to whom the war meant mostly 
 Charlie Tracy. And the music in St. Paul's no doubt to many 
 was woefully out of joint and lacking. 
 
 St. Paul's has always been fond of good music; and at 
 this time the records show that the vestry had implicit faith 
 in Providence. They fully believed that to them that hath shall 
 be given. "April 14th, 1863 . . . Mr. Austin moved that 
 Mr. Brotherson and Mr. Griswold be committee on music. 
 Carried." 
 
 38 
 
There you have it right off the record, and it was April 
 14th, not 1st. I don't know whether our present wardens ever 
 heard Mr. Griswold sing or not; but Mr. Woodward* used to 
 sit behind him for years and has made remarks about his 
 rendition of the creed — rendering or rending might be more 
 apt. Yet Mr. Griswold had the kindest heart that ever was 
 and would never have hurt a musical tone had he known one 
 when it came buzzing around. I have watched him gently 
 wave his hand above his shining head when May beetles lit 
 there on a June night in Church and not disturb the service 
 by a breath, while the wicked boys and girls in the back pews 
 doubled up and snickered. And Mr. Brotherson's knowledge 
 of music ! Mrs. Brotherson had most of that, I suspect. Any- 
 way, Mr. Griswold and Mr. Brotherson constituted the com- 
 mittee on music and the vestry remained committed to their 
 selection for many years thereafter. And what is more, their 
 faith was rewarded beautifully, as we shall see. Faith is a good 
 thing; but it is generally considered safer to have those who 
 know most about music on the music committee; that is, if 
 the best music is desired. I rather believe that in this case 
 the day was saved by the addition at a critical time of a 
 thorough musician on the committee. I refer to Samuel B. 
 Wilkinson, father of the late Frank Wilkinson, our beloved and 
 respected vestryman whose tragic accident and wonderful, gay 
 courage in the struggle to maintain his life and usefulness 
 gripped all our hearts, and will never be forgotten. Should this 
 story extend to his time, I will have much to tell of him. But 
 at this time he was just a bright boy, full of mischief. 
 
 Perhaps you would like to know the names of this 
 faithful vestry. April 6th shows as elected the following: J. 
 W. Hansel and A. G. Tyng, Wardens; B. F. Ellis, P. R. K. 
 Brotherson, H. S. Austin, M. Griswold, Z. N. Hotchkiss, Charles 
 Ulrichson, Geo. Field, and W. A. Willard, Vestrymen. The 
 record of the next meeting contains a minute quaintly worded. 
 W. A. Willard as secretary of Pew Holders' meeting, stated 
 the result of elections of vestrymen for the ensuing year; he 
 
 * H. J. Woodward, Junior Warden in 1915, died 1917, April 15. He 
 was son of H. R. Woodward, whose service in the vestry is recorded 
 further along in this story. 
 
 39 
 
also stated that upon giving Mr. Z. N. Hotchkiss notice of 
 his election he (Mr. Hotchkiss) "refused to serve." Rather 
 blunt; looks like some feeling here. Mr. Hotchkiss, you may 
 remember, was the young man who broke the bank at the 
 first fair. He had served as vestryman continuously since 
 1859 and now he up and quit; just plain refused. And the 
 vestry knew he meant it, undoubtedly, for they proceeded at 
 once to put another pugilist in his place. "By ballot Mr. John 
 Johnson received six votes, no one else receiving any vote Mr. 
 Johnson was unanimously elected." Then they got busy, 
 elected Willard, Secretary ; Tyng, Treasurer ; Tyng and Ulrich- 
 son on repairs; music committee as stated; Ellis, Field and 
 Austin on Pews ; and wound up by robbing Paul to pay Peter : 
 "Moved that enough of the Communion fund in the hands of 
 the Rector be taken to pay the Diocesan fund which was now 
 due from this Parish. Carried. No further business. Ad- 
 journed. W. A. Willard, Secretary." 
 
 As the nation came into its strength so did St. Paul's, 
 gradually but splendidly, and much of this strength was owing 
 to that branch of the Church that found scant notice on the 
 records. The vestry might vote that the children sit with 
 their parents and guardians in Church; but vote or no vote 
 the children became a power to waft the Church forward. "All 
 my fresh springs shall be in Thee," sang the psalmist. And so 
 it had come about that the first missionary effort of St. Paul's 
 was made possible by the Sunday School. Its first traces are 
 to be found in January, 31st, 1862, when "Mr. Hansel read a 
 letter from Mr. Tyng to Bishop Whitehouse relating to the 
 establishment of a Parish in lower Peoria, and the Bishop's 
 answer referring the matter to the vestry of St. Paul's Church. 
 Mr. Hansel offered a resolution that it was not expedient to 
 take all of the money raised by St. Paul's Sunday School to 
 support a parish or rector in lower Peoria, which after discus- 
 sion was withdrawn, it not being seconded." 
 
 Then in the May following (entry of which is inserted 
 later in end of 1863) : "Whereas, the teachers of the Sunday 
 School have petitioned this vestry to select a minister to take 
 charge of their mission in lower Peoria. Therefore, resolved 
 that the Rv. W. M. A. Broadnax be cordially invited to take 
 
 40 
 
charge of that work. Resolved, that while this vestry will be 
 in no manner responsible for his salary or support, they will 
 by electing him assistant minister ... do all they can to 
 encourage the work . . ." This missionary work grew and 
 grew, like Mr. Finney's turnip, through the succeeding years, 
 bringing into the life of St. Paul's C. J. Off, one of her staunch- 
 est supporters in the years to come, one who did not sleep in 
 her hour of Gethsemane, long vestryman, succeeding Mr. 
 Griswold as Senior Warden. 
 
 That the children at this time did sit with their parents in 
 Church was true in some instances, as I can personally testify. 
 I have but to close my eyes now and I can see Mr. Tyng up in 
 the chancel with his eyes closed and swaying backward and 
 forward in occasional moments of inspiration. This eye closing 
 in Church is a habit I find hard to overcome. But Harry Bestor 
 is responsible for the assertion that there was one time in 
 every service when all eyes were open and expectant. He 
 claims that one of the looked-for moments in St. Paul's was 
 when Mr. Carlyle — he was an Englishman and constant in at- 
 tendance — took out his handkerchief. Every eye was turned 
 his way and every ear alert. After the explosion the service 
 continued. Are we to find in such memories traces of why the 
 famous order concerning the children was issued ? Or in their 
 efforts to train up a child the way he should go were the wise 
 men of the congregation looking through the wrong end of 
 the telescope? 
 
 Speaking of memories and telescopes. St. Paul's starred 
 on the stage in these years of the war. Rouse's Hall, which 
 holds in its records more of the story of Peoria up to recent 
 years than any other spot in the town, never saw such fairs 
 as St. Paul's Church produced. These fairs were undertaken 
 for all sorts of purposes — to aid the soldiers, to help the 
 Sunday School in raising money for missions, and for any kind 
 of thing that needed money. The parish record, so far as I 
 can find, makes mention of a fair only a few times. The first 
 one has already been described; the last one mentioned was 
 proposed in 1870. But in the memories of the parishoners 
 very few events stand out more prominently. It is one of the 
 first things mentioned when questions about the past are 
 
 41 
 
started. "Yes, yes, St. Paul's was very flourishing. They gave 
 the best fairs ever held in Peoria." 
 
 There is an uncertainty about the names of the various 
 rectors, but the "Lathrop girls always served the coffee." Mr. 
 Ellis was an earnest, conscientious worker on the vestry, con- 
 stant in attendance both at services and committee meetings, 
 but in the memory of one parishoner he existed principally as 
 one who objected to the fairs because in his opinion they 
 sapped the strength of the Church. I warrant that the Old 
 Testament temple is obliterated in more than one memory by 
 the glories of the temple that occupied the center of the floor 
 in Rouse's Hall, full of beautiful dolls; and the magnificence 
 of an article called an "Afghan" made of gorgeous colored 
 worsted and costing — no, selling, for as much as $125.00 has 
 never ceased to dazzle the imagination of one who only heard 
 about it. $1000.00 was no unusual return for one such fair, 
 and it is to the credit of the Sunday School that one of its 
 scholars — H. C. Bestor, then twelve or thirteen years old — 
 made all of $50.00 alone. He was a nature lover and filled a 
 tent with his pets, all kinds of birds and animals. To see the 
 white mice let into a playhouse and run over and under furni- 
 ture and rock in rocking chairs, or to watch the birds come 
 at call to perch on Harry's finger, was a drawing card. I won- 
 der if one Sunday School scholar today could round up $50.00 
 in one week's missionary enterprise. But of course entertain- 
 ments were few compared to the bewildering number of the 
 present time. 
 
 An amusing story is told in connection with one of our 
 fairs. Alec, son of A. G. Tyng, delighted to tell it. He was 
 helping out at the candy booth when one of the young men 
 of the Church, who later became a prominent and powerful 
 factor in Church matters, came along with a young lady on 
 his arm, smiling and genial. "Well, Ecky, selling candy? Now, 
 let me see. I vill take ten cents vorth of beppermint drops," 
 then turning to the lady, graciously, "Vhat vill you take von 
 dime's vorth of?" In after years his dimes had grown to thou- 
 sands of dollars for the Church. 
 
 42 
 
Besides the fairs, successful lectures were put on, the 
 Church showing its standing on the liquor question by bring- 
 ing John B. Gough, the famous temperance lecturer of the 
 past, more fantastic and extreme than Billy Sunday ever dared 
 be . . . Conservative St. Paul's — the same Church that 
 was "too proud to fight," to march in a civic Sunday School 
 parade today.* Whatever difference exists between St. Paul's 
 standard of that day and this, there is no doubt that they were 
 proud of their standing then — proud and prosperous. 
 
 But there were troubles, too. The Rev. J. M. Wait, under 
 whose rectorship St. Paul's became so flourishing, he who at 
 the outset of the war sent off his parishoner, Captain Denni- 
 son, to give his life for the Union, sending on that occasion 
 his earnest prayer to God to inspire and protect the soldiers 
 in their country's cause. This minister of the Gospel, leader 
 of St. Paul's, was so far conservative a Churchman as to belong 
 to that class of clergymen who believed in the institution of 
 slavery. There were many such in the country then, especially 
 among the democrats; and Mr. Wait was a democrat. There 
 were other prominent members of St. Paul's who were demo- 
 crats but not of this type. Whatever Mr. Wait lacked in char- 
 acter it was not courage, so he talked as he felt. You can 
 imagine the result. By some he was dubbed a copperhead, 
 though unjustly; and so high ran public censure, that he and 
 his family were almost ostracized at the time. The late Mrs. 
 Ulrichson described how she and another parishoner called 
 on them at one time when Mr. Wait was called out of town 
 
 * A city-wide Sunday School demonstration was made about 1913, 
 to show the people of the city what a large and earnest portion of the 
 population were enlisted in upholding the moral tone of the city; and it 
 was a monster parade, astonishing the entire community. Missing from 
 the ranks were all the Roman Catholics; and our own Sunday School was 
 represented by only a small class or two and the superintendent. The 
 Roman Catholics were not willing to unite in a religious movement under 
 Protestant auspices, or were not invited, and the dominating element in 
 St. Paul's shied, probably as much from pride as anything else, not want- 
 ing to mix in a showy parade any more than in a revival. The memory of 
 our flunk was still galling when this was written, and Wilson's "too proud 
 to fight" had just been uttered. It seemed appropriate to draw the con- 
 trast between the Protestant attitude of St. Paul's in the 1860's and a 
 half century later; and this note makes possible another comparison with 
 1928, all marking changes of feeling. 
 
 43 
 
and found Mrs. Wait very ill and her two children suffering 
 for attention, no one having entered the house for many days. 
 
 However faulty Mr. Wait's opinion upon slavery might be 
 or unfortunately outspoken he was, and however severe the 
 sentiment against him at the time, his personality and his 
 sterling character were such as to win a high testimonial from 
 the vestry. It seems that one of their number had undertaken 
 to stir up the parishoners to ask for the removal of the Rector. 
 In answer to this we find under date April 28th, 1863, the fol- 
 lowing resolution adopted: " Whereas Mr. , a member of 
 
 the vestry of St. Paul's Parish, has been using his influence 
 among the members of the Church for the removal of the 
 Rector, Rev. J. M. Wait, without the authority or sanction of 
 this body, thereby tending to create dissentions in the Church 
 and to impair the influence of the Rector for good ; Therefore, 
 Resolved that we tender to the Rev. J. M. Wait the assurance 
 of our strong and abiding appreciation and we pledge to him 
 our most cordial and united efforts in promoting the worth 
 and efficiency of this parish, as long as he shall continue to 
 be its Rector." Then followed immediate acceptance of the 
 resignation of the discredited vestryman. The following year, 
 however, the critical condition of Mrs. Wait's health made it 
 necessary to seek a better climate. So, "August 23d, 1864 
 . . . after affectionate parting remarks by the Rev. J. M. 
 Wait meeting adjourned." 
 
 But the heaviest blow fell when one year later W. A. 
 Willard died : "July 20th, 1865 . . . Whereas, it has pleased 
 God in His wise providence ... we desire to place upon 
 the permanent records of this body some expression of the 
 great loss we have sustained as a Church and individually in 
 the death of one who as Secretary and Treasurer so long and 
 faithfully looked after the interests of this parish and to whose 
 energy and care her present pecuniary prosperity is greatly 
 due, and who by his earnest Christian life has endeared himself 
 to all connected with him . . . Resolved . . ." This is 
 the first entry of its kind upon St. Paul's records. There have 
 been many others since as earnestly felt and as worthily won. 
 One other at least there might have been but for the unhappy 
 schism. 
 
 44 
 
Yet, before we pass this boundary line, I would say some- 
 what about the seven years of plenty — the heyday of St. 
 Paul's. "February 11th, 1864 ... on motion of the secre- 
 tary, Messrs. Ulrichson and Tyng were appointed a committee 
 to investigate about building a lecture and Sabbath School 
 room on the back side of the Church . . . Mr. Geo. Field 
 moved that the Rector's salary be increased from $1200 to 
 $1400 . . . Carried." January 11th, 1865, they went up 
 another step. "Resolved that the vestry of St. Paul's Church 
 extend a call to the rectorship of this Church to the Rev. W. H. 
 Roberts . . . and that he be given a salary of $1500.00. 
 . . . Carried." August 7th, same year, they soared. "Re- 
 solved that we have a new organ at a cost of $2000.00," and 
 the ladies are again invited to assist. And not to hide their 
 light under a bushel : "Resolved that Mr. Griswold have a lamp 
 post with lamp placed on the sidewalk in front of the Church." 
 St. Paul's was bound to be in the limelight. 
 
 With the going of the old organ went much dear to the 
 hearts of the old people. This organ was in the gallery over 
 the old Church entrance, a picturesque doorway flanked by 
 two small turrets and used principally then by the occupants 
 of the extreme front pews and the choir. The organ gallery 
 was reached by a little stairway much appreciated by at least 
 two members of the choir. In fact one young lady of those 
 days said that it was the occasion of much bewilderment to 
 her for a long time. This was when the Raymond girls, both 
 beautiful singers, soprano and alto, delighted the congregation 
 with their voices. My informant stated that sitting where she 
 could see the entrance spoken of and the singers in the gallery 
 as well, her curiosity was aroused as to where George Bacon 
 and Emma Raymond disappeared so regularly during the 
 sermon. One day, however, she just happened to discover the 
 secret of the stairs. 
 
 It was but a short time after Emma Raymond became 
 Mrs. Geo. Bacon that she climbed the stairs to paradise alone. 
 Miss Crawley remembers how at that time St. Paul's people 
 spoke with awe, of how the last Sunday she ever sang, it was 
 to thrill them with a solo: "I would not live alway." So with 
 the going of the old organ, and the coming of the new came 
 
 45 
 
new singers into the choir, Mrs. Frank Field and her brother, 
 Mr. Chas. Kellogg. May 28th, 1866, the budget for the choir 
 was as follows: 
 
 Mrs. Frank Field, soprano $200.00 
 
 Mr. Chas. Bacon, tenor 125.00 
 
 Mrs. Geo. F. Bacon, alto 125.00 
 
 Mr. Geo. F. Bacon, organist 275.00 
 
 Organ blower 50.00 
 
 $950.00 
 
 On the same date the Rector's salary was increased to 
 $2000.00. Surely this was peacock season for St. Paul's. The 
 town flocked to hear Mrs. Field's wonderful voice. She was 
 idolized, adored, and St. Paul's grew apace. The Rector, W. 
 H. Roberts, was one to fit the mould thus set. A typical 
 gentleman, handsome, urbane, gentle in voice and manners, 
 immaculate in dress, he fairly glittered — at one time dubbed 
 St. Paul's gold-headed minister. He had been presented with 
 a gold headed cane by his admirers and was in tune with St. 
 Paul's Parish at the time and with the particular ritual 
 demanded. Would he have dared to wear a large gold cross, 
 think you? No, not then, not he. A certain minister from 
 Quincy, a Mr. Corbet, preached a ritualistic sermon one 
 Sunday and poor Mr. Roberts spent all day Monday calling on 
 the irate, such as Dr. Rouse and Judge Cochran, and smoothing 
 them over — nice warm flat iron. Yet, Mr. Roberts was some- 
 thing else. He was a sincere Christian and Churchman, and 
 he suffered humiliation many times, hoping to stem the trouble 
 that even then it was plain enough to see was surely coming. 
 Starchy as he was, he was hardly stiff enough to hold his own. 
 He made a great struggle in 1868 when the project of a new 
 Church building to house the growing congregation was 
 started; but in 1869 he presented his resignation, and stood 
 from under. In order to show what was a prosperous condition 
 then the annual report made on Easter of that year is here 
 inserted : 
 
 1868, APRIL Easter offering 85.30 
 
 To Balance on Hand $ 624.20 Indigent clergy offering. . . 35.00 
 
 Cash received for pew rent 3570.23 Domestic mission offering. 15.20 
 
 Communion alms for year. 179.70 
 
 $4509.63 
 
 46 
 
CREDIT BY Foreign Missions 25.00 
 
 Paid Rector's salary $2000.00 Domestic Missions 25.00 
 
 Choir to date 826.15 Rev. P. Chase for Normal. 68.10 
 
 Sexton to date 274.00 Rev. Mr. Spalding 15.00 
 
 Gas bills for year 77.66 Bill of Prayer Book 8.85 
 
 Small bills paid 27.50 Industrial School 75.00 
 
 Coal bills 65.70 Indigent clergy 35.00 
 
 Insurance, church & organ 55.00 Rev> c> De Wolf at Mar . 
 
 Bills for repairs on church sailles 25.00 
 
 and new furnace 272.35 ~ ,. " ' \ -, Qn \ n 
 
 C. Ulrichson's bill 54.00 Convention due 180.00 
 
 Sunday School books 79.91 Balance due on purchase of 
 
 Sunday School festival 38.50 lot of Toby 111.50 
 
 Christmas greens for same gm w j re 11.60 
 
 and to labor for decorat- r> ^ kqr 
 
 ing church 83.95 Balance 5 ' 86 
 
 Rector — Alms from offer- 
 
 ing used 69.00 $4509.63 
 
 You will note the item of Christmas greens, $83.95 ; and it 
 may be of interest to know that mention of Christmas decora- 
 tions is found at other times, the first, November 30th, 1863 : 
 "Mr. Field, Mr. Griswold, and Mr. Willard be appointed a 
 committee to investigate if evergreens could be obtained and 
 the expense, with power to get them if in their judgment the 
 expense would not be too much. Carried." And November, 
 1868 : "After prayers, the Rector stated that the object of the 
 meeting was to ascertain if the vestry thought it advisable to 
 have a fair. And after discussing the matter it was decided 
 not to have one at present. The rector then proposed that 
 there be some one appointed to procure evergreens for the 
 purpose of dressing the Church at Christmas. On motion of 
 Mr. Tyng, seconded by Mr. Blakesley, Mr. Griswold was 
 appointed to attend to it. On motion the meeting adjourned/' 
 
 Here you have a most excellent sermon on prayer — here 
 is something healthy to think about. The meeting is called 
 to propose a fair. But after prayer there is discussion. Some- 
 how the coming birthday of Our Lord must have entered into 
 someone's heart through that prayer. Someone must have 
 spoken full of Churchly thoughts. The world-like fair is lost in 
 the better feeling — and a real Church gathering will take its 
 place. I am glad to know that Mr. Griswold was the father 
 of the Christmas decorations. Perhaps there was that in this 
 splendid man that, in spite of his apparent freedom from 
 
 47 
 
artistic talents, made decorations as well as music always 
 good. Perhaps it was the father spirit in him. 
 
 While the $83.95 worth of evergreens are hardly needed 
 to keep his memory green, there was enough to bring a mass 
 meeting of parishoners out to work them into garlands. The 
 big brick Church was full of joyous people. Then as now the 
 choir must have been practising at the same time. The smell 
 of the fresh greens, the little groups of bright workers full of 
 gay Christmas spirit, a wand of good will touching every 
 heart, the music pervading all with the tenderness of "Silent 
 Night" or the glory of "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing" — who 
 that has known it can ever forget it? 
 
 One other thing of interest happened before Mr. Roberts 
 left. It didn't get on the records, but it did into the Church. 
 Mr. Ulrichson, who was a Church-builder in more ways than 
 one, helped Mr. Roberts to do the most daring thing he ever 
 attempted — they constructed an altar — an altar! And three 
 steps high. Mr. Tyng and others were shocked, outraged, when 
 they heard of it. But Mr. Ulrichson was too much for them. 
 In the dead of night, Saturday night, while the enemy slum- 
 bered, the deed was done. There was a row — it is impossible 
 to spell it correctly. It was enough to have raised Mr. Roberts' 
 hair on end if it hadn't been a wig. But he held on with his 
 teeth and stuck to his act if not to St. Paul's. He compromised, 
 however, by deducting one step — he had to, the chancel was 
 too small. 
 
 48 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 PRE-SCHISM. 
 
 Before entering into the zone of the coming schism, a 
 better and fairer understanding can be obtained if we take 
 into consideration the character and motives of the men most 
 directly involved — so far as a careful study of the situation 
 discloses. But a word of caution about these estimates of 
 character. In no case must they be taken as true estimates 
 because they are only partial. Only such points of character 
 are used as may be helpful in accounting for the causes of 
 Church crises, or in recreating the atmosphere of the times 
 without unnecessary bitterness. Other points of these same 
 characters, whether good or bad, except as they may have a 
 bearing on this story are purposely omitted. Because most 
 information of this kind comes from prejudiced sources, I 
 have tried to make the presentation of the case for whoever 
 comes under our censure the best possible, giving praise where 
 it is due. Such a course is not only just, but will emphasize 
 the errors made and show how insidious is the temptation to 
 such error. 
 
 The first one to consider, naturally, is the man who, so far 
 as St. Paul's is concerned, was the leader in the revolt. For 
 over twenty years A. G. Tyng had given his best to the service 
 of St. Paul's. How much he was to the Church previous to 
 the war has been told already. The success of the Sunday 
 School can be attributed mostly to his genius as manager 
 combined with the efficiency of his wife and her family. I can 
 remember once when in his employ receiving a reprimand for 
 slackness followed by this statement: "In business I give my 
 mind to business only. On Sunday my whole thought is given 
 to Church and Sunday School and nothing else." And, as far 
 as I could see, that was true. 
 
 Not satisfied with the flourishing mission established in 
 the then lower end not far from the site of the Douglas School, 
 he kept urging Church extension until the Cumberland Pres- 
 byterian Church on Monson Street, then abandoned, was taken 
 over and a clergyman installed, the Rev. John Benson, the 
 
 49 
 
same previously mentioned as holding a service in the first 
 home of the infant Church. This mission soon became a flour- 
 ishing parish known as St. John's Church; and it was my 
 privilege to live under Mr. Benson's charge for several years 
 and to be presented for Confirmation by him in his little 
 Church building. Here, safe in the wise care of this loyal 
 Churchman, a nucleus was formed that was to supply much 
 backbone for the mother Church in her pending struggle. 
 Bread cast upon the waters. Here follow excerpts from the 
 record showing the work of Mr. Tyng in this matter : 
 
 Oct. 15th, 1866. Mr. Tyng in behalf of com. on Church 
 extension appointed at last meeting made report of proceed- 
 ings on the subject. Stated proposition on behalf of Trustees 
 of Pres. Ch. which being subject to approval of their Synod 
 was not definite and the matter was laid over for the present. 
 After considerable discussion informally of the whole subject 
 of Church extension, it was moved and carried that the meet- 
 ing adjourn until Monday evening 22 inst. Meeting is ad- 
 journed. S. Wilkinson, Clerk of Vestry. 
 
 Oct. 22d, 1866. Mr. Tyng on behalf of com. on Church 
 extension made report of definite proposition of the Trustees 
 of Pres. Ch. on Monson Street offering the same to the vestry 
 of St. Paul's for one year upon condition that the vestry make 
 the necessary repairs. Mr. Tyng moved that the vestry accept 
 the proposition, which being seconded, was after a full and 
 free discussion of the proposed extension of the services of the 
 Church in the city, unanimously adopted . . . Mr. Tyng 
 moved that a clergyman be called as an assistant minister of 
 St. Paul's Parish, who shall hold services in the place provided 
 for that purpose and labor under the direction of the Rector 
 and Vestry of St. Paul's Parish, and that he be paid a salary 
 of One Thousand dollars per annum, which motion was 
 carried. 
 
 In this same meeting occurs an entry that is interesting : 
 "On motion of Mr. Seabury, the Rector was authorized to 
 procure 2 new surplices to be used in the Church." No Altai- 
 Guild. No Woman's Guild. No. St. Elizabeth's Guild. Was 
 the P. E. Sewing Society dormant? It is said by one of our 
 present members that when Mr. Bonham, the successor of 
 
 50 
 
Mr. Roberts, arrived, his wife fired questions at her first 
 callers about various parochial organizations, was horrified 
 and indignant at our lack of the same, and succeeded in stir- 
 ring up considerable feeling on the subject. Imagine the con- 
 sternation such criticism would cause the comfortable and 
 delightful social "Ladies' Society" that, according to another 
 informant, used to gather at the Tower and be taken around 
 to one another's houses in a hack to sew and, perhaps, to 
 gossip. 
 
 Mr. Tyng also was one of the foremost workers in the 
 Y. M. C. A. movement all his life, but especially energetic and 
 thorough during the war and at the front among the soldiers 
 in camp. He had a natural distaste for anything or anyone 
 that hindered action. A leader, forceful and successful, believ- 
 ing in himself, with much reason, for others believed in him, 
 having as one of his mottoes : "Business and business only in 
 business hours; Religion and religion only on Sunday," one 
 can see how unmercifully he would hammer the nail on the 
 head regardless of the split in the wood that spread from side 
 to side as he forced it in. Up to his eyes in the work of 
 spreading the Gospel as he understood it along the highways 
 and byways, is it any wonder that he should grow impatient 
 of the criticisms of his methods by his conservative colleagues, 
 or of the restraint of ecclesiastic scruples? One might fancy 
 him saying: "Give me souls in the congregation rather than 
 steps to the altar." I am much inclined to believe that, after 
 all, ritualism was not such a red rag to him as some have 
 stated, because the altar remained, and though Mr. Ulrichson 
 furnished a green altar cloth, a red one was voted by Mr. Tyng 
 himself. "January 11th, 1868 ... On motion of Mr. Tyng, 
 seconded by Mr. Hopkins, an appropriation was made of One 
 Hundred dollars the same to be placed in the hands of the 
 Rector to procure a crimson altar cloth. 
 
 Mr. Tyng might have taken kindly many such innovations 
 had his own ideas been appreciated more. But even mild Mr. 
 Roberts must come poking his gold headed cane into Sunday 
 School matters, investigating the library, so abundantly sup- 
 plied with Moody and Sankey tracts and story books. I don't 
 know how many of us children were brought up on "I want 
 
 51 
 
to be an angel," but as that is a song with the doctrine sub- 
 merged in music it hasn't counted very much. However, to 
 stories with questionable doctrine or insufferable nonsense 
 and no Church teachings even Mr. Roberts must object. Now, 
 this was interference with something dear to the heart of the 
 superintendent ; what more might be done to curtail the work 
 so phenomenally successful? So it came about, as previousry 
 stated, that Mr. Roberts, not waiting to use it as a club, carried 
 his goldheaded cane elsewhere, and under the sway of the 
 Evangelical club peace reigned again. Except that others of 
 St. Paul's found their way over to St. John's. 
 
 And now new men were coming to the front: C. B. 
 Allaire was licensed as lay reader, heretofore Mr. Tyng had 
 been the only one, I believe — whether licensed or not I never 
 knew. Bishop Whitehouse apparently was taking more notice 
 of St. Paul's. The ground was not exactly rocking but cracks 
 were showing. Mr. Allaire was of strong character and much 
 energy, with a bulldog tendency to hold on ; and, having gotten 
 his foot in in Church matters, he stayed and always had his 
 say. His voice was pitched just a trifle higher than Mr. Tyng's, 
 not that I know of any time when there was a tongue test — 
 indeed, Mr. Tyng's gentle manners were prohibitive of any 
 such. 
 
 H. R. Woodward, father of our late Junior Warden, H. J. 
 Woodward, who was Junior Warden 1914 till his death, April 
 15th, 1917, was another one of those to range himself along 
 with the Bishop, also a new man on the vestry, active, 
 assertive, full of business acumen, with Church of England 
 antecedents but American daring, not easily pushed but ready 
 to work, and a force to be counted on in emergency. 
 
