The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-17
AT PARsoN oREEvFIEIDs,s.
His Vacation Begins After tho Other stlnlstsr-
Oct To MARI.

Hts Vacation begins After tho other Minlateru
Got to Work.
summer vacations are at an end. The sea.
son OF firstly, secondly, and finally, my broth.
rem, has fairly begun. The lessons OF tho
summer are now being preached from pulpit
and platform. The great metropolitan churches
are ready for work.
In tho midst of all this stir, however, there
Is one preacher who Is closing his seasons
work. not beginning 1t. There is one church
where the audiences arc dwindling, not grow
ing. That minister has been called Parson
drccnfelds. His church is wherever the grass
grows under the shadows of the trees or the
sunshine of the clear sky. The meadows ard
woods without the city, these are Parson Green
ficlds's church.
1t isn't often that the good parson has so long
a season us this one has been. Generally the
OCTOBER congregations are spare. Only the
elect attend. Parson Grecnfields, like other
great ministers, has q contingent Of close fol-
lowers who are almost idolatrous in their de-
rotion to him. They never miss a Sunday at
his services and will seize every chance they
can get to devote to him an occasional week
day. On the earliest Sunday in spring you will
find them out to welcome him, and they arc just
as eager, perhaps moro eager, to hear his latest
autumnal Sermon. They. say that some Of the
most inspiring utterances Of the good parson
have come to them under November skies and
that, Of all tho wonderful music which marks
tho Greentields services, none has a moro ex-
quisite sweetness and pathos than the sound Of
the falling leaves and the whisper of the wind
through bare branches.
Evidently, however, these are the parsons
extravagant admirers. His ordinary listen
cs desert .him when they see him worn with
his summers work; when he grows rusty and
tired and loses his fire and fervor. They flock
to hear the ministers who are buck, fresh from
their summer vacation, and poor old Green
fields is left alone with his devotees.
But this year no has been wonderfully vigor-
GUS. On the first Sunday in October he preached
with all tho glory and the fervor Of his June
sermons. People went in crowds to hear him.
All day his church was thronged with n con
grcgntion which far o~utnumbcrcd the aggre-
gate audiences of the other ministers, and when
The people went home at night there was but
one wish in every heart; that the good parsoi!
would only preach to them one more such SCI.
Parson:Gr eenticlds's'ch is prominently a
popular one. Free seats. no contribution box,
Unlimited Other ministers have sought to
reach the bicyclists, and thercunto they
have had recourse to many and various plans.
to n woman, the whcelers have trundled past
the open doors, the gospel wagons, and the
aisles Of the Greentolds church.
Now and then a minister peers tentatively
across the borders OF BOhemta. lie would De
glad to help the jewellers therein to save them
selves according to- 2 more orthodox plan than
fsh sSem aGil1g1 are they sHen aol mSTe any of a at p "1li hut th ,ae
in solfcontent that the ministerial Mahomet
And in general when he has gone unto them they
take about as much notice of him as mountains
der the painful necessity of returning to a dis
approvlnG S3nsreEation and saving WS oe
does IL dor WHY. the MAINTAIN which ignored
Mahomet quietly disintcgrates and scatters
throughout the Greenhclds church.
his missions and his Il pcbspels like 'f the best Of
them. Central Park, his great chapel in New
side the city. Even the people of fashion go
there somctlmcs Of a sunday morning. To be
take the children along as an excuse much
as they go, TO the circus. And yet there Is
h Er i shd lacking kin in the the SSoebSietS OF the he ssryi i
and frivolous tunes OF the week and churns out
II! !lWs strains ,9 Of Wy Gogntr{; It's Of IhHs," S Sni
a Sunday school in the city is half so popular
as that Of parson Greenticlds's Central Park
tree doesn't make a bit of difference.
AS for his missions in the metropolis, make
s s"n and indS Se forH ro I%n.il S Whetiie qI theH are ms s sSs.
ccssful. The ones i'll Madison square and Union
square are inll OF men who are mere wrecks Of
humanity. Sometimes their lingering likinh
10 sit around on the benches of one OF the Green
fields missions seems to be the last ray OF hui
manlty in them. They are almost beyond the
reach Of the purson's sermons. They go there
much as they 10 TO the other missions in the
winter; because of the warmth, because of IA
place TO si5 down and go to sleep in, because it
.SiuyTesunt square mission has an individu.
nlity somewhat akin u that of Washington
square. yet different. The would.b be shepherds
OF bicyclists would sigh with envy if they could
see the whirl of wheels around these two mis-;
sions. AT Washington square the Memorial
Arch stands like n great altar at one side and
in front Of it-That u congregation! What a
clattcr OF foreign tongues.-FrcnCh, ltRlan.
spanish, Hcbrcw-and II must he that the sun
light makes "a %veritab,e pentecost OF Pareol
Greentields's services there, for the faces glow
with happiness.
There are other missions near by; mere hooks
and corners Ike that in West Fourth street,
which is q simple triangle of grass and lilac
bushes. There Is another in Abingdon square.
But, take it all in all, there isn't n Greentields
mission more popular than the now one at Null
berry Bend. Last Sunday afternoon every scat
was taken, the aisles were fun. and there hadn't
been n better day during the wholc:scasor.
1t is Parson Grecntields who breaches the
wcll-known sermons in stones and even in the
city itself some of these sermons may be found
~ burying EToundi That belongs to Parson
Grecntclls rs much as to anybody, and the old,
Some people seem TO consider that the good
par:on is an enemy to other ministers, is even u
wolf in sleeps clothing. 1t is true that some
devotion that-thcy become rabid partisans.
but that can scarcely be put down as the par.
work in perfect harmony with the noble army
OF his reverend contemporaries. AT any rate,
he retires from active work during five months
mourning. Still. they are not as those without
hope. for there is a perennial quality about Par.
characteristics. He may ,lose his doors very
soon now, anxious TO rest after the labors of an
especially long and arduous season. but he is
sure to como again. refreshed. reiuvenatcd, re-
inspired; In the meantime-"the ministers
are coming to town"