Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-06-03
r gray stone chapel Kettle got this into his

gray stone chapel. Kettle got this into his
control,
He was by no means a rich man. The
row OF houses in Birkenhead were for the
most part tenanted by the wives of mer-
cantiis marine engineers and officers, who
were chemically laggard with their rent,
and whom esprit de corps forbade him to
press; and so what with this deficit and re-
pairs and taxes, and one thing and another,
1t was rarely that half his projected $500 a
year found its way into his banking ac-
count. But 1.-THE of whatever accrued
to him was scrupulously set aside for the
maintenance of the chapel.
He imported there the grim, narrow creed
he had learned in South Shields, and threw
open the door for congregations. He vas
entirely in earnest over it all, and vastly
serious. Failing another minister, he him
self took the services, and though on oc-
casions some other brother was induced to
preach it was he himself who usually
mounted the pulpit beneath the sounding
board. He purchased an American organ,
and sent his eldest daughter in weekly to
take lessons in Skipton till she could play
1t. And Mrs. Kettle herself led the singing.
Still further, the chapel has its own col
lection of hymns, specially written. printed
and dedicated to its service. The book is
Capt. Kettles first published effort. Hea-
ven and its author alone know under what
wild circums tances most of those hymns
were written.
The chapel started its new span of life
with a congregation that was meager
Der grew. Some came once and We're not
seen again. Others came and returned.
They felt that this was the lonliest of all
modern creeds: indeed, Kettle preached as
much; and one can take a melancholy pride
in splendid isolation.
l am not sure that Captain Kettle does
not find the restfulness of his present life
a trlfie too accentuated at times though
this is only ineyitab BILE for one who has been
so much a man of action. But he never
makes complaint He is a strong man. and
he governs himself, even as he governs his
family and the chapel circle, with strong,
just hand. The farm is model of neatness
and order; paint is lavished in way that
makes dalesmen lift their eyebrows; and
the routine of the household is as strict as
that of a ship.
The house Is unique, too. in Wharfedale
for the variety of its contents Desperately
poor though Kettle might be- on many of
ms returns from his unsuccessful ventures
he never came back to his wife without
some present from a foreign cline is a tan
Slble proof of his remembrance But one
might turn the house upside down without
finding so carnal an instrument as a re-
VoiVer and when l suggested to Kettle once
that we might go outside and have a little
pistol practice, he glared at me- and I
thought he would have sworn He let me
Know, sttttty enough, that whatever circum-
stances might have made him at sea- he
mad always been a very different man
ashore in England, and there the matter
dropped
But, speaking of mementos there is one
INK with the past that Mrs. Kettle. poor
lady, never ceases to regret the loss Of
such beautiful gold watch she saws it
was, too with the emperor's and the cap
tam S names engraved together on the back
and just nice mention of the Grosser
Cari. AS it happened, 1 saw the letter
with winch it was returned. Kettle had
returned it, refusing to accept a present
from one he had talked about