 Besides these men, who knew not Joseph, was that rock 
 of a man, Matthew Griswold, who possessed all the good 
 qualities ascribed to Old Dog Tray. So 1870 found our vestry 
 as follows: Tyng, Senior Warden; Griswold, Junior Warden; 
 Brotherson, Hopkins, Ulrichson, Thurlow, Woodward, Ellis, 
 Seabury and Bissell, vestrymen. These men were in charge 
 when, August 29th, 1870, Mr. Bonham was called, Mr. Allaire 
 displacing Hopkins the following year. Curiously enough, the 
 record of this date shows that Mr. Bonham's name was pre- 
 
 52 
 
sented by Mr. Tyng in consequence of letters he had received 
 and it was up on a recommendatory letter from Mr. Hopkins 
 that he was called. 
 
 These two men surely caught their Tartar then. They 
 could blame no one but themselves. No coercion on the part 
 of the Bishop here, not even a dominant ritualistic faction 
 in the vestry. Forty odd years later came into use the word 
 they wanted — "stung." For Mr. B. was a headstrong, brilliant 
 whirlwind of a man. He came into the field with plow and 
 harrow, and ideas as well. Between Mr. Roberts' departure 
 and his arrival there had been an interim of thirteen months 
 during which there had been lay reading, and temporary 
 supply by a Mr. Coe, a mild sort of clergyman whose ministry 
 supported the parish in a limping way. Consequently, the 
 vestry were ready to welcome Mr. Bonham heartily and take 
 almost any direction he chose to drive. He began on the music. 
 By this time the splendid choir had changed materially: Mrs. 
 Geo. Bacon had died, her husband, the organist, and Mrs. Field 
 withdrawn, and substitutes were hard to find and constantly 
 changing. This gave Mr. Bonham an opportunity to put into 
 motion one of his pet ideas. 
 
 January 16th, 1871 . . . The subjects of Sexton, music, 
 etc., were discussed, the Rector offering many valuable sug- 
 gestions. The Rector recommended that the congregation meet 
 one evening each week at the Church for the purpose of prac- 
 ticing new chants and tunes, and suggesting that Mr. Tyng 
 confer with Mr. Chas. Bacon in regard to such rehearsals . . . 
 The Rector recommended having a special meeting for the 
 children of the parish at certain intervals with need of drilling 
 them in music also. 
 
 This must have sidetracked Mr. Griswold's career on the 
 music committee. It would have been like his loyal spirit to 
 have attended the rehearsals just the same. But whether 
 anything of that kind upset Mr. Bonham and his plans is not 
 of record. Only very little if anything developed in this musi- 
 cal effort, so far as I can learn. It may have been a blood and 
 turnip proposition. This matter of music is a hard one to 
 trace. Ask several old parishoners today to give from memory 
 
 53 
 
the names of St. Paul's singers and organists of the past seven 
 or eight years in consecutive order and with the dates of their 
 services and see how they will agree. Notwithstanding scanty 
 record and contradictory statements, I have deduced some 
 positive facts of interest on this subject. 
 
 Among the well remembered voices in the old brick 
 Church not yet mentioned are Miss Lucy Greene (Mrs. C. B. 
 Allaire) and Mr. Patten. Mr. Patten became more famous 
 as Uncle Joe in the "Drummer Boy of Shiloh, ,, and his slight 
 stutter, which was unnoticed in singing, was what won the 
 hearts of the thousands that crowded Rouse's Hall for two 
 weeks. They loved him as they hated that other wonderful 
 actor, Noble Huggins, whose faithful portrayal of a merciless 
 Confederate officer made his life uncertain every evening that 
 patriotic play was rendered. But however high passion rose 
 in the theatre, Patten was sure to soften it with his happy 
 stutter. It is not on record that the Church ever benefited 
 from his voice as much or the schism never could have started. 
 
 Another man was a "Mann," by the way, who came all 
 the way from Germany to play St. Paul's organ. At least he 
 was organist during part of Mr. Bonham's ministry here and 
 probably before. He really did come to America to hear an 
 organ; but it was in St. Louis in the Roman Cathedral there 
 and its renown was world wide. Professor Mann had a sister 
 in Peoria and drifted here, was considered one of the finest 
 musicians ever in Peoria; and St. Paul's, always out for the 
 finest, secured him and played him off before the public for 
 a while, Mr. Matthew Wilkinson succeeding him. 
 
 The first boy singer also is recorded in Mr. Bonham's 
 time, a Master Walter Davis. He is remembered just as a 
 soprano in Mr. Roberts' time, where, with the assistance of 
 two soap boxes, he ranked with three other male voices for a 
 while. In the record just referred to he had become an alto 
 at $50.00 a year, the same price as the organ blower, as before 
 tabulated. The work was easier, however. I know, for I have 
 been blower myself — one Sunday, anyway, when the motor 
 failed — and found it almost as hard to keep up with the choir 
 as a few select singers do now sometimes. I know why they 
 call him a blower, too. 
 
 54 
 
Speaking of blowing, It should be of interest to our 
 present Rector to know that the first parish herald was suc- 
 cessfully launched by Mr. Bonham. "April 17th, 1871 . . . 
 Whereas, our Rector, the Rev. J. W. Bonham, has for the past 
 four months published chiefly at his own expense a monthly 
 paper entitled the St Paul's Parish Guide; and, whereas, the 
 vestry believes the object of said paper to be a spiritual guide 
 for the members of the congregation and Sunday Schools of 
 St. Paul's Parish, Resolved . . . that the vestry appropriate 
 the sum of $25.00 per month toward defraying the expense 
 . . ." I wonder if any copy of this paper is in existence ? 
 
 Another innovation is recorded January 16th, 1871, which 
 was the entering wedge of a reform that was to be of great 
 moment in the far future. "Mr. Tyng moved that the rector 
 invite the congregation to special meeting with view of getting 
 a general expression on the subject of having the Sunday 
 evening service advertised to be free to all. Carried"* 
 
 It is to be inferred that Mr. Bonham did not drive along 
 the way of innovations only, but must have occasionally rooted 
 up and turned over old things as well. Once before, as related, 
 trouble had occurred but explanations omitted on the record. 
 Again this was to happen but not end so happily. 
 
 And now we are on the brink of the schism, but this brink 
 has a sloping edge. April 17th, 1871, eight months after his 
 coming to St. Paul's, Rev. J. H. Bonham, though enjoying a 
 salary of $3000.00 and the evident support of the vestry, with 
 characteristic suddenness tendered his resignation unheralded 
 and unexplained, except for the sentence : "For the welfare of 
 the parish it may be desirable not to require me at present to 
 give any reasons for this step." After Mr. Tyng (in the chair) 
 had read the letter, he stated : "That as the Rector in his com- 
 munication assigned no reasons for resigning, that before 
 acting upon his resignation he thought it desirable that the 
 Rector be present. He therefore moved that a committee be 
 appointed to wait upon Rev. Mr. Bonham and invite him to 
 attend the meeting. Carried. The Chair appointed Messrs. 
 
 * Revenue for support of the Church was obtained by renting pews 
 at this time and not exchanged for our present system until many years 
 later. 
 
 55 
 
Brotherson and Seabury said committee, who waited on the 
 Rector and informed him of the wishes of the vestry. The 
 Rector declined attending, giving satisfactory reasons for so 
 doing. Mr. Tyng asked permission to address the vestry for 
 a few minutes to make a personal explanation. Granted. Mr. 
 Tyng then tendered to the vestry his resignation as Senior 
 Warden, stating reasons for doing so, and thereupon withdrew 
 from the meeting." 
 
 Here follows resolutions of appreciation of Mr. Bonham's 
 value to the vestry, congregation and Church, with request 
 that he reconsider, which he did. What had happened that 
 made it impossible for Mr. Bonham and Mr. Tyng to work 
 together ? What either of them said to the vestry is unrecorded 
 here. But there are those living who can remember circum- 
 stances that throw some light on the matter. Mr. Bonham was 
 a man who prided himself on things Churchly. When he 
 accepted the call to St. Paul's it was on the understanding that 
 every Church activity should be subject to his approval. He 
 found fault at once with the leaflets used in the Sunday School, 
 also with the tracts distributed by the ladies. 
 
 Immediately he started to organize the workers of the 
 Church. He districted the city among them and proceeded to 
 compose and have printed tracts of spiritual structure and 
 Churchly tone. Before these were ready some of the evangel- 
 ical type still on hand were hurriedly distributed in the lower 
 end of town in the mission school district. Mr. Bonham heard 
 of it while it was in the doing and went to the house of one 
 of the parishoners thus engaged. When she came home with 
 a few of the offending tracts in her hands she opened her 
 door to be met by the austere minister. 
 
 "May I see those papers? Have you been distributing 
 these, and against my wishes?" 
 
 We can imagine his powerful voice booming with his 
 rising indignation. "Madam, you are undermining my work !" 
 
 We can see her trembling, terrified, chagrined — one of the 
 best hearted of all the splendid workers in St. Paul's. She 
 told of it herself. Do you wonder that Mr. Tyng resigned his 
 position as Sunday School superintendent? Do you wonder 
 that Mr. Bonham sent in his resignation without reasons? 
 
 56 
 
If you have read what has so far been told, you can 
 begin to estimate the forces that were oiling the slippery edge 
 that offered to the merest push. The chair that the Senior 
 Warden was occupying needed the slightest tilting to unseat 
 him. The question is, who pushed, who tilted, Mr. Bonham or 
 Mr. Tyng himself, or both? The result, however, was that 
 Mr. Tyng abdicated and Mr. Bonham ruled in his stead. They 
 were truly incompatible. It meant something to the strange 
 minister who had come to take charge of the Church in Peoria ; 
 it meant more to St. Paul's ; it meant most to Mr. Tyng. 
 
 Very few of us probably can realize all the heartache 
 and despondency that must have been his lot. All his life 
 given to one purpose, unstintingly given, — and his work is 
 taken from him. What if it was his own fault? He didn't 
 know it ; how could he ? All earnest energy and devoted effort, 
 he gambled on what he thought a righteous stand, and lost. 
 It was to him paralysis. Some men could have slipped back 
 into the ranks. He undoubtedly tried to. But it is hard to be 
 dead, while your mind and your heart and your soul are alive. 
 I feel it necessary to dwell at large on this character, for he 
 is the hinge on which the fortunes of the schism hung. He 
 sat in his pew and heard Mr. Bonham preach the dominating 
 power of the Church. He felt the pressure of that power. He 
 felt it as it sought to crush his friend, Charles E. Cheney of 
 Christ Church, Chicago. Bishop Whitehouse became to him 
 an oppressor of the freedom of religious life and worship. Pie 
 believed that Christ was being crucified anew on the heavy 
 cross of Ritualism, ever growing heavier and more glaring. 
 
 Am I putting it too strong? Try to realize how it would 
 have seemed to you were you in his place endowed with his 
 feelings and prejudices. How long would you have sat in your 
 pew and worshipped ? Two years and six months ? And would 
 you have subscribed $1000.00 towards the $11,000.00 asked for 
 a new building that would in all probability contain appoint- 
 ments for more extensive ritualistic ceremonies. Would you? 
 He did, and paid it. When you begin to judge the man, think 
 of this. 
 
 Mr. Bonham was the first minister in charge of St. Paul's 
 to take the Eastward position in service, also the first to 
 
 57 
 
abandon the black silk gown, making no change at all in his 
 vestments. It is strange that this abandonment of form should 
 have stirred up feeling in evangelical circles. It shows only 
 impatience of change. But one change this part of the parish 
 appreciated, viz. : the departure of Mr. Bonham in October of 
 1871. What the vestry thought of him, however, is of record: 
 
 July 11th, 1871 . . . Resolved, that it is with the 
 deepest regret this vestry is forced to accept the resignation 
 of the Rev. J. W. Bonham. Resolved, that during the short 
 term of one year under his rectorship our parish has received 
 through God's grace incalculable benefits from his sound 
 teachings, his untiring zeal and devotion to his ministry as to 
 endear him to our hearts. 
 
 As far as the evangelical part of the Parish was con- 
 cerned, it was out of the frying pan into the fire. 
 
 In December the Rev. J. S. Townsend came to take charge, 
 and while it does not appear on record, Mr. Off is responsible 
 for the statement that Mr. Townsend stipulated that if he 
 came the vestry were to stand by him if any disagreement 
 arose between himself and Mr. Tyng in Church affairs. 
 
 For what of interest they contain and because they are 
 the last official records of the vestry for many years there- 
 after that can be found, I hereby copy them in toto, three in 
 number. 
 
 Dec. 11, 1871. Present: M. Griswold and C. B. Allaire, Wardens; 
 C. Ulrichson, 0. P. Bissell, B. F. Ellis, H. R. Woodward, J. Thurlow, C. 
 Seabury, Vestrymen. 
 
 Meeting called to order by Sr. Warden and proceeded to business. 
 The Treasurer, Mr. Bissell, handed in the following report of finances: 
 
 Pew rent due Aug. to Nov., 71 $145.50 
 
 Pew rent due Nov. to Feb., '72 369.25 
 
 $514.75 
 
 Amt. note due Bank $ 88.87 
 
 Bal. cash in Savings Bank $ 56.05 
 
 Bal. cash in Zell, H. & Co 74.47 
 
 $120.52 
 
 On motion of Mr. Ellis, the treasurer was requested to notify de- 
 linquents offertory fund of the balance due the Parish. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Woodward the chair appointed the following com- 
 mittee to arrange for decorating church for Christmas: Messrs. Wood- 
 ward, Allaire and Ulrichson. 
 
 On motion the vestry decided to send a carriage to the residence of 
 M. Griswold to be placed at the disposal of Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Townsend. 
 
 Mr. Ulrichson offered the following resolutions which were unani- 
 mously adopted: Resolved that the Rev. J. W. Townsend be offered a 
 
 58 
 
salary of $3000.00 per year payable quarterly in advance. Resolved the 
 v/ardens and vestrymen will exert their influence with the congregation 
 to procure such repairs and remodeling of St. Paul's Church building as 
 in their opinion will be entirely satisfactory to and meet the wishes of 
 their rector. 
 
 Mr. Woodward moved that the treasurer be authorized to pay the 
 amount pledged to St. Mary's School by St. Paul's Parish, viz.: ($59.00) 
 Fifty dollars. 
 
 Mr. Allaire moved that the committee on music discharge the 
 "Blower" for the organ and that they arrange with the sexton to fill that 
 position. 
 
 Moved that the chair appoint gentlemen from the vestry to act as 
 ushers. The following were appointed: 1st Sunday — H. R. Woodward, 
 P. R. K. Brotherson; 2nd Sunday — C. B. Allaire, Jas Thurlow; 3rd Sunday 
 — B. F. Ellis, Chas. Seabury; 4th Sunday— Chas. Ulrichson, O. P. Bissell. 
 
 Mr. Allaire moved that the chair appoint a committee of two to 
 confer with the present heirs of St. Paul's Church property and if possible 
 to secure from them a clear title to the same. Carried. Chair appointed 
 the following: Mr. P. R. K. Brotherson, C. B. Allaire. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Woodward, vestry adjourned. 
 
 C. Seabury, Secretary. 
 
 Jan. 22d, 1872. Present: The Rector, Messrs. Griswold, Allaire, 
 Thurlow, Brotherson, Ulrichson. The Secretary being absent, Mr. Allaire 
 was chosen secretary pro tern. A letter was read and plans exhibited 
 from Mr. Ellwood of Aurora for the alteration of the Church, which were 
 informally examined and discussed by the members of the vestry. 
 
 Mr. Ulrichson moved that the facing of the walls of the clear story 
 be of brick instead of wood as estimated in the plans, which motion was 
 unanimously carried. 
 
 Mr. Griswold moved that the main entrance be made to correspond 
 in style with the balance of the building. Carried. The Rector was re- 
 quested to ascertain from Mr. Ellwood if he still adheres to his original 
 estimate of $11000.00 as the maximum cost of the proposed improve- 
 ments. If he would contract for the work, also what his charge would be 
 for the plans and specifications. 
 
 There being no further business, the meeting adjourned. 
 
 C. B. Allaire, Secretary pro tern. 
 
 Jan. 30, 1872. The vestry met at the residence of the Sr. Warden. 
 Present: The Rector, Messrs. Griswold, Allaire, Thurlow. There being no 
 quorum no organization could be effected. 
 
 A general discussion of the affairs of the Church was indulged in. 
 It was agreed by those present that they approved of the plans for the 
 alteration of the Church; that Mr. Townsend be requested to have the 
 architect complete them. 
 
 Mr. Brotherson was requested to provide offertory envelopes to the 
 subscribers to that fund. 
 
 Mr. Allaire presented a verbal proposition from Alex. Forderer to 
 collect the pew rents of the Church for three per cent of the amount 
 collected, which was accepted, and the Treasurer requested to give the 
 bills to Mr. Forderer for collection. All of the above was considered 
 subject to the ratification of the next regular meeting of the vestry, the 
 meeting then adjourned. 
 
 C. B. Allaire, Secretary pro tern. 
 
 59 
 
It is with great regret that I leave this old record that 
 has been such a kindly companion and gossip — a genuine 
 ''gossip" in its first meaning, "God father" — leading me con- 
 scientiously through the mazes of the Church story, correcting 
 many errors of memory and proving the value of faithful 
 service as well as the limitations of human aspirations. The 
 blank pages at the end of this little volume are pathetic with 
 "the might have been" of the succeeding year, and no blanker 
 than the hopes of the Church in a few short months. For the 
 old building died with the old record. 
 
 The Transcript of March 23rd, 1872, gives an elaborate 
 description of the new building. A whole column is given to 
 the details of the structure, which was to cost $20,000.00 and 
 to be begun as soon as bids were received and accepted. 
 
 On August 22d, a local notice calls parishoners to go and 
 get their Bibles and Prayer Books as everything will be re- 
 moved to the Church of the New Jerusalem offered for our use. 
 
 September 4th, an item states the stone to be used will be 
 Kickapoo sandstone. 
 
 September 30th, another local appears stating that they 
 have purchased a 50-foot lot in rear of the Church on Monroe 
 Street, giving them a Monroe Street frontage of 117 feet 
 (what relic hunter ran off with most of that added ground? 
 we have only 91 feet now) ; that the Church will set back four 
 feet from Main Street line, that the spire will be built to the 
 top, the first one in the west outside of Chicago. And Novem- 
 ber 26th, we have another full column elaborately describing 
 the wonderful structure with three entrances, Gothic towers 
 and spires, vaulted roof fifty feet high in the nave, marble 
 columns, with 144 pews seating 700 people, costing $50,000.00 
 and to be three years in building. An object lesson to the town 
 forecasting many fine public buildings — just a gorgeous 
 dream. 
 
 The article ends with the statement : "The excavation goes 
 on slowly." I should say it did — a game of hide and bluff had 
 been going on between the vestry and the people for some 
 time. The beautiful mirage held the eyes of the people while 
 they gathered for the last few services in the doomed building. 
 To be sure, the great flat ceiling sagged and plaster loosened 
 
 60 
 
and fell, there was good reason for its condemnation. But it 
 was such a picturesque, impressive structure and the wonder- 
 ful ivy that covered its walls is too beautiful to be forgotten. 
 Cling though it would it could not put off the evil day. 
 
 The wreckers came, the rafters fell, the glaring day 
 broke in where praying folk had kneeled in worship for so 
 many years. Dust and debris covered the aisles where the 
 children marched with banners upon Easter Days, carrying 
 their mite boxes to the chancel rail. Relic hunters carried off 
 broken pieces of wood to make souvenir shelves and wall 
 brackets. The great organ had been taken apart and removed. 
 The two-stepped altar had fared no better, nor the pew where 
 Mr. Griswold fumbled for his cane, nor the one that held Mr. 
 Heading with his old fashioned stock and high collar every 
 Sunday, rain or shine, after his drive in from his country 
 home. These pews and others, piled up and mixed in a scan- 
 dalous way could their occupants fill thern now, await what 
 chance would bring them. This one held the Rouses, this the 
 Rattles, this the Lathrops, and this the Comstocks. Here Dr. 
 Simoneau, there Scandret sat, dapper 0. P. Bissell, Dr. Col- 
 burn stern and sombre, and quaint old Joel Blakesley — hun- 
 dred dollar pews and twenty dollar pews, front and back, 
 upholstered and bare, rich and poor and stranger pews, 
 hopelessly mixed as perhaps they will be in the Church 
 Triumphant. Then out of a clear sky came a crippling stroke. 
 
 Sometime in the Fall a hurry call from the contractor 
 brought the building committee to the scene. "I am sorry, 
 sir, but it will be impossible to proceed with safety." "What 
 do you mean?" Mr. Townsend felt his responsibility in the 
 matter keenly and was stunned as he listened to the contrac- 
 tor's explanation. The old walls had been put up with narrow 
 footings, insufficient to support the contemplated structure 
 safely. As the Rector stood listening, desperate and disgusted, 
 he saw one of the old time vestry going down the street. He 
 hailed him. "See what a mess we're in. The foundation's not 
 there. We can't go on. Why is it so? Did you know it?" 
 
 "Yes, I knew it." 
 
 "Then why didn't you tell me?" 
 
 "You didn't ask me." 
 
 61 
 
"Didn't ask you ?" Then, I am sorry to say it, but 
 
 Mr. Townsend got mad. There have been some other minis- 
 ters of St. Paul's Church before and since who have been 
 censured for things said in anger. But I believe no one ever 
 had better reason. St. Paul's prospective Church was as much 
 a wreck as the ruin by his side. His $3000.00 salary was as 
 shaky as the dismantled walls remaining. So he said things, 
 and as he talked he got madder, for he began to realize that 
 he was talking to one who belonged to that part of his con- 
 gregation not in sympathy with his Church views, and prob- 
 ably the hole beside him was no more yawning chasm than 
 what threatened the future activity of the Parish under his 
 administration. But, whatever he thought, the fact remains 
 that, notwithstanding vigorous efforts to boost, lack of inter- 
 est resulted on the part of many ; services being held in Rouse's 
 Hall and afterwards the Swedenborgian Church (site of G. 
 A. R. Hall) were poorly attended. Pew rents were in the scrap 
 heap with the pews. Obligations sat lightly on the disaffected 
 and the disappointed. Temporary quarters proved uncomfort- 
 able. Any efforts to raise enough now to build the Church as 
 planned from foundation up seemed hopeless. In fact, much 
 of what had been subscribed was cancelled. 
 
 By the time 1872 drew to a close it was determined to 
 try on leased ground somewhere and build something to use 
 until such time as the Church might revive sufficiently to 
 rebuild permanently and properly on its own lot. Therefore, 
 early in 1873, the corner of Jefferson and Jackson Streets 
 was leased and a frame building erected. Even then lack of 
 funds made it impossible to build free of debt; and J. C. 
 Proctor Co. was held off for the lumber bill for an indefinite 
 term. The organ was reinstated in this building and a 
 strawberry festival held there June 6th to raise money for 
 upholstering the pews. 
 
 Miss Frances Mayo lived next door at that time and the 
 girls and women of the Church found her house as well as 
 herself a great help as always in making arrangements on 
 that occasion. Here it must be said again that those people 
 who were least in sympathy with the rector in his Church 
 
 62 
 
views were still generously active in socials and festivals. They 
 had gotten the habit, and any little thing like Church doctrine 
 or usage couldn't stop them. They were bound to distribute 
 the loaves and fishes whether canonically fit or not. 
 
 The ice cream and the strawberries disappeared, water- 
 melon season came and went, also the first State Fair in 
 Peoria, and the great social event of the year, "The Drummer 
 Boy of Shiloh." Thanksgiving passed, never to come again to 
 the same united congregation. Stir-Up Sunday came and 
 passed in apparent but suspicious quiet, few dreaming what 
 Advent was to bring upon the Church. 
 
 Had Advent been taught then as now ? But the axe 
 
 was lifted and nine days before the Feast of the Nativity 
 it fell. 
 
 Temporary building erected on Corner of Jefferson and Jackson Sts. 1873 
 removed 1876 to old Churck lot cor. Main and Monroe. 
 Burned down I889. 
 
 63 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 SCHISM. 
 
 December 16th, 1873, the morning papers contained an 
 invitation to those who were in sympathy with the recent 
 evangelical movement to assemble at the Second Presbyterian 
 Church that evening. Mr. Off told how a Mr. Hutchinson of 
 Chicago, a close friend of Mr. Cheney's, urged him to come 
 out that evening, as much of interest would undoubtedly occur. 
 
 The Church was well filled, and Bishop Cummins of 
 Kentucky, who had recently resigned his position as assistant 
 bishop there, was the principal speaker. The Transcript the 
 morning of the 17th contains a full account of the meeting, 
 and corroborates Mr. Off's statement that Bishop Cummins 
 charged the Church with iniquitous and idolatrous usages, 
 and justified his departure from the fold therefore, denounc- 
 ing with equal horror the high altars, lights, confessionals 
 and vested choirs, and with the same degree of condemnation 
 that Mr. Bonham used in his assault upon dancing, card- 
 playing, and the theatre ; except that Mr. Bonham called them 
 the works of the devil, and Bishop Cummins only implied as 
 much. Mr. Bonham, by the way, had visited Peoria the year 
 before and given a lecture on his visit to Italy, and his experi- 
 ence during the eruption of Vesuvius. How much of hellfire 
 he got into his lecture may be surmised ; The Transcript states 
 that those who heard him were pleased. Peoria was brought 
 up on hellfire, you know. 
 
 But the fire that Bishop Cummins came to start in Peoria, 
 while it was not Vesuvian, was to be a fierce one while it 
 lasted. He called for the formation of a new Church based on 
 Protestant principles and practices such as he favored and 
 believed. Apostolic succession was belittled and the ministry 
 of any Protestant denomination was to be considered as valid 
 as his own. To those of us who believe in the Holy, Catholic, 
 and Apostolic Church of the Nicene Creed what happened at 
 the meeting after such a speech is hard to believe. And it was 
 not done without misgivings. One of those who attended and 
 afterward joined the reform movement told me that when Mr. 
 
 64 
 
Tyng got up to speak and said: 'This is the time to act, to 
 form a new Church in Peoria, here and now," she felt a shock, 
 and that the audience were unnaturally still for a while. 
 
 I think I am right in believing that on Mr. Tyng and on 
 him alone depended whether or not St. Paul's Church should 
 be rent asunder at this time. He went on to say that he 
 thought a Church founded on the broad principles enumerated 
 by the bishop would be common ground on which all other 
 denominations could unite and form one complete and glorious 
 Protestant Church. I suppose it was with this idea in mind 
 that the hymns sung that evening were selected. But did they 
 realize what two-edged swords they were handling? "Rock 
 of Ages" and "Blest Be the Tie That Binds"? Time has proved 
 the true meaning of these hymns. 
 
 But in justice to those sincere and earnest men and 
 women of St. Paul's who, mistakenly, as we think and as many 
 of them came to believe years after, left the Church of the 
 Ages to form a new one, I wish to reproduce here their reasons 
 and the method of their proceedings from the pen of one who 
 should know most about it. Therefore, I quote from a paper 
 entitled, "Memories of an Old Home," written and read by 
 Mrs. A. G. Tyng, wife of A. G. Tyng, Sr., long Senior Warden 
 of St. Paul's Church, afterwords Senior Warden of Christ 
 (R. E.) Church from its foundation till his death. 
 
 "St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church . . . which 
 had gradually under successive rectors changed in the char- 
 acter of its services and preaching until it was hard to recog- 
 nize its identity with the simple evangelical Church of its 
 beginning. The Senior Warden who had planted the S. S. 
 and had always been superintendent found it difficult to main- 
 tain the plain gospel teaching without coming into conflict with 
 the Rector of the Parish. Many of the members pined for 'the 
 old paths' and missed fraternal relations which had existed 
 between our congregation and the surrounding Protestant 
 Churches. The growing tendency to ritualistic additions to 
 our Church service, with the rigid displeasure in high places 
 toward any infringement on the letter of the Church laws 
 or usages, made a feeling of unrest and dissatisfaction prev- 
 alent. Those of us who felt moved to active service for the 
 
 65 
 
good of those about us found ourselves hedged in and 
 denounced as disloyal to the Church, and as being 'No Church- 
 men/ 
 
 "The trial and suspension of the Rev. Charles Edward 
 Cheney in Chicago for the omission of certain words in the 
 baptismal service excited much feeling and indignation in our 
 midst; so that when at last Bishop Cummins was censured 
 for his assistance at a communion service during a meeting of 
 the Evangelical Alliance in New York, and consequently 
 afterwards resigned his position as Assistant Bishop of Ken- 
 tucky, it was the final stroke which severed us from allegiance 
 to the old Church of our fathers. When notice was sent out 
 from New York inviting all who desired to meet in convention 
 December 2d, 1873, five names from Peoria were sent forward 
 to unite in laying the foundation for a new Church — an Epis- 
 copal Church — differing from the old in its freedom from 
 restrictions dividing us from other Protestant Churches. 
 
 "The names thus sent — the first members of the Reformed 
 Episcopal Church in Peoria — were Alex. G. Tyng, P. R. K. 
 Brotherson, Hon. Henry B. Hopkins, Charles F. Bacon and 
 Alex. G. Tyng, Jr. Immediately after the consecration of 
 Bishop Cheney in Chicago, December 14th, 1873, in response 
 to an invitation given by A. G. Tyng, Bishop Cummins came 
 to Peoria to hold evening service. Bishop Cheney accompanied 
 him . . . 
 
