The Press., 1885-05-07

I For the bef1sf 6lg unsssI1
 ! For men are only blocks, at best,
 Till the chiseling brings out all the rest
 Brooklyn. e. B. L.
 LOCAL TOPICS PEaMD AND stlssORED .f SOUTH COVENTRY.
 R. w. Barber and wife attended ths
 dedicatory exercises of chapel, Sunday
 last, at Laurel Glen, where Solomon Bar
 ber, a former resident and an earnest Sun
 day school g worker, now lives. Eight
 clergy men were present A young lady
 gave the subjoined sketch of the rise and I growth of the work:
 -F Some of -onr christian friends have
 thought 1t fitting and appropriate on this
 occasion, when having left the house in
 which, for many years, We have enjoyed
 so many seasons of prayer and praise as Eve take possession of, dedicate and conse-
 crate this neat. comfortable and conven- l tent chapel to the worship and service of The dear Lord, that some member of our
 little band should briefly relateithe history Fof, the rises and md progress of our Sunday 1 school. 5Ss1s. ss.ss 7s-ss 1. 5.s ~ Although can but regret that the ful- filment of thissd ssdnty ahonla desolve upon
 an Wneducated girl, who trembled at the thought of. standing. before you in so re- sponslble and novel \ position, and felt. as Fl still feel. that the task should have been
 assigned to an. older and better qualified person who could better have arranged 1 and related the history than |. and. though
 place which might have been better filled by one of mntufer years, larger experience and deeper thought, I trust that my friends will rexcase my faltering speech and let,k with fieanient eyes on my imper- In the providence of God, Dea. Bur- dick s7 years ago, became resldent in
 this neighbmhood. He fonnd here,a con-
 munity entirely destitnte of gospel privi- lege6, fhera bsiaa9 me pisceR0f public wor- ship and no Sunday school nearer than Pendleton Hill or Hopkinton City. The Sabbath, for the most part, was entirely dlsregarded, the heads of families spent the day in recreation and amusement, hunting, fishing, and even carousals were of ffeqnenbH occurrence on Sunday The voiced prayer and songs of thanksgiving were heard in but few, if any, private dwellings, s
 Soon after settling i'll his new home the
 deacon interested himaelf in behalf of the young people in this vicinity, ard succeed ed in starting Sabbath school in the old
 school-house, which has since been made
 into dweH Hing, near Clark's Falls. Soon
 after the district was divided and two
 school houses were erected, one near
 Clark s Falls, the other on the road near
 where MT. Hills now lives, and to the lat
 ter mentioned schooi-house the newly or ganized Sunday school removed.
 E<Nr hirku &va
 have been held here. The Sunday school
 has held its weekly meetings and monthly concerts, christian ministers of different denominations have held meetings for the revival of religion in our midst, from time to time earnest seekers have found ioy. peace and consolation in believing which they could not fud in the pleasures and treasures of this world, and some who came to the school-house to meet with friends or to pass away time were so i'm pressed with the truths heard there that a precious Saviour was sought ard found. Many homes have been made happier by the enjoyment of pure and undefiled re- Agion around their own family altars, the voice of thanksgiving and thesong of praise has risen around the table and firetides of those who had lived to mature years ig- norant of the beauty and joy of christian life. There are aged people now living in this immediate sneighborhood who date their religious life as having begun at those meetings to which have alluded. Others have removed to distant portions of our country, and are, doubt not, liv- ing examples of the truth and excellency of 8 belief ill that God whose arm i, under heath and round about those who put their trnst in his precious promises; and others have gone from works to reward. and have joined the innnmerable company of angels and church of the first born whose names are written in Heaven.
 There are many of the older members who can remember an individual who, travelling through the country in the ca pnc,ty of ditcher, took up his abode in neighboring town. He had passed the meridian of life, bearing the marks and scars of a long course of folly and dissipa- patton; one of his eyes had become en- tirely sightless,. and his appearance indi- Gated association with the very dregs of 1; and it Is token of triumph | of the christian religion, the influence of our Sabbath school teachings, that even this man gave unmistakabie evidence of | brand plucked from the burning by re- his life of sin and folly, joining and continuing to the c'ose of his life a | member of the christian church.
 Seventy persons, according to the state- ment of one of whom inquired, have been q at the dear old place, and there fore the school house is endeared to us by many strong tie. Myself and many oth- srs of this generation learned there our first lesson; there we lisped our a, b, c; there we experienced childish joys and sorrows 1; there we went with our parents and listened to the song of praise, solemn prayers, and words of elaboration: there we coDgr~gated to witness the nupitals of our friends; there we met to perform the last sad rites for our loved dead, on whom we looked ere the casket containing their