Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-04-20
THE EVENING STAR, TUESDAY APRIL 90 1se7-14 PAGES
IMPRESSIVE CEREMONIES
Corner Stone Of the New Methodist Church at
Ksnaington Laid.
Interesting Addresses Delivered by
mea-Pieasant "Reminiscences.

The laying of the corner stone Of the
new Methodist Episcopal Church took place
yesterday afternoon at o'clock, and called
out large assemblsge of friends and MEM
bers of the st. Paurs NJ E. Church.
Rev. Robert NJ. Moore pastor of the
church, took charge of the ceremonies, and
introduced Rev. G. w. T. Wright, who in
voked the Devine blessing upon the new
enterprise. Rev. James T. Marshall of the
Warner Memorial Presbyterian Church. IN
a short address, congratulated his Meiho-
dist friends on behalf of the congregation
he represented, and gave his best wishes
in the building of the beautiful new edifice
they were about to raise. Rev. r. D. Det-
rick followed. He said the congregation
of the st. Paurs Church had long felt the
need OF larger place in which to worship,
but 1t had been the courage and work OF
Rev. r. M. Moore that had brought about
the undertaking, and to him belonged the
praise.
Mr.. b. Fl. Warner read a letter from Sem
ator wellington expressing regrers that he
was unable to be present, and wishing
them all success. Mr.. Warner spoke of the
crowded condition of both OF the Kensing-
ton churches on Easter day, and said the
new church would take up the overflow
and supply great need, as no one wish
ing to hear the word of God should he
turned away. The steadily increasing high
odism was born in storm, grew in storm.
and. in spite of storm, was increasing and
doing good all over the world.
DR.. H. r. Naylor spoke at some length.
He said he always liked to see brick and
mortar. There was character in them in
dicative of the character of the building
10 be raised and of the people who Lad il
in charge; that the building of sucn an
edff1ce as this church spoke of progress
and the grace of God in the hearts of the
people; that when the building was COM
pieted the work Of the church would really
begin-the work of appearing holy tenn
pie in the hearts of men and dedicating
them to the work of God. DR.. Nayior said
the form of worship mattered little. He
was reared a Presbyterian and his father
was a Presbyterian deacon for nearly forty
years: that while the Methodists and Pres
byterians each worshiped in their own way
the same spirit of love and charity ami
mated both alike.
Articles Placed in the Stone
Rev. r. NJ. Moore read a letter of re-
greet from Bishop Hurst, who was unable
to be present and assist T.. the ceremonies.
as he had hoped to be. Mr.. Moore had re-
quested that the regular Easter offerings
be reserved for the laying of the corner
stone, and at this point the collection was
taken. The list of articles placed in the
stone were copy of Saturday evenings
Star, containing cut of the new church,
the Easter edition of the New York A6-
vocate, Baltimore Advocate, a copy of
Montgomery Press, a photograph of the
town taken from the residence of Rev. ].
T. Marshall, and showing the parsonage
and the location of the church, a photo
graph of the parsonage, list of the build
ing committee, architect bui,i member
ship of church, coins, Methodist discipline,
Bible and hymnal. Presiding Elder Luther
b. Wilson then began the dedicatcry r.ro-
ceedings of laying of the corner stone,
W ..In consisted OF prayer. the singing of
md
sponSive reading of the 132d psalm Mr.
W. RI. Wheatley, the picEeer member of the
church, assisted Dr. Wilson in placing the
stone in position.
Early Struggles of Montgomery
MethOiiistS.
The dedication of this handsome edifice
naturally calls to mind the story of the
carry struggles and vexations, which Eeset
the handful of pioneers who first insti-
tuted regular Method fst services in this
vicinity Among the first and most per
sistent of these is Mr.. VIM. H Whel.iey.
who is affsctionately spoken of As A Fa
ther In Israel In a reminiscent way he
says: 1t was in 1877 / first began coming
here 1t was wild region then, the under
growth and brambles being everywhere
from the beginning of school vacation in
Georgetown, where l resided, till school be-
gan again our family sought recreation in
the woods. If l missed the morning train
wait till the next day. which is quite diff
ferent from our ffteen-1ninute service. l
belonged to the Methodist Protestant de-
nomination and sadly missed our Sunday
worship Kew. Mr.. Berry, whose circuit
embraced West Washington, Tenleytown
Sligo and Bethesda, promised to come
once every four weeks and preach for lis
provided the weather was fair and roof
could be found to shelter us. Sometimes
We secured the old school house near
wheaton, and the novelty attracted full
house of people, with a large audience of
coiored people guarding the animals and
vehicles scattered about the ground
Sometimes we took our Bibles and
marched into the woods making them ring
with our songs of praise. Various farm
houses were opened to us each summer
Until about 1851 when l adopted my pres
ent place as permanent home. After the
Sabbath meetings were nearly all held at
my mouse, save when the house was too
small when we adjourned to the wide
opened barn. Most of the worshipers be.
longed to the Methodist Episcopal Church
and l joined with them in the work of
building permanent church edifice. The
place was then called Knowles after an
cid resident and large land owner
An Interesting Remfnfscence.
Zone day he took me to rise of ground
and said, this spot he had reserved for
the sight of a Methodist church He died
before funds could be raised for the build
Daniel Haskell, missionary, full of zeal,
worked early and late collecting money for
the building. All were willing to contribute
in work, but money was scarce, and 1
think the largest sum from any one source
was s.. We had raised $500 by various de-
vices and some of my city friends had
given lumber. shingles ard nails. We had
a roof, four bare walls, unlathed and un-
plastered, and our only furniture consisted
or the chairs We took to and from our
homes, and a rude stand for pulpit One
Saturday night Rev. Mr.. Haskell came to
my house full of enthusiasm. I have Just
heard he said, that we have a new neigh
Dor who is a Methodist, and giving Meth
odist, and feel as If the Lord Is about to
help u.s. After praying for success we
started on our visit to our neighbor, whom
neither of US knew.
Il well remember that trip; 1t was dark
and we had no lanterns. We scrambled
through the gullfes and the dew on the
weeds and b. shes wet us to the knees.
The hrambles scratched our faces and
picked our clothes. We were sorry looking
visitors, and our wild dream of a $25 con-
tribution grew less and less. We intro
duced ourselves. and our host, who proved
to be DIR. R. B. Derrick, let us do most
of the talkirg g, as he is slow and deliberate