 "One great feature of our success was our choir, which 
 had long been the best in the city . . . Mr. and Mrs. Chas. 
 F. Bacon, Mrs. Sophie K. Field, and Mr. Chas. H. Kellogg." 
 
 Everything Mrs. Tyng here states is true except possibly 
 in limiting the character of the beginning years of St. Paul's 
 as being that of a "simple evangelical Church." With Bishop 
 Chase as its head, who was a Church and Prayer Book mis- 
 sionary, that is open to question. That Rev. J. W. Cracraft, 
 the first Rector, was of Evangelical trend, and that the form 
 of the service was simple, is perfectly true ; nevertheless, the 
 spirit was that of conformity to the laws of the Church and 
 obedience to its bishops and clergy as shown in the first act 
 of its existence: "We ... do hereby associate ourselves 
 under the name of St. Paul's Parish in communion with the 
 
 66 
 
Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America 
 and Diocese of Illinois; the authority of whose constitution 
 and canons we do hereby recognize and to whose liturgy and 
 mode of worship we promise conformity/ ' (See page 8.) And 
 conformity to that spirit continued to be the habit of the 
 vestry from that time to this. But, as shown in Mrs. Tyng's 
 paper, Mr. Tyng and those of his belief found it hard to keep 
 the form of worship as they desired, or to endure the censure 
 of the Church for resisting changes they disliked. And yet 
 I am tempted to tell here how, unwittingly, as early as Mr. 
 Wait's time, about 1860 or 1861, they admitted auricular con- 
 fession into St. Paul's Church. 
 
 The confessional was in an upper room in the tower; 
 and it was a Sunday School teacher who conducted it. I re- 
 member it only too well, being one of the little tots who were 
 told to come next Sunday prepared to tell what wrong things 
 they had been tempted to do during the week and how well 
 they had succeeded in resisting temptation. How I struggled 
 all that week to find something real bad that I might overcome 
 and bring the confession to my teacher. But there was only 
 one thing I could think of, a bad habit I had, and I was 
 ashamed to confess that, even if I overcame it for the week. 
 Yet I wanted to respond to Mrs. Tyng's wishes so much that 
 I went Sunday prepared to tell. 
 
 As the others, one by one, recounted their experiences, 
 and received commendation or absolution, as the case might 
 be, I got a feeling that I didn't know then was to be called 
 "cold feet"; and when my time came I was tongue-tied. I 
 couldn't tell, I wouldn't tell; and yet I held my teacher in as 
 much awe and reverence as any priest of the Church in after 
 years, unless it be Rev. John Benson. I have sometimes won- 
 dered if she had taken me by myself, would I have told her? 
 But this was not a compulsory confession, merely an earnest 
 request and desire on the part of one we looked up to with 
 implicit trust. And it was Mrs. Tyng and not Bishop White- 
 house who controlled the situation then. 
 
 Now it was different. The avalanche of sacerdotalism was 
 imminent and not to be endured. The result, with the mistake 
 of the South only a few years old, was rebellion and secession. 
 
 67 
 
I have not put what I have written right if the reader 
 can not see full and sufficient human provocation for their act. 
 But justification has no alliance with provocation. Had the 
 reform been justified, it would have lived and worked the rev- 
 olution that it promised. Blinded by prejudice, it sought to 
 withhold the growth of a needed spirituality and failed — failed 
 only in its schismatic purpose. That which was deserving in 
 the individual souls responsible worked for good. God saw 
 to that; and Bacon Mission still attests it. 
 
 It will be neither appropriate nor profitable to continue 
 the controversy further. This is a story, not a debate, and 
 it is advisable to show only what happened and how and why, 
 with possibly the reasons why those who remained faithful to 
 St. Paul's in this crisis are deserving of much credit. 
 
 In the two and a half years succeeding Mr. Tyng's resig- 
 nation several changes had occurred in the vestry. Benjamin 
 Cowell, my father, was one of the new men recruited from 
 St. John's to help pull them out of "the pit they had digged 
 for themselves" on the corner of Main and Monroe Streets. 
 Mr. Cowell was one of those men whose sound business sense 
 and energy had not only made him a successful merchant, but 
 was bringing him to the front in civic enterprises. At the 
 time he was called to the vestry, he was bringing the Adams 
 Street Railway into efficient working, being treasurer and 
 practical manager. 
 
 I can well remember him in the time of the first State 
 Fair here, holding the entire service up until the order against 
 riding on the car roof was complied with. He took his station 
 on the corner of Main and Adams Streets, and for an hour 
 took the abuse of a constantly increasing, angry crowd that 
 insisted the cars move, rule or no rule. Men and boys would 
 get off the roofs, and when the cars started again would rush 
 it and climb on again, and again the cars would stop on order. 
 He, standing or sitting on the curb, was determined but quiet, 
 except when his voice rang out above the hub-bub, "Stop!" 
 And they stopped. The cars lined up behind each other, and 
 the crowd grew. Mr. Brotherson, president of the Street Car 
 Company and Mayor of the city, as well as a vestryman of 
 St. Paul's, appeared on the scene and, confronted by the crowd, 
 
 68 
 
would have weakened if it had not been for Mr. Cowell, who 
 would not budge an inch. 'The rule was a just one and must 
 be obeyed." And it was. The crowd gave it up as hopeless. 
 Never again was that rule broken. 
 
 This was the kind of mettle that St. Paul's needed most ; 
 not that he ever attempted to keep the parishoners from riding 
 the Church in whatever manner they pleased, canon or no 
 canon. The vestry had enough to do to hold the passengers 
 in and keep the cars on the track. Mr. Cowell was appreciated, 
 however, and would have been invaluable when the crisis 
 came; but he was to meet another crisis than that — and all 
 alone. Two months before the schism came, he died. 
 
 The Sunday just preceding the Schism, Bishop White- 
 house had confirmed a class of twelve, one of whom was 
 William Francis Mayo, now of Holy Cross House, N. Y. And 
 while the community was aware of the unsettled condition of 
 ecclesiastical matters, and knew that something was brewing, 
 the actual break came to St. Paul's with a shock difficult for 
 us now to estimate. Throughout the week it was the all- 
 absorbing topic. Friend interviewed friend, "How do you 
 stand?" "What are you going to do?" "Is so-and-so going to 
 stay?" "If the Tyngs and Brothersons and Cockles go, will 
 the Griswolds remain?" 
 
 Tense as the religious situation was, the social feeling 
 loomed big. Sunday came and people as they entered the 
 Church looked for the empty pews that once were always occu- 
 pied. Emptiness never seemed so empty before. One pew, 
 however, held the attention of us all; for surely there were 
 the Cockles, as usual. Was it possible ? Were they really going 
 to stay? There were others, too, not so prominent, but still 
 noticeably present despite adverse rumors. But another Sun- 
 day came, and the leakage had continued. So week by week 
 it drained, and the Church was full of holes ; by some it seemed 
 about worn out, ready to throw away. The Cockles had finally 
 gone, the Colburns, the Hopkinses, the Bacons, the Ellises, 
 the Riggses, the Lathrops, the Crawleys, Mr. Dox and his new 
 bride, and others and still others, all gone, with their gracious 
 manners and winning smiles, their hearty handshakes and 
 
 69 
 
genial welcomes to young and old, their faces and their voices 
 missing. Who of us can estimate the emptiness, the power of 
 the undertow that kept up its pulling towards the schismatic 
 but enthusiastic new Church now forming? All that was 
 pleasant, prosperous and generous seemed to be going there, 
 the popular, the cultured and the fashionable, even the musical 
 were flowing thither. Mrs. Tyng says in her paper: "One 
 great feature of our success was our choir, which had long 
 been the best in the city: Mr. and Mrs. Chas. F. Bacon, Mrs. 
 Sophie K. Field, and Mr. Chas. H. Kellogg." 
 
 Poor Mrs. Griswold ! Her heart was torn as never before. 
 Her best, dearest friend was Mrs. Tyng. For over twenty 
 
 years they had been together in everything ; and now . Her 
 
 daughter tells how she heard the news and came home to cry. 
 Possibly some women know what that can mean. I would not 
 try to picture it, if I could. But hers was not the only deep 
 sorrow, not even the heaviest, perhaps. That fell upon the 
 liveliest, most brilliant member of the Tyng and Brotherson 
 family, the wife of Matthew McReynolds, once of St. Paul's, 
 then a member of St. John's. She took it to heart but met it 
 with the courage of St. Paul; and though her love for her 
 family never slackened, she held steadfast to the Church in 
 word and deed, never condoning one tittle of the wrong they 
 had done. The chasm always yawned between them, bridged 
 only by loving service and devotion to them all. To me she 
 has been the most wonderful triumph of a woman and a 
 Churchman I have ever known, the bravest bearer of the cross, 
 a tongue of fire a pillar of faith never equalled. To her, more 
 than any one else, C. J. Off said he owed his Churchmanship. 
 The late Bishop McLaren of Chicago has said the same, and 
 there are others, many others, in whose hearts she was and 
 is enshrined. 
 
 As far as St. Paul's was concerned at this juncture, Mrs. 
 McReynolds' work consisted mostly in having taught Mr. Off 
 the Catechism from the ground up, making him available 
 quantity that was sorely needed. The Church had been de- 
 pleted by death as well as schism this year. Dr. Rouse finished 
 his labors in St. Paul's and his eighty years of life in April. 
 Mr. Cowell, as stated, died in October, and other vestrymen — 
 
 70 
 
Brotherson, Ellis and Hotchkiss — went out of service either 
 at this time or just previously. So when Christmas came the 
 vestry in its reverses kept pace with the congregation. It has 
 been said, speaking in general terms, that the schism cut off 
 two-fifths of the congregation and half its revenue. What a 
 Christmas present for St. PauPs! 
 
 Mr. Griswold said very little, but he buttoned his coat 
 tighter to keep out the chill from his wounded heart (he never 
 wore an overcoat) and stood up against the blizzard, blow as 
 it might. And Mr. Allaire stepped up to toe the mark beside 
 the man he honored as well as for the Church he loved. Mr. 
 Woodward came up with a snap, and Bissell with his set grin. 
 Charlie Seabury didn't have to come up, for he was always 
 there ; and as for Joel Blakesley, he being handy and a steady 
 attendant, had drifted into the vestry, just when I can not say, 
 except that it was a lucky day that saw him stranded there. 
 His name must have been the sail that brought him. He came 
 from the country in time to "beat his plowshares into swords." 
 It is only in Joel that the words are used in this sequence. 
 Nobody called him Joel to his face; that, if he should take it 
 wrong, might be dangerous; for he had a dry, sarcastic wit 
 that went with his deep sunken eyes and burly eyebrows, his 
 rasping voice and gritty chuckle, that like as not might make 
 you feel sorry for yourself, had you done so. He looked a rusty 
 nut-cracker of a man — a very useful article this wintry time, 
 as we shall see. And Mr. Townsend, the rector, — well, he had 
 already done the very best thing he could have done a few 
 days before the break. 
 
 It happened this way: December 3rd the vestry were 
 called together by the Rector. He had just received the resig- 
 nation of Mr. Brotherson, and in that morning's Chicago 
 Tribune had read a two column account of the formation of 
 the Reformed Episcopal Church in New York, in which 
 occurred the names of Mr. Tyng and Mr. Kellogg as on the 
 standing committee. He had consulted with some of the vestry, 
 and then asked Mr. Off to come to the Church as he wished 
 to see him. Mr. Off said that when he entered the vestry 
 room, Mr. Townsend called out, "Here comes a vestryman of 
 the new Reformed Episcopal Church of Peoria." 
 
 "What do you mean?" 
 
 n 
 
Mr. Townsend waved the morning Tribune he had in his 
 hand. "What! Haven't you heard the news?" 
 
 "I have not!" 
 
 We can imagine the short, snappy sound of this reply, we 
 who have heard Mr. Off when he was excited. Then Mr. Town- 
 send read from the Tribune enough to enlighten Mr. Off, 
 making comments and asserting the probability of what after- 
 ward took place in this city, and ended by saying, "I hold in 
 my hand Mr. Brotherson's resignation from the vestry of St. 
 Paul's; we wish to know if you are willing to step into the 
 place he has vacated." 
 
 This may sound a little spectacular; in fact, it was. Mr. 
 Townsend knew that Mr. Off was in large measure a protege 
 of Mr. Tyng's, that he was at the time in charge of a mission 
 in Wesley City established and carried on by Mr. Tyng as a 
 free lance. Some days before, Mr. Tyng had sounded Mr. Off 
 in a general way in connection with this mission, saying that 
 he wished Mr. Off to continue to take charge there, that after 
 all it made very little difference what Church a man belonged 
 to if he were a good Christian. Of course, in all statements 
 of this kind I suppose the Roman Church was not included 
 in the terms, as only Protestants could qualify as Christians. 
 
 There were several other young men of strong character 
 in St. Paul's, all more or less bound by courtesy to the Tyng 
 and Brotherson family, beside Charlie Off, such as Charlie 
 Bacon, Charlie Jamison, and Charlie Kellogg. Of the four 
 Charlies just mentioned, Mr. Townsend went gunning for one, 
 and bagged him. It was "Off" with the old job and on with 
 it too, through the rest of his life, and for the emergency 
 pending he meant more to St. Paul's than would all the other 
 Charlies combined; that is not to disparage the value of any 
 of the others in his way, which was a different way in more 
 senses than one. The others (they are all dead now) were 
 built to hoist sail and go with the wind famously. But Charlie 
 Off was also good on the tack, or the tackle, and there was 
 indeed something to tackle when the winter of 1874 set in. 
 
 Bravely Mr. Townsend preached to his checkerboard con- 
 gregation ; to be sure some of the lowly sat in the seats of the 
 elders with perhaps the ambitious feelings of the covetous in 
 
 72 
 
times of revolution. But all in all, there was little shaking up 
 of the pewholders except what they got from the pulpit. And 
 the vacant pews were more dispiriting to both people and 
 minister than natural gaps in golf seasons of today, growing 
 more so Sunday after Sunday. Mat. Wilkinson and the blower 
 did their best to inflate the Church with organ music, and John 
 Rouse, barytone, stood up alone and did his best, and a good 
 best it was, to put some courage into the hearts of the dolorous. 
 
 Lent came and found plenty of sackcloth and ashes. Some 
 years afterwards our Church burnt down; but it was never 
 so near dust to dust, ashes to ashes, as at this time. Some 
 have said that $3000.00 salary got on the nerves of the vestry ; 
 a veritable old man of the sea, it kept them from thinking of 
 anything else, — except the lumber bill. It was impossible to 
 pay both. The natural and right thing, they thought and said, 
 was for the Rector to cut his salary ; under the circumstances 
 they fully expected he would do this without a word. It is 
 astonishing how we always expect the other fellow to do his 
 duty even if it is unpleasant, and a minister whose place it 
 is to preach duty and self-sacrifice, of course. 
 
 Well ! Mr. Townsend preached duty on this occasion in an 
 effective way of his own. Certainly he would be as generous 
 as any one of the vestry, even the wealthiest of them. He could 
 ill afford to lose any part of his income, his family was an 
 expensive one, especially on account of an invalid son. He had 
 left a good parish to come to St. Paul's, he would try and find 
 another; in the meantime, he would give from his salary as 
 much as any one of them would add to his contribution. This 
 was a perfectly fair proposition, more than fair. But no one 
 took him up. Dollars looked pretty big to them then, some- 
 thing like the moon rising behind the Church if the Church 
 be far enough away from the heart and the pocket near. 
 
 They waited in a round-robin way for some one to do 
 something. But talk!— they stayed up late to talk about it 
 and got hold of each other in outside hours and walked for 
 miles just to talk it over, and over, and over. Poor old St. 
 Paul's, it seemed a forlorn hope ; the pow-wow might turn into 
 a wake any day. There were symptoms of it on the part of 
 
 73 
 
the vestry. Strange, that feeling that comes under protracted 
 strain, an almost eager waiting for death, so that we can take 
 hold of a live subject instead. And I am sorry to say it, but 
 I believe there were quite a few of the remaining congregation 
 who would have welcomed such an end in order to let them 
 follow the fashion with a nothing-else-to-do conscience. 
 
 When Mr. Proctor threatened a mechanic's lien, it was 
 like poking the tired animals in a show. But it was poke 
 enough to make them get up and pace around the cage and 
 show their teeth and growl. Some people were mean enough 
 to say that Mr. Proctor was put up to do this by the rival 
 Church, expecting to hasten the demise of St. Paul's. This I 
 do not believe. It undoubtedly arose from the brilliant imagi- 
 nation of some mischief maker. There was enough sting in 
 the rumor, however, to add to the goad. The lumber bill must 
 be paid or the Church would come under the hammer, and, 
 who knows, might be bought in by the Reform Church party, 
 who were raising money by the thousands now. 
 
 That "must" haunted Mr. Off, he said, like a nightmare, 
 until he thought of a chance and went after it hot-footed. 
 Simple enough: each vestryman was to sign his name to a 
 joint note for the amount needed; and the money to be bor- 
 rowed on that security. Simple? Only nine men to persuade 
 to risk their names on a $4000.00 note. Easy for some ; yes. 
 But those who had a realizing sense of the possible chances 
 involved hesitated to do more than make individual notes for 
 their share. That this would bring the money was out of the 
 question. Mr. Off tramped back and forth from one to another, 
 urging, arguing, imploring, until finally he got them all to- 
 gether, and all willing but one or two. Under pressure the 
 last one gave in, and the note was prepared. But even then 
 there was grave doubt if any one could be found to furnish 
 the money on this kind of security. Mr. Woodward, whose 
 knowledge of the money market was most relied on, said, "I 
 don't believe we can find anyone to do it ; I'm sure we can't." 
 
 Then it was that Joel Blakesley, who had been in the 
 background most of the time, drawled out: "Well, I reckon 
 I could let you have the money on that security." Cracked the 
 
 74 
 
nut with one application of his jaws. Saved the Church then 
 and there ! Grim and gaunt old man, your tablet is the corner- 
 stone of St. Paul's Church on Main Street. It is being strong 
 and willing to do what nobody else will do that counts for 
 most in the cornerstone of a Church or a character. I have 
 known a few such ; they are rare and mostly come from beat- 
 ing plowshares into swords and pruning hooks into spears. 
 They are apt to be Joels, rough of form and speech, not over- 
 popular with the men of this world until they are dead, and 
 their works and their warnings are proved. 
 
 But on this occasion our Joel was certainly popular. While 
 some might have suspected his means, no one had dreamed 
 of his doing this. They felt very much like hugging him. I 
 wonder what would have happened had they tried — a grizzly 
 bear dance ahead of time ? Indeed, their hearts were dancing. 
 The sun had touched the cloud and its silver lining had dazzled 
 their eyes. The doctor had turned his face from the patient 
 whom he had been watching in silence, and smiled. "The crisis 
 is over, gentlemen, you may go home and take a rest." 
 
 No more despondency, no more listless languor. Hope, 
 security, life again. Stir and stride and growing strength ! St. 
 Paul's was on its feet and prancing!* 
 
 * The story so far was written prior to 1917. Writing was not 
 resumed until after 1926. 
 
 75 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 REVIVAL. 
 
 Mighty little time was lost thereafter in crying over spilt 
 milk. Order for close ranks brought the remainder of the con- 
 gregation into good working order. John Rouse, Miss Belle 
 Green and Miss Hogue (now Mrs. N. Griswold) took hold of 
 the music, and made real music, too. It may be that I was 
 prejudiced at the time; but I know that after a very short 
 time I would not have been willing to swap choirs. Miss 
 Hogue's voice had charmed me beyond measure. She was one 
 of our crowd of young people, which may account. 
 
 But anyway let me tell you something you ought to know 
 already. The mainstays of the Church were, of course, the 
 older folks, and the money holders and bread winners; but 
 what's a bed without springs or a June without roses? or a 
 Church without young people? And somehow or other the 
 wealth and the fashion, the culture and show that went with 
 the new Church took a very small portion of the sweet June 
 roses from us. They paid very little to the support of the 
 Church, but — j^ou know how it is. People love to be where 
 the roses bloom. And you can't raise roses without gain to 
 yourself in the doing it. Things run more smoothly, the heart 
 grows warmer and work is better done and faith and hope 
 and results come, too. The flowers of St. Paul's flourished 
 apace and the bouquet holders (that was the day of those silver 
 atrocities called bouquet holders) sat in the pews or waited 
 outside in all their young awkwardness ; and if they put little 
 into the plate, they helped to make fairs and festivals hum, 
 and St. Paul's smiled on them, for St. Paul's was wise and 
 wary. 
 
 St. Paul's smiled at many other things at that time, even 
 smiled at another Charlie (Birket) and let him run the Sunday 
 School for a spell, his own way, too, until such time as he felt 
 himself neglected or unappreciated, or anyhow became dis- 
 gruntled and possibly saved the thing by dropping it. "Little 
 drops of water, little grains of sand" we used to sing it in 
 
 76 
 
Sunday School. And the drops and the sand were in evidence 
 then as since. But Mr. Townsend didn't have the sand to 
 avoid the drop, and one Johnstone picked up the thread where 
 he dropped it. Necessarily the time of reconstruction was of 
 that over-ailed, shirt-sleeved nature, not so pleasant as it 
 might be to one of Mr. Townsend's caliber. He was elegant in 
 the chancel or at social gatherings, capable, intellectual, rever- 
 ential, Churchly, but just a little too dignified, so at least it 
 seemed to some, to get under the machine and fix it. He really 
 was never one of the oily kind. Now Johnstone — fact of the 
 matter, there seems to be very little remembered about him, 
 anyway. I fear he will have to be entered here with * * *. 
 Stars of another kind were to follow. One of the first magni- 
 tude was about to appear in 1877. 
 
 But before he steps upon the stage, the scenery must be 
 arranged, properties set — I had almost said proprieties. For 
 you must know there were proprieties and conventions then as 
 there are now, as there always have been and always will be, 
 differ they ever so much. 
 
 Though Mr. Johnstone's record as a personality seems 
 rather blank, his name is affixed on the Church records 
 through most of the years 1874, 1875 and 1876 to baptisms, 
 confirmations, marriages and burials, a certified cord on which 
 these vital events are strung. He also was an abiding presence 
 to legalize other events, though not so important to those of 
 record yet more generally interesting. Perhaps the lax author- 
 ity of the mild and unremembered minister left the people 
 freer to act for themselves. This is likely to be a dangerous 
 privilege, and 1875 brought no exception to the rule. For the 
 summer of that year brought Robt. G. Ingersoll back from 
 his European trip ; and his seductive lecture on what he saw 
 and what he didn't see in Europe drew and charmed crowds, 
 among whom I was one delighted listener. If only some lec- 
 turer as fascinating could have told us what Ingersoll saw and 
 what he didn't see in the Christian religion. 
 
 But, after all, maybe that would have been a weaker- 
 defense than what the loyal souls of the Church did put up 
 that year. Nature (God) generally supplies a good antidote 
 
 77 
 
when needed. It is a credit to the saneness of St. Paul's people 
 that they were not frightened by Ingersoll nor by what many 
 seemed to think a more subtle and dangerous attack in the 
 preceding winter. I think to appreciate the situation fully you 
 must remember that the year to follow (1876) was Centennial 
 year, and all America had been anticipating for some time 
 the celebration of the hundrdeth anniversary of the Declara- 
 tion of Independence. It was in the air — Revolution. 
 
 The schism in our Church three years before was only a 
 starter. Today one of the absorbing problems is known as 
 the "Revolt of Youth." I would have you know that it was 
 not so very new fifty years ago. Our Mr. Bonham, you may 
 recall, is mentioned as dubbing cards, dancing, and the theatre 
 works of the devil. Well, from that standpoint the devil had 
 gotten a powerful foothold in the revolutionary period, 1873 
 to 1877 ; for the most popular, even among our Presbyterian 
 friends, was the galaxy of youth that adorned and stormed 
 Rouse's Hall in those days — "The Amateurs." 
 
 We have mentioned the "Drummer Boy of Shiloh" once 
 or twice already ; but Noble Huggins, who was near to ostra- 
 cism then, came back to our hearts again, a shining light in 
 the plays the Amateurs put on, such as "Caste" and "Art and 
 Artifice" in 1875 for the Women's Home Mission, and again 
 in 1877, "Still Waters Run Deep," given for the benefit of 
 that other popular character in the war-play, Uncle Joe, Mr. 
 S. S. Patton, whose stutter you may remember was everything 
 in the older play and lost in our Church choir. The Transcript, 
 February 9th, 1877, shouts its admiration of this charming 
 effort of the Amateurs — our youth of those days pitted against 
 the elders. 
 
 But how shrewd was Mr. Bonham's devil, beginning with 
 a war spectacle, pacifying with benefits in the name of charity, 
 also an oratorio, a Biblical Queen Esther, under the auspices 
 of the Universalist Church, where he doesn't count, to be sure, 
 but seducing the whole town just the same. For the Amateurs 
 were everything desirable, not so advanced or so perfect in 
 their acting as our present Peoria Players ; but we were proud 
 of them and they ruled supreme. They seemed to be pretty 
 
 78 
 
successful in whipping Bonham's devil 'round the stump, too ; 
 for he sneaked into several of the churches, beginning with 
 St. Paul's, where he gathered in Mrs. Trowbridge, heroine in 
 "Still Waters" ; May Greene and Ida Farrell, by far the most 
 fascinating of Peoria's belles; also John Rouse and Lillian 
 Davis. She was such a lovely girl, the Church came to know 
 and appreciate her worth more fully as wife of J. N. Ward, a 
 sterling vestryman of later years. 
 
 There have been a few who knew her as a girl and felt 
 the thrill of her recovery from a serious consumptive condi- 
 tion. It was while she was thus afflicted that she figured in the 
 Amateurs, slight, dainty, beautiful, sweet, gentle and kind to 
 everyone, — that she always has been ; but as a young girl and 
 with that warm good fellowship that never fails to win the 
 heart, we all fell under the spell and loved her in a romantic, 
 pitying way I can never forget. Now I want to know, was 
 Mr. Bonham's devil really responsible for all that? 
 
 From the Presbyterian Church came Ned Johnstone ; from 
 the Congregational, C. D. Clarke and Noble Huggins; from 
 the Universalist, Lizzie Pulsipher, another bright beauty, also 
 Hattie Johnson and Eva Burt, later to shine in the Peoria 
 Choral Union ; and John Cockle from the Reformed Episcopal. 
 Why the devil should have slighted the Baptists and Metho- 
 dists, I leave them to say ; perhaps they smelt it on his breath. 
 But to prove the lack of prejudice, or catholicity of choice, 
 there was Simon Killduff, who was being skilfully shunted 
 into the Roman Catholic Church. It is only the Episcopalian 
 who insists upon the proper use of the term Catholic, which 
 reminds me of a laugh our Men's Club furnished quite a few 
 years ago. 
 
 They had secured for an after-dinner entertainment local 
 talent in the shape of our famous humorist, Eugene Baldwin, 
 editor of the Peoria Evening Star. In the business meeting 
 preceding the address there had been quite a little said about 
 the proposed change of the name of the Church, a subject then 
 prominent, in which the word Catholic in its meaning of 
 universal was claimed as our right and not properly the 
 exclusive possession of the Roman Church. So when Mr. Bald- 
 
 79 
 
win was introduced he began in unctious tones, "Fellow 
 Catholics," and brought the laugh. Baldwin, as we all know, 
 was a free thinker, a free liver, and a free giver, too. For 
 when Harry Stone and myself approached him once for a 
 subscription to the Y. M. C. A. we were easily successful. 
 When the bookkeeper asked, "What account shall I charge this 
 to, Mr. Baldwin?" his instant reply, with Ingersolian roll of 
 voice and nonchalant manner, was, "Charge it to the Lord." 
 What an actor he was, and how well he concealed his better 
 nature from the general public! He was discredited and dis- 
 liked by many, hated and feared by some; but he loved his 
 paper and the staff of the Star, it is said, loved him. 
 
 But in 1875 he was far away in El Paso, and there was 
 no Evening Star, except among the Amateurs, one of which 
 is yet to mention, Geo. I. Brown. Now where did the devil find 
 him? He was the hero in "Still Waters," you know, tall, sandy- 
 haired, strong features, a kind of dare-devil fellow, who caused 
 talk and was otherwise fascinating, with a sharp, caustic wit 
 which stung, as I can testify, homely and awkward, but in the 
 limelight most of the time. He was one among the many suit- 
 ors in Ida Farrell's court, where he was more successful in 
 driving away others than in making headway for himself. 
 
 For instance, on one occasion some one pretty badly 
 struck had the temerity to beg for a lock of her hair or some- 
 thing of the kind as a keepsake, when Brown very solemnly 
 in his deep voice said : "Have you an old toothbrush, perhaps, 
 that I might hang about my neck." How smartwe thought 
 that. I am inclined to think that the devil rather overreached 
 himself in Brown. Now with Ned Johnston it was different. 
 He was brighter far than Brown — his hair redder, blazingly 
 redder — and he was infinitely more entertaining; but he was 
 generous and everybody liked him. Then he had the good 
 sense to marry into a St. Paul's family and get on our register. 
 If this was all the devil accomplished, it wasn't much to be 
 sorry about. 
 
