The hatchet. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1883-19??, 1900-04-29
REV. Tx. BEECHER' s WAYS
THE LAST OF A FAMOUS FAMILY
OF PREACHERS.

Features Of His Church.
Many admirers Of the Rev Thomas
X. Beecher, brother Of Henry warn
Beecher, who died at Elmira, n. Y"
recently, believe that he was the most
original thinker Of that famous faml-
". He united to the power of reason
inc of his brother Edward much Of
the poetical thought Of Henry ward
Lyman Beecher, father Of the ten
Beechcrs. Is reported to have SAID that
Thomas X. was the flower of the ram
Uy. This has not been the Judgment
of the world, but on one point there
Is general agreement. Thomas *, was
the oldest of them all "Father rom
as he was atlcctionately called III III
mira and throughout this part OF lhe
state. has been accused of rather prlu-
ing himself on his eccentriclty. You
never could tell what he was going TO
do. but YOU could generally count on
his doing something you didn't expect
'Nlr Beechcr," said a woman par
ishioncr TO him once, "when see you
out of the pulpit l think you ought
never to get in it, but when l see you
i'm the pulpit l think you ought never
to get OUT
He seemed to enjoy astonishing con
yentional folk sometimes once he
took a notion that lager beer would DE
good for his health. Instead of taking
the medicine at his own home he used
to walk i'm at the front door of the
most conspicuous saloon in Elmira,
pull out a nickel at the bar and quau
the beer. This troubled his parishion-
crs. and they demonstrated with him,
| but he told them that he didn't care
what folks thought about him, he was
| taking the beer as n medicine, ana lie
/ din't propose to do it secretly, as II he
was ashamed Of it. After a while he
| quit the beer, not as he was careful
to explain, because he thought it was
wrong, but because it didn't agree
| with him.
Mr.. Beechcr knew a great deal
about many things. Many persons
may recall the fashion in which he
! demolished a scientific textbook, writ
ten by a wcll-known man and used eX-
tensively in schools. Mr., Beechcr
pointed out Inaccuracies in statement
and false reasoning until he complete
! ly riddled the work. In his early days
! he studied mechanics, and at one time
ran a locomotive from Buffalo TO New
! York. In the earlier stage of his minis
! try he used to repair sewing machines
for the women of his flock, He could
make a watch, and so great was his
delight in that sort of work that he
once asked the Elmira authorities so
make him custodian of the town clock.
They granted his request, and for
years Mr. Beecher served in this ca
pacity at a salary of So a year lie
took great pride in keeping that town
clock exactly right, and when the
timepiece happened to get few sec
onds wrong he used to put up a sign
on the door of the door of the tower
reading like this: This clock is two
seconds late to-day, but it will be all
! right tomorrow"
He was as peculiar in the pulpit as
! out of it, and did what seemed to him
| right one of the best illustrations Of
! this has already been told, but will
bear recalling. one Sunday he preach
! ed in the church of his brother, Hem
! ry Ward Beecher in Brooklyn, while
the Plymouth pastor was away. Be
cause of Henry Wards absence the
crowd of strangers that used TO fill
! Plymouth Church was diverted else.
where i'm part, and the congregation
was not very large. Before beginning
his sermon the preacher arose and
said: "All those who have come here
to worship Henry Ward Beecher will
now have a chance to retire; all those
who have come to worship God will
remain"
At the close of another brilliant SER
mon he startled the congregation by
slappiug his manuscript together sud.
denly and calling "Tlme to wake up!'
after which he put his sermon into
his pocket and walked out.
Park Church was made by Mr..
Beecher into an institutional church,
the first Of the sort, it is said in the
country. He put in a stage for theat-
rical productions, bowling alleys, gym
nasiums and parlors. 1t was a great
innovation at the time and caused con-
! siderable talk, but Father Tom did
not mind that. 1t took years to build,
because the pastor would not permit a
brick or a stone to go into the building
until it was paid for, and sometimes
there were long waits. The Sunday
school he made a remarkable institu-
! ton Every lesson was written by Mr..
Beecher himself. The school was grad
ed as rigidly as any ward day school,
and the children had to learn their
lessons just as thoroughly as in sec
ular school, or quit, In the details the
pastor was assisted by Mrs. Beecher,
! but the plans were all his own. AS
result of his personality and his sys-
tenn the school had phenomenal
growth and reached a very large mem
bership. On the first Sunday in each
month Mr.. Beecher used to preach a
special sermon to the children, and
attendance at this service was made
a requirement for promotion. As a re-
suit the entire school used to be there.
For many years Mr. Beecher had
been but a shadow of his former self.
| The old power aud yigor had depart.