Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-02-03
LIFE IN THE METROPOLIS.
High and Low Church at One Time
Shall the Church Bell Go?-Live
COrpses for the Undertakers.

Correspondence Of the Morning Years.
NEW YORK, Jan. 3l.-EpiscOpalians,
high and low, do not know what to make
of the Rev. DR.. RainsfOrd, rector of St.
Georges Church, in Stuyvesant square,
who, if l am not mistaken, is not I'M
known in your part of the South. Under
the Tying regime, st. Georges was the
lowest of low churches, but even old DR..
/ Tying did not habitually indulge in prayer
meetings, if he did at all, while such
things as ''evangelistic services and eve
| ming cOmmuniOns were unknown during
his rectorship. While DIR. Rainsford is
thus low in some respects, and borrows
/ so literally from the dissenting denomina-
tions, he is equally high in others and bor-
rows, so Low Churchmen think, from Ro-
manism. He has early as well as evening
| communion on Sundays, while morning
and evening prayer are read on week
/ days, and the church is open at all hours
! for the convenience of those who wish to
! indulge IN private devOtiOns in the sacred
| edifce.
! His congregation has remained compar-
/ lively quiescent while DR.. Rainsford is thus
! equally evangelical and rituaIistic. and al
most the only objection to his course has
! come from persons living in the neigh Dor
hood who do not belong to the church.
\ These latter complain bitterly of the in
! cessant bell-ringing which his perpetual
/ prayer and praise involve, especially of
the summons to the Sunday early com
| munIOn and the morning service on week
! days, and sigh for the good old times of
! DR.. Tying when the bell was only rung on
| Sunday, and then not Oftener than twice
nor earlier than 10:30 a. m.
I ar&e = l, III
! planned Of as a nuisance to the Board OF
Health, and the complainants were loud
mOuthed in their declarations that thew
were going to put stop to church bell
! ringing all over the city. A time was
named for hearing before the board, but
| the privilege for some reason was not
taken advantage of, and the tintinnabuIa-
ton of st. Georges bell goes on without
further public protest, although curses
deep, If not loud, doubtless greet the far
/ from sweet Jangllng on the part of those
who are awakened by it at O'Clock Sun
day mornings. The ringing on other
mornings is an hour later so that it is not
so much of a nuisance.
st. Georges, unfortunately, is not the
only church in the city, whose bells, ring
| ing in season and out of season. have
driven people frantic. Several Roman
! Catholic Churches are nuisances to their
neighbOrs because of the bell ringing
which summons worshipers to early
| mass, and the Episcopal Church of ST.
Mary the Virgins, in West FOrty-fiflh
street, is not popular for a similar reason.
The truth is, the wOuld-be banishers of
bells have reason, as the French say. In
these days when every one carries
| watches and there are clocks in every
house, there is no need of a bell to sum-
mon one to church. In city of magnifi-
cent distances like New York, too. the
majority of the wOrshipers at any one
church live too far away to hear the bell,
which, therefore, entirely wastes its need
less ringing so far as the object for which
it is intended is concerned, and merely
disturb the neighborhoOd.
Chimes are not so Objectionable. I'm
| less rung too early few can find fault with
| skilled Ginning on we'll tuned bells such
as those Of Trinity, which, for SO many de-
cades, have rung the old year out and the
| new year in.
THE PROPOSITION TO REMOVE THE STOCK
EXCHANGE
from Wall street to Union square.
although it is regarded as only bluff to
bring the downtown real estate owners
to terms, and is, OF all things, the least
likely to be done, would be. some think a
step in the right direction, and one which
! should have been taken long ago. There
| is no good reason, such argue, WHY the
! financial centre of the city should be as
far removed as possible from it's real
centre, and the business Of the nation be
| transacted at one end of a long, narrow
island, when many of the persons engaged
in the transactions live nearer the
other. Unfortunately the fact that the
| expensive court house and post office
are ''down-tOwny' not to sneak
of the superb structures in lower Broad
way occupied by the various insurance
companies and other corporations, will,
Tor this generation at least, retain the
Stock Exchange and banks in the south
| ern end of the city. The Stock Exchange.
indeed, is more likely to move to the
Battery than to Union Square, in which
event it will be near the not yet completed
Produce Exchange.
There was buried yesterday one who
was regarded by all who knew him as the
| best hearted and most whOle-sOuled of
newspaper men. The funeral of DR.. John
! b. Wood, the "Great American Con
! denser," at the press club, was attended
/ by the fraternity general, and by many of
/ the notable men of the city. DR.. Wood
earned his title Of condenser by his ability
! to prune down a Newspaper article to a
! fraction of its length, and vet retain all
the news it contained. 1Huttum an parcO
! was his motto.
| Speaking Of funerals, the name is legion
] Of stories illustrating the too nervousness
! OF undertakers. l was told the other day
! of Providence lady who telegraphed a
| friend in this city that she was about to
pay him visit, and asked him to meet
! her when she arrived the next morning
/ by boat. The message became mangled
| in transmission and fell in the hands of an
| undertaken of the same name AS the per
son for whom it was intended.
! The undertaken, instigated by the greed
/ of his tribe, read the telegram as a profess
[ nrHQ OIL
| was at the dock when the Providence lady
! arrived, and when she asked for her friend
solemn looking parsonage greeted her
with:
That's my name, mum. Where shall
L find Mrs. IS body? l have the hearse,
you see, and the grave will be ready as
! soon as you tell me the name of the GENE
| terry"
'What do you mean?' said the as
! founded lady from Providence. I'm
meet me-" - ~
Exactly so, mum. got the telegram.
| but supposed it was your body. What is
! the corpse's name, if you please, num- 81
In despair, the lady called upon one of
! the steamboat officials to unravel the mys-
| terry, and the undertaken was finally con-
| WINGED that his services were not yet re-
| quired by Mrs. -, who, on her part, was
| forced to find her way to her friends
| mouse alone.
ANOTHER UNDERTAKEN WAS MADE
| toplay a too previous role few DAYS ago
| through the anticipatory act Of the
''cOrpse's" wife. One George Hughes, an
emplOye in the Harlem gas works, having
! been wounded in brawl and taken to the
| Ninty-ninth street hospital, his wife, who
| is addicted to drink, fought she could
raise money to crafty her thirst for
alcohol by representing that he had died
from his injury. She succeeded in get
ting the wages which were due him. and
an additional sum of $40 was raised by
his comrades to bury him, which, how
ever, was not intrusted to her. The I'M
dertaker who was employed went to the
| Coroner's office, distance of at least six
miles, for a burial permit, which was
| readily granted on his mistaken repre-
sentatiOn that Hughes was dead. His
| disappointment when he discovered that
the corpse was not ready for burial, and
not likely to be for q long time, may be
! better imagined than described.
A number of plays, new, or new to New
! York, were put upon the stage this week.
Although BARLEY CampbelPs ''Separa-
tom at the Union Square Theatre, which
| was played for the first time on Monday,
is more evolved from the authors men,
DRY than from his inner consciousness, it
hoo ho .f