 So St. Paul's seemed to reason at the time. The way 
 they handled the Revolt of Youth was rather brilliant, I think. 
 They took the devil by the horns and led him off the stage, 
 
 80 
 
then occupied the place themselves. You see the fear of the 
 devil wasn't in them, so long as they believed that the Lord 
 was in the ship. He, when the storm arose, had no reason to 
 rebuke these disciples for lack of faith, ere He spoke to the 
 wind and sea. Trusting in His presence they sprang to trim 
 the ship ; and what a gallant trim they made in that one year. 
 May 11th and 12th, The Lady Washington Reception, and 
 November 22d and 23rd the never forgotten Dickens Party. 
 The Ingersoll lecture in between only gave a tang to the 
 sandwich. 
 
 You might rest here and consider this while I get the 
 old volume of The Transcript for 1875 onto the table and wipe 
 off the dust preparatory to reading the accounts of the first 
 of these events. There are a lot of names which may not be 
 familiar, but they were real people, just like your living 
 friends. Let me introduce them to you ; you will like them. I 
 will vouch for that. It is a very wonderful fellowship to 
 which we all belong, "both living and dead mystically united 
 with each other in Christ our head." I should like to say 
 something about each one of them as I read the names, but 
 there are too many. If you will please direct your eyes where 
 they can see into mine as I pronounce them, you may get 
 something of what they are to me and were to each other. 
 
 81 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 LADY WASHINGTON RECEPTION. 
 
 Peoria Daily Transcript, May 12th, 1875. 
 
 LADY WASHINGTON RECEPTION 
 
 There was an immense audience in Rouse's Opera Hall 
 last evening notwithstanding the rain and windstorm which 
 prevailed at the hour of assemblage. The gallery was crowded 
 at an early hour, and a large part of the audience was obliged 
 to resort to the lower floor. A double row of seats placed 
 back to back extended from the door through the center of 
 the hall, while around on either side were arranged the thir- 
 teen tables representing the thirteen original states, loaded 
 with the eatables which were the favorites of the citizens of 
 these states in "ye olden tyme" and which even in this day 
 are held in high esteem. These tables were presided over by 
 ladies who representd noted women of the several states, in 
 the costumes appropriate to continental times. 
 
 At about 9 o'clock the curtain rose upon the stage and 
 presented to the view a grand reception room hung with lace 
 curtains over crimson hangings. Upon a low raised platform 
 stood Lady and General George Washington, excellently rep- 
 resented by Mrs. McRoberts and Mr. Charles Allaire. To the 
 left of Lady Washington stood her two children, Miss Custis 
 and Parke Custis, represented by Mrs. E. R. Johnstone and 
 Joe Woodward. Upon their left stood Mr. and Mrs. Alexander 
 Hamilton, personated by Henry B. Rouse and Mrs. Sumner 
 Clarke. At the right of General Washington stood Mr. and 
 Mrs. John Adams, represented by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Sea- 
 bury; upon the left of the reception party was the Lord 
 Chamberlain in the person of H. R. Woodward. All the char- 
 acters upon the stage were dressed in the exact costumes worn 
 on such occasions in the time of Washington. Upon each side 
 of the stage were wide steps, and the following guests issued 
 from the side room and ascended the steps, presented their 
 cards to the Lord Chamberlain who announced their names, 
 then turning to the group pronounced the names of Lady and 
 General Washington, when they all bowed. 
 
 82 
 
General LaFayette and Mrs. Gen. Lee by J. F. Rouse and 
 Mrs. Swentzel; Gen. Lee and Mrs. Gen. Radnor, by C. J. Off 
 and Mrs. P. Hitchcock; Governor and Mrs. Trumbull, by Mr. 
 Day and Mrs. 0. H. White ; Gen. and Mrs. Warren by J. Newell 
 Ward and Miss Belle Greene. Governeur Morris, ambassador 
 to France, and Mrs. Chew, by Elwood Deane and Miss Bena 
 Comstock, who wore earrings one hundred and fifty years old, 
 formerly owned by her great-great-grandmother; Mrs. Gen. 
 Putnam and Miss Putnam, by Miss F. Woodward and Miss J. 
 Mayo; Gen. Greene and Miss Madison, by J. B. Richardson 
 and Miss Kittie Cruger ; Charles Carroll of Carrolton and Miss 
 Martha Jefferson, by J. Campbell and Miss Lou Mansfield; 
 Mrs. Brown and Miss Smith, by Mrs. H. R. Woodward and 
 Mrs. Allaire; Henry Warren and Miss Sherman, by C. A. 
 Bowman and Miss Lena Comstock ; Mr. and Mrs. Carroll from 
 Baltimore, by John W. Day and Miss Nellie Cruger ; Gen. and 
 Mrs. Oglethorpe, by John J. Campbell and Miss Ida Farrell; 
 Prof. Cummings of New York and Mrs. Rebecca Motte, by 
 J. 0. Clayton and Miss Lizzie Cowell; Friends Ruth and 
 Deborah, by Misses Eva Comstock and Mamie Armstrong; 
 Friends Comfort and Thankful, by Miss Emma Hogue and 
 Miss Birdie Ward; Gen. 0. Williams and Mrs. Livingstone, 
 by W. J. Sisson and Miss L. Woodward; Mrs. Archdale and 
 daughter, by Mrs. Charles Ulrichson and Miss Aggie Arm- 
 strong; Mrs. and Miss Langdon, by Misses F. A. and M. J. 
 Mayo ; Mrs. John Jay and Miss McKeen, by Miss Mary Rouse 
 and Miss Josie Hogue ; Theodore Winthrop and Miss Wolcott, 
 by Nat Griswold and Miss Cornelia Hogue; Mrs. Claybourne 
 and Mrs. General Knox, by Mrs. C. W. Greene and Miss Fanny 
 Woodward ; Mrs. Patterson and Mrs. Van Rensselaer, by Mrs. 
 Cook and Mrs. William Willard ; John Hancock and Mrs. Thos. 
 Hayward, by Mr. Rouse and Mrs. Dr. Skinner. 
 
 After being presented, each couple passed in front of 
 Lady and Gen. Washington, spoke a few words and then 
 passed to the rear. After the guests had been received the 
 curtain fell, but rose again upon the whole party grouped in 
 a tableau, which was very fine. 
 
 83 
 
The Light Guard Band then played some of their fine 
 music while the audience attacked the refreshments spread 
 upon the tables. 
 
 At a later hour the curtain rose upon Mrs. Jarley's Wax 
 Works, which were displayed in a semi-circle around the stage. 
 The character of Mrs. Jarley was to have been taken by Geo. 
 I. Brown, but that gentleman having been suddenly called 
 away from the city, Mr. E. R. Johnstone, at the urgent request 
 of the committee, kindly volunteered to read the part. For 
 the short time he had to assume the character it was 
 personated in a very creditable manner. This part of the pro- 
 gramme was very amusing and kept the audience in excellent 
 humor. 
 
 Altogether, the reception was a great success and the 
 society reaped a rich reward for their enterprise. The cos- 
 tumes were rich and elegant, and reflected great credit upon 
 the taste of the wearers. 
 
 The reception will be repeated this evening, and the 
 admission has been placed at 25 cents. All who were there 
 last evening will be sure to go again, and those who were 
 absent must not fail to witness this grand pageant of the olden 
 time. An old fashioned minuet will also be danced this evening 
 in costume. 
 
 There were two evenings of this entertainment, and the 
 
 second, as is the rule, was more perfectly presented. The 
 
 Jarley Wax Works were added, undoubtedly, to give a touch of 
 
 fun, although otherwise not allied to the pageant. Here is 
 
 what The Transcript says about the Wax Works: 
 
 After an hour's intermission, during which Spencer's 
 Light Guard Band played some of their sweet strains, and 
 the audience made assault upon the refreshment tables, the 
 curtain again arose upon Mrs. Jarley's Wax Works. Mrs. 
 Jarley being absent, her sister appeared and explained to the 
 audience that some of the wax "Aggers" had become damaged 
 by the heat of the room, caused by the supply of ice cream 
 having become exhausted ; that the wax had melted from some 
 of the "Aggers," and it was impossible to exhibit the whole 
 collection. Those that were exhibited appeared in good work- 
 
 84 
 
ing order, although in one or two cases oil had to be applied 
 to the machinery in order to have them work smoothly." 
 
 One of the participants now living remembers this inci- 
 dent vividly. She took the part of Violante, who, supposed 
 to be a dainty eater but making up on the sly, was exhibited 
 with a mutton bone, which she raised to her mouth when 
 wound up. She recalls her embarrassment because Mrs. 
 Jarley, being her brother-in-law, teased her by fussing over 
 the winding, making believe the machinery was out of order, 
 so keeping her guessing what to do. Knowing both parties 
 so well, it is a treat to me to imagine the situation — the coy, 
 bashful little beauty, the big audience, the brilliant, self- 
 possessed tormentor, making the most of the opportunity. Ah ! 
 Mrs. Jarley! Mrs. Jarley! how out of order the machinery 
 sometimes gets, and the embarrassment and torment will 
 come, too, but the loving tenderness outlasts all else, thank 
 God! 
 
 The account continues : 
 
 At the close of the exhibition there was great applause 
 from the audience, and loud calls were made for Mrs. Jarley ; 
 but we learned with deep regret that just as she was about 
 to appear before the curtain she met with an accident which 
 prevented her from responding to the call. Happening to pass 
 near the figure of the "Maniac," the machinery having been 
 kept wound up by the attendants, she seized the venerable 
 lady by the hair of the head and tore it from her scalp. In 
 her efforts to release herself, Mrs. Jarley staggered in front 
 of the "Ruffian" just as he was in the act of striking the 
 "Smiling Beauty" and the blow of his club laid the old lady 
 prostrate in front of "Mrs. Winslow." The babe was knocked 
 out of Mrs. Winslow's arms and the dose of soothing syrup 
 intended for the infant was poured down Mrs. Jarley's throat. 
 This revived the antiquated female, and opening her mouth 
 for more the "mutton bone" of Violante fell into it. This 
 astonished her and, rising to a sitting position, she discovered 
 "Jasper Packlemartin," the man who killed his thirteen wives 
 by tickling them to death, trying his power upon the young 
 lady who killed herself with giggling, which completely 
 
 85 
 
restored her. But then it was too late to appear before the 
 curtain. 
 
 But the peak of the entertainment was the minuet, which 
 preceded the wax works. 
 
 Shortly after the tableau representing the assembled 
 party, the curtain again rose and, to the sound of music, the 
 presidential party entered and assumed their positions with 
 all due formality for an old fashioned minuet. 
 
 It was a very stately affair and, to a spectator, it appeared 
 as though they wanted to dance, but were afraid to do so. 
 It did not have the lively exhilarating effect of the more 
 modern style. 
 
 General and Lady Washington (Chas. B. Allaire and Mrs. 
 McRoberts) stood at the back of the stage facing the audience, 
 while opposite them were Mr. and Mrs. John Adams (Mr. 
 and Mrs. Charles Seabury) ; upon the sides were Mr. and Mrs. 
 Alexander Hamilton (H. B. Rouse and Mrs. Sumner Clarke) ; 
 and the Lord Chamberlain and Mrs. Gov. Winthrop of Boston 
 (H. R. Woodward and Miss Hattie Mansfield). The four 
 couples went through the movements of the minuet very 
 gracefully, and it was a rare treat to the audience, the larger 
 portion of »vhom had never beheld such a scene. 
 
 The account ends: 
 
 Altogether the reception was a grand success, and the 
 two evenings' entertainments must have netted handsomely 
 for the society. 
 
 Miss Armstrong says they made a thousand dollars. Just 
 what society in the Church it was, is not mentioned ; probably 
 the Women's Guild, or I believe they called it the Ladies' Guild 
 then, descendant of the original P. E. Sewing Society men- 
 tioned earlier. 
 
 It is with a peculiar tenderness that I let the frail sheets 
 of the old paper fall rustling into rest, and close the great 
 cover down, and leave it for strange young hands to replace 
 on its shelf in the vast mausoleum of our Public Library. You 
 will excuse me if I sit and dream a bit about these people 
 "that I have loved long since and lost awhile." Not all of the 
 fifty-eight names mentioned in the long list, but forty-three 
 
 86 
 
of them, have gone up the steps one by one, given their cards 
 to the Lord Chamberlain of Death, bowed lowly and passed on. 
 
 Some of them, however, are worth a longer and closer 
 contemplation. C. B. Allaire is far from being a perfect 
 Washington ; he is not heavy enough, far too graceful, though 
 as dignified. Still, he is commanding, carries himself with an 
 independence and assurance of power that was to bring him 
 the deference of his colleagues in the future vestry. Opposite 
 him in the minuet is perhaps the most beautiful man St. Paul's 
 or even Peoria ever saw, — I say beautiful rather than hand- 
 some, — Charles Seabury, clear complexion, rich black hair, 
 large soft dark eyes, and gentle, with the quiet grace of a 
 true heart. Earlier in the story I said of him that he was 
 always there. He was, one of those whose actions speak louder 
 than words, always there when needed. It has always seemed 
 strange to me that such unassuming, generous devotion could 
 have accumulated so much of this world's goods as he did 
 after he left us for Chicago. 
 
 Conspicuous in the group of dancers is the stately Lord 
 Chamberlain, as he steps out with his young companion. 
 Besides the assumed characters, they represent two of the 
 largest families in the parish — H. R. Woodward, gay and 
 debonair, fitly chosen for the whipper in of this peerless 
 pageant, though of aristocratic English Church lineage yet 
 all American forcefulness and venture — witness the way he 
 drove the street cars, at least the system, as president of the 
 Central City Street Car Line, for years, and made it pay — his 
 large family of eight sons and daughters, "polished corners 
 of the temple, ,, blessing our parish with faithful zeal unto 
 this day, though some "are fallen asleep"; and Hattie Mans- 
 field, eldest daughter of another family of eight or more, six 
 of them girls, fascinating, gay, attractive, a brilliantly social 
 family of aristocratic tastes but genial democratic hospitality. 
 This slender, lovely blossom of the dance draws our eyes and 
 our hearts, for her frail health has been making us all anxious. 
 She is the last name mentioned of the fifty-eight and was the 
 first to leave us, dying in 1879. 
 
 Among those not of the minuet is another tall beauty, 
 who belongs to our very own young crowd. We are all insistent 
 
 87 
 
that she is the most beautiful there, the one who wears the 
 old earrings mentioned, Bena Comstock, tall, with luxurious 
 blonde hair, perfect complexion (natural, too), fine features, 
 sweet smile in her eyes, and such an exquisite dancer. I know, 
 for didn't I waltz with her once around Spencer's Hall obliv- 
 ious to the fact that I had forgotten to remove my rubbers? 
 Such forgetfulness was not to be wondered at considering the 
 absorbing anticipation of that first dance and with her (we 
 were late, too). She was so sweet about it, when I got back 
 to her, the humiliation was as easily forgotten as the rubbers 
 had been. Some girls might have rubbed it in, instead of out, 
 but Bena never. She was of a family that was born kind, 
 and the next largest in the parish, six girls and three boys, 
 all generous with purse, kind words, smiles and ever ready 
 sympathy. They have diminished in numbers but not in grace. 
 As our Bena stands there, ere she vanishes I rise and salute 
 her with a full heart. 
 
 There is one who turns her face to me, ever in life as in 
 death — my sister, my comrade; and I still stand at salute to 
 the perfect love, loyalty and devotion to the Church as to me. 
 
 They are crowding up the steps too fast, these forty-three. 
 One I would detain a little longer; we tried so hard to hold 
 her when she started to go in the year 1909. Of all the won- 
 derful Mayo family, she was the most loved and admired, Miss 
 Josephine, the best example in St. Paul's of her patron saint, 
 initiative, perseverence, persistency, courage, force, domi- 
 nance, vision, common and uncommon sense, as well as some 
 things not generally thought of in St. Paul, such as tact, 
 humor, and a strong idea of woman's rights. If ever these 
 two get into an argument in the spirit land I would like to 
 have a television of it. 
 
 But at present I am content to have the many beautiful 
 and inspiring memories of the one who ministered to more 
 people, in fuller measure, under more varied conditions, and 
 more successfully, than any other member of St. Paul's for 
 the same number of years. As hostess alone at Sunnyside, 
 the well known Mayo country home, she was the peer of any 
 one I ever heard of. Also no one dared to injure child or horse 
 
 88 
 
in her presence, for she had method in her madness beyond 
 the meaning of that saying. She with Mrs. Tom Grier was 
 founder of the Humane Society in Peoria. Indeed, we can 
 truthfully say there was no one who could take her place — 
 dear Josephine. 
 
 They are not all gone, these gay and graceful pageant- 
 makers ; these smiling, happy faces. One, about the youngest, 
 still wears a smile to greet us Sunday mornings, Miss Mary 
 Armstrong. The sweetness, gentleness, and strength, too, 
 abiding in her name, span with rainbow glory the smiles and 
 tears of all the years between. 
 
 89 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 DICKENS PARTY. 
 
 A very different thing was the Dickens Party put on in 
 November following. It was appropriate that May should 
 have been chosen for the display of beauty, grace, and roman- 
 tic memories of our struggle for independence, and November 
 for expressing a less selfish and more mature consideration 
 of the world at large. As a nation we had become less bellig- 
 erent with England, perhaps, but were surely enamored of 
 the genius of Dickens. The Transcript of November 23rd, 
 1875, says in part: 
 
 THE DICKENS PARTY 
 
 A FEAST FOR THE LITERARY AS WELL AS FOR THE HUNGRY 
 At an early hour last evening every seat in the gallery 
 was occupied with spectators anxious to witness the assem- 
 bling of the Dickens Party. Some of the scenes so forcibly 
 presented by the great writer were represented in the hall. 
 Near the stage upon the Main Street side of the hall was Miss 
 Haversham's bridal chamber. Next to it, going from the stage, 
 the sign of "Miss La Crevey, miniature painter" encountered 
 the eye. Here is exhibited a fine collection of portraits. The 
 studio was presided over by Mrs. John Swentzel as Miss La 
 Crevey. 
 
 Next is Caleb Plummets toy shop, a perfect marvel, 
 running over with toys of every description. The character 
 of Caleb Plummer, the old toyman, was taken by Mr. Aaron 
 S. Oakford. 
 
 The Old Curiosity Shop with its numberless relics and 
 various and divers curiosities. 
 
 In the middle of the room is a beautiful flower stand, 
 which early in the evening was radiant with bright colored 
 flowers. Later but few were left to show what the stand was 
 intended for ; most of them had gone to the Dickens Party. 
 
 The supper room was a scene of life and bustle through 
 the entire evening. The most excellent victuals were dispensed 
 
 90 
 
to those that were a hungered ; ice cream, oysters and all the 
 delicacies of the season were in excellent demand. 
 
 What captivated all, however, was the assembling of the 
 principal characters in the Dickens writings in the body of 
 the hall. We will not attempt to describe all, but will simply 
 mention a few of the most noticeable. First we must mention 
 Barnaby Rudge the poor half-witted youth, impersonated by 
 Willie Woodward, a good representative of the character both 
 in costume and action. 
 
 Captain Cuttle by John Rouse was well taken; very few 
 would recognize the gentleman in the part without approach- 
 ing close to him. 
 
 Gaffer Hexam, the gigantic boatman, was a capital char- 
 acter as represented by W. T. Hanna. Lizzie Hexam, by Miss 
 Helen Hanna, following Gaffer about, carrying his oars, the 
 two forming a truthful and lifelike representation of the 
 characters as portrayed by the great writer. 
 
 Mr. C. J. Off was got up in excellent imitation of Jack 
 Bunsby. Tillie Slowboy, by Miss Kittie Cruger, was a decided 
 hit. The charming and gay Dolly Varden and the daring Joe 
 Willet, by Miss Nellie Cruger and Mr. George Henthorne, 
 were both good. The large number of characters represented 
 but not mentioned above, have not been omitted on account 
 of any lack of merit, but simply we only selected a few of the 
 most striking. 
 
 Some of the characters appeared upon the stage in 
 tableaux and short dramatic sketches. To be appreciated 
 properly they should be seen. The tableau, "John's Dream," 
 a scene described in "Cricket on the Hearth," was a beautiful 
 thing. 
 
 Owing to some misunderstanding, the Bardell Trial was 
 announced in this paper for last night. It did not come off, 
 but is on the program for tonight. 
 
 In the way of something refined and interesting there 
 has never been anything gotten up for the public in this city 
 equal to the Dickens Party. The friends of St. Paul's have 
 reason to congratulate themselves upon the grand success it 
 has attained. 
 
 For St. Paul's it is not too much to say that the intelli- 
 gence of her people, while taxed to a high degree, was able to 
 produce a result that not only outshone her previous effort for 
 
 91 
 
the interest aroused, but has left a more enduring memory 
 than almost any effort of any Church organization of its kind 
 in Peoria; and when you consider that it not only stood for 
 the good will of the Church people for one another, but put 
 a stamp of appreciation on the principle of good will, which 
 the great novelist taught forcefully in all his works, we have 
 reason to look back upon it with pride. Unfortunately, the 
 best description of this event, a copy of which I once saw, is 
 lost. It was from some paper, evidently not The Transcript, 
 which I cannot locate. The Democrat issues of these dates are 
 missing from the files in the Library. 
 
 However, memories of several participants supply enough 
 to warrant more description and excite more comment. Our 
 friend, Mr. D. T. Muir, recounts with glee how, when sitting 
 in the back gallery of the hall the second evening, he was 
 startled when a burly policeman, who was by his side, rose 
 with the curtain on the stage and roared, "0 yes ! yes ! yes ! 
 Come into Court," which started the famous scene of the 
 Bardell-Pickwick trial. Thomas Cratty was Sergeant Buzfuz, 
 and J. B. Richardson, Pickwick. My memory of this scene 
 is that there was so much noise around the hall that only those 
 standing near the stage or seated in the balcony near could 
 hear what was said. That was much the case in every scene 
 staged. Nevertheless, the characters were so well costumed 
 that the interest was kept up; most of the scenes were short. 
 
 Probably the most successful one was Dick Swieveller 
 and the Marchioness at cribbage by Fred Tucker and Mrs. 
 Allaire. Tucker, borrowed from the Baptists, I believe, was 
 one of Peoria's prize characters. Poor Fred! How hard he 
 struggled for the popularity he craved and acquired. One of 
 those men born homely of face, large of mouth — all the better 
 for his fine bass voice — large of limb, and awkward when we 
 first knew him, but after all nothing too large for his heart 
 or his ambition. In the most important qualities he was well 
 set for his part as Dick Swiveller, save that his credit was 
 good, having all of Dick's assurance, gallantry, daring, gayety 
 and good will, never downed by failure, and more than a match 
 for any emergency. How Dickens loved to electrify his works 
 
 92 
 
with such effervescent and unquenchable spirits. Then our 
 dear Mrs. Allaire, who gave all that she was — immeasurable 
 — to the Church, her strong alto voice, her brilliant spirit, 
 her exquisite taste, her willingness to assume such an unat- 
 tractive appearance as the Marchioness, all for the pleasure 
 of others. 
 
 Caleb Plummer, you will note, was our Aaron Oakford. 
 Such a contrast in fortune — the successful business man, 
 bound close to the hard, practical routine of a big and driving 
 business, and the poor, romantic toymaker. Mr. Oakford is 
 now about eighty years old. I heard recently that he was 
 very ill, confined to the house, and I called on him thinking 
 he might be interested in talking of old times. The Aaron 
 Oakford of the Dickens Party was an energetic young sales- 
 man, junior partner in a wholesale grocery firm, and a spirited 
 member of St. Paul's Church. But he married into a Presby- 
 terian family, hung on the religious fence for a spell, then 
 dropped into the Congregational yard to stay there — sort of 
 a mainstay. Always graciously urbane, he welcomed me 
 heartily when I came into the room, where he was trying to 
 bear up against considerable pain with all the fortitude of his 
 determined character. 
 
 In a moment we were holding each other's hands and 
 drifting back into old recollections, old faces, old interests. 
 His inherent politeness, when I left, expressing generous 
 appreciation of the new train of thoughts aroused, was both 
 pathetic and delightful. We were neither of us so very far 
 from Dickens' Caleb Plummer then, surrounded by old toys. 
 Caleb's coat of sacking with the stencilled letters "GLASS" 
 across the back might well have been worn by either one of 
 us, the sign of fragile age, the livery of those whose watchful 
 loved ones may keep them "this side up with care" for perhaps 
 a little longer. 
 
 The other character in "Cricket on the Hearth," Tillie 
 Slowboy, by Kittie Cruger, shows equal divergence of char- 
 acter ; for Kittie was as far from Slowboy as can be imagined, 
 the wildest, gayest, rompiest girl ever entangled in staid St. 
 Paul's precincts ; everlastingly beating her wings against the 
 bars of convention and yet just as everlastingly sincere in all 
 
 93 
 
good works she undertook, only dead set on making a good 
 time out of it, the more hazards the better. Perhaps Tillie's 
 hazards with the baby was what made Kittie choose the part. 
 It is crossing a great gulf to take up the next characters. 
 "Our Mutual Friend" is pretty close to being the most popular 
 of Dickens* works. I have lived with it for sixty years, yet it 
 is only within the last few months, indeed, since copying the 
 Transcript quoted above, that I have appreciated the dramatic 
 force of the two associate characters represented by W. T. 
 Hanna and his daughter as there described. Gaffer Hexam 
 followed by his daughter Lizzie carrying his oars. There is no 
 mention in the book of her carrying the oars, although she is 
 mentioned as helping him ; but there is an old picture, a com- 
 bination of the prominent characters in all his works, put out 
 as a supplement with a paper or magazine in 1870, an old torn 
 copy of which I have, where Lizzie is shown carrying the oars. 
 In this picture Pickwick is seated, and Sam Weller standing 
 by his chair is introducing the characters to him. In no edition 
 of Dickens that I have seen is there any such picture of Hexam 
 and his daughter, so I take it for granted that Mr. Hanna was 
 following the 1870 publication. 
 
 However that may be, the conception is full of meaning, 
 depicting one of the most striking of the many shadows in 
 this book of lights and shades. Dickens' dramatic taste for 
 startling contrasts is probably indulged in to better effect in 
 "Our Mutual Friend" than in any other of his works. Not 
 that he is more dramatic here, but that there seems to be a 
 greater variety of lights and shades, the play more constant 
 and less tiring, more freely drawn and picturesque. I believe 
 that the popularity of this novel is greatly increased because 
 of the free use and the perfected style of his lighter and 
 happier vein without loss of pathos and humor. 
 
 For the benefit of those who have not studied Dickens 
 closely, I desire to dwell more at length on the subject, so 
 that they may have a better realization of what our people 
 of St. Paul's had, in a literary way, to help in the building of 
 character a half century ago, in contradistinction to the mass 
 of reading left at their doors today. 
 
 94 
 
Probably the most direct and open expression of contrast 
 in "Our Mutual Friend" is given in almost the beginning, 
 where Boffin's Bower is described, the room to which Silas 
 Wegg is introduced by his host. One half is carpeted and 
 furnished for his wife as a ' 'high-flyer of fashion" ; at a divid- 
 ing floor line the carpet ceases and the sawdust and sanded 
 floor begins, with other common and lowly comforts. But 
 despite their divergent tastes, they are inseparable compan- 
 ions. Of course, such a room is an absurd and most impossible 
 condition. But, a caricature in material fact, it is one of the 
 most truthful expositions of the universal household, and with 
 its happiest solution spiritually. This is one of the powerful 
 lights of the story ; a subtle but vast contrast, one of the most 
 inspirational, has its beginning here, — the simple faith and 
 trust of the Boffins with the wretched wile and suspicion of 
 Wegg, two principles ever at war with each other since 
 Paradise was lost. 
 
 Perhaps the greatest contrast is shown in comparing 
 Bella Wilfer and her father with Lizzie Hexam and hers. 
 Gaffer Hexam is on the stage but a short time at the opening 
 of the story; but his sHadow rests upon his daughter almost 
 to the end. While the perfect sympathy and understanding 
 between Bella and her father, simple, patient, believing 
 Rumpty, the playful, whimsical endearments brighten and 
 sweeten the whole story and lift it out of the sordid as happily 
 and lightly as the little crippled dolls' dressmaker's dream 
 children lifted her out of pain. 
 
 But look at Lizzie Hexam herself, universally acknowl- 
 edged as the finest character in the novel, as she follows her 
 father, bearing his oars, steadfastly, loyally, lovingly, bearing 
 his burdens, his ignorance, his crimes, willingly suffering, 
 hopefully longing for his redemption, sheltering her younger 
 brother from the father's wrath, encouraging him and herself 
 with pictures her fancy finds in the ' 'hollow down by the flare." 
 
 "The hollow down by the flare," one of the most often 
 quoted of Dickens' fancies. Are you sure, you readers and 
 lovers of Dickens, that you comprehend the fullness of this 
 conception? To me it is one of the great lights of the story 
 
 95 
 
inasmuch as it shows the power of the soul. In her misery, 
 there was a marvelous hope for the ultimate brighter, higher 
 life, for them all. The hollow down by the flare would have 
 been only glowing coals in the brazier were it not for the 
 living glow of faith in her soul. She held the power, God- 
 given, to say in the deadest moments "let there be light," the 
 same power that lighted the Church in the past, no matter 
 how low or ignorant, how criminal its acts, that filled some 
 soul to see visions in the hollow down by the flare. 
 
