The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-12-19
THE CONGREGATIONAL CLUB.
FOREF-4THERS' DAF MEETTNG IN
DWIG HIT PLACE CHURCH.

. Anti-Roberts Resolution Adopted-New
Members Elected Spirited Address ON
Governor Bradford by Rev. DIR. Walk
ero of Hartford.
At the Forefathers' day meeting of
the Congregational club in the Dwight
Place church last evening William M.
Parsons, chairman of the outlook COM
mittee, introduced a resolution in re-
gard to the Roberts case, which was
unanimously adopted, as follows:
Whereas, A committee of the house
of representatives is.now investigating
the right of Brigham Fl. Roberts OF
Utah to a seat in the house; be it
Resolved, That the New Haven Con-
gregational club hereby declares it's OPP
position to the seating of a polygamist
In the national congress; and further
be it
Resolved, That copy of this action
of the club be sent to Hon. N. D. Sper-
ny of the Second congressional district,
state of Connecticut"
About $50 members of the club were
present at the meeting, which was one
organization. 1t is the first time that
the body has met in Dwight Place
church since it was renovated. Supper
was served as usual at $50 o'clock,
after which the meeting proper opened.
Prayer was delivered by Rev. d. J..
Clark of East Haven. Judge Living
ston w. Cleaveland, president of the
club, presided.
The balloting for new members re-
suited in the election of the following:
Edward B. Birge, North Haven church;
Nathan S. Bronson, United; Richard G.
Davis, Second, Fair Haven; Arthur F.
Hemingway, Second, Fair Haven; Will
liam F. Nichols Redeemer; Herbert c.
Nickerson, East Haven; Albert A. Page,
East Haven; Edward e. Sill, United
During the evening music was fur
nished by the church choir. The most
interesting part of the meeting was an
address by Rev. Williston Walker, D.
D., Of Hartford, who spoke on the sub
ject civilian Bradford, Governor of
Plymouth Colony" In opening the
speaker described interestingly the ear
1y life of Bradford in the little York
shire hamlet Of Osterf1eld, England; the
events of Elizabeth's reign during the
period and the religious feeling of the
times. He then told how Bradford came
to embrace the Puritan belief, and, go
ing on, spoke in part as follows:
Two near friends Of Bradford, Cliff
ton and Brewster, the former curate in
the nearby town Of Babworth, the lat
ter the postmaster in Osterfield, were
the main factors in the young mans
early strength of belief By the teach
ing of these he first began to be spirit
ually quckened. He was but twelve
years Of age when he began to make
his way across the fields to Babworth,
and as he grew older he was introduced
to that little company Of seekers for a
fuller reformation which met regularly
with these two teachers In 1906 John
Robinson Joined the little company, and
for the next sixteen years was Brad
ford's friend and guide
Soon after Robinson's coming two
Puritan churches were started in near
by towns and of these Bradford was
one of the more youthful organizers
OF the hardships the congregations of
the two little churches endured for a
time I need not tell you. Scoffed and
jeered at and finally hunted and perse-
cuted on every side, they finally took
the mOmentous step of leaving home
and country. 1t was not long before
Bradford, along with the rest, found
himself In Amsterdam. Here in order
to stave off the poverty which he saw
staring him in the face, he learned the
silk weaver's trade. Here also in No
vernber &c. 1913, at the early age of
twenty three he married Dorothy May.
Under the companionship of Robin
son and Smythe, Bradford had ripened,
broadened and deepened. Probably no
other man could have been found to
have so successfully taken the part he |
did In the emigration to that new land.
with the details of the journey and the |
early privations you are familiar; there
is no need to mention them. or inter- |
est to us is the fact that by the time
the Pilgrims arrived on the bleak New
England coast Bradford had shown
himself man of action. SO on the re-
1noval of John Carver from the COVER
norship the community turned natural |
ly to Bradford. That office was his for |
many years. Chosen leader of the fifty |
nine survivors of that terrible winter
after the Mayfower had left them, saw
The colony grow to $50 in 1880.
what Bradford did during his term of |
office would be to give an outline of the
early history of Plymouth But some
or his services were so conspicuous that
they should not be passed by unmen-
toned Probably the most important
of these was the way in which he tided
the colonists over that gloomy period /
in the beginning. Perpexities of a |.
pressing nature filled those years, and
the most pressing was the question of
food. The colony was often reduced to
the verge of starvation. He himself
writes that they had pressing need
often to pray that God would give them
their daily bread The Indians were a
constant source of trouble to the colon
lists, and at times owing to the condi-
tions existing in the colony the very
maintenance of the Pilgrim principles
were endangered. But through all these
4r;o1e PRO dford hroIlght the 'cOlOnV and |