Morning journal and courier., 1888-03-10
COMMUNICATION.

The Improvements in Center Church. To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 The proposal to improve the interior deco ration of Center church recalls the time when the present improvements were made.
 Having no data to go by, we will say thirty
 five or forty years ago. To many of the men then forming the church it seemed a most unnecessary proceeding, for they thought the bare walls and white paint sufficiently ornamental and more in accor- dance with their Puritan ideas. They had q large and roomy house of worship, with two big stoves by the doors with long black pipes extending the whole length of the building, and the mercury rarely fell below freezing in winter, ,and with good warm cloth ing and little foot stoves, which were carried by hand by some member of the family Casually the youngest child, as in the case of the writer), what could they want more? But luckily there were some younger men in the congl egation who thought differently and wanted the house of God to be not only warm and comfortable, but attractive to the eye; and foremost among them WAS MT. A. N. Skinner. How he ever worked on the elements he had to deal with to induce them to consent to the changes proposed has ever been mystery.
 Those were the days of Hervey and Elihu Sanford, of Dyer White and Nathaniel Ba- con, of Henry Trowbridge (with his large family of handsome daughters and stalwart sons), of Stephen Twining and Leonard Brad ley and host of others, all HOW passed away. Certainly, one would say, very in- congruous clements out of which to evolve anything aesthetic. One did not want an or gan, but considered the old choir led by single violin good enough music for him. One did not want to stand by black hole in the floor to warm his hands and feet, and al~ most all were opposed to ''freseoing," which they seemed to consider the opening wedge for all sorts of frivolity.
 Those were the days when Dr. Bacon ham mereds saway at the closed gates of slavery, and offended half his people by his earnest ness and advanced ideas Howstrange it all seems now with the light which we have on the subject Well, committee was ap- pointed who went to work cautiously to raise funds, and after much labor and many dis arrangements it ended in the present adorn- ing, which was then considered quite high art. The frat attempt at the ceiling, how ever, was a miserable failure; whose taste it was we do not know, but it represented very blue sky studded with stars, and the effect was like being shut down in a vault. Again the committee went to work to draw more funds from unwilling pockets to remedy this great mistake, which many a grumbler said could not be done, and that the stars would always appear through whatever covering was put over them. But we will venture to say that no one now can discover trace of them. The Corinthian columns in the rear were severely criticised, and probably justly so but on the whole the work was satisfactory. To be sure, one dear old saint said the only trouble he had about it was that it puzzled him sometimes even in prayer time fsto make plain surface out of that frescoed recess back of the pulpit"
 Now let us see how much better the pres ent generation will do. c.