 So back to the Dickens Party, where Gaffer Hexam and 
 his daughter stalked, stood, or drifted through the crowded 
 hall in the persons of W. T. Hanna and his daughter. And 
 in turn the ghost of Hanna may stand now — I surely felt his 
 presence — on his old stamping ground, today. You see the 
 old Glark and Hanna Flour and Feed Mill stood at what is 
 now the intersection of Jefferson, Walnut and First Streets, 
 and was dismantled and torn down when Jefferson Avenue 
 was cut through. Horace Clark, Sr., you know, was the father 
 of the Congregational Clarks, if not of the Church, a man of 
 weight and width, while Hanna was extremely tall and thin; 
 and they milled together many years as naturally as the two 
 Churches to which they belonged. 
 
 Whether Mr. Hanna proved too tall for the shelf and 
 was floored like the grandfather's clock, I can't say. He was 
 not a high Churchman ; but he may have been a high-tempered 
 one, which may account for his ghost restlessly striding 
 around the old place, getting on my nerves. Or, it may be 
 that both old men are there, standing watch over the spot 
 where once they fed the multitude, ' 'where the grinders ceased 
 because they were few, and the strong men bowed themselves," 
 before the onrush of progress, which leveled their walls, and 
 ground them to powder, and rolled them under, and buried 
 them deep, and where now all the grinding is done by truck 
 and motor car wheels and impatient drivers' teeth over their 
 business-grave. Sometimes I fancy that the tall Episcopalian 
 stands at one of the stop signs there, and the Congregationalist 
 at the other, each with uplifted hand, that the present gen- 
 eration may stop for a second in memory of the past, just a 
 plea to slacken the fearful rush of this fast, fast age. 
 
 96 
 
There is one more character at the party to take leave 
 of before we say good night, put on our wraps and start for 
 home, — John Rouse, as Captain Cuttle, — of all the representa- 
 tives none was so well made up to character in appearance as 
 John, and none so far apart in spirit. Poor John! There is 
 more pity in that "poor" than I feel at liberty fully to express. 
 He was the youngest of a large family, the most petted, the 
 most spoiled, the most cruelly managed, the saddest mistake, 
 or one of the saddest in the history of St. Paul's. His service 
 in the choir has been mentioned before. His voice was excel- 
 lent, his ambition great, his good nature too weak for the 
 strong will of his father. Result, a failure to make a round 
 peg fit a square hole, a disappointed family all around, a fine 
 fellow's life ruined, a broken heart and an early death. 
 
 If, John, you had not been content to match only the 
 motley shell of Captain Cuttle, and had caught a little of his 
 unselfish devotion, you might not have snapped the silver cord 
 so desperately soon. . . . There's that everlasting "if," that 
 misleading, futile, hypocritical conjunction that seldom joins 
 anything anyway ; but discourages honest endeavor and shirks 
 obligations without number. Excuse my ill-humor; but I get 
 so tired of exhorters' and promoters' "ifs." "If all you people 
 here before me would only join together and do thus and 
 
 so ." You have heard them spiel. Don't we all know that 
 
 every audience is just a sieve and that a thousand "ifs" could 
 never join them all together beyond applause? 
 
 I am ashamed of that "if," John ; forgive me. But I can 
 not let Captain Cuttle get away yet. Reader, do you know 
 him? I wonder how well. I have been acquainted with him 
 for over fifty years, and yet have only in the last few years 
 discovered what he is really made of. Of course, you all know 
 he is a great laugh in Dombey and Son, kind-hearted, rather 
 stupid, gullible, illiterate, blundering, devoted, optimistic, un- 
 selfish, loudly enthusiastic, entirely unconscious of his ridicu- 
 lous appearance, or that he is the laughing-stock of all except 
 those who love him, and whom he loves with all his great heart. 
 
 And is that all? You will have to stand off quite a distance 
 to see all, and have some of Dickens' wideness of understand- 
 
 97 
 
ing, too, some of the knowledge that comes with years of 
 observation. Captain Cuttle is more than a good old sport. 
 He is the personification of unalloyed faith, even more, his 
 part in the story, as I feel it, is a romance of faith. 
 
 In Dombey & Son, Dickens' purpose was to set up pride 
 as a target to riddle; and he did it to perfection. Not one 
 character in the story is devoid of pride of some sort, bad, 
 good, fond or foolish. Captain Cuttle has his share. His pride 
 in his own sagacity gets a hard rap. We laugh, but we feel 
 the sting of shame ourselves; for we are too fond of him to 
 watch him exposed to jeers. 
 
 It is better to be more definite, and, by direct reference to 
 detail, to illustrate what I would have you see. Get the book 
 and read — it will repay the trouble — Capter X of the first 
 volume. Recall Dombey's extreme pride of wealth, power, and 
 station, his absence of sympathy with almost anything else. 
 Recall Captain Cuttle's love and devotion for Sol. Gills and 
 Walter, his romantic dreams about Walter and Florence 
 Dombey, and understand his simple, single-minded belief in 
 the goodness of others. He can no more understand Dombey's 
 selfish want of sympathy with Sol in his misfortune, with 
 Walter in his distress, or with his own desire to help, than 
 Dombey can understand his feelings. Neither can the Captain 
 appreciate his own rough, absurd appearance and too familiar 
 manners in contrast with Dombey's elegance and reserve. It 
 is unbelievable that the Captain should be so brazen and 
 absurd as to force himself in as he does, unless we accord him 
 an overwhelming anxiety to do all in his power. 
 
 Now stand off as free of artificial conventionality as you 
 can, strip yourself clear of every fear and prejudice, if pos- 
 sible, and view the forces that dominate each of these char- 
 acters. See the pride in Dombey, which he tries to impart to 
 his son, disparaging the suppliants, together with his arrogant 
 contempt for Captain Cuttle and his offerings. Then see the 
 unquestioning faith of Captain Cuttle in the goodness of the 
 human soul. Which would you choose? 
 
 But, you say, is it not possible to have the loyal, generous 
 heart without the blind reliance on a goodness that does not 
 
 98 
 
exist, be more helpful by being more tactful? Of course it is. 
 But I am not looking at the result of the appeal, but at the 
 peak of the soul. What would any of us amount to with no one 
 to believe in the goodness of our soul ? St. PauPs Church would 
 have died long ago. Someone must take the chance. That is 
 the romance of faith; that is the stuff that Captain Cuttle is 
 made of, in the likeness of God. Poor hidebound fools of pride 
 may laugh at his grotesque appearance, his gullibility, his 
 belief that everyone is as enthusiastic as himself about the 
 happiness of others. But he can laugh in the happiness of 
 his own strength, and we are wise if we can laugh with him, 
 as well as at him, and try to be more like him. Captain Cuttle 
 and John Rouse! I feel very humble, very foolish about that 
 presumptuous "if." But let it stand; it may make us think 
 a little. 
 
 The Dickens Party is full of things to think about; but 
 it is growing late, and we are tired. Let's go and talk it over 
 on the way home ; how successful it has been, how full of good 
 influence as well as entertainment, and how thankful we should 
 be that our revival should have taken such a form. 
 
 99 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE DEVIL AND THE CHURCHES. 
 
 It is all very well to take unction to ourselves in this 
 case and to criticize other Churches for their methods, which 
 I am afraid was freely done then and since, — just where the 
 devil gets in his best licks. 
 
 The Congregational, First Baptist, Reformed Episcopal, 
 and all the Presbyterian Churches had started in 1874, and 
 rolled up quite a powerful united evangelistic movement by 
 1875. The Methodists are recorded as preferring their own 
 methods alone. St. Paul's may have shrunk from too embar- 
 rassing fellowship with the Reformed Episcopal, the Univer- 
 salists from too much hell-fire, and the Roman Catholic . . . 
 oil and water furnished by the devil gratis, I suppose; 
 although Colonel Deane, that August, struck artesian water 
 at the Spring' Hill Park (site of the present Proctor Home 
 for the Aged) and promised a marvelous resort in the near 
 future. Think what a loss to Peoria had he been successful 
 in his aspirations ; but the Bush Distillery went up that year, 
 and the Spring Hill Water Hotel did not. Now to whom shall 
 the aged give thanks? Anyway, against the revival effort of 
 the United Churches, such as it was, the devil countered with 
 a Free Thought Church. 
 
 I suppose Ingersoll was too busy anticipating his trip to 
 Europe to be of much use in starting said Church, so the 
 devil got hold of a foster-father for it in that delightfully Irish 
 Irishman, Dan Sheen, who would destroy the Churches, de- 
 clared there was no God, ridiculed the idea of a Creator, and 
 tried to prove its fallacy. Would you believe it of Dan? But 
 he was young then and in the Revolt of Youth up to his neck. 
 Nothing new in Dan ; he was always up to his neck in every- 
 thing he jumped into. Dan ought to have been a member of 
 St. Paul's, because later, like St. Paul, he saw a light that 
 made him line up with the Churches he had started to perse- 
 cute. I know, for did I not sit every morning at seven o'clock 
 for a month with him and a few determined ones in the days 
 when the Churches made their greatest effort to dislodge the 
 
 100 
 
devil from his stronghold of vice, gambling and the Sunday 
 saloon, and met with victorious defeat? It was Dan's luck to 
 meet with defeat up to his last struggle for life. I am one 
 who believes that defeat to have won him a most glorious 
 victory, a truer vision of the Creator of such sincere and 
 devoted souls as his. Remember, he and St. Peter are not the 
 only ones who have denied their Lord. 
 
 And speaking of St. Peter, the devil made a remarkable 
 blunder when he neglected to shut the door of his free Church, 
 one evening in March, to another Irishman, small but mighty 
 of heart, voice and energy, M. C. Quinn. For, from the report 
 of that meeting, Dan, as usual, got the worst of it from the 
 ridicule of that Roman Catholic champion. Now the only thing 
 really common to both an Irishman and the devil is love of a 
 fight, and even in that they differ: the Irishman wanting to 
 be in it, and the devil to be referee. 
 
 So, in this case, I can imagine our devil being ready to 
 quit, at least in that line. What he wanted most then must 
 have been a sure foothold, a permanent seat in a permanent 
 Church, free seats were too godly and free Churches fizzles, 
 and most anything outside the Churches too easy to be inter- 
 esting. The free press he made much use of, displaying his 
 goods at so much a line, long columns in the 1875 issues, of 
 police raids on brothels, with vulgar or suggestive comments, 
 murders, scandals, drunks and brawls. On the same page of 
 the Lady Washington Reception write-up occurs an item at 
 which I know Dan Sheen would point an indignant finger 
 accusing the devil of its being his work: "The digging for 
 W. H. Bush's new distillery is fast progressing." And later, 
 in another issue, occurs the notice of a female minstrel show 
 at the low Adelphi Theater, in which it is sneeringly stated: 
 "Churches and Sunday Schools are not expected." 
 
 It is plain that the Churches were a greater worry to the 
 devil in 1875 than to Ingersoll, for instance. No, there was 
 no doubt about it, the authority of the Church must be under- 
 mined or the good people would prefer clean obedience to 
 rotten freedom. How to go about it? He scanned again the 
 Bonham catalogue — Cards? Slim crop showing, best sub-rosa 
 
 101 
 
for a while. The theatre? — Guns too easily spiked; Churches 
 were seemingly too wide awake. Well, there was one old trick 
 pretty generally successful : start the Church people knocking 
 each other. Yes, but how? He had one time and another got 
 into the pulpit and helped the minister say things, — bad but 
 not fatal : He had split the Episcopal Church in two; but 
 somehow or other that did not stop the old one growing. 
 There was one last chance on the Bonham list; so with a 
 "hoop-la!" he horned in and hoofed it with all his might in 
 dancing. 
 
 Revolt of Youth. Flags flying, drums beating, spirit of 
 '76, cannon to right of them, cannon to left of them, thunders 
 from the pulpits, stern fathers and mothers. Bonham was not 
 here, but Dr. Edwards of the First Presbyterian was, a man 
 of dominant power over his people. Over against the devil 
 stood this little giant with his scourge. But every time his 
 flail descended, the devil rolled his chewing gum to the other 
 side of his face and put another waltz on the programme. 
 
 I am not trying to be facetious here; my heart is too 
 heavy with memories of a sad life whose cup of youth was 
 once thus withheld. Poor Minnie Bills, one of the prettiest, 
 sweetest, truest of girls; everybody loved her, at least in our 
 set. She didn't object to dancing, neither did her parents; 
 but her father was an elder in Dr. Edwards' Church and so, 
 as in pagan days, the daughter was sacrificed. We tempted 
 her, but "No." How we admired her strength and loved her 
 more than ever! She wouldn't dance, but she would look on. 
 Dr. E. had not thought to taboo that. I wonder how many 
 girls today would have the sand to do as much. Or how many 
 fellows would be so devoted as one I know, who sat out a 
 brilliant ball with his girl in the balcony. I doubt if he was as 
 much comfort to her as he wanted to be. Indeed, they did 
 not stay the entire time. 
 
 It is not this alone that makes me sad. But when I think 
 of that lovely girl, and how for forty years some miserable 
 shadow always followed and fell upon her, stole her strength, 
 drained her cup of earthly hope and happiness, and brought 
 her to life's end worn out with care, just a wreath of bitter 
 
 102 
 
disappointments to lay upon her grave. When I think of the 
 little sunshine that was hers, I feel the cruelty, not of the 
 Church or the minister, but of that demon of misunderstand- 
 ing, that Father of Lies, that robbed her bright girlhood of 
 whatever so little happiness, which God assuredly meant youth 
 should have. 
 
 So the great year of 1875 started with a flaming revolt, 
 the devil prodding both sides and taking the gate money. But 
 he didn't have the stage all to himself. 
 
 Whittle and Bliss — what a delicious name combination, 
 flows like a Mother Goose production: 
 
 There was an old woman, and what do you think? 
 
 She lived upon nothing but victuals and drink. 
 
 Victuals and drink were the chief of her diet, 
 
 And yet this old woman, she never kept quiet. 
 They staged a wonderful revival in 1876 — victuals and drink 
 for the papers. They were full of it, columns every day. 
 Nothing quiet about Whittle and Bliss, either. How they made 
 the whole town sing, too — "Pull for the Shore" — first appear- 
 ance of that wonderful safety first song (or did it come later 
 when the devil set the waves to dancing?). 
 
 It is all very well to smile now, but it was very real then. 
 We sang with our hearts aflame. We were between the devil 
 and the deep sea. We wanted, oh, yes ! we wanted to be good ; 
 but we wanted to dance, too. And the Churches were in dead 
 — no, live — earnest. They clubbed us with the Whittle and 
 Bliss revival, and then coaxed us with the roller skate novelty. 
 What a miraculous invention that was! how it swept the 
 country! The papers spread the gospel of the new sport and 
 the town went crazy about it. Rouse's Hall first, and then 
 the new Wigwam on Adams Street, "Centennial Hall," they 
 dubbed it, as it was built in 1876, and saw great doings that 
 year. Excitement? What do our young people know about 
 excitement now? Remember, we were a small town then and 
 pretty well bunched together. What with the revival, the 
 roller skating and election year, we were running from one 
 side of the boat to the other with mob frenzy. That was the 
 year when Bob Ingersoll made his famous plumed-knight 
 speech in nominating Blaine, and became Peoria's pride and 
 
 103 
 
glory. Centennial Hall was a one-ring circus when he per- 
 formed. Whatever many of us since have had to criticize in 
 him, no matter how vigorously he had been cussed out at times 
 for his attack upon the Churches, he ruled absolutely on the 
 platform when the political fight was on. Never was a gener- 
 ous paunch more becoming to a man than his when he stood 
 before his adoring audience, his massive face alight with 
 responsive pleasure, coat swung wide open, hand in trousers' 
 pocket. As I remember, his gestures were few, slow and 
 simple. It was his voice, powerful, musical, rumbling and 
 gurgling at times, exuberantly gleeful when tearing the enemy 
 to tatters. 
 
 He was at his best in earlier campaigns. It was a joy to 
 hear him hold the Democratic party up to ridicule. He would 
 lambast it with his pungent wit and scathing sarcasm which, 
 somehow, while it hit a stinging blow, was void of meanness, 
 it was so good-natured and joyfully funny. He shook it more 
 like a dog at play, because he loved the exercise ; and it was all 
 fun for us, too. We would welcome his coming to the front 
 of the platform much as Babe Ruth is welcomed, sure of his 
 giving the ball an everlasting wallop every time he struck it. 
 We got much the kind of wild fun out of it as a happy drunk 
 is said to give, something of the delightful irresponsibility. 
 He was a real Pied Piper of Hamelin. He piped and we fol- 
 lowed where he led. And the good Church elders and trustees 
 watched with sinking hearts when between times he dropped 
 the Democratic party and began to pipe the young away from 
 their safe religious homes. 
 
 This was one of the reasons why they finally started to 
 Whittle and Bliss, and pull for the shore. 
 
 Centennial year had brought rescue in another way, 
 starting a smoke screen, or more aptly speaking, splashing 
 water on the fire — Famous Regatta in July — first great dem- 
 onstration of its kind on our lake. And what a pull that 
 regatta had for all the town. Our lake that July came into 
 its own, the wide expanse of blue water, the great crescent of 
 green hills, the hundreds of flashing oars, the gliding or dart- 
 ing long sculls, noiseless, graceful, beautiful. And the people 
 
 104 
 
lining the shores or on the water in boats and floats, or filling 
 gayly decorated stands, rose to the occasion with wild enthus- 
 iasm. Spencer's Band was there, too, a famous Peoria 
 institution noticed before in connection with the Lady Wash- 
 ington Reception. The Boat Club responsible for the regatta 
 came near being the most exalted social institution we ever 
 had, more so than the Creve Coeur or the Country Club. Ask 
 Mrs. Walter Barker or Mr. E. H. Walker. Look what it did 
 to some people. There were the Bartlett Brothers, young grain 
 men, ordinary citizens, respected mainly for being of a good 
 family and fair business prospects. Will, the younger, as a 
 high officer in the Boat Club, became at once a social autocrat 
 of far more importance, and I should judge happily so, than 
 in after years as prominent millionaire member of the Chicago 
 Board of Trade, and host on his 300,000-acre estate in New 
 Mexico, with its 13,000-foot mountain peak.* 
 
 There was another Will, Will Shelley, a more remarkable 
 man in many ways, who had been plugging along in the paint 
 and drug business in a comparatively small but ambitious way, 
 when the Boat Club got him. And, presto! up he flew. The 
 scenery was not complete without him. And what a delight 
 he was to watch, a small man, alert rather than energetic, 
 always there, seemingly never at a loss, bright and assertive 
 as a bluejay, courting attention — and getting it. He had 
 neither strut nor swagger, but there was an airy assumption 
 in the sway of his head and the lift of his chin that made his 
 assertions distinctly American, just on the edge of bragga- 
 docio, but not foolish. To see him coatless, but in white duck 
 trousers and immaculate white tucked shirt, light hat and 
 flowing blue tie, his beautiful black eyes snapping with 
 enthusiasm, was like seeing the American flag in the breeze. 
 
 Then there was the great Boat Club Ball at Rouse's Hall. 
 
 But what has all this worldly Peoria flourish to do with 
 the story of St. Paul's Church? Even if Ardo Shelley later 
 was a vestryman, neither his brother, Will Bartlett nor Bob 
 
 * This estate, after Mr. Bartlett's death, was sold to a hunting club 
 of men, mostly of Hollywood, although Secretary Mellon is one of the 
 number. Mr. Bartlett maintained a ranch there, as well as stables and 
 guides for such guests as rode or hunted. 
 
 105 
 
Ingersoll belonged to St. Paul's, so why drag them in? One 
 wonders had Bob Ingersoll been dragged in what kind of an 
 Episcopalian he would have made. . . . But in all serious- 
 ness, if you want to know why the drag, listen. 
 
 In the first place the same life-blood flowed and still flows 
 through the city as through its Churches. No sincere disciple 
 of the great Galilaean Teacher and Redeemer would have it 
 otherwise. Then consider conditions once more — the lure, the 
 tremendous lure of dancing and the theatre, the direct frontal 
 attack of atheism under its most popular leader, the thin red 
 line, fire red, of Presbyterianism, thrown out against it, with 
 grim and unyielding Dr. Edwards in the van, the furious 
 storm and flood of the revival, called down from heaven, as 
 it were, to the help of Israel, politics and patriotism boomed 
 by the Centennial year, with its other countless side shows 
 to keep the blood a-racing; and St. Paul's unshepherded, her 
 unguided youth, full of life, must take it all and drift or float, 
 or stand at the mercy of the elements, be swept one way and 
 another, joyous gayety today, Whittled and Blisstered tomor- 
 row, running after Ingersoll, the plumed knight and brass 
 band, riding the waves of the regatta enthusiasm, or wild with 
 the excitement of the roller skating sport, and taking or not 
 taking on the side evangelistic tracts or "The Mistakes of 
 Moses," the latter cunningly published with the Blaine speech, 
 and circulated by The Transcript for two-bits a copy. 
 
 All this bunched in 1876, and when that year ended, what 
 was left of religious responsibility and concern in St. Paul's 
 was cast upon the shores of the new year gasping and calling 
 for help. 
 
 And into this quicksand of emotion came plunging to the 
 rescue a high-powered force like a brilliant shooting star. In 
 The Transcript of February 24th, 1877, occurs the following: 
 We learn this parish (St. Paul's) has invited the 
 Rev. W. B. Morrow of Easton, Penn., a very indus- 
 trious and godly man, to take charge after Easter. 
 
 106 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 INTERLUDE. 
 
 If you are not confused as to what is credited to the 
 devil in the preceding chapter, I have not succeeded wholly 
 in what I mean to convey. The confused and paradoxical 
 element of evil, almost incomprehensibly mixed with the good, 
 the tares and the wheat, the misunderstandings, the undis- 
 tinguishable line between authority and freedom, the difficulty 
 of determining where tolerance becomes "don't care," the 
 ever shifting point of view and changing estimate of values 
 are all involved in this reflection of the past as I see it in the 
 mirror of memory. It is a composite of sincere, distinct im- 
 pressions, and therefore necessarily confused to our human 
 comprehension. 
 
 Seen through the telescope of years, it is further blurred 
 by the effort to focus the present understanding with the past. 
 But illuminating the blur, as in a halo, shines the glory of 
 God's mercy, leading us first to know our mistakes, and then 
 helping us to correct them with care and prayer, which two 
 words in their full meaning are inseparable. It is the 
 age-old, world-wide, co-operative, and never-ceasing miracle 
 of redemption. 
 
 I know of no better way to express the divine power in 
 the working of this miracle than is found in the shortest, best, 
 and most used benediction of the Church: "The grace of our 
 Lord, Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the 
 Holy Ghost be with us all evermore, Amen." 
 
 107 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 GHOST STORY. 
 
 At this point in writing I had made a statement that, like 
 a green apple, was about to make me feel uneasy, to say the 
 least. I was sailing along serenely when something whispered 
 a doubt in my ear ; and I stopped to examine my notes for the 
 item in The Transcript bearing upon the said green apple. It 
 was missing; I began to feel queer, and went on a feverish 
 search. 
 
 Did you ever see a ghost? Now, of course, a ghost being 
 immaterial can't be seen; but did you ever feel one? That 
 was just my fix here ; a Church ghost, not a ghost in a Church 
 but a ghost of a Church. I am willing to take a solemn oath 
 that in the winter of 1874 St. Paul's Church was on the corner 
 of Jefferson and Jackson Streets, two reliable Js. I will also 
 swear that in the winter of 1877 St. Paul's Church was on 
 the corner of Main and Monroe. The two "Js" and the "M" 
 corners are five blocks apart; 1874 and 1877 are three years 
 apart. And though I was here, in Peoria, all the time and 
 went to Church regularly, just where that Church was during 
 that time I could not say. It couldn't be in both places at the 
 same time; then when was it moved? 
 
 I can swear it was the same identical wooden Church 
 which bore the burden of the Proctor lumber bill, that rested 
 on one corner and then lighted on the other. There is a picture 
 to show it on the "M" corner and the streets are here to prove 
 it. I have a ghostly picture in my memory of the structure, 
 cut in two, one part moving slowly up Jackson Street; there 
 were no electric wires in the way then. The line of march 
 would be naturally up Jackson and down Monroe. There was 
 no white-robed boy choir nor crucifer to lead the procession, 
 only a poor old horse going 'round and 'round and the severed 
 Church creeping up past Mr. Tyng's residence, site of the 
 present Spalding Institute. I wonder which jarred him the 
 most, the St. Paul's processional groaning on its holy rollers 
 past his home, or the Roman Catholic possession of that home 
 later? Sic transit 
 
 108 
 
But it is the ghostly transit of the Church building which 
 stares me in the face now, and has for weeks. I consult 
 others, who should remember something about it. Their mem- 
 ories narrow the period of doubt to half the time. I go down 
 day after day to the catacombs of the Public Library, drag 
 the caskets from their shelves, search the old newspapers 
 over and over again for some light. There are probably over 
 a hundred items about St. Paul's Church, during that period, 
 great and small, including those already mentioned, most of 
 them a few lines in the Saturday Church notices of services 
 for the Sunday following — no mention of location in any case, 
 however. 
 
 There is one interesting description of a Christmas cele- 
 bration, with many wax tapers and elaborate evergreen 
 trimmings adorning the Gothic arches of the vaulted roof. It 
 must have been a vaulting roof, indeed, to cover more than 
 six city blocks, from the "J" corner to the "M" corner. And 
 all the services were held there, but on which corner? It is 
 like the popular game of trying to pin a tail on the picture of 
 a donkey on the wall with your eyes blindfolded. Here are 
 over a hundred tails whisking all around my head. 
 
 I doubt if I want to lay this ghost with bell and book; 
 it has been too good a sport. I still have the belief, though 
 a shaky one, that somewhere I saw an item to the effect that 
 services for a period would be held in the Swedenborgian 
 Church, and on that based the statement that started this 
 ghostly tale. It is a shame to expunge it, it fits so well, pins 
 the tail where it seems to belong. Here it is: 
 
 "It was during this year (1876) that the Church was 
 swept from its foundation on Jefferson Street and floated into 
 rest on its own Mt. Ararat, corner Main and Monroe." Sounds 
 well, doesn't it? But like all ghosts it is more sound than 
 substance. However, I will give you all the circumstantial 
 evidence I have leading to this belief. 
 
 May 14th, 1875, there is an entry on the Church register 
 of a marriage at the rectory. The only rectory we had in 
 connection with the frame Church was one on the same lot on 
 Jefferson Street given up when the Church was removed. 
 
 109 
 
Then Miss Armstrong says she knows the Church was on 
 Jefferson Street at the time of her sister's marriage to J. M. 
 Morse, October 15th, 1875. Mrs. Morse remembers nothing 
 about the location of the Church building at the time of her 
 wedding (natural enough), but she does remember that the 
 Rev. W. J. Johnstone forgot his surplice and she was married 
 minus that part of the Sacrament. Inasmuch as they have 
 lived to this time (over fifty-two years) in perfect harmony, 
 the missing of the surplice brought no ill beyond the immediate 
 embarrassment. It beat an old shoe at that. This incident 
 during two years or more of his rectorship is the only personal 
 touch of Johnstone that we have. "He forgot his surplice." To 
 
 give the devil his due, put it this way : 
 
 He baptised 10. He buried 7. 
 He conducted many services; 
 He probably visited the sick and needy; 
 He married 12 couples; 
 But he forgot his surplice. 
 May he rest in peace. 
 That eliminates the summer of 1875. 
 
 It would be too late after October 15th to think of moving. 
 Streets were not paved, and building, especially plastering, 
 was seldom attempted in severe cold weather. This leaves 
 1876 as the probable year. All entries of marriages from 
 October 15th, 1875, to and including July 17th, 1876, are 
 recorded at residences; but July 27th, 1876, is "at St. Paul's 
 Church." Marriage at a residence does not prove that the 
 Church was not in shape for it; but the one at the Church 
 July 27th does prove that the removal was either a finished 
 job at that date or not begun until after. It would take several 
 months at least to remove and put it in shape; and reason 
 suggests that the beginning of the removal would be set for 
 a season when the weather would not interfere too much. 
 
 Miss Armstrong also says that her Confirmation which is 
 recorded on the Church register as February 6th, 1876, took 
 place when the Church was on Jefferson Street. This wipes 
 out the early winter of 1876. 
 
 Now here is where the Swedenborgian Church item would 
 help if only it had not eloped with the Church ghost. Even 
 
 110 
 
if it never turns up, memory distinctly supports the claim it 
 would corroborate. For one Sunday evening in the gallery at 
 the back of that building, some of the youth, who were ungodly 
 enough to be talking and laughing, oblivious to the laws of 
 courtesy, were severely reprimanded by the minister. Being 
 one of the guilty ones myself, together with the brightest, 
 gayest, dearest little girl that ever lived, who shared my humil- 
 iation then as soon after she began to share all my responsi- 
 bilities, I remember the fact of attendance at this house of 
 worship (as our Father Jeffords used to call it) , unworshipf ul 
 though we were, and that the reason we were there was that 
 our own particular ark was at that time either on rollers or 
 undergoing repairs. This incident could not have occurred in 
 1876 between the middle of February and the last of June, the 
 young lady in question not being in Peoria during that time. 
 This would eliminate the rest of 1876 up to July 1st. Could 
 July 27th, when a marriage took place in the Church, as 
 recorded, have seen the building removed, reset, repaired, in 
 less than thirty days? I doubt it. After July 27th there was 
 ample time to get it done by Christmas. 
 
