Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1851-12-25


The congregation of St Johns Church had
been for some months without rector Many
had applied, it is true, for the vacant situation :;
for it was once of the most wealthy and infu-
ential in the diocese, and the salary was three
thousand year. Add to this Christmas pres
ents and marriage fees (there was vast pro-
portion of young people, and a Washington or
Saratoga campaign always resulted in three or
four engagements at the very least) and you had
as comfortable position as clergymen, who
had'renounced 'the pomp and vanities of this
wicked world could desire
The church itself was an expensive build
ing, in the very extremity of the iorid Gothic.
The long windows were filled with stained
glass of many colors, giving every shade and
tone to the faces of the congregation in the diff
ferent hours of the day. Thus the sharp fea-
lures of Mrs. .Skimpton-wife of one of the
most influential vestrymen, who had pew in
the very front ranks of the middle aisle, that
her devotion might be known of all men
were tinged with ruby red in the morning, SAT-
from color during sermon time, and presented
llyid blue aspect in the afternoon service. The
organ was new and powerful, the choir
the best that could be trained, the pulpit
almost dazzled your eyes with gliding and
crimson velvet, and the chandeliers fla shed with
an incessant glitter. Therefore the vestry of
ST. Johns church were as cautious as their DO
sltlon required, in selecting a new rector to
take the place of the Rev. Dr. Naylor. 1t is
great pity some were inclined to say, that he
had been suffered to leave at all-he was so
excellent a rhetorician so graceful an orator,
such charming guest at a dinner-party, al
ways quoting Timothy's example as he took
his sherry wine, and was very complimentary
to the hostess over Burgundy. But ST. Johns
church prided itself on resisting the innovations
of Oxford, and DR.. Naylor was long suspected
of inclning thereunto. Finally, to the horror
of half1he congregation, he appeared in the
pulpit with his snrplice, an indication not to be
,riAed with. Miss Little declared that 'it gave
her perfect chill, and she couldn't tell, for
her part, where it would end.'L Mrs Tuttle
remarked, at meeting of the Dorcas Society,
of which she was president and Mrs Skimp-'
Ton secretary, that it was no more than she'd
been expecting for some time. And finally
the vestry were goaded into very politely re-
questihg their late beloved rector to re-
sign. " |
But now the pulpit was no longer vacant
The bishop was not TO be invited for the future
to marry the wealthy members of the congre-
cation, or the city missionary TO bury its dead
pensioners. The choir was once more in full
practice of Rossin, the organist of Mendels-
sohn and new soprano had been engaged at
four hundred year-a sum greater, be it re-
marked, than many faithful and jealous
country clergyman receives in his laborious vo-
cation. hfr .''t. ..' ''- -r.. s.'s -t'
The new rector was drawing crowded con-
gregations. 1t was music 10 hear him read the
church service, one declared. Another had
never listened to more eloquent speaking than
his sermons. Visiters from St. Peters, St.
James, and Epiphany crowded the aisles in
the afternoon, and great inquiry had been
made for vacant pews by families recently re-
moved to the city. Every family in the con-
gregatlon were ready to welcome DR.. Stone
under their roof until his household should ar
rive, and twenty-seven urgent invitations to
dinner were declined in one day. The great
wonder was how he should have cultivated
such grace and elegance of manner in the coun-
try for this was his first advent in city hfe.-
He had been professor in theological semi
nary for several years past but his literary
tastes and trinmphs had drawn him from this
comparative obscurity. Henceforth he was no,
to blush unseen. ...- -.s
To tell the truth, he had very little idea O
the firor he was creating. He was much
more interested in the arrival of his young wife
to his new home than in any profered attention
to himself. - He thought more of the souls thar
the establishments Of his congregation, strange
as 1t may seem, and cared for the effect of the
truth upon them, rather than the eloquent pc
riods which unfolded it. the natural language
of his pen. He had felt some scruples in de.
clining one great charge to accept of another
equally important, but had decided upon CITY
life, influenced not a little by the predilec-
tions of his wife,, though he would have
been shocked had any on ne proved to him
that he had listened to such an earthly consd.
Grafton. . '-'- p" .A4
All his friends wondered when the quiet
nnobtrusive Dr. Stone had married the daugh
ter Of one Of the most influential men in ths
country, scarcely two years before. But Ma
ry Elliot was intellectual as well as beautiful
and found no other congenal society in he
own native village. So in the process of time
the reverend Doctors eyes were opened to the
fact that sldl eI''i3 ""i {"
ern eFSIheir friendship turned out sh 57a ii
pae ITO belove in disguise =, 3Gs 1s4ass-sq
and they were married. Thus Mary Elliot
the petted, fattered, only daughter, bacame
shes wife iofia grave theological professor
and was now to enter on a new sphere of city
,.ra fsG9rii iadifH.1 1ul ltlfJ4S Csc fsft gfi'
Mefl .8lsai bslTlaaa ..ad o. hslsdorasr,,
bn The house 10 ------ Place was selected By
Mrss sTstsle. Every one knows that it is Al
once sn nsristocratical and quiet neighborhood
Just the ding for 4 clergy yman,' said Mrs
Tuttls-' So central, in the midst Of sucl