 There, you have all the evidence I have been able to 
 gather. Here is my deduction therefrom: Either the decision 
 to give up the rectory and remove the Church in the late sum- 
 mer or fall of 1876 determined Mr. Johnstone's resignation; 
 or, anticipating his resignation, plans were set for moving 
 when the expense of a minister and rectory could be saved 
 towards the cost of said removal, and the season suitable. 
 
 And it must be so ; for it is exactly the dramatic setting 
 I want for the act — the end of a year of excitement, the bitter 
 political campaign of Hayes and Tilden, the great revival in 
 full swing, everything cut loose — the Rev. Mr. Johnstone and 
 his flock, the ark and the animals that went in two by two, 
 including Jim Morse and his bride, and the Christmas dove 
 and the olive branch at the end. Then looking back at the 
 storm, what a wonderful rainbow promise of a resurrection 
 Easter to come with Rev. W. B. Morrow, the industrious one. 
 
 Considering his importance, we have kept him waiting 
 unconscionably long. 
 
 Ill 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 MR. MORROW'S ACTIVITIES. 
 
 So, in the winter of 1877, the vestry and other anxious 
 workers of the parish welcomed Mr. Morrow with outstretched 
 arms. It is, I think, a credit to the people of St. Paul's that, 
 considering existing conditions, they should have acted as 
 wisely as they did, and chosen so radical a character as Mr. 
 Morrow. In the first place, he was a typical Englishman in 
 manner, with much of an Irish mixture in his disposition. 
 Brilliant, quick-witted, romantic, tenderly gentle and pugna- 
 ciously obstinate, he was a star of the first magnitude, and 
 shone like his face. I suppose it was this shining quality that 
 transfigured those otherwise unpleasant. I doubt if he realized 
 the situation fully ; indeed, I doubt if anyone did, not as I have 
 set it forth heretofore. It is easier to see it all now from this 
 distance of time. Probably it was best that he didn't realize it; 
 it might have hindered him in his policy. Had he taken too 
 large a view he might not have had quite so much assurance. 
 As it was, he took off his coat, rolled up his sleeves, and 
 grabbed the lines with a will. 
 
 Once before I referred to St. Paul's as up and prancing; 
 with Mr. Morrow in the saddle this was more aptly so. He 
 wore spurs as well as side whiskers, which latter, by the way, 
 were not the sleek kind, but more like electric brushes; they 
 were not for ornament so much as a means for escaping 
 snaps, as were also his eyes and tongue. Sometimes the snap 
 of his tongue was very like a whiplash. Fortunately, I believe 
 his English accent and choice language many times rather 
 tangled the lash and confused its victim into missing the hurt 
 entirely. 
 
 Anyway, the parish rose to his whip: the old horses 
 stepped out and pulled hard, and in unison; and the young 
 raced joyously and came and went at his call. Gayety was in 
 the air. We all began to know and like each other better and 
 to find out our own capabilities and worth. In this particular 
 I speak knowingly only of the young people, being one of them, 
 then. 
 
 112 
 
One of Mr. Morrow's great charms was his beautiful 
 tenor voice. His musical knowledge and taste was greater than 
 of anyone ever connected with St. Paul's as rector, also his 
 ability to train and direct — present company always accepted. 
 It will be interesting to the choir to know that Mr. Morrow 
 introduced the "Agnus Dei" for the first time, singing it with 
 his daughter Annie; also the first Sanctus — Gounod's. His 
 tenor was pretty close to being as good as Jim Wilton's. 
 Annie's voice was a sweet child's soprano, and her father 
 trained her with little Fanny Mayo (Mrs. C. E. Goss) as alto 
 for a duet in "We Three Kings of Orient are " in a Sunday 
 School Christmas celebration. No wonder he captivated young 
 and old. 
 
 As before mentioned, the Church building had been re- 
 moved from the leased ground, where it had been erected, to 
 the old corner on Main Street ; for all thought of a new build- 
 ing there was necessarily abandoned until an indefinite time 
 in the future. Mr. Morrow, therefore, did not concern himself 
 with any effort in that direction, but bent all his energies 
 towards brightening the activities of the parish with his sur- 
 plus warmth of spirit. His efforts gave a polish to the social 
 aspect, soon rivalling the fashionable element that had with- 
 drawn through the schism. This was exactly what was needed. 
 It was the peacock-feather act, but was probably as important 
 to the maintenance of the parish as the lift in the ritual he 
 made, which was not alarming, but put spring into the desire 
 to fly the flag of high spiritual principles from the ramparts. 
 
 Mr. Morrow presided in the Church with as much grace 
 and correct ecclesiastical style as he flourished in social func- 
 tions. The way he wore his clothes was the envy of every good 
 dresser in town. He was not foppish, but the picture of a 
 gentleman at ease anywhere socially. Perhaps this is a strange 
 consideration to advance in a Church story ; but it was a part 
 of the life of the Church just the same, and why not? Good 
 dressing, good manners, good music, good cheer, have been a 
 marked part of the Sunday life of the civilized world generally, 
 going happily with clean hands and a pure heart. And Mr. 
 Morrow's hands were always beautifully clean, considering 
 the number of things they got into. 
 
 113 
 
One thing was theatricals. He did not ask Dr. Edwards 
 for his opinion ; he asked no one's opinion. He found his people 
 enthusiastically interested in such things and encouraged 
 them. Ingersollism he ignored. What he did with all his might 
 was to hold up the dignity and beauty of worship in God's 
 house, reverence and solemnity in that worship; and he 
 preached the sweetness and power of love. Criticized? Of 
 course he was criticized ; but he was, nothwithstanding all his 
 weaknesses, what they called him, "an industrious and godly 
 man." 
 
 He was a born leader but an indifferent ruler. Responsi- 
 bility sat easy on his shoulders, was delegated largely to his 
 wife, as is often the case with many of us. His wife was a 
 very lovely and capable woman, who held him pretty well in 
 hand. In fact, if it had not been for her and his eldest daugh- 
 ter he would have been more of a comet than a star. A better 
 illustration is that of a kite, which sails high when held 
 firmly. He had all the soaring qualities in abundance. That 
 is what made him so charming. Not but what he felt his 
 responsibilities and was eager to fulfill them ; but his urge for 
 action was demanding, often extravagant, and responsibility 
 suffered. 
 
 It will be interesting to our Altar Guild to know that its 
 origin in St. Paul's was due to Mr. Morrow. He succeeded in 
 getting a few young women of his Bible Class to undertake 
 the care of the altar, to provide as fast as they could what he 
 most desired. I have tried to discover who these members of 
 our first Altar Guild were, if any, besides the three whom 
 Mrs. Cowell can remember. These three, all living, are Miss 
 Mary Armstrong, Miss Louise Griswold (Mrs. F. M. Cunning- 
 ham) and Miss Mary A. Goss (Mrs. B. Cowell). 
 
 Their first work was to supply the "fair linen" with 
 embroidered I. H. S. Then followed dossal hangings as a 
 background for the cross (a wooden one) and two small vases 
 for flowers, on special occasions only. These hangings, also 
 book-markers, were to be in colors suitable for the seasons 
 of the Church year. Being costly, they were slow in coming: 
 the red was the last, and I can remember how gorgeous it 
 seemed. 
 
 114 
 
There were no candles, no credence table; those things 
 came in the next rectorate, Mr. Ritchie's. The credence shelf, 
 costing $25.00, was purchased with money raised by two Sun- 
 day School Classes when Mr. Ritchie was urging the building 
 of a new Church. Being the first money raised, it was called 
 the Nest Egg, and went for a credence shelf, which was used 
 in the new Church that Mr. Ritchie, like Moses, was fated 
 never to enter. 
 
 The rector's vestments were also few and simple, confined 
 to black and white, with no additional apparel for the Euchar- 
 ist. So the duties of the guild were not so varied as now, but 
 just as important ; for Mr. Morrow was most particular about 
 everything pertaining to the altar. There is no doubt but that 
 with him was born a higher appreciation of the sacredness of 
 worship than had obtained previously, to my observation. 
 
 Moreover, he was the first to organize a young men's 
 club. I can remember the start, when he had us meet at his 
 house for an evening oyster supper ; and that is the only meet- 
 ing I can remember. I fear the effort went no further than 
 to make us feel his greater interest in us, bring us into greater 
 sympathy with his ideas, and feel our importance and respon- 
 sibilities as Churchmen. There have been many organizations 
 of men's clubs in the half century since. I wonder if they have 
 accomplished much more? One thing I know, I never enjoyed 
 one of their suppers so much as this starter. 
 
 In the first place, we were met as we entered by our 
 elegant rector in his shirt sleeves, but also in his most gracious 
 manner. He had been helping his wife and daughter in pre- 
 paring the table. We soon found ourselves seated and at ease, 
 and, after a short grace, listening to his gay banter as he 
 presided, his face shining with happy relish of our enjoyment. 
 Truly, with all honor to our other fine rectors, none could, I 
 think, equal his charm, his gay, delightful ease with us ; while 
 extremely entertaining, his wit was of that fun-loving kind 
 that makes others partners in its production, not at all pre- 
 tentious. He was just one of us on a frolic; and then we were 
 one with him in a few sweet, serious moments. 
 
 There is a picture in my memory of Mr. Morrow that I 
 would like to talk about: Artists tell us, in speaking of what 
 
 115 
 
is known as composition, that for a perfect picture there 
 should be one center of interest, to which all other parts should 
 lead automatically. In selecting a subject to paint or photo- 
 graph, that is the first consideration. It is generally hard 
 enough to discover good composition in landscape work, but 
 much harder in group pictures of people. There are very few 
 perfect pictures of this kind. Some of the famous ones, that 
 occur to me just now, are Beethoven playing and his friends 
 about him, Columbus at the court of Ferdinand and Isabella, 
 Jesus before Pontius Pilate, Shakespeare reading in the court 
 of Queen Elizabeth, and one I have just been looking at in 
 Foster's Life of Dickens, where the author is reading 
 "Chimes" to his admiring friends and critics. In each of these 
 the interest is splendidly centered upon one famous individual, 
 who is holding the absorbed attention of all the others, whether 
 their eyes are directed his way or not. 
 
 Aside from the importance of the subject, considering 
 only the element of composition, it is a picture of this order 
 that my memory recalls, where Mr. Morrow figures as the 
 center of interest; the occasion, Shakespearian reading and 
 study ; the participants, members of St. PauPs, in the amateurs 
 and possibilities; the setting, the Griswold parlor, white 
 woodwork and heavy cornice, golden yellow walls, grate fire 
 and crystal chandelier — the old time elegance to my eyes, at 
 least — Mr. Morrow standing, graceful, at ease always, back 
 against the grand piano ; the rest of us anywhere, all attention 
 as he reads or criticizes. The brilliant light from the chande- 
 lier floods his face, emphasizing the ruddy cheeks, the short 
 nose with rather broadly knobbed end, light wiry sideburns, 
 thin aureole of hair, nature's tonsure for his otherwise bald 
 head; plenty to poke fun at, except for the broad forehead, 
 the snappy eyes, the respect that intellectual powers with 
 dominant assurance always inspires. 
 
 I was twenty-four or twenty-five years old at this time, 
 rather vain of my knowledge of literature, especially Shakes- 
 peare, had done my part, a small one, in the Amateurs, and 
 felt qualified to participate here, though the youngest but one, 
 our host's daughter, in the coterie. My conceit was short-lived ; 
 
 116 
 
I had seen Booth, Barrett, other famous actors; could recite 
 Hamlet's soliloquy and Richelieu's magic circle of the Church 
 (strictly in private), probably did know how such lines should 
 be read ; but there are other characters and lines not generally 
 taken by great artists. 
 
 So, to show what a genius Mr. Morrow was, take this 
 instance : About the end of Henry V occurs a laughable scene 
 where Pistol, a disreputable, bragging soldier, and Fluellen, 
 a Welshman, figure. Previously Pistol had been ugly to Flu- 
 ellen; and now the Welshman had a chance to pay him back, 
 which he does by beating him up and forcing him to eat a 
 leek, a most nauseating punishment. Fluellen further offends 
 his vanity by offering him a groat as palliation for all his 
 injuries. Incensed by this final insult, Pistol scorns the groat, 
 upon which Fluellen threatens him again, ending : "Yes, verily, 
 you shall take it; or I have another leek in my pocket which 
 you shall eat." 
 
 How would you read this? I have forgotten who tried it 
 on, it might have been myself; I have a feeling that it was. 
 Never mind, it is Mr. Morrow's rendition that is alone remem- 
 bered. Almost anyone but a genius would say this in a 
 threatening manner, emphasis on "Yes, verily" with a slight 
 pause after the "take it," then dwelling on "or" — emphasis 
 again on "another," then to the end, natural accent on "eat." 
 
 That is the way you would say it, if you were yourself 
 instead of Fluellen. Now listen to Mr. Morrow, who knows 
 his Welshman ; hear his staccato : "Yes ! verily ! You shall take 
 it." Very like the other way so far ; but from then on, all the 
 difference in the world. "Or I have another" is quickly said, 
 as if it were a coil for the strike of "leek" gleefully shrieked 
 at Pistol in high tenor ; then another short pause for the horror 
 to sink in, and "in my pocket — which you shall eat," — all three 
 italicized words darted at him in high key, rising inflection, 
 the other words just the whirr before each stroke, which is 
 given with exultation, eyes glittering, rising on his toes, head 
 thrust forward. Hear it again: "or I have another leek/ — in 
 my pocket/ which you shall eat/" You can almost feel it 
 thrust down your own throat. 
 
 117 
 
A man who could interpret Shakespeare like that was 
 well fitted to interpret the Gospel and the Church, and to probe 
 deep into the human heart. 
 
 Today, when schools and colleges make the drama quite 
 a prominent part of their curricula, it is hard to realize that 
 anything in that line should have been considered so remark- 
 able as it was fifty years ago, even for those who had attained 
 the age of twenty-five or over. I can remember how great was 
 its lure for our particular clique at the time just now recorded. 
 As St. Paul's under Mr. Morrow looked kindly upon our 
 efforts, it became one of our ambitious pastimes. 
 
 One such recollection stands out prominently. 
 
 118 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 TWO NOTED PARISHONERS. 
 
 It was a simple enough play, the cast drawn from a small 
 social circle, the hero, the late Dr. Mcllvaine, then just home 
 from school in Germany, a most handsome and distinguished 
 looking young man, and, though a Presbyterian, very willing 
 to shine for the benefit of St. Paul's, especially as the heroine 
 was Miss Minnie Bills, once before referred to as put under 
 the ban against dancing. Neither of these is living; but Mrs. 
 Marsters, who was also in the cast, helps me to recall how 
 kindly we were treated, when called upon to repeat at the 
 residence of Mrs. Cruger; for the benefit of the Women's 
 Guild, I believe. 
 
 We had not aspired to anything more than a parlor per- 
 formance. And Mrs. Cruger — there is where I could run on 
 indefinitely — there never has been anyone like her. Pride and 
 self-assurance in large quantities, but hospitality enough to 
 cover it all, like charity; an imagination equal to Baron 
 Munchausen's, and as entertaining as Scherezade. Her hus- 
 band was president of the T. P. & W. Railway and they lived 
 in style in the fine residence built by Tom Dobbins on South 
 Jefferson Street, now swallowed up by the Association of 
 Commerce Building. Dobbins was an illiterate joke; but 
 Cruger was a lordly personality, with all that went with a 
 man of the world. So Madame Cruger, though brought up on 
 a less pretentious scale, played up her level best to the situa- 
 tion. How magnificently she sailed her craft, endowing it with 
 the power of a monoplane, lifting it over all kinds of obstacles 
 with a daring disregard of criticism, so gallantly as to cripple 
 disapproval. She seemed never embarrassed. In many ways 
 she reminded me of Queen Elizabeth, minus cruelty. She 
 wasn't any handsomer, but her manner stood out further than 
 the queen's ruff; and, although we never stood in awe of her 
 quite, we basked in her presence and swallowed her stories 
 with as much relish as the marvelous food at her board. 
 
 How I wish I could describe the supper she gave to our 
 little company after the show ; it is hopeless ; but I never saw 
 
 119 
 
an embarrassing moment so wonderfully expunged. The large 
 table was sumptuously spread with fine linen, china and glass. 
 Madame presided. Mr. Cruger was never in evidence; all he 
 supplied was the background, a seclusion convenient occasion- 
 ally, and finally permanently, because of his creditors. 
 
 That is one of the privileges of aristocracy of the 
 Elizabethan type, however, and has nothing to do with this 
 particular entertainment. 
 
 Sparkle and gayety, glitter and glamour flourished, as 
 courses came and went; when first one and then another of 
 us noticed thumb prints showing on the flanges of plates as 
 the quail course was being served by the colored waiters. A 
 hush, it couldn't be said to have fallen, it barely hovered, then 
 our hostess rushed into a most engaging tale. I never knew 
 what the words were, but the tune was as brilliant as our new 
 organ at its best. 
 
 While we hung enthralled, the quail course disappeared, 
 and something else took its place like magic. It was the most 
 captivating coup I ever heard of. Just how the signal was 
 given, I never knew; but her gracious pose was undisturbed, 
 nothing unpleasant had occurred at all, everything was happy 
 and the goose hung high. She was positive that there was no 
 blot on her escutcheon. Which reminds me of a saying — such 
 an unctuous piece of gossip — accredited to her, too pat not to 
 be true. Pride of family, the topic of conversation, gave the 
 opportunity, I suppose, among a rather intimate circle. But, 
 wait ; recall what has been said about her husband, and know 
 that her youngest son, who happened to be present, was a 
 weak, dissipated fellow, even if he was his mother's pet. She 
 turned to him with the pride natural to most mothers, but 
 excessive with her, "Maxwell! never forget that you are a 
 Cruger!" A bit of irony so absurd that I smile every time I 
 think of it, and yet so pathetic, too. For how could we know 
 why she clung to the honor of the name she had taken; how 
 could we know what she had to bear, how little else, perhaps, 
 life held for her; what her struggle to hide disappointment, 
 as fortune subsided. This imperious show, this coat of many 
 colors may not have covered all her nakedness ; but it was the 
 
 120 
 
ensign of a plucky woman who dared to get some life out of 
 a losing game. What if her trip to Europe, as some claimed, 
 was confined to the ship, or, as others said, to New York ; Bob 
 Ingersoll's lecture on Europe wasn't a patch to hers. 
 
 Yes, I smile, of course I smile, at the social swagger ; but 
 it was done to the queen's taste. There have been other social 
 swaggers in St. Paul's less conspicuous, also much less 
 entertaining, not worth featuring. Conscience here whispers 
 "stones and glass houses. ,, So forgive me, Madame Cruger; 
 and permit me the honor to line up with other less critical 
 souls, and add my sword to those that arch above your head 
 as you pass under. 
 
 One other must be mentioned here, but as different as can 
 be and as fully remarkable in her way: Miss Frances Mayo, 
 a true mother in Israel. She was of that large family of Mayos 
 who, you may recall, figured so prominently in St. Paul's first 
 Church fair. She was called "Dattie" by the younger genera- 
 tion of the family, and other near friends, a survival of some 
 child's effort to say "Dear Aunt." A better aunt would be 
 hard to find. Isn't it a shame that such a beautiful illustration 
 as that of the hen should have been so outrageously used as it 
 has been? The Bible use is what is most appropriate for 
 Dattie. She was never without a brood of some number under 
 her solicitous care, and her wings were stretched lovingly, the 
 shelter most comforting and comfortable. 
 
 Mr. Morrow, while no spring chicken or orphan, found 
 the hospitable doors at 317 North Madison wide open for his 
 arrival, and the devoted Dattie clucked an English welcome. 
 Daughter of an English clergyman herself, she waited on his 
 every want with pride and humility, if you know what I mean, 
 until such time as a house could be found suitable for his 
 family. 
 
 But I am not through with Miss Mayo yet. Much as she 
 adored the clergy and fiercely as she resented adverse criticism 
 or vicious gossip, she could stand up against any one of them 
 to his face with that motherly kind of scolding that had effect 
 sometimes, and sometimes not, except to make the recipient 
 all the more sure of her loyalty and soft-heartedness. She had 
 
 121 
 
her favorites, too, and the double portion fell to them unblush- 
 ingly. How many times has Charlie Goss, her niece's husband, 
 told with glee how for a certain favorite boy, not him, she 
 always found a special dish reserved or a second serving not 
 coming to the others because, "You know he is very fond of 
 it," with an innocent smile that read, "I am so very fond of 
 him, you know," and we did know, and sometimes wondered 
 how that boy would turn out. Bless you, he turned out one 
 devoted admirer of his benefactor ; and I use the word for all 
 it means : one who works for the good of another. 
 
 Her indulgence was largely confined to the table and other 
 innocent enjoyments; she had a firm hand otherwise. I don't 
 know how many orphans found a home with her one time or 
 another; but they were many, both boys and girls, and their 
 care never lessened her constant attendance on Church serv- 
 ices and duties, her continual dinners and suppers to brighten 
 and hearten the clergy. Her house was constantly open for 
 Church entertainments. Nothing was ever too good for the 
 Church she loved, and for her large family and their friends, 
 as long as she could stagger. 
 
 Like other noble women we read about, she spent very 
 little on her own creature comforts. If she ever bought a new 
 dress, I never knew it; she seemed always the same to me; 
 and as for the elaborate meals she cooked for others, she was 
 always on a simple diet herself. 
 
 Oh yes ! there is something else to tell. She built a large 
 house so she could indulge in her hospitable instincts. It was 
 so constructed that she could rent a portion of it to a married 
 sister. There is plenty of chance for thought here, in the fact 
 that Mrs. Charles Bacon, the sister and her husband, were 
 charter members of the Reformed Episcopal Church, as well 
 as belonging to the Mayo family ; and Miss Mayo was as con- 
 temptuous of the Reformed Church as any one could well be. 
 Also this house arrangement v/as made after the Bacons had 
 left St. Paul's and were deep in the fortunes of the reform 
 movement. It took a strong heart or a determined hope to do 
 such a circus straddle of horses on the go. 
 
 122 
 
But though Dattie would have died rather than put on 
 spangled short skirt and tights, she rode those two mismated 
 steeds triumphantly for years, jumping through I don't know 
 how many fiery hoops and throwing kisses (or cakes) to the 
 admiring audience gathered in the ring around her table. 
 
 This table business, you must know, was especially ar- 
 ranged for the big ring act. There were two dining rooms, one 
 for each family (or Church or ring) connected by sliding doors, 
 so they could be thrown into one for family gatherings. Sel- 
 dom was a grunt heard through the thin partition from the 
 Bacon side. But, oh my ! what a fine chance for the proverbial 
 listener on that side. No fault was ever found with the Bacon 
 at Dattie's table, or ever anywhere from anybody. No truer 
 Christians or more sincere hard workers could be found than 
 the genial and generous singer and his wife, the missionary 
 and founder of Bacon Mission. Though childless, through their 
 devotion hundreds of children found their way into the King- 
 dom of Heaven. Surely this was a great reward for their 
 prayer, which some of us smiled at, not unkindly, when the 
 motto in their bedroom was discovered at one of their parties 
 for us young folks — "Suffer little children to come unto me." 
 At the memory now I go down on my knees. 
 
 Don't you like that idea of a sliding partition, just enough 
 to keep the smell out, the sour faces out, not enough but what 
 you know the other fellow is there ; and at the slightest chance 
 the partition can vanish. It takes both latitude of heart and 
 longitude of head to build that way. Well, dear Miss Mayo 
 was built that way herself, proud as — well as a grandfather, 
 — proud of her family, her Church, her proteges, her cooking, 
 her ability to darn stockings, to stand pat, and to be always on 
 the job on time. At the same time she was as humble as a 
 little child. The partition was mighty thin though ; you never 
 knew whether you were to be frozen or wistfully appealed to. 
 But there were times when the partition vanished and the ap- 
 pealing sweet heart of her was the proudest thing ever. 
 
 The one shadow that fell upon her heart occasionally, and 
 undoubtedly kept her humble, was that her early education 
 had been neglected. The lack that humbled her few ever real- 
 
 123 
 
ized, so great was her intelligence, so educated her heart. Cer- 
 tainly I never would, had she not once honored me in a tender 
 moment with her confidence. There was so much beauty in 
 her pathetic, uncomplaining humility in contrast with what she 
 had achieved that it has ever been a cherished memory. 
 
 She seemed to the world a little old woman, notional, stub- 
 born, plodding along with the rest, grumbling like other people, 
 outspoken, kindly or critical according to the east wind, im- 
 movable or on the jump, but never idle. I think with reverence 
 of those well worn hands, those worn feet, that warm worn 
 heart ; and all I can say is, — of such is the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 124 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 TWO CHARACTERISTIC INCIDENTS. 
 
 "What happens when an irresistible force meets an im- 
 movable body?" is an old illustration of an unanswerable 
 problem. The most satisfactory answer I know of occurred 
 in St. Paul's Church during Mr. Morrow's rectorate. It was 
 not recognized as a miracle at the time, because it looked more 
 like a fight; and that kind of a miracle has been generally 
 looked upon as belonging to Old Testament times. But you 
 shall judge for yourself — here it is: 
 
 Our Senior Warden, Mr. Griswold, was the shining mark. 
 You may recall that his shining bald head was previously men- 
 tioned as attracting June bugs. But Mr. Morrow was a dif- 
 ferent kind of bug ; and it was not June but February. 
 
 Notwithstanding that Mr. Morrow encouraged private the- 
 atricals whole-heartedly, he knew where to draw the line ; and 
 once drawn he encouraged (mild term) its proper toeing. Mr. 
 Griswold too was whole-heartedly interested in theatricals, or 
 rather in the enthusiasm of the young people therein. This 
 time it was young men only, in an elaborate negro minstrel 
 show. Also Mr. Griswold was in a way of being at this time 
 cock of the walk in St. Paul's Parish, — without the crow. He 
 was too modest to crow ; and had he tried his would have been 
 more of a machine gun sputter with an occasional indignant 
 croak. 
 
 Consequently, when Mr. Morrow, ringmaster, cracked his 
 whip for the animals to toe the mark, Mr. Griswold balked. 
 The irresistible force had met the immovable body. Trans- 
 lated into ecclesiastical terms, Lent had begun, and Mr. Mor- 
 row believed in no half-way measures. Lent was a season for 
 abstaining from all gay amusements, especially public ; and so 
 the minstrel show was tabooed. Mr. Griswold was not to be 
 booed from his own ideas of what was right. Mr. Griswold 
 went to the show, and his conscience was easy. 
 
 The whip cracked again ; that is, Mr. Morrow announced 
 from the pulpit all (not by name) who so far forgot the re- 
 spect due the customs of the Church as to attend this show. 
 
 125 
 
Furthermore, he expected that whoever had been so guilty 
 would refrain from partaking of the Holy Communion that 
 morning. Mr. Griswold partook. 
 
 The shock of the impact was felt by the congregation, if 
 not the whole town. What happened? This happened: — 
 everybody was thrown off balance, except Mr. Morrow and Mr. 
 Griswold. Neither of them gave way. Mr. Griswold knew he 
 was right, and he didn't move from his position. Mr. Morrow 
 knew he was right, and he did not reverse judgment, but went 
 right on with his assertions, in a determined and dogmatic 
 way. 
 
 Those who believed Mr. Griswold's bald head to have been 
 covered originally with hair as red as his son-in-law's looked 
 for an eruption. There wasn't even any smoke, except from 
 the cigars the two gentlemen gave each other, when they real- 
 ized that there could be two diverse opinions that would never 
 give way to each other. 
 
 You know our eyes are said to work at cross purposes, 
 and that is why we see straight. There is another metaphor 
 I am very fond of — a derrick is held upright and firm by cables 
 pulling with all their might in opposite directions. I would 
 better stop before something snaps. High tension characters 
 are apt to snap sometimes ; and such a snap is due right soon 
 now ; but I can not let it come before one more happy incident 
 is mentioned in connection with Mr. Morrow. 
 
 His aims were always high ; in that respect he was a true 
 artist. Especially in beauty and style was this shown. Take 
 the first elaborate Church wedding in which he was permitted 
 to have his ideas freely carried out. He was enthusiastically 
 happy in planning and directing. It was to be after the most 
 approved English custom. It may seem odd to contemplate 
 now, but this was the first wedding in St. Paul's; and as St. 
 Paul's was always in the van, ceremoniously, among non- 
 Roman Churches, it was probably the first in Peoria where the 
 bride came in with her father, and the groom waited at the 
 chancel rail to receive her. It was also the first where the 
 ring was handed to the priest and back to the groom before 
 placing it on the bride's finger, thus making the Church an 
 
 126 
 
important part of the marriage vow. It was also the first 
 where the betrothed couple left the bridal party and alone 
 followed the priest up to the sanctuary to kneel and receive 
 the final declaration and blessing. 
 
 The floral decorations and dresses were slight in compar- 
 ison with other weddings since, but the dignity and solemnity 
 of the ceremony was perfect. The hour was also novel for 
 Peoria then — mid-afternoon in February, with fresh snow and 
 sunshine. 
 
 Mr. Morrow was in his glory and forgot nothing to 
 enhance the beauty of the occasion. The groom was the only 
 one to forget. He forgot everything, from his head to the hat 
 to cover it when he got out of the Church, so I am told. I have 
 been told quite a lot about this wedding, that the bride was 
 the loveliest ever (that I knew myself) ; that the groom was 
 the usual awkward adjunct to the affair, lost in a kind of 
 mist, not conscious of anything much except of the miracle 
 that was giving him everything heaven and earth could be- 
 stow. I knew this to be true, because, you see — I was the 
 groom. 
 
 And it is just as much a miracle now as then in 1880, 
 almost fifty years ago. Come to think about it, this is another 
 instance in St. Paul's Church where a perfectly irresistible 
 force met an immovable body, if one can call my staying put 
 so long immovable. 
 
 I said there were no candles on the altar ; but Mr. Morrow, 
 on this occasion, anticipated their coming by supplying two 
 beautiful wax ones to serve as decoration for the altar, to- 
 gether with the flowers which Miss Armstrong supplied and 
 arranged, he, at the time, joking with her about the innovation 
 so cunningly contrived. He hardly dared to make candles a 
 permanent feature of the altar then; but Mrs. Cowell kept 
 hers, and has them still to light our table with their spiritual 
 blessing on wedding anniversaries, also keeping his memory 
 green. We used them to eke out one Christmas Eve candle- 
 lighting of our windows to welcome our youngest daughter, 
 Josephine, home from Boston, she having so much to say of 
 the previous Christmas Eve there, with the candle-lighting of 
 
 127 
 
Beacon Hill, and the wonderful carol singing of the people 
 who gathered there, including the best Church choirs. This 
 custom was started by the spirit, example, and dying request 
 of a bed-ridden Christmas-loving woman. 
 
 Candles, more than anything else except the cross, seem 
 to inspire worship. When in the succeeding rectorate candles 
 were permanently introduced, and one of the members walked 
 out of the Church in disgust, it was as if he were spurning 
 the light of the Gospel. 
 
 128 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 TROUBLE AND RESIGNATION. 
 
 Having dwelt at length upon the good points in Mr. 
 Morrow's character, it is going to be difficult to tell of his 
 failings; and yet it will be necessary to touch upon them to 
 account for his resignation so comparatively soon after his 
 warm reception, and considering his enthusiastic support. 
 
 Blood poisoning can start with a scratch on the finger, 
 and, unless checked, inflammation will spread until the hand 
 and the whole arm is infected, or worse. That is much the way 
 scandal worked in Mr. Morrow's case. I never really knew 
 how much or how little of careless indulgence on his part 
 started it. But the inflammation was soon evident, and became 
 furious. His high temper and superiority complex helped it 
 along, until the whole Church was sore. 
 
 The worst rumor that came to my ears was that he was 
 seen with some of his young lady friends, active in Church 
 work, at a popular beer garden, making merry there. The 
 resort was the best of its kind in the city. But he was Rector 
 of St. Paul's; and they were under his care. His influence, 
 under the circumstances, was considered pernicious. Scandal 
 further said that his wife was very unhappy, all of which was 
 enough to make some of us miserable. 
 
 How much truth there was in the rumor, or how much 
 it was overdrawn or misunderstood, will never be known, 
 because St. Paul's people were just like the rest of the world : 
 too ready to believe the worst for the thrill of it. Unfortun- 
 ately, the matter was allowed no chance to right itself, because 
 of what I afterwards learned was a mean streak of jealousy 
 
 on the part of a young man by the name of . Blast 
 
 his name ! It turns me sick to think of it, the sleek newcomer, 
 with his pose of solicitude for the tender sheep of the flock, 
 black sheep himself. 
 
 For all his intrigue, he gained nothing for himself but 
 contempt. But that was too late for Mr. Morrow's reputation. 
 He did succeed in making catspaws of some of Mr. Morrow's 
 
 129 
 
best friends — I shouldn't say best, either; but those who 
 thought themselves the best. For I was one, and the least 
 excusable one. When I think of how easily I slid from the 
 standard of a true friend, how supine I became, with the moral 
 excuse of "too delicate a matter to try personal investigation," 
 that I didn't even throw a rope, could only stand on the bank 
 and wait, I feel a shame that stings even now, fifty years after. 
 So who am I, the disloyal one, to scorn the intriguing enemy, 
 be he ever so black? 
 
 A decision to dismiss the offending clergyman resulted; 
 and although not on the vestry, I was appointed on the com- 
 mittee to wait on him and suggest his resignation. Because, 
 forsooth, a near friend of his might be more thoughtful of his 
 feelings, stab him in a kindlier spirit. Pah! I went with the 
 others (I can remember one of them only, Mr. C. J. Off) 
 deeming it my duty, a kind of guardian of the purity of the 
 parish, upholding the reputation of the Church — what a poor 
 excuse of a Pharisee ! 
 
 But I got what was coming to me, all right. I do not 
 mean to imply that Mr. Morrow was innocent of wrong doing, 
 or that the vestry should have taken no action. It is the man- 
 ner of handling such things that I object to ; allowing scandal 
 to run unchecked, and then trying to work out of a public 
 exposure by avoiding a trial, submerging the scandal at the 
 expense of justice, and especially in offering no opportunity 
 for the accused to redeem his error, if guilty. 
 
 Mrs. Morrow came to the door, very stately — I wanted 
 to run. There was no doubt that she sensed something dis- 
 agreeable; she was so stiffly polite. "I suppose you wish to 
 see Mr. Morrow? Be seated, I will call him." 
 
 I have forgotten whether we sat down or not. But I 
 haven't forgotten the sounds that came filtering through the 
 closed doors, no words, just sounds ! It may be because I was 
 overwrought myself emotionally ; but was there a high-keyed, 
 impassioned quavering of a woman's voice, a murmuring re- 
 sponse, reassuring, a sound of children's questioning, fright- 
 ened, hushed, borne away, shutting of doors? Was there 
 subdued crying? There was splattering of water for a few 
 
 130 
 
seconds. Then the door opened, and Mr. Morrow appeared, 
 very red of face, in his shirt-sleeves, vigorously drying his 
 hands with a towel that had undoubtedly been mopping his 
 face, so bright it shone. 
 
 Whatever was in his eyes before, they began to blaze as 
 he met our embarrassed silence with a dignity that made me 
 feel too small for words, especially as there was a pained and 
 surprised look, I thought, when he saw me. With a short 
 apology, he stepped back into the passageway to put on his 
 coat. 
 
 Don't mistake me ; there was nothing grotesque about his 
 coming in to meet us as he did. It was not nonchalance ; there 
 was too much feeling. It was not braggadocio; there was too 
 much fortitude. We could take the towel any way we pleased. 
 He didn't hide behind it, though undoubtedly it was a good 
 shield to steady what tremble there may have been in the 
 hands. I am sure, if any, it was not from fear, but from 
 intense emotion. 
 
 I can not remember just the words spoken, although I 
 know he was the first to speak, something in this way : 
 
 "I presume I know your errand, gentlemen. You desire 
 my resignation? You shall have it." 
 
 Our spokesman, Mr. Off, I believe, was taken aback, and 
 could only murmur something apologetical. There was a cut- 
 ting response from Mr. Morrow about our action being based 
 upon the word of a meddling stranger; but there was no 
 apology or explanation on his part, no accusation on ours. 
 There was the necessary stipulation as to time limit or con- 
 sideration for undue expense incurred, all for the sake of the 
 family, who must be protected. Otherwise he bore himself as 
 the one in command of the situation, which he clearly was — 
 we feeling like culprits. 
 
 I felt the worst, especially as I thought I detected in his 
 manner towards me at the last a kind of pitying forgiveness 
 as though I, in the weakness of youth, were less responsible 
 for being carried away by the furore. I think I learned then 
 how foolish it was to accept other people's opinions unchal- 
 lenged or allow them to control my own actions. 
 
 So he departed. 
 
 131 
 
We never saw him again; but we heard of him, and 
 always to his credit. I don't know ; it may have been that our 
 action opened his eyes to his lasting benefit, though that is no 
 credit to us. I can remember the glow of admiration with 
 which I heard of his heroic devotion. 
 
 Somewhere in the East — Pennsylvania, I believe — a se- 
 vere epidemic of smallpox broke out in a community where 
 he had served in the past, and knew the people. They were 
 poor and could not command adequate succor, as I understood 
 it. The situation was desperate, and Mr. Morrow left his 
 charge temporarily, and went to them alone, to nurse (many 
 a sick parishoner in Peoria had he nursed, sometimes up all 
 night), to comfort, console and hearten, with all the force of 
 his energetic spirit, giving himself fearlessly and unreservedly 
 to those stricken people. 
 
 He came through successfully and safe, unless overwork 
 may have undermined his health to some extent. Just when 
 he died, I do not know ; but his epitaph, in my mind, reads like 
 his introduction to Peoria, only in golden letters: 
 
 HE WAS AN INDUSTRIOUS AND GODLY MAN. 
 
 I held in my hand the other day the Prayer Book he gave 
 as a wedding present to my wife, a costly thing, far in excess 
 of the fee I gave him. It is bound in fine ivory, a beautiful 
 monogram carved in relief on the front cover. The ivory has 
 discolored in the course of time, but the love will never 
 discolor. Much like this must have been his beautiful life. 
 
 132 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 INDECISION AND CONCLUSION. 
 
 So far this story has told itself to me, coming out of the 
 mist of the past, called up into a new world, slowly waking 
 from a long sleep, hiding much, revealing bit by bit. And 
 now it halts : like old Rip Van Winkle, before the later years, 
 and the watchful eyes of many whose memories could and 
 might cause severe criticism. 
 
 Should I continue, the burden of responsibility would 
 increase immeasurably. For not only would events be of more 
 vital interest to those now living, but my own part in them 
 might outweigh impartial judgment too much. For from 1880 
 on I was no longer an interested and amused spectator only; 
 life had carried me into a new position, entailing more depend- 
 ence upon God and less independence of my fellow man. My 
 feelings had become more intense, and what transpired 
 in the Church magnified, perhaps, too much to insure just 
 appreciation. 
 
 As I marshal before my mind the last years of the tale 
 just told — 1879 to 1881, they seem to assume a special sig- 
 nificance, not only in my own life and that of the Church, but 
 of our growing city, if not of the nation, in the mode of living, 
 and perhaps of thinking. Prosperity was in the act of lifting 
 Peoria out of the mud, not only metaphorically but literally. 
 
 Street paving had only just ceased to be a dream, or a 
 horrible nightmare (Fulton Street, at least, was cobblestone) ; 
 Adams Street rejoiced in cedar blocks a la Chicago, and its 
 all too soon chuck-holes; street cars really carried the public. 
 But aside from that, Peoria was still a four-page newspaper 
 town. Civic enterprise, as such, had begun to show its head 
 in the erection of a new courthouse, an unheard of undertaking 
 — almost Alladin-like in its magnificence. That with the Union 
 Depot, Chamber of Commerce and Grand Opera House, put 
 every citizen on stilts, where he could really look out and speak 
 the world. 
 
 133 
 
Outside of that, retail business, with one exception — Day 
 Bros. — was transacted on one floor only, no elevators, no base- 
 ments (they were cellars with trap doors mostly) . One-pane 
 plate glass show windows were glaring novelties for the few. 
 As for landscape windows in houses, the latest luxury known 
 to our world, and double front doors with etched glass panels, 
 everybody now had them — everybody of means — and real 
 porches to sit out on, with rails (to put your feet on). Yes, 
 and mansard roofs. 
 
 Slowly rising up out of the mud, feeling a little metro- 
 politan, really a part of the nation, soon to have a National 
 Hotel — heretofore ours was a Peoria House — we grew. Busi- 
 ness building ventured nothing over three stories, until the 
 daring Woolner building (now Bergner's) went to five. Before 
 that, our highest flat roof was the Second Ward School on 
 Sixth Street, a mansard montrosity, and a fire trap. In after 
 years it was condemned ; but there was never a fire. The Lord 
 cared for the children, if the people didn't. Fire escapes were 
 unknown then, too ; clubs for eating, none ; restaurants, I can 
 remember only one. 
 
 Then the Churches — the Universalist was the most pre- 
 tentious, the largest auditorium, the tallest spire, and the first 
 basement for entertainments and Sunday School, as I 
 remember. 
 
 But the new era in Church building was being ushered 
 in when, in 1878 and 1879, the great Congregational Church 
 reared its massive strength on the corner where it now stands, 
 and made its basement an invitation to social brotherhood. 
 
 But St. Paul's, on the corner below, stood still, teetering 
 on the spring board, afraid to jump. Just where I am in this 
 story. How much to tell, how much to hint at, how much to 
 keep under ground? Will it be possible to be just and fairly 
 truthful, and yet avoid hurting sensitive feelings of those now 
 living? There are stumps, and devils to drive around them. 
 How successfully can it be done ? Am I sure the danger signals 
 are all working? And if safety-first be the motto, will it be 
 a case of the mountain and the mouse? Shall the chorus be 
 minus the bass part? Shall it be sounding brass and tinkling 
 
 134 
 
cymbals, or charity that suffers long and is kind? Or shall I 
 stop now? Let's call a recess, while I stop and think. 
 
 Inasmuch as it may not be practical or desirable to 
 continue this story further in the same intimate style and 
 extended detail, I have concluded to supplement the present 
 effort with a short summary of the principal events together 
 with the names and dates of the celrgymen in charge up to 
 the present time, concluding with short sketches of the Sunday 
 School and Choir. The story of the choir alone would fill many 
 pages with its vicissitudes, both amusing and tragic, were it 
 given the space it would deserve in any continued history. 
 
 The supplement heading the appendix may be of greater 
 interest to readers who have known or heard more of the past 
 fifty years of St. Paul's than the preceding years. And it 
 should not preclude a more elaborate story of this period 
 should anyone desire to attempt it. 
 
 135 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 A. — SUPPLEMENT. 
 
 The Rev. Robt. Ritchie succeeded Mr. Morrow, coming 
 in 1882. He was an outstanding figure in the Church, both 
 here and later in California, where he went from here in 1889, 
 and where he died November 17th, 1902, Rector of the strong- 
 est Church in Oakland. While here he worked hard towards 
 the building of a new Church and succeeded in raising sub- 
 scriptions to the amount of $10,290.00. There things stuck; 
 and he was so disheartened with the luke-warmness of the 
 leading members that he resigned, December 31st, 1888. That 
 year the vestry took the step, long delayed, of having the 
 parish legally incorporated. This was quite an event, causing 
 much comment, favorable and questioning. We had gone along 
 for forty years without it, why now? I wonder if that was 
 what Mr. Ritchie saw in the new Church agitation that dis- 
 couraged him ? He was a tall, fine looking man, and was much 
 appreciated, loved and respected; but we let him go. 
 
 He was succeeded by the Rev. Sidney G. Jeffords in 1889. 
 Soon after Mr. Jeffords' arrival the Church took fire and was 
 practically destroyed. Efforts were immediately made to 
 revive the subscription list that Mr. Ritchie had obtained, 
 which was rather difficult in some quarters. But under the 
 push of Mr. Jeffords, an amount thought large enough to begin 
 building was promised; and the present stone Church was 
 under way, and with the constant and vigorous superintend- 
 ency of the new Rector, was completed in 1890. 
 
 Mr. Jeffords was an indefatigable worker, baptizing 470, 
 and bringing to Confirmation 378 during his rectorate, which 
 lasted from 1889 to 1902. During his administration, thanks 
 to the energy and financial support of Mr. C. J. Off, the base- 
 ment was constructed somewhat as it is now, though altered 
 many times since in minor details. Troubles arose under 
 Mr. Jeffords' administration, resulting, after much unhappy 
 feeling, in his resignation. 
 
 136 
 
PRESENT CHURCH BUILDING 
 Erected 1890 
 
To him succeeded Mr. H. Atwood Percival, first as a 
 deacon (he was a Presbyterian minister when called) under 
 Mr. John Wilkinson, who was priest in charge, until Mr. 
 Percival was ordained in 1904. He then was made Rector and 
 held that position till 1914. The most important changes dur- 
 ing his rectorate were in connection with the choir, one being 
 the discarding of the female voices. The marble altar was 
 constructed in his time, and the chancel extended a few feet 
 into the nave. Some of the front pews were removed to permit 
 it. Dissatisfaction, augmented by trouble, hinging on the 
 appointment of choir master, brought about Mr. Percival's 
 resignation. 
 
 Following him came the Rev. Harold Linwood Bowen, the 
 youngest Rector St. Paul's ever had, and one with the greatest 
 dynamic force. His administration lasted from September, 
 1914, to January, 1920; and was the most successful since the 
 days of the schism. The great war period was his, filled with 
 his militant and inspiring services. One, the most thrilling I 
 ever witnessed, was a Fourth of July celebration on Sunday, 
 with the national hymns of each ally, their flags carried in 
 processional by the choirboys, who lined up each side of the 
 chancel, each flag waved as its special hymn was sung, the 
 Cross held high above all at the back. 
 
 Our part in the war, aside from the services and home 
 work, is shown by a bronze tablet in the Church bearing the 
 names of fifty-two of our boys who volunteered, two of whom 
 made the great sacrifice. They are: Raymond B. Allen and 
 Walter H. Martin. 
 
 Mr. Bowen was much sought after by other parishes ; and 
 he turned down many offers, but finally accepted one from St. 
 Peter's, Chicago, where he now is, leaving us January 30th, 
 1920. He served St. Paul's splendidly, but we gave him as 
 good as he sent — better, a wife, the lovely daughter of our 
 vestryman, Charles S. Cockle. 
 
 The vestry worked long and conscientiously in their 
 efforts to supply the vacancy, and, February 1st, 1922, the 
 Rev. Campbell Gray came to us from Wisconsin. His rectorate 
 saw changes in ritual which, despite his attractive personality, 
 his sincere and earnest devotion to his work, and the many 
 
 137 
 
warm friends he won, made his success less than it should 
 have been. Nevertheless, his ability was such that after 
 several flattering calls elsewhere, we finally lost him to the 
 Bishopric of Northern Indiana. 
 
 To him succeeded the Rev. Wm. L. Essex, June 1st, 1925, 
 our present Rector, who has won a place of his own in our 
 hearts. 
 
 It is fitting that, having at the start of this story of the 
 Parish listed the names of wardens and vestrymen, I should 
 end with a list of those who fill their places now, eighty years 
 since, particularly as most of the present officers have been 
 active in the same capacity for many years. Consequently, 
 bound in with this volume is a reproduction of a leaflet for 
 Trinity Sunday, 1929, the last issue before going to press, 
 which contains not only the names of these men but also the 
 names of choir masters and choristers, and officers of other 
 organizations of the Church, together with a program for the 
 day, and weekly notices. 
 
 B. — CHURCH SCHOOL (SUNDAY SCHOOL) 
 Both Mr. Morrow and his successor, Mr. Ritchie, took the 
 superintendency of the Sunday School themselves. In the 
 interim between these two, Mr. W. H. Boniface took charge 
 and, when he left to take up the work of the new St. Andrew's 
 Church in 1889, Mr. W. S. Dowe took hold for awhile, followed 
 by myself for several years. A stray priest of foreign descent, 
 Mr. Hefter, a very eccentric character, was engaged for a 
 short period to take charge of St. Stephen's Mission, and at 
 the same time to try his hand with St. Paul's Sunday School. 
 Toward the end of Mr. Jefford's rectorate, Mr. H. J. Wood- 
 ward served for a few months, and then Mr. Jeffords took 
 charge himself, until his resignation in 1902. 
 
 I took the position then and held it through Mr. Percival's 
 administration. On the coming of Mr. Bowen, the helm was 
 again taken by the rector, with greater success than in any 
 previous administration. Under him the Christian Nurture 
 system and the name "Church School" were adopted, though 
 toward the end of his rectorate, if I remember rightly; and 
 when he left us, Mr. Bernard Wrigley, who had been his 
 
 138 
 
assistant for the year preceding, was given full charge, the 
 best superintendent the Church ever had. He has held the 
 position since and the Church School has grown materially. 
 
 This brief statistical treatment of the one subject nearer 
 to my heart than all the rest is tantalizingly inadequate, save 
 that too much crowds forward for consideration to discrimi- 
 nate. Some of my dearest memories, devoted personal friend- 
 ships, saddest failures, greatest disappointments, happiest 
 rewards, are directly attributable to my half century connec- 
 tion with St. Paul's Sunday School. I know that should I try 
 to do justice to my feelings on this subject few would believe, 
 fewer understand. But could anyone have the same actual 
 experience he would know why no other vocation can be so 
 lastingly endowed with happiness. 
 
 It seems proper before closing these notes on the Sunday 
 School to accord tribute to a few teachers whose exceptional 
 record for long standing service is deserving thereof. First 
 among these is Miss Lucy B. Way, who, coming to Peoria as 
 head of the kindergarten department in our public schools, 
 took charge of the same work in St. Paul's in 1901, and is still 
 serving zealously and successfully in both. Second in order 
 of length of service as teacher is Mrs. W. G. Russell, wife of 
 our Junior Warden, remarkable for her success as well as 
 faithfulness, now in her twentieth year of such service. 
 
 Another most worthy is Miss Rose Scoones, who died in 
 harness and was probably the most beloved teacher in the 
 history of the parish, as many who came under her influence 
 will attest. She was one of those rare characters whose earnest 
 and sweet-tempered spirit overcame handicaps of poverty and 
 scanty education to a marvelous extent. From the grist that 
 came to her mill she turned out the best of material for after 
 work in the Sunday School and Church. Among such may be 
 mentioned Mrs. Clarke Chamberlain and Mrs. Carl Kasjens, 
 still teaching successfully; Miss Elisabeth Anderson, active 
 in choir and Sunday School; Mrs. John D. Wilson, long a 
 faithful worker in the Altar Guild ; Mrs. L. E. Wilson, forceful 
 in the Auxiliary and St. Elisabeth's Guild; Mrs. R. M. Geef, 
 whose sons are, one an acolyte, the other a crucif er ; the Misses 
 Charlotte and Florence Loveridge, who have been constant 
 
 139 
 
and efficient in Church work for years ; Miss Lillian Jeffords, 
 who, as Rector's secretary, served under the Rev. Harold Lin- 
 wood Bowen and went to St. Peter's, Chicago, in the same 
 capacity. 
 
 And there are countless others scattered over the coun- 
 try, reflecting the steadfast and devoted spirit of this one 
 teacher. She worked hard through the week for her living, 
 kept track of each of her Sunday School pupils, prepared her 
 lessons under adverse circumstances, yet was as bright, win- 
 ning, uncomplaining as any who have come under my sixty 
 years of observation. 
 
 I can see her now, the center of an excited, joyous crowd 
 of little girls, each eager to get near to her ; or in her last days 
 in the Methodist Hospital, when one of her pupils, become a 
 teacher herself, came to see her, and the wan face of the 
 sufferer brightened happily at sight of the young girl's fresh 
 loveliness — a blossom at her bedside from her garden of hopes, 
 a crown of laurel for her passing soul. There is one glory of 
 the sun and another glory of the moon, and another glory of 
 the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory. 
 
 C. — CHOIR. 
 
 St. Paul's Church Choir is one of the oldest musical or- 
 ganizations in Peoria. After thirty odd years of quartette 
 service the boy choir was developed under the inspiration of 
 a clergyman, an enthusiast on the subject, who was visiting 
 the home of Miss Elizabeth Woodward, aunt of the present 
 Miss Woodward. 
 
 With the assistance of Mr. W. S. Dowe, who served 
 gratuitously, and with Miss Catherine Hart as organist, the 
 choir was started on its long march to the present time. And 
 it is a long procession, beginning away back when the dignified 
 president of the Walter Causey Co. of today was just a boy. 
 Another was the late H. J. Woodward, who, as Junior Warden 
 during the last years of his life, served the Church as faith- 
 fully as he served the boy choir in his childhood and after. 
 
 From then on the vested choir sang its way in proces- 
 sional, and in varying styles of collars (this special torture 
 for the boys only, hence their title to the term "angelic"), 
 
 140 
 
around the old frame building, until it burned down, then up 
 the center aisle of Rouse's Hall and on the stage, while the 
 present Church was building. Here it continued to grow in 
 numbers and musical perfection, until it reached its highest 
 excellence under the direction of the late Eugene H. Plowe. 
 
 Under his unrivalled administration were drilled and sent 
 out the most popular men's voices of this city, such men as 
 Charles Burdick, Erwin Arends, Jim Wilton, Mark Cowell, 
 and others. This nursery feature of the choir did much to 
 help its growth. Because the adults were not paid, the devel- 
 oped voices were always subject to be called to paying quarters 
 elsewhere. Notwithstanding that the best voices were con- 
 tinually leaving, the choir managed to sustain its reputation 
 for producing the most successful music of its kind in the 
 Middle West. 
 
 In the early period of its existence membership was con- 
 fined to men and boys only. After a while, however, during 
 Mr. Plowe's directorship, it was thought best to add female 
 voices. This proved a great advantage, notwithstanding some 
 one was unkind enough to say that they called it a boy choir 
 because there were old maids and bald heads there. 
 
 Unkind words, however, interfered not at all with the 
 brilliant work and good times that came in full measure to 
 the family of choristers. Reputation brought demand for 
 outside service in the city and neighboring towns, charitable 
 and otherwise. These, added to the regular work, made a 
 heavy burden for the Choirmaster. His heart had to be a 
 sturdy one if he would keep his hand on the wheel and not 
 be worn out. 
 
 Yet, though they wore out, the staying quality of the 
 directors proved equal to that of the clergy of St. Paul's. 
 Within the life of the choir there were the same number of 
 choirmasters as of clergymen. Their names in order are as 
 follows : 
 
 1. W. S. Dowe, who helped organize, and served until 
 after the present Church was built, assisted by Miss Catherine 
 Hart at the organ. 
 
 2. Eugene Plowe (first term) with Miss Elona A. Fless- 
 ner at the organ at the last. 
 
 141 
 
An interim, Miss Flessner supporting temporary supplies. 
 
 3. A short period with a Mr. White, a shorter interim 
 followed by 
 
 4. E. Warren K. Howe, with Miss Flessner, and later 
 with Miss Edith Campbell at the organ. 
 
 5. Mr. Plowe, a second time, with Miss Flessner assisting 
 at the last, and finally succeeding to the position left vacant 
 by his death. 
 
 6. Miss Flessner, to her resignation. 
 
 7. James Donnelly, assisted by Harold Harsch at the 
 organ. 
 
 8. James Wilton, Fall of 1925. 
 
 9. Mr. G. C. Ringgenberg, our present organist and 
 director, assisted by Miss Flessner. 
 
 In the Fall of 1927 a new organ was installed by the 
 Kilgen & Son Organ Co., of St. Louis, costing $12,600.00, and 
 producing under Mr. Ringgenberg's skilled fingers magic 
 music. The old organ was completely worn out in its service 
 of thirty-eight years. 
 
 Mention should be made of Miss Elizabeth Anderson, who 
 has been faithful as organist for the Sunday School and other 
 services innumerable. 
 
 Then there is Miss Emma Stittig, who has given her life 
 to the work of the Church, without money and without price, 
 more than any other person I have known. Besides her work 
 at the organ for the Sunday School, and as occasional supply 
 for regular Church services (probably no other, except Miss 
 Flessner, has excelled her record in that) she has been our 
 most valuable singer, and one of our very best Sunday School 
 teachers, most faithful and successful, constant in assistance 
 to everyone in need, from the kitchen to the altar, from the 
 janitor to the priest, and the many societies in the parish. 
 
 There is so much to tell about the individual members of 
 the choir that I hate to stop here, but must at least speak of 
 one of our best bassos, because of his long and faithful service, 
 surpassing, I think, all other male adults, viz. : Mr. Ernest 
 Moeller, constant, dependable, and able through fourteen 
 unbroken years. 
 
 Then there is another class of women besides singers in 
 connection with the choir that deserves individual mention. 
 
 142 
 
They are called Choir Mothers. Their duty is responsibility 
 for and supervision of the vestments. They are rare in num- 
 bers as in faithful service. 
 
 Mrs. Chas. Ulrichson, long deceased, and her daughter 
 with Mrs. Jane Kelley, then Miss Mary Armstrong, who has 
 reigned the longest, and has had more boys to brush and comb 
 and collar, to love and yearn over from boyhood to manhood 
 than you can count. She, with Miss Helen Ballard and young 
 lady assistants, especially Miss Alice Loveridge, is still serving 
 and holds her record over any other minister of St. Paurs. 
 If she only were to be St. Peter at the pearly gates, all the 
 boys would get in. 
 
 As an institution for pleasurable and educational service, 
 the choir stands high in the community. The long list of mem- 
 bers on its records attest this, and their witness to its influence 
 on their lives is constantly finding expression from those who 
 served their time there in the past. 
 
 During Mr. Howe's Directorate, Stainer's "Crucifixion," 
 sung Palm Sunday evenings, was first attempted, and has 
 been a feature Lenten seasons since. Mr. Howe is also happily 
 remembered by the adults of his choir for the outside efforts 
 he promulgated, using them individually as the main support 
 of the brilliant and popular light operas he brought out. 
 
 But undoubtedly it was Mr. Plowe's choir family that 
 laid up the greatest store of happy memories during the two 
 periods of his administration. The outside work in which he 
 made use of the choir consisted mostly of concerts and ora- 
 torios, undertakings that fulfilled the higher missions of music 
 as well as furnished the best drill work for a Church choir as 
 such. And the Church music that became possible through 
 his genius as director rose to wonderful proportions. There 
 seemed to be nothing too great to undertake and produce 
 successfully. The choir became justly famous, and many of 
 the splendid festival services live as precious memories to all 
 who heard or took part in them. 
 
 It was well worth the terrible grind of rehearsals to 
 stand up in the chancel and pour one's soul out in exultant 
 passion in the grand anthems. What glory it was to sing "The 
 
 143 
 
Heavens Are Telling," the Hallelujah Chorus, or "Unfold! 
 unfold ! unfold ! ! ! ye portals everlasting," or to carry "0 the 
 golden, glowing morning" in processional, with a rush of 
 sound, on and up towards the brilliant Easter altar. 
 
 I am speaking of the past, in tribute to the great musician, 
 friend, and Churchman, who wore his life out in the service 
 of the Church. When this matchless director, weakened by 
 disease, was forced to give up the organ and the drilling of 
 the choir, he found loving and talented daughters to hold up 
 his hands, whose devotion not only lengthened his usefulness, 
 but his life as well. Especially was he fortunate in an able 
 and willing helper in one of his pupils, who had been in the 
 choir throughout most of his directorate, Miss Elona A. Fless- 
 ner. So, then, as his hands gradually and reluctantly slipped 
 their hold on the work he loved, that work continued uninter- 
 rupted in the hands of his assistant who, as before stated, 
 succeeded him, carrying on the work with fire and vigor 
 worthy of her beloved teacher. 
 
 This reminiscent tribute should not be considered as in 
 any way a comparison with the present choir, but rather an 
 example of what good work of this kind brings to those who 
 participate in or listen to the music. 
 
 D. — NOTE ON CHURCH GHOST. 
 
 I regret that there is any information to add to the ghost 
 story, especially as it means the final laying of the ghost, the 
 spoiling of the mystery. It really is a shame not to have some- 
 thing to keep looking for, thinking it may jump out at you 
 from behind a door or dark corner any time. Then look what 
 a lot of argument to scrap. The riddle with answer attached, 
 or even at the back of the book is no fun. Why couldn't that 
 confounded ghost stay hidden a while longer? If I had only 
 been content to let well enough alone! It is sometimes called 
 a New England conscience, meaning an irritating, perverse 
 persistency, that was at fault in this case, a ghost itch, that 
 kept me scratching. Result: an idea. It was so simple I am 
 ashamed to confess it: City Directory, of course. It meant 
 another visit to bother the good people at the Library. I said 
 "simple" — well ordinarily, yes; but with a ghost, that was 
 different. 
 
 144 
 
I sailed into the Library, all smiles, with my bright idea. 
 There was Miss Esther Graydon, also all smiles, an old friend, 
 also of St. Paul's. 
 
 "City Directory? Certainly, right downstairs to your 
 right in the Business Room." 
 
 More smiles, and down I went, and I continued to go, 
 around and around the shelves. Nice young man, also with 
 smiles. "Can I assist you?" (in his manner) as he came 
 towards me. 
 
 "City Directories? What city?" 
 
 "Peoria, 1876" (apologetically). 
 
 "Oh! the Peoria Directories are not here. Just go up- 
 stairs, and they will show you where to find them." (Hesitancy 
 on my part.) 
 
 "Right upstairs," kindly repeated to the old man's request. 
 
 "But they told me to come down here" (with more smiles, 
 quizzical this time). 
 
 "Did they?" (habit — he didn't mean to question my 
 word) . 
 
 "Yes, Miss Graydon sent me down." 
 
 "Well, but they are not here." 
 
 Then it was that I knew the old ghost was on the job, 
 and I would have to hump myself to get ahead of him. So 
 up again to find Miss Graydon and ask how, when and where, 
 
 if not why Jingo ! I left the nice young man downstairs, 
 
 yet there he was talking to Miss Graydon, and she was talking 
 to him, their heads kind of butting out at each other, smiles 
 absent. How did he get there? Uncanny! Business of "They 
 are." — "They are not." — Nice young man melted away. 
 
 (Miss G.) "Sorry, etc.," patient kind of a smile on my 
 part, watching her sorting books, waiting for whatever might 
 happen, sort of feeling that the ghost was peeking out from 
 behind her pretty blonde bob. 
 
 Conversation drifted along pleasantly for a while, until 
 I became fidgety, wondering when she would be at liberty to 
 look after my wants in the directory line. Mustered up cour- 
 age: "Could you find someone to look that up for me, please?" 
 
 "Oh! (distressed) didn't Kenneth say he would get it for 
 
 you?' 
 
 145 
 
"I think not, I rather thought you were- 
 
 "Well I — I'll look for it at once" ; and off she started. And 
 I followed. Couldn't trust that ghost. As she darted out toward 
 the stock room, I trailed, wanting no more disappearances. 
 
 "You needn't come, I'll bring it to you." 
 
 "But there may be others. I'll come anyway," determined 
 not to be shaken off. Stopped on the way by other officials — in 
 the pay of the ghost, I am sure. 
 
 Obstacles surmounted, stairs climbed, stacks reached. 
 
 "It should be here. That's funny; but I'll find it." And 
 around the stacks, in and out of the narrow aisles, whisking 
 on lights, fingering rows of books; lights off here and on 
 there; in and out and around corners, I chasing her flying 
 feet, the ghost on ahead doing stunts. Miss Esther is able and 
 energetic, but what chance did she have? 
 
 "Things have been changed so lately, that it is hard to find 
 anything." (Mark that word "lately".) But on she flew, either 
 to get away from me and my outrageous persistency, or to 
 head off the ghost ; when suddenly : 
 
 "Here we are," and out she whisked a small book. (Bell 
 and book after all for my ghost.) 
 
 Wait a moment, not so fast ! I was sure I heard a chuckle 
 as I took the book to the shelf at the window. 
 
 "You needn't trouble to replace it, just leave it on the 
 shelf," discouraged my going back for more. 
 
 1876 
 
 EDWARD'S PEORIA CENSUS REPORT AND DIRECTORY 
 
 So it read; and here is what it said on the matter, page 412, 
 under Churches: 
 
 St. Paul's Church Building, cor. Jefferson and 
 Jackson Sts., Rev. William J. Johnson, rector. 
 Good ! Just what I wanted to prove my conjecture correct — 
 smart work, big hat! Here occurred what is usually due to 
 conceit. It wasn't exactly a kick, but some kind of propulsion 
 from behind that shunted me back to the stack for more in- 
 formation if, perchance, there might be an 1877 directory. 
 And there it was, the trump up the ghost's sleeve, too. Here 
 it is: 
 
 146 
 
HAWLEY'S CITY AND COUNTY DIRECTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY 
 
 1877-78 
 Under Churches is this: 
 
 Episcopal, St. Paul's Church, cor. Jefferson and 
 
 Jackson. 
 No mention of the Rev. Mr. Johnstone. 
 
 Innocent enough looking, but what a lie! For didn't I 
 know, and a number of others, that Mr. Morrow positively 
 found the Church on the "M" corner when he came at Easter, 
 1877? Also, don't a number of us remember distinctly being 
 under the training of a tramp music teacher in the Church 
 on Main Street the winter before he came? Of course we do, 
 and how said tramp tried to flirt with one of the girls, much 
 to our amusement, as he was most beautifully turned down 
 and out. That ought to prove it. 
 
 So what a liar Hawley was, and a bluffer, too; see his 
 preface where among other things, he says : 
 
 "Any ambitious or unoccupied individual who wishes to 
 prove the correctness or falsity of the information given in 
 these pages, is at liberty to do so . . . Every person, firm 
 or institution, Church or school is located and described 
 precisely." Whew! 
 
 Indignation steam blown off, there was a chance to realize 
 what was going on behind my back, a mocking "Ha ! Ha !" — a 
 double shuffle of sorts, and I didn't doubt a derisive hand to 
 nose as well. Then a whisper: "Liar? — of course he's a liar; 
 but so are they all! so are they all! Put 'em away! put 'em 
 away! they're dead ones." 
 
 Now, when a ghost gets insulting, my gall rises as well 
 as my hair. There was no use spitting at a ghost; but one 
 jump and rush landed me ahead of it at the stack again. And 
 rough was the word. I grabbed with both hands, determined 
 to drag from its hiding place the ghostly secret if I had to 
 tear every directory up by the roots. Just what happened : 
 ROOT'S DIRECTORY OF THE CITY OF PEORIA — 1877 
 22ND YEAR 
 
 Page 298 : 
 
 Churches, Episcopal — St. Paul's Church, build- 
 ing cor. Main and Monroe Sts. Rev. Wm. Bryce 
 Morrow, Rector. 
 
 147 
 
Elsewhere : 
 
 Morrow, W. B., rector of St. Paul's, rooms 307 
 
 N. Mad. 
 
 Didn't I say so? Root against Hawley. Another look at 
 Hawley showed it wasn't Hawley after all, but Ebert and 
 Clark. For a notice in the front of the book is as follows : 
 
 This is to give notice to the public that we are in no way 
 connected with one D. E. Hawley or H. W. Gallivan in the 
 publication of this Directory, or in any other business relation. 
 And we are not responsible for any of their debts now con- 
 tracted or hereafter to be contracted. 
 
 Ebert and Clark, 
 April 1, 1877. Publishers. 
 
 Kind of an April Fool. Looked more like a detour than 
 a directory. Yet the ghost would not down. 
 
 "Because one fellow lies no reason another doesn't." You 
 see, he had the best of it so long as there was any doubt. 
 
 Was I to give up after all this trouble? I had been 
 handling those directories with eyes keen for information, yet 
 blind to the one sure thing there, when all of a sudden a kindly 
 face I knew looked out at me with reassurance. It was a 
 sticker on the inside top corner of the cover, reading: "Pre- 
 sented by H. C. Bestor" ; also on another page his signature, 
 "H. C. Bestor." Quickly I turned to the other books. In the 
 Edward's 1876 the same— "H. C. Bestor." But on the Hawley 
 ( ?) Ebert and Clark, no such assurance. 
 
 Victory! The ghost was laid. For you must know that 
 whatever H. C. Bestor backed with his name was accepted by 
 everybody always as final. In the Court House he was the 
 last court of appeal on all matters involving real estate trans- 
 actions; and now from the spirit world he looked out at me 
 with that genial, lovable smile of his, known so well to every 
 man, woman, child or dog who came to him for sympathy. 
 
 Dear old Harry, just as always with the same hearty 
 hand grasp, even though in pain, stoop-shouldered, sitting in 
 his chair, making the most of everything but his own troubles, 
 taking the chewing tobacco out of his mouth to laugh more 
 heartily. 
 
 148 
 
"Why in thunder, Ben, didn't you look me up before? 
 Those doggoned old frauds trying to beat Root out of his job 
 of twenty-two years' service; just like that Hawley from 
 Missouri or the Ebert and Clark bunch from the devil knows 
 where. Sure! the Church was where Edwards had it in '76 
 and where Root had it in '77. And it's there yet, isn't it?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Never laid down on the job? Doors still open? Never 
 closed for vacation?" 
 
 "Never." 
 
 "Still marrying people, burying people, baptizing people ?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "No lack of children and old folks?" 
 
 "Seems not." 
 
 "Some hum in the hive all the time?" 
 
 "Quite a lot." 
 
 "Vestry and Rector not asleep at the switch? Enough in 
 the pews Sundays to keep the seats dusted? Enough noise in 
 the Sunday School, boys in the choir, flowers on the altar and 
 for the sick, food for the needy, cash for missions?" 
 
 "I believe so." 
 
 "And the great service at the altar never missing? Why, 
 then, we should worry!" 
 
 E. — THE P. E. SEWING SOCIETY. 
 
 The first shall be last — so my last word shall be in honor 
 of the P. E. Sewing Society which, apparently, was the early 
 bird in the garden of St. Paul's Parish ; for the record of this 
 organization antedates that of the Church by seven months. 
 Modesty and economy must have been their watchword, for 
 they saved not only seven months time and money but sta- 
 tionery as well. At the start I called attention to the modest 
 blank book used for the first records of the vestry; the first 
 record of the Protestant Episcopal Sewing Society is only just 
 long enough to contain its name in one line the longest way of 
 the little book, which is made of three small sheets of note 
 paper folded and sewn together in the folds, making twelve 
 pages, each one three and a half by four and a half inches, 
 all written on but one and with no cover. 
 
 149 
 
The contents are as quaint and delightful as the ladies 
 themselves would be could they be gathered about appropriate 
 sewing tables and in their company dresses. That was the 
 day of "ladies and gentlemen" and other pleasing punctilious 
 phrases. 
 
 This relic was given to me by our famous White School 
 principal, Miss Hester Crawley, not long before her death. I 
 believe her mother had been secretary of the Society at one 
 time. Anyway, it is a pleasure to reproduce its contents here, 
 written over eighty years ago by one of those whose names 
 are there entered, most probably the secretary, who was too 
 modest to record her name as such — as modest as the twelve 
 and a half cents annual dues. Please note that Z. N. Hotchkiss 
 is an honorary member and Miss Martha Rouse an active 
 member, then refer to their act in the first Ladies' Fair. 
 Page 1 
 
 Constitution and By Laws of the 
 Protestant Episcopal Sewing Society 
 Organized on the eleventh of August 184-7 
 
 Object. 
 The object of this Society shall be the 
 raising of funds for the Building of the 
 contemplated P. E. Church of Peoria 
 
 Of Members 
 The Members of this Society shall 
 consist of active and honorary Members 
 
 Page 2 
 
 Page 3 
 
 Of Officers 
 The Officers of this Society shall be a 
 President and Vice President, first, 
 second, and third Directress, a Treasurer, 
 and Secretary. 
 
 Of Meetings 
 The Meetings of this Society shall be 
 held on Thursday afternoon of each 
 alternate week at the houses of the 
 Members 
 
 Of Addition and Amendment. 
 No addition or amendments shall be 
 made to the Constitution or By Laws 
 of this Society without the concurrence 
 of two-thirds of the acting Members present 
 
 Of Admission 
 Any Lady may become an active Member 
 of this Society by enrolling her name under 
 the Constitution and paying the Treasurer 
 the sum of twenty-five cents. 
 
 150 
 
Page 4 
 
 Page 5 
 
 Page 6 
 
 Page 7 
 
 Page 8 
 
 Any Lady or Gentleman may become 
 an honorary Member of this Society by 
 paying the Treasurer the sum of one 
 Dollar. 
 
 Of Duties 
 It shall be the duty of the Directresses to 
 prepare, receive and examine all work, 
 prove it and exercise a general super- 
 -vision over the affairs of the Society. 
 
 It shall be the Duty of the Treasurer 
 to keep an account of all Monies received, 
 and expended, and whenever required by 
 the Society, to make a report of the same. 
 It shall be the Duty of the Secretary 
 to collect all monies due to the Society, 
 and pay the sum over to the Treasurer, 
 taking a receipt thereof and report the 
 same to the Society when required. 
 
 It shall be the Duty of the active 
 Members to be present at each meeting 
 of the Society, and attend to such ivork 
 as the Officers may have provided. 
 
 Of Refreshments. 
 It shall be the incumbent Duty of 
 each, at whose house the meeting may 
 be held to furnish refreshments of the 
 plainest kind, Coffee, Tea, Bread and 
 Butter, one kind of relish, and not to 
 
 exceed one kind of plain Cake. 
 
 Of Dues 
 Each active member, besides the 
 admission fee, shall pay annually to 
 the Treasurer the sum of twelve and 
 a half cents. 
 
 Any active member who shall be 
 absent from any meeting of the Society 
 without a reasonable excuse shall be 
 fined the sum of six and a quarter cents. 
 
 Mrs Mitchell — President. 
 
 Mrs Sweat — Vice President. 
 
 Mrs Perrin— Directress. < 
 
 Mrs Benjamin — Directress. 
 
 Miss Taylor — Directress. 
 
 Miss Cockle — Treasurer. 
 
 Ladies honorary Members, 
 Mrs May 
 Mrs Fessenden 
 Mrs Grey 
 Mrs Cockle. 
 
 151 
 
Page 9 
 
 Page 11 
 
 Page 12 
 
 Gentlemen honorary Members. 
 Z. N. Hotchkis — 
 E. G. Sanger — 
 A. L. Merriman — 
 S. D. Fales. 
 
 Members of the Protestant 
 
 Episcopal — Sewing Society 
 
 Mrs Mitchell 
 
 Mrs Sweat 
 
 Mrs Yar ring ton 
 
 Mrs Rouse 
 
 Mrs May 
 
 Mrs Cockle 
 
 Mrs W. Mitchell 
 
 Mrs Knoivlton 
 
 Mrs Grey 
 
 Mrs Fessenden 
 
 Mrs Perrin 
 
 Mrs Benjamin 
 Mrs Wilber 
 Miss Taylor 
 
 Miss Rouse 4 
 
 » Miss Martha Rouse ' 
 
 Miss Matilda Perrin 
 Miss Rodney 
 Miss S. E. Cockle. 
 
 Stitch! stitch! stitch! for over eighty years, and still 
 
 stitching under the name of St. Paul's Guild, still manage to 
 
 take a stitch in time whenever the resources of the parish get 
 
 frayed. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 152 
 
Reproductions 
 
'oAlpha" 
 
 d&eAJL^ $-j2_wa-*~4>-4o <rL£L±, zVl^L *-to^ &uJu*£Lou^ JUA^^ 
 
 
 ■Q \ / ^ .. ' _ /-£ /- 
 
 "<r//Se/i s £ 
 
 X CcvJ^J*. U ^^^/-y *^«^ -te*™*/? fa**6'S. j ^fSr^sJ^ 
 
 Facsimile of the first page of the first Parish Record of St. Paul's Church, 
 overlaid by that of the Constitution of the P. E. Sewing Society of Peoria. 
 
rr Omega" 
 
 ^t. pawl's Ctntrrfy 
 
 Main and Monroe Streets 
 Peoria, Illinois 
 
 BISHOP— The Right Reverend Edward Fawcett, D. D., Ph. D. 
 RECTOR— The Reverend William Leopold Essex, B. D. 
 
 Cluirclr #£rbic£5 
 
 Holy Communion 7.30 a. m. 
 
 Church School and Rector's Bible Class . . 9.30 a. m. 
 
 Children's Eucharist and Church School (3rd Sunday) 9.30 a. m. 
 
 Holy Eucharist (1st, 3rd and 5th Sundays) . . 10.45 a. m. 
 
 Morning Prayer, Holy Eucharist and Sermon (other Sundays) 10.45 a. m. 
 
 Holy Communion (Daily in the Chapel) 
 
 7.30 
 
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH 
 
 QLvinitp £>unbap, Jflap 26tlj, 1929 
 
 7:30 a. m. £fje &olp Communion 
 
 (^rber of g>erbice, 10:45 a. m. 
 
 iHorntng draper, tfje I&olp <£ucf)arisrt anb Sermon 
 
 Prelude, "Andante" Guilmant 
 
 Processional, Hymn 519 — "Ancient of Days" Jeffery 
 
 Venite and Gloria Patri (Hymnal, 16) Woodward 
 
 Te Deum Kotzschmar 
 
 Threefold Kyrie (Hymnal, 267) Winter 
 
 Sequence, Hymn 2C6, vs. 4 — "Jehovah, Father, Spirit, Son" Dykes 
 
 Gloria Tibi and Laus Tibi Smart 
 
 Hymn 205— 'Holy, Holy, Holy" Dykes 
 
 The Sermon. 
 
 Offertory Anthem: "I am Alpha and Omega" Stainer 
 
 Sursum Corda, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei Smart 
 
 Organ: "Communion" (in G Major) Guilmant 
 
 Post-Communion Hymn, 209, verse 4 — "To Thee, Great One in Three" . Giardini 
 
 Amen (Hymnal, 321) (St. Mark's) Florence 
 
 Nunc Dimittis (Hymnal, 169) Barry 
 
 Recessional, Hymn 208 — "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord" Hopkins 
 
 Postlude, "Allegro Assai" (Fourth Sonata) Guilmant 
 
 JSatlp $tble fteatnno;* (or tfjis Wink. Subject: "<&ob is &olp." 
 £&unbap — The Throne of God, Revelation 4, verses 1 to 11 
 jHonbap — The Birth of Samuel, 1 Samuel 1, verses 1 to 18. 
 {EueSbap — Hannah's Offering, 1 Samuel 1 verses 19 to 28. 
 IHebnesfoap — The Song of Praise, 1 Samuel 2, verses 1 to 10. 
 CfjtirSbap — The Prophecy against Eli, 1 Samuel 2, verses 22 to 36. 
 Jfribap — The Call of Samuel, 1 Samuel 3, verses 1 to 14. 
 &aturbap — Moral Courage, 1 Samuel 3, verses 15 to 21. 
 
 With the approach of the Summer months we shall all be subject to the 
 temptation toward laxity in Church attendance. It does not take long to form a 
 habit, and vacations from Church loyalty never produce anything good. I wish 
 that this year we may receive strength from God to be more faithful than in the 
 past. Some few parishioners are out of the city for an extended period, but most 
 of us are here except for a few weeks. Every one should be in Church at least 
 once on the Lord's Day. Try this earnestly this Summer, and see what a dif- 
 ference it will make in our parochial life. Among several good results, we shall 
 not have to wait until November 1st to have our congregation up to full strength 
 again. And our own spiritual life will be better and more self-respectful. 
 
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH 
 
 Calendar, Wttk of jfflap 26tl), 1929 
 
 Da tip . . . 7:30 a. m. Holy Communion, Chapel. 
 
 JflonbaP . . 2:00 p. m. St. Margaret's Guild, at the home of Mrs. Arthur 
 
 E. Loder, 1540 Prospect Ave. 
 7:15 p. m. Boy Scouts, Troop 12. 
 
 iHebnesbap . 2:30 p. m. Woman's Auxiliary, at the home of the Misses 
 
 Woodward, 424 Moss Avenue. 
 
 Jfribap ... 7:00 p. m. Boys' Choir Rehearsal. 
 7:30 p. m. Rehearsal, Full Choir. 
 
 $arisrt) Register 
 
 HOLY BAPTISM 
 
 May 11th — Mrs. Emma Margaret Brown. 
 
 — Frank Witherspoon Brown. 
 May 18th — Doris Elmira Schurtz. 
 — Everette Harry Russ. 
 
 HOLY CONFIRMATION, May 19th— Mrs. Emma Margaret Brown, Frank 
 Witherspoon Brown, Anna Belle Bristol, Betty Jane Burton, Margaret 
 Frances Burton, Arda Mae Bynum, Mary Frances Davis, Noble Graham 
 Deniston, Charles George Farnum, Jr., William Ray Fauber, Arnold Ger- 
 hart Fernsted, Margaret Ann Furst, Margaret Jennie Graham, Frank Allyn 
 Gordon, Agnes Lucille Hoover, Dorothy Agnes Hunter, Elizabeth Miller, 
 Jane Lindsay Page, Margaret Hayes Page, Arabella Robinson Richardson, 
 Gerhard Calvin Ringgenberg, Mrs. Lucille Marie Ringgenberg, Mrs. Ruth 
 Louise Reiser, Edward Leroy Roark, Mrs. Alma Viva Roark, Betty Jane 
 Styer, William Howard Styer, Caroline Elizabeth Seaton, Barrett Farley 
 Welch, Henry Louis Welch, John Hubbard Welch, Mrs. Nellie Farley 
 Welch, Donald Emery Wray. 
 
 RECEIVED INTO THE CHURCH— Dr. Olive Bernadme White. 
 
 HOLY MATRIMONY, May 18th— Everette Harry Russ and Doris Elmira 
 Schurtz. 
 
 The Men's Club closed their season last Thursday night with a splendid 
 attendance. Mr. Bert Nelson's address on personal Christian work was inspiring 
 and it will do much good. The stereopticon lecture by Mr. Hauberg was in' 
 forming and delightful. His long study of Indian lore opened our eyes to many 
 historical treasures in our own homeland. Our gratitude is given to these men 
 for their friendly and willing service. 
 
 Mttntion* at tfje Batlp € udjariflrts tijta Mttk 
 
 Monday — Commemoration of Carrie Kibbey Kane. Tuesday — For a Sense 
 of Brotherhood. Wednesday— For St. Mary's School, Knoxville. Thursday— For 
 Our Patriot Dead. Friday— A Marriage Anniversary. Saturday — For the Bap- 
 tized. 
 
(EIntrdr pircctttt-y 
 
 BISHOP — The Might Reverend Edward Faweett, D. D., Ph. D. 
 RECTOR — The Reverend William Leopold Es.sex, II. D. 
 
 Residence 220 Columbia, Terrace - Telephone 2-3716 
 
 Church Office and Rector's Study, Telephone 8443 
 
 WARDENS 
 
 Mr. Murray M. Baker Mr. William G. Russell 
 
 Mr. Charles S. Cockle 
 Dr. Hugh E. Cooper 
 Mr. Charles E. Goss 
 Mr. Philip Z. Horton 
 
 VESTRYMEN 
 
 Mr. Carl F. Harsch 
 Mr. George L. Luthy 
 Mr. John C. Paddock 
 Mr. Bernard E. Wrigley 
 
 Cliureh Treasurer 
 
 Mr. Carl F. Harsch 
 
 Missions Treasurer 
 
 Mr. Charles S. Cockle 
 
 Clerk of the Vestry 
 
 Mr. John A. Corbett 
 
 Parish Chancellor 
 
 Mr. Chester F. Barnett * 
 
 Lay Reader 
 
 Mr. Bernard E. Wrigley 
 
 Parish Secretary 
 
 Miss Grace E. Lawton 
 
 Sexton 
 
 Mr. Howard Comely 
 
 CHURCH SCHOOL 
 
 Superintendent — Mr. B. E. Wrigley 
 Secretary — Mr. Robert Bell 
 Asst. Secretary — Mr. Reynold Meister 
 Asst. Treasurer — Miss Jeanette Sutliff 
 
 MEN'S CHURCH CLUB 
 
 President — Dr. W. R. Rodenhauser 
 Vice Pres.— Mr. George A. Lyon, Jr. 
 Sec'y.-Treas. — Mr. George L. Luthy 
 
 ST. PAUL'S GUILD AND AUXILIARY 
 
 President — Mrs. Edward J. Smith 
 Vice-Pres. — Mrs. William Allen 
 Secretary — Mrs. Victor Larson 
 Treasurer — Mrs. Chester F. Barnett 
 
 ST. ELIZABETH'S GUILD 
 
 President — Miss Frances M. Ulricson 
 Vice-Pres. — Mrs. Imogene Smith 
 Secretary — Mrs. E. J. H. McCorkle 
 Treasurer — Mrs. James Asimackis 
 
 ST. MARGARET'S GUILD 
 
 President — Mrs. Wm. R. Rodenhouser 
 Vice-Pres. — Mrs. G. Calvin Ringgenberg 
 Secretary — Miss Jeanette Nelson 
 Treasurer — Mrs. Elwood L. Chase 
 
 ALTAR GUILD 
 
 President — Miss Helen M. Ballard 
 Vice-Pres. — Mrs. Frank W. Brown 
 Sec'y-Treas. — Mrs. John D. Wilson 
 
 BROTHERHOOD OF ST. ANDREW 
 
 President — Mr. Charles A. Iliff 
 Vice-President — Mr. Leslie Fan Ik in 
 Sec'y.-Treas.— Mr. Charles M. Ward 
 
 YOUNG PEOPLE'S LEAGUE 
 
 President — Miss Margaret Mathis 
 Vice-Pres. — Mr. Henry Triebel 
 Sec'y-Treas. — Mr. Walter Waggoner 
 
 BOY SCOUTS 
 
 Scoutmaster — Mr. L. C. McConnell 
 
 THE CHOIR 
 
 Organist and Choirmaster 
 
 Mr. G. Calvin Ringgenberg, M. Mus., 
 A. A. G. O. 
 
 Choir Mother — Miss Mary Armstrong 
 
 Crucifers — Henry Triebel, Victor Tre- 
 wyn, William Essex, Jr., Leaton 
 Boggess 
 
 Flag-Bearer — Carmen Bartlett 
 Sopranos 
 
 Boys — Frank Arnold, Ernest Chase, 
 Harold Espenson, Charles Farnum Wil- 
 liam Fauber, Raymond Fraser, Edward 
 Gard, Dale Hofer, Harry Halstead, Ray- 
 mond Hitchcock. Harold Heaton, Paul 
 Ing, Robert Keller, William Keller, 
 Robert Lancaster, Charles Moeller, Wil- 
 liam Perry, Frank Reichelderfer, Rob- 
 ert Ridley, Francis Scott. James Wat- 
 Kins, William Watkins, Moreland 
 Wooleyham. 
 
 Women — Miss Elizabeth Anderson, 
 Mrs. W. J. Appier, Mrs. R. E. Bell, Mrs. 
 J. O. Davis, Mrs. P. G. Graf, Mrs. C. A. 
 Hoppin, Miss Kenny Lois, Mrs. R. W. 
 Turney, Miss Dorothy Yerbury. 
 
 Contraltos 
 
 Mrs. Bessie Bailiff, Miss Lucille 
 Hoover. Mrs. Harry H. Kimber, Miss 
 Emma Schriner. 
 
 Tenors and Basses 
 
 Messrs. Francis Hall, Laurel Jones, 
 Almon Kent, Ernest Mellor, Horace 
 Newsam, Ross Seaton, Richard Wray. 